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The Jaybird is both over the ear and in ear, so you are guaranteed a snug and secure fit. It takes a few tries to get the position just right, but once you get the feel of it, putting them on comfortably is a snap. The stem that fits behind your ear is broad and smooth, but still shorter than the length of even small ears.

The earbud snakes over the top of your ear and down into your ear canal. Nothing bulky sticking out anywhere, people will be surprised to discover you're wearing a headset. A thin wire connects the two earpieces, and lays at your hairline behind your head. When I wear the Jaybird, my hair covers all of it, and nobody knows it's there at all. Even the signature Bluetooth blue light is subtle on the Jaybird. No beacon here, just a gentle blink of blue located in the center of the right ear piece.

The sound quality rivals any wired stereo headphones. It is simply brilliant: perfect stereo with great sound quality no matter what kind of music satisfies your taste. The truly surprising thing is that the sound quality on phone calls is equally incredible. Not just the way you hear calls, but the way your caller hears you! I was fully expecting to have to yell to be heard since there is nothing any closer to your mouth than the earbud. I have gotten used to friends and family asking me "what headset are you using this time?" I'm not sure if it's the Jaybird, the Centro, or that perfect combination, but so far nobody has even been able to tell I was using a Bluetooth headset.

With the combination of your Centro, SAG, and the Jaybird headset, you can happily listen to music until receiving a phone call. The Jaybird (like other BT headphones) plays a series of escalating tones to notify you of the call. I happen to use Lightwav for my ringtones, so my music is interrupted by my chosen ringtone. At this point you can use your Centro to answer or ignore the call, or answer using your Jaybird's power button. When your call is over, you can return to PocketTunes and pick up wherever you left off in your listening entertainment.

One of the things that makes the Jaybird so small and streamlined is the fact that it has only three buttons. The placement of these buttons has been my biggest learning curve with the Jaybird, and also the one thing I don't love about it. I have gotten very used to buttons being on the outside of the earbud, parallel to my ear so that I press in towards my ear. I have tried a few BT headsets where the button(s) were on top so that you pressed downward, but it was simple enough to hook a thumb under the top of my ear to have something to push against.

The buttons on the Jaybird are on the stem that sits behind your ear (see picture above). They are also so small as to make the Centro's keyboard buttons look gigantic. Answering or hanging up a call this way is just not natural. You are forced to hook your thumb under the stem, between the stem and your ear, so that you can press the tiny button. It's not impossible, but definitely a learning curve. I wish it was at the top where I could press down more securely. The other two buttons on the stem are volume up and volume down. You really don't need them often unless you listen to a wide variety of music genres varying in "normal" volume.

Charging the Jaybird is a unique experience. To keep the style of the headset sleek, there is no charger input. Instead, you will find a very small metal contact on the inside of the left earpiece. The Jaybird is placed into a dock for charging, lining up the contact on the earpiece with that on the dock. The charging dock is made of the same smooth shiny black plastic as the headset, and when the Jaybird is charging, it looks more like a space age sculpture than a mobile accessory. Just as it takes a few tries to adjust the Jaybird to your ears, it may take you one or two tries to position it in the charging dock the first time. However, when you have it correctly positioned, the right earpiece (that blinks blue when it's on) lights up red to let you know it's charging.

The charging dock comes with a standard usb cord so that you can plug it directly into your computer for charging. The Jaybird also comes with an AC adaptor so that you can plug the USB end into the adaptor and charge in any wall socket. Truly form meets function!

While I will probably continue to answer calls using the buttons on my Centro, I can't imagine using any other headset. The Jaybird gets 5 stars from me - it's the perfect Centro companion.

Technical Specifications

• Type: In-Ear Style
• Sealing: Water Resistant/Sweat Proof
• Noise-isolation: Yes
• Response Bandwidth 20-20000Hz
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Output 15mW RMS (with level limit feature)
• Audio S/N Ratio: TBD
• Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) <5% (1KHz, 10mW)
• Protocol: Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP, Handsfree, Headset
• Frequency Band: 2.4 GHz
• Tx Power: Bluetooth Class 2
• Range: 10 meters/33 feet
• Audio Format: 16-bit Stereo
• Talk Time: 6.5 Hrs*
• Music Playing Time: 5.5 Hrs*
• Standby Time; 110Hrs*
• Battery: 135 mAh Lithium Polymer
• Charging: AC Charger and USB
• Charging Time: 2 hrs
• Weight: 23.5g (headset) 57.3g (Charger)
• Microphone type: 4mm omni-directional
• Microphone Sensitivity: -38 dB +/-3dB (1KHz, 0dB=1V/Pa)
• Speaker sensitivity: 114±3dB At 1KHz
• Operating Temp: 14F to 140F (-10C to 60C )
• Storage Temp: -22F to 176F (-30C to 80C)
• AC power supply: 5V DC 1A 100-240VAC, 50-60Hz input
• No of Paired Devices: 2
• Pairing passkey: 0000
• Features: answer call, end call, reject call, volume control
• Agency Approvals: FCC, CE

Related Links

Centro Software & Accessories