Jays C-Jays review

When we tested Jays Q-Jays in-ear earphones, we were hugely impressed.

In addition to being comfortable and fitting well, they reproduced music from our iPod in stunning detail. So we were keen to find out if the company's latest headphones performed as well.

The first thing we noticed when we removed the C-Jays from their box was how light they are. Their glass fibre-reinforced nylon arms are hard wearing and extremely light. When retracted and folded, they're also small, an important consideration if you plan on using them with an iPod. The C-Jays come with three sizes of foam ear cushion, each of which fits and sounds different. Our preference was the mid-size cushion, which was more comfortable than the small one, and made us feel less self-conscious than wearing the large ones on the train.

The C-Jays come with a number of extras, including an audio extension cable, airline adaptor, and a 1/4in hi-fi jack adaptor. There's also a carry case. In use, we found the small cushions uncomfortable after more than a few minutes, but both the larger sizes were fine over longer periods. Audio quality was very good, although not on a par with that of the Q-Jays, which are significantly more expensive. The C-Jays are classed as semi-open headphones, so you won't shut out background noise entirely and there's more leakage than you would get from a decent pair of in-ear earphones.

Jays' aim when designing these headphones was to come up with something that was small and light enough to make them practical for use with portable devices and laptops, while delivering excellent audio quality. It has pretty much achieved that. Bass response could be a little better, but that will always be an issue with lightweight headphones when compared to those that sit in your ear canal.

For £80 you'll have to look hard to find a better pair of headphones, whether they're for watching DVDs on a MacBook or listening to music on your iPod or iPhone.