Griffin Technology EarJams

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

September 10, 2004

Product Requirements:
Device:
iPod earbuds

You gotta know that you're doing something right when your product spawns a legion of accessory manufacturers. Case in point: the Apple iPod. There are probably more  cases, cables, and plug-in doodads available for this one digital music player than there are for all the different music player brands and models combined! But now the bar has been raised yet another notch... now there's even an accessory for an iPod accessory! Griffin Technology, one of the premier iPod accessory makers has just created a nifty little product that enhances stock iPod earbuds.

Griffin's EarJams are ingenious little plastic caps that snap onto the ends of the earbuds and claim to do three things:

• Raise volume levels by 10 decibels
• Deliver massive bass and improved sound
• Enhance comfort and fit

Pretty strong claims huh? Keep reading...

Made of white plastic, these little caps match the color of your existing iPod earbuds perfectly. Installing them is a snap... literally. Just remove the fuzzy pad from the earbud, and snap them on.

EarJams come with three sizes of washable / replaceable soft grey thin rubber ear pads. The medium size is attached by default. Removing and installing the pads is a simple operation. They easily pull off and slide on with minimal force. The EarJams product will also ship with a small zippered carrying case which is a nice touch.

This product effectively turns your stock iPod earbuds into the type of earbuds that fit inside the ear canal and isolate you from outside noises. The advantage to this style of earbud is that they tend to require a lower volume level for comfortable music listening. Griffin claims that the EarJams increase volume levels by 10db. Although there is really no way I could accurately test this claim, I did definitely notice a difference while using them. I have two iPods, so I have two sets of iPod earbuds. I attached the EarJams to one set and left the other set as is. Using the non-EarJam iPod buds, I listened to several songs and found that the volume set to approximately 33% was the most comfortable for me. With the EarJams, I had to turn the volume down to about 20% to get the same comfortable feeling.

The claim that the EarJams deliver massive bass is also true. They really do make a big difference. As for improved sound, I'm not sure what they mean by that exactly. Yes, the bass has a lot more thump, and yes the volume is louder. But, along with that, I noticed that the sound was somewhat dulled. It's like the treble has been turned down. Luckily the iPod has a treble booster setting which remedies this problem. I think people that enjoy music with heavy bass lines will really appreciate this product more than people that listen to other types of music.

However, not everyone will find this style of earbuds comfortable to wear. I personally can't handle having something stuck into my ear canal for very long. Besides just feeling slightly uncomfortable to me, this type of earbud also tends to make me feel cut off from my environment. Using them while on a plane would be fine, but wearing them during my day job really wouldn't work out for me as I would have to remove them every time someone would come to my cube to talk to me. Regular earbuds don't have this problem because you can usually still hear everything just fine as long as you pause the music.

EarJams are a unique iPod accessory that will turn your stock iPod earbuds into in-the- ear-style earbuds at a fraction of the cost of real ones. While they do increase volume and bass, the treble is sacrificed in the process. EQ settings will help this situation, but I'm not sure audiophiles will be happy with the overall outcome. That said, audiophiles probably wouldn't be using the stock earbuds (or maybe even an  iPod for that matter...) in the first place though. So, if you would like a boost in volume and bass, and don't mind this style of earbud, this is a product you should check out.

 

Price: $14.99

Pros:
Easy to use
3 sizes of pads
Increases volume and bass

Cons:
May not be comfortable to wear
Dulls treble