Jabra Move wireless/wired headphone review
The Jabra Move is a wired or Bluetooth wireless headset from Jabra that aims at offering a more affordable slightly scaled down version of my favorite over the ear headphones of all time (the Jabra REVO).
The Jabra Move works with Bluetooth 4.0 or an included stereo cord. The Bluetooth range varied depending on what’s between the transmitter and the headphones, but it seemed to not have any issues with where my phone was positioned on my body or nearby in tests.
What’s pretty impressive about the Jabra Move is the fit. I have a relatively large noggin. I’m usually at the extreme extension on baseball caps, and in fitted I’m usually an XXL. The Move headphone speakers were positioned almost perfectly at full extension. I wanted it down over my ears a little more, but it was better than most on-ear fits.
Jabra Move Specs
- Driver Unit Size 40mm
- Impedance 32 Ohm
- Frequency range 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Sensitivity 94 dBSPL with 60 mV at 1 kHz
- Weight 5.3oz
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Approx eight hour battery life
What’s in the box
- Jabra Move headphones
- Manuals/warranty card/product registration reminder
- USB -> Micro USB adapter for charging
- 3.5mm headphone cable
- Foam
Jabra Move in action
I’ll preface this by saying I went into this blind to see how intuitive it was, so this stumbling I’m going to mention is my own fault for not reading the instructions.
I powered up the Jabra Move and it went directly into pairing mode. According to the manual, you’re supposed to have to hold the power switch in the pairing position for three seconds; however, it did it for me which I had no problem with.
A voice came on and guided me through pairing the device with my phone. It didn’t sound like the standard Jabra assistant voice I’ve been hearing on the other products. It sounded a bit lower quality, but I didn’t really need to hear the sound of light being reflected off of an atom in order to pair my device.
I fired up some Soul Coughing (Ruby Vroom) because I know how that’s supposed to sound. The volume was too low, so I popped off the headset and looked around for where a volume control would be and didn’t see one. I thought that perhaps it used light touch on the headphones like the Revo, but no. I finally went to the manual and found that a thing that I assumed was an input selector switch was the volume and multi-function control.
My first, second, and third attempts at raising the volume taught me that if you press the volume up, the volume goes up. If you hold the volume up, the track switches to the next one. Learning experience, but it works and works fine. The middle of the switch has a nub you can feel, so you know what you’re pressing without having to look, this is something a lot of headsets forget – that you’re not wanting to take them off to figure out where the volume button is.
With the Move cranked to the max on bluetooth I blasted some tracks from the album I’ve listened to way way way too much in the past twenty years (it’s been that long now, that amazes me), and was kind of saddened that the volume didn’t reach quite where it needed to be to fully enjoy the headphones, although the signal did reach (crappily) 48 steps away from my phone and perfectly 39 steps from the transmitting unit.
I tried the headphones powered off and plugged into the audio cable. Unpowered except by the HTC One M8 they were significantly louder than they were via Bluetooth. I’m not sure if there’s some sort of volume limiting in place or what the deal is but plugged in they were perfect. Unplugged they were very good, but the volume didn’t reach the obnoxious levels that I wanted it to.
I don’t do call tests any more, as there are too many variables involving my phone, the other person’s phone, the cell towers on both ends – but you have the option of using this to make and take phone calls, although you’ll look utterly crazy when you do this.
Images above: fit on an enormonoggin that needs a haircut
Wrap-up
Well constructed, does what it needs, decent battery life, great sound when plugged in and ok volume when not. Fits my noggin, light weight, and coming in at $99.99 the Jabra Move is a reasonably priced decent quality headset. It picks up Bluetooth signal significantly better than the Revo did, but lacks some of the features, and possibly wireless volume (although it could be my phone’s Bluetooth DSP, I’m not certain).
It’s well worth a look if you’re in the market.
