Jabees Firefly Pro: Can an affordable true wireless headphone sound good?
3.3.2020
Translation: machine translated
Inexpensive true wireless headphones rarely sound good. Nevertheless, I give the Firefly Pro from Jabees a chance and test the earphones in everyday use.
I had never heard of the Jabees brand before I was asked to do this test. The brand originates from Hong Kong, and the parent company was founded back in 2004. Digitec recently added the brand to its range.
Jabees has dedicated itself to the production of affordable but good wireless music solutions. The Jabees Firefly Pro is the manufacturer's latest flagship product.
The Firefly Pro does not have active noise cancelling. But it does have a transparent mode. This does the opposite of noise cancelling: the earphones let ambient noise through.
In addition to the transparent mode, you also get half a disco: Whenever the case is opened, the two earbuds flash first red, then white - or in both colours if they are looking for a connection.
This flashing confuses me. Because sometimes one handset flashes red or one handset flashes white, while the other handset does nothing at all. I can't recognise a pattern. I don't understand it.
The user manual supplied states that when the earbuds flash red and white, they are ready for pairing. I see. But in my case they either flashed red or white, never red and white. But I can still pair both without any problems. Someone should understand that. But if you're not distracted by the flashing lights, pairing is quick and easy.
The headphones can also be used individually. You can switch off the earpiece you don't want to use on the earpiece itself.
The doubly painful control
The controls on the Fireflys would actually be pretty great: a multifunction button on the earbuds allows you to adjust the volume, among other things - something only a few true wireless earbuds can do. You can also switch to the next or previous song, press pause, answer calls or call up the Google Assistant. Operation also works with thin gloves. Super.
There is a but. A pretty big one, actually. The physical buttons are rubbish.
They have to be pressed quite firmly - I find this uncomfortable with in-ear headphones. After three presses - which you have to do if you want to switch transparent mode on or off, for example - I feel like the headphones have penetrated my eardrum and are stuck in my brain.
It gets worse: every time the headphones receive a control command, they beep. So you already have the dividers way too low in your ear canal, and then they beep so loudly that it knocks you out. Unlike music, the beep volume cannot be adjusted - tinnitus is pre-programmed.
I therefore use the headphone controls as rarely as possible. At least when you make settings on your mobile, the dividers don't beep.
Large and thick
The Firefly Pros are quite large and thick compared to other in-ear headphones. I notice that in my ears: The Fireflys press on my ear cartilage, or rather my tragus. However, this is not a problem when worn for short periods of time.
The Fireflys are IPX5 certified, which means they are protected against water jets. So jogging in heavy rain is no problem. They therefore perform better than the much more expensive Airpods Pro or the Sony WF-1000XM3. The Airpods are IPX4 certified, the Sonys are not. The Firefly Pros are made of plastic and have a rubber cover over the controls. This makes them feel a little cheap.
The case that the Fireflys come in, on the other hand, is well made and doesn't give the impression that the hinge is about to break or that everything else will fall apart. There are two lights on the front of the case. The one on the left shows in colour how much battery is left. Red means the juice is about to run out. If it lights up yellow, you still have 25 to 75 per cent. It lights up green when 75 to 100 per cent of the battery is left. The light on the right lights up red as soon as you charge the case. When charging, the left-hand light lights up turquoise - so you don't know how much of the case is already charged during charging.
Sound - I don't like it
The packaging of the Firefly Pros says: Engineered for Delightful Sound - unfortunately I have to disagree. I don't like the sound at all. This confirms my experience with cheap headphones. I like headphones that sound warm and full and that are nicely tuned.
The Firefly pro is pretty much the opposite. To be fair, however, it must also be said that the headphones are really cheap and therefore cannot be compared with a Sennheiser sound.
The sound of the Firefly Pros is very V-shaped. The bass is always too strong for me, which means that the mids are lost. And on many tracks, the vocals sound strangely distant to me.
The highs clank too hard for me and on many tracks they sound sibilant. I find the lows too thin, the sub-bass doesn't go down far enough for me, but somehow sounds quite tinny. What's more, I often have the feeling that the right earpiece is louder than the left one - this gets on my nerves more and more over time.
Another problem is that I can hear my footsteps when I walk. I've never had that before with earphones. I then tried using the smaller tips that Jabees supply. That was a bit better. However, I then had the next problem: the earbud no longer sealed enough and sometimes it suddenly fell out of my ear.
The transparency mode or the big noise
If you want to use the Firefly Pro in transparency mode, you can only set this on the headphones themselves. There is only an app for the Firefly for update purposes. You have to press quickly three times in succession on the handset to switch to transparent mode. This is not easy to do, but it works over time.
Voices sound a little tinny and rather distant in transparent mode. I can barely understand an SBB announcement on the platform because the voice blurs too much with the other noises. And if someone coughs or a lorry drives past, the Firefly Pro acknowledges this with noise. However, if there is no noise, you can hear the sounds clearly.
I also tried out the transparency mode while cycling. Unfortunately, it's absolutely useless there - the wind rushes so hard in my ears that I can't hear anything at all from my surroundings, let alone music. And I'm a slow, grandma-style cyclist. It's never been this bad with other headphones.
The connection: good
The Firefly Pros support the AAC codec in addition to the standard Bluetooth codec, which benefits iOS devices. However, most newer Android devices can also be switched to AAC codec.
When I take the earphones out of the case, they usually connect quickly and automatically to my Xiaomi mobile. I rarely have to pair them manually. It sometimes happened that only one of the two earbuds connected and the other remained dead. Then the other handset had to be switched on and off a few times, then everything was back to normal and the connection was reliable.
If you don't use the Fireflys in the case, they switch off automatically after about five minutes. If you then want to use them again, you can simply switch them on again on the headphones and they will reconnect themselves - I always had problems with my Xiaomi mobile in this case with other headphones.
According to Jabees, the headphones have a battery life of six hours and the case has an additional battery life of 18 hours. I didn't have to charge the Jabees much and only had to deal with an empty battery once. Compared to other earbuds, the battery life of the Firefly Pros is good, especially for the low price.
The case can also be charged wirelessly. Otherwise, it is charged with a USB Type-C cable.
Phone call quality: Great for me, not for everyone else
The Firefly Pros have small microphones built into the sides that record your voice for phone calls. The microphones are the same ones that record ambient noise for transparency mode. They are therefore directed outwards. My colleagues notice this when I'm on the phone: They can barely hear me. I have to shout like a madwoman so that they can understand me halfway. Everyone has also complained that my voice echoes very strongly. If there's also ambient noise, they can't hear me at all.
In contrast, I can hear my colleagues really well and their voices come across very clearly. But that doesn't help.
Conclusion: difficult even for the price
The Fireflys have a few flaws - but they are also very affordable. Nevertheless, to be able to recommend the headphones to you with a clear conscience, I have to turn at least one eye.
The most annoying thing about the earphones is that the sound is not good and the beeping of the controls, which cannot be switched off. It would probably drive me mad if I used them for a long time. If Jabees made changes here, it could change a lot.
So I see the Firefly Pros primarily as secondary headphones for fitness. Good sound is not the first priority there. And with their long battery life and IP certification, they are well suited for this purpose. <p
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
Audio
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
Movies and series
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
4 comments
later