Review: Jabra JX20 Pura Bluetooth Headset 10

Very few headsets can claim to be the work of a Scandinavian design firm, but sadly it seems that such status is one of the few redeeming characteristics of the pricey Jabra JX20 Pura Bluetooth Headset. The JX20 comes with both a striking titanium casing and an over-the-top desktop charging dock, though despite all the attractive design it falls short in the category of voice quality.

Audio Quality

The Jabra JX20 Pura has an excellent speaker and connects well with the Pre to transmit wonderful voice to the headset. It seems, however, that the voice quality in the opposite from the headset is less than impressive, with callers reporting that my voice sounded hollow and digitized, likely due to the on-board “digital sound processing” that Jabra makes no effort to explain.

Oddly, the JX20 also pairs itself with the Pre as a set of bluetooth headphones, allowing you to stream audio to the headset from your music and video apps. Since the audio transmission here is just one direction (and in the good direction), you get pretty decent sound quality through the small speaker. In fact, it is actually quite good with clear trebles and solid bass, which is a pleasant surprise for a bluetooth headset made for calls.

Controls

There are three buttons on the JX20: the answer/end button on one side with a symmetrical bump on the other side and a pair of volume buttons. All three buttons were easy enough to find and use and the headset gave adequate audible response to let you know what you were doing, though I would have liked if the buttons weren’t so skinny.

You’ll not that I didn’t mention a power button, as there isn’t one. The JX20 is turned on and off by twisting the speaker stem. It’s actually a quite convenient design with a nice solid click that lets you turn off the headset without staring at blinking lights or listening for cryptic beeps to hear if you did it correctly. If like me you have to wear the optional ear hook for the headset to stay in, you can also pivot the headset in place on your ear to easily turn it on and off (the hook attaches to the twisting part of the stem).

Comfort

There are two ear hooks and one replacement ear gel included to allow you to minimally customize your fit. Calling the ear gel a ‘gel’ is being generous; it’s more of a rubber sheath that covers the speaker stem. The pre-installed gel is a simple round matter, while the replacement comes with an extended nub meant to allow you to wear the headset easily without an ear hook. While this does work, the nub is both pointy and stiff and became distractingly painful after a mere fifteen minutes of wear. For me, the best combination was the round ear gel coupled with the smaller of the two ear hooks. Once I found this combination, the JX20 was comfortable for all day wear, I mean literally all day - I forgot I still had it on at the end of the day.

Style

The Jabra JX20 Pura is a pure stunner in terms of looks, and that’s what is the most celebrated feature of this headset. While the design is as simple as can be, it’s also incredibly classy and just plain looks good. The small status light pulses instead of blinking and is pleasantly low key with its placement on the inner face of the headset. My only gripe with the styling is the dock, which is faced with fingerprint-attracting shiny black plastic - I get enough of that with my Pre. The dock does have a very convenient strip of lights that pulse to indicate the current charging level.

In the Box

The aforementioned desktop charging dock is easily the largest bluetooth headset accessory I’ve handled. Despite being about three times the size of the headset, the dock is not adequately weighted to allow you to easily remove the headset without having to hold down the dock. Aside from the dock, the JX20 box includes a foot-long USB-to-Micro USB charging cable, the standard compliment of manuals, and a bulky AC charging cable that will work with your Pre.

Conclusion

Despite its very attractive design, the Jabra JX20 Pura bluetooth headset disappoints on the most important front for a headset: audio quality. The JX20 does have some nice features, like the manual dedicated power control and slick desktop charging dock, but they just can’t make up for the poor voice quality. Scandinavian design may be good for flat pack furniture and absurdly safe cars, but it has fallen fall short on this headset, especially considering the outrageous price tag.

The Jabra JX20 Pura Bluetooth Headset is available in the PreCentral Store for $109.95, a savings of 39% off the list price of $179.99 (not a typo).

Pros

Beautiful aesthetic design

Cons

Pitiful outgoing audio quality