Anker SoundBuds vs. Jaybird BlueBuds X



Fair Fight?

First off this probably isn’t gonna be a fair fight. I’m taking a pair of $20 bluetooth earbuds and putting them against a $100 pair. There’s no way the cheaper pair can keep up, right? Yes I am putting these up against each other. No it’s not a fair fight, but that’s what makes it fun right? David vs. Goliath. Rocky vs. Apollo. Soy burger vs. Elk burger (have you tried an Elk burger? Oh my God…)

Battery Life

Each claims 8 hours battery life. While I don’t actually time how long I have sound going through these, I just do a ‘real world’ type test. I do most of my listening at work and I rarely turn them off when I am not listening. If I had to take a guess I would say yes both probably get right around 8 hours, they are both fairly consistent with each other. One thing I did notice after a handful of minutes of not being used the Anker’s actually turn themselves off to save power. That is both a good thing and a bad thing, when I go to listen to music again they are off and I got music coming through my speakers not my headphones. The Jaybird’s I don’t have that problem, they are always ready to go. It’s not that big a deal just something to note.

Winner: Tie

Charging

This is gonna be short because there’s not much to say, but I have to include it because they are Bluetooth and they will, at some point, need to be charged. The JayBird’s have a cover on the back of one of the earbuds that you pop off and plug in there. The Anker’s have a little flap on the side of one of the buds where you plug in. They both take about the same amount of time to charge and there’s nothing funky to note on either of them. If I have to pick I like the JayBird’s better just because the cover for the plug in is hard plastic, so it feels a bit more sturdy.

Winner: Jaybird? It can honestly even be a tie…

Pairing and Button Layout

I’m combining these two because you gotta mess with the buttons to pair anyway so why not? Pairing is a simple process for either of these, on the Anker’s the buttons are on the buds themselves, on the Jaybird’s the buttons are on a little ‘control stick’ that is in line with the cord. Press and hold the power button on both of them wait a few seconds and voila.
Now to the button layout…The Jaybird is painless you have 3 buttons all in a row, the top one turns up the music, bottom turns down, middle pauses/answers calls. The Anker is a little bit of a different story, the buttons are actually on the earbuds themselves. Which would be fine if they put the damn buttons on the correct side. Instead of them being in the back (thumb side) they are on the front (stupid finger side). To me (and my buddy) that seemed to be backwards, they worked but it just wasn’t right. Shitty button placement is unforgivable lol. Seriously though why Anker?
Minor gripe, when adjusting the volume on the JayBird there is a beep that interrupts your music, is that really necessary JayBird?

Winner: Jaybird

Fit

They both have very similar designs. There’s an earbud piece and a little wing that helps to keep the earbuds from falling out and they both do their jobs superbly. For me the little ‘hook’ that is on the Anker version was a lot easier to put in my ear than the one on the JayBird. The comfort level is about the same, but ease of use goes to Anker.

Winner: Anker

Sound

Ok I’m sure this is why everyone is actually here. I mean why do a review on earbuds if I’m not gonna talk about sound right? Even if the Jaybird’s won every other round and the Anker’s took this one, the Anker’s would win the fight, 12th round KO. So let’s find out if Anker has one last trick up its sleeve.
Right off the bat the Anker seems muffled to me, it could be the seal on my ear but they just don’t seem to have clarity. The bass is almost non-existent it is there but I have to get up to higher volumes. The mids and highs sound good, just muffled most definitely not piercing. I have earbuds that are piercing and these aren’t it. They aren’t bad, and they won’t stop me from listening.
The Jaybird’s are pretty much the exact opposite. They don’t seem louder but they do seem a lot more clear and crisp. The bass is there, these are definitely not bass heavy by any means but I can hear it better than the Ankers. The mids and highs are definitely more clean and crisp. If I had to make a comparison…watch a DVD and BluRay of the same movie. Sure the DVD isn’t bad by any means and if you didn’t have a BluRay to compare it to it would probably look great. But when you put it side by side with the BluRay the difference is night and day.

Winner: JayBird

Conclusion

I don’t think anyone expected the Ankers to actually beat the JayBird’s but Anker has a decent pair of Bluetooth earbuds here. I got them on sale for $20, their normal price is right around $27 on Amazon and at either price they are well worth the money. I’m glad I bought them, they make a great backup pair of earphones. If/when they break I will buy another pair, I mean why the hell not for just south of 30 bucks?

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