Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Okay, so I was a big proponent of the original Jaybird BlueBud X's and have had them and used them for several years. Recently, the battery went on them. But, true to form, the Jaybirds gang were excellent at customer service. They looked up my original purchase and offered to swap for a new pair. I give them big points for this. So, while in the middle of that transaction, low and behold the new X2's were released. While i wish they had upgraded me for free, I did have a pay for the new ones. They just arrived today. I'm a runner and I have forever been looking for the best headphones to run with. Over the years, i've probably purchased 30 different types from high end Sure 535s at $550 all the way down to $5 specials. For the most part the Bluebuds have been great at dealing with sweat and moisture. Here's a quick recap and comparison of the old and new ones. A bunch of reviewers have come out with new thoughts on them so I'll leave the long form to them. Pro's: The biggest pro i can tell you right out of the gate is that Jaybird nailed the fit this time. The original Bluebuds were decent but i couldn't ever get the best combination that caused the earphones to stay in effectively when I ran. Call it a fat guy with sweaty ears but they just wouldn't stay. These new X2's already fit better. You can feel them "lock in" with a great firmness that says that they are not going anywhere. The new ones come with comply tips (a MUST have if you want good signals and clean bass). The old ones did not. They also changed the design of the secure fit ear pieces and they just feel better this time around. On the last pair, I ended up giving up on the enclosed ear pieces and getting the decibulz so that they would mold to my ear and stay in. They also have the same clips that keep the wire secure around your neck. That is a key feature as other headphones shake, rattle and roll and you can hear it in the movement. Plus if they are not secure, they flop and around and eventually pull out of your ears. As to colors, they are cool. I'm a traditional guy so I went with the Black. I like them better than the old Bluebuds which were also black (what can I say? It goes with everything... :). Cons: The new case is bigger. I'm not sure that is a great thing as portability is a big thing for me. To be honest, this not a big deal for me as I likely will carry them in a small running case anyway. So why are they a 4 star vs. 5 star? Two reasons: first is that they never quite got loud enough for me on the first go around. I was hoping that that these would get louder (sometimes you just need that extra juice to get you pumped up to get over that hill in a workout). These are solid but they don't get quite loud enough for me. The second reason is that the sound stage while clean is a bit tinny for my taste. I am by NO means a bass head but that doesn't mean I want a less than pristine and full sound stage when I'm listening. I'm listening to them tied to an iPhone 6 running Spotify with the streaming quality cranked up to excellent so it should be very full 320 bit sound. In that mode, these sound 'very good'. It's 4 star because I was hoping they would be excellent. At that point, they would be game over. They just didn't blow me away as much as I would have hoped they might. This too i had hoped that they would enhance in the X2 and I was a little disappointed to hear that they sounded pretty similar to the Bluebuds X. So overall verdict? If you want a set of bluetooth headphones to work out with, these are it. Hands down. As long as you can deal with them not being quite loud enough or sounding like a $300 pair of earphones (and in fairness they are bluetooth so it's hard to get sreiously high fidelity out of that technology) than they are great buy.