The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are sports-oriented wireless in-ears that are versatile enough for everyday use. They isolate a decent amount of noise and have a similar sound signature to the Jaybird X4 Wireless, though with a slightly more underemphasized bass. They're comfortable and stable enough to stay in your ears during intense workouts. Unfortunately, their ear tips and stability fins are combined in one unit, which results in a less adjustable fit than if the components were separate pieces. On the upside, they're also compatible with the MySound app that grants you a wide range of features to personalize your listening experience.
Our Verdict
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are decent for mixed usage. They provide a fairly well-balanced sound profile and are more comfortable than most in-ears, thanks to their shallow in-ear fit. They block a decent amount of ambient noise and barely leak any audio, so they're a good choice for commuting. Unfortunately, their battery life isn't enough to last you a whole workday.
- Stable design.
- Parametric EQ in companion app.
- Well-balanced default sound profile.
- Sturdy build quality.
- High wireless latency.
- Proprietary charging cradle.
- Short continuous battery life.
- Mediocre microphone noise handling capabilities.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are decent for neutral listening. The Jaybird Tarah have a well-balanced sound profile overall. By default, they deliver impressively accurate bass and mids, though their treble response is slightly uneven. They're also compatible with the Jaybird MySound app, which gives you access to a parametric EQ if you want to adjust the sound profile to your liking.
- Parametric EQ in companion app.
- Well-balanced default sound profile.
- Small soundstage.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are good for commuting. Their noise isolation performance is satisfactory overall, though they struggle to block out sounds like bus and plane engines. They barely leak any audio, so you can drown out the background noise by raising your volume without bothering people around you. The in-ear fit is comfortable enough for short trips but may become a little fatiguing during longer listening sessions. On the upside, you can easily keep them on you, thanks to the portable design.
- Decent passive noise isolation and low audio leakage.
- Sturdy build quality.
- Short continuous battery life.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are great for sports. They're very stable and have a shallow fit that lets your ears breathe. Their control scheme is slightly lacking in functionality but makes up for it in ease of use, so you can adjust without disrupting your pace. Their wireless design also reduces the risk of getting a wire snagging on something and pulling the headphones out of your ears. Unfortunately, their all-in-one design makes their fit less adjustable than headphones that come with separate stability hooks and tips.
- Stable design.
- Sturdy build quality.
- Ear tips don't provide a wide range of adjustability.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are satisfactory for office usage. They're effective at reducing the volume of background chatter and barely leak any audio, meaning that you can listen to your music at high volumes without annoying nearby coworkers. They also support multi-device pairing, which is handy if you tend to swap between listening to content on your phone and computer. However, their in-ear fit may not suit everybody, and their battery life is too short to last you for a whole day.
- Decent passive noise isolation and low audio leakage.
- Multi-device pairing.
- High wireless latency.
- Short continuous battery life.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless aren't suitable for wireless gaming due to their high audio latency on PC. They also can't connect to PS4 and Xbox One consoles.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are Bluetooth-only, and you can't use them with a wired connection.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are okay for phone calls. Their in-line mic makes your voice sound fairly natural, if a little thin and muffled. People on the other end of the line will struggle slightly to understand you if you call from a noisy or crowded environment. That said, they do a decent job of blocking out ambient noise.
- Decent passive noise isolation and low audio leakage.
- Mediocre microphone noise handling capabilities.
Changelog
- Updated Aug 13, 2020: Updated review for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Mar 18, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
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Compared To Other Headphones
The Jaybird Tarah are great for sports, but they're also versatile enough for everyday use. They deliver a reasonably well-balanced listening experience by default and are compatible with the MySound companion app, which offers an EQ to customize their sound profile to your liking. They're very similar to the Jaybird X4 Wireless, though with earbud-like tips that don’t enter your ear canal as deeply. However, they don’t have as many fit options since the tips and stability fins are one unit. They also come with a proprietary charging cradle, which is somewhat restrictive if you lose or damage it.
If you're looking for more options, see our recommendations for the best budget earbuds, the best Bluetooth earbuds under $100, the best cheap wireless earbuds, and the best budget wireless headphones.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are slightly better sports headphones than the Jaybird X3 Wireless. The Tarah have a shallower, more comfortable in-ear fit and a higher IPX7 rating for water resistance. They also have a marginally better-balanced default sound profile, but both can be adjusted via a parametric EQ within the Jaybird MySound app. If wireless range is a concern for you, the Tarah are superior. On the other hand, the X3 have better noise isolation, slightly longer continuous battery life, and lower latency, but neither is well-suited for watching video content.
The Jaybird X4 Wireless and Jaybird Tarah Wireless are very similar headphones, but the X4 have a slight edge. The X4 have a slightly longer continuous battery life, a more adjustable fit, and come with a soft pouch. On the other hand, the Tarah have a better wireless range. The X4 also have an in-line remote that doesn't feel as cheap as the Tarah’s.
The Jaybird Tarah Pro Wireless are an upgrade over the normal Jaybird Tarah Wireless model. The main difference is battery life, as the Tarah Pro lasts twice as long on a single charge. The Tarah Pro have rotating and magnetic buds and a braided cable. They also have much lower latency, which is good for watching videos. On the other hand, if you only use these for workouts and don’t necessarily need long battery life, the less expensive Tarah model could be a better option.
The Jaybird Tarah Wireless are better headphones than the Jaybird Freedom 2 Wireless 2017 in most respects. The Tarah have a better-balanced sound profile, longer continuous battery life, leak less audio, and a longer wireless range. They're also rated IPX7 for water resistance. On the other hand, the Freedom 2 are more comfortable.
Test Results
The Jaybird Tarah have a similar design to the Jaybird X-series headphones, with slight differences. The in-line remote is thinner than the Jaybird X4 Wireless and Jaybird X3 Wireless with flat buttons. Their overall style is sporty but subdued, with the only available color schemes being black or gray, though there's a splash of color thanks to flashy accents on the earbuds.
These are decently comfortable headphones. The earbud-like tips don’t enter the ear canal very deeply, making them a bit more comfortable than most in-ears. However, the ear tips and the stability fins are combined into one unit called 'eargels'. They offer a smaller range of adjustability than if the two parts had been kept separate, since you can’t mix and match different tip and fin sizes. For in-ears with a more comfortable fit, check out the Creative Outlier Air V2 True Wireless.
The Jaybird Tarah have reasonable in-line controls. It offers the same functionality as the previous Jaybird X4 Wireless and Jaybird X3 Wireless, but with slight design changes. The remote is thinner, and the buttons are bigger but protrude less. The buttons provide a bit less feedback, but the remote is still easy to use.
Like most in-ears, these are outstandingly breathable headphones. They shouldn't make you sweat more while wearing them since no heat is trapped.
The Jaybird Tarah are impressive portable wireless headphones. They can easily fit in your pockets or a bag. They don't come with a small pouch like the Jaybird X4 Wireless or a soft case like the Plantronics BackBeat Fit Wireless.
The Jaybird Tarah's build quality is good. The headphones are dense and should survive a couple of small bumps and drops without a problem. However, their in-line remote feels cheaper than the Jaybird X4 Wireless and the Jaybird Tarah Pro Wireless. They're also rated IPX7 for water resistance.
These headphones are impressively stable. Their in-ear fit is shallow but secure enough to hold the buds in place, even during intense workout sessions. Unfortunately, they only come with three fit options due to the combination of the ear tips and the stability fins into one unit. Their wireless design also eliminates the hazard of a long audio cable getting hooked on something and yanking the buds out of your ears. You can also use the cable cinch to get a tighter fit behind your head.
The Jaybird Tarah have a well-balanced default sound profile. Aside from an uneven treble that slightly dulls the finer edges of some tracks and a little boominess in the bass range, these headphones should be versatile enough for most musical genres. Still, if you don't like the way they sound out of the box, you can customize their sound profile in depth via a parametric EQ in the Jaybird MySound companion app.
The Jaybird Tarah have superb frequency response consistency. If you can achieve a proper fit with the included ear tips, you should be able to get consistent bass and treble delivery every time you wear them.
The Jaybird Tarah's bass accuracy is excellent. It's fairly flat across the range, though a slight bump in the high-bass range generates a little boominess. Otherwise, your music should have an appropriate amount of thump and rumble without overwhelming more delicate instrumentals.
The Jaybird Tarah have amazing mid accuracy. The overall mid-range response is even and well-balanced, which is important for the clear and well-balanced reproduction of vocals and instruments. However, a dip in the mid-mid range slightly pushes vocals and lead instruments toward the back of the mix.
Their treble accuracy is decent. Low-treble is underemphasized overall, resulting in a slight lack of clarity in vocals and lead instruments. Mid-treble, meanwhile, is a little uneven, making some S and T sound too sharp and some others a bit lacking.
These headphones deliver satisfactory peaks and dips performance. There aren't too many sudden spikes or dips, though a bump in the high-bass range makes some mixes sound muddy while the following dip in the mid-mid range pushes vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. A sharp spike in the mid-treble range makes some sibilants a tad piercing and overly bright.
The Jaybird Tarah's stereo imaging is fantastic. Their weighted group delay is well below our audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our test unit are very well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase response. This is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo image. Note that these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.
These headphones have a terrible passive soundstage. Their closed-back design and lack of interaction with the outer ear create a soundstage that isn't nearly as open as open-back earbuds like the Apple AirPods (2nd generation) Truly Wireless or the Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless.
These headphones don't have any virtual soundstage features.
The Jaybird Tarah's weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. There are a couple of spikes throughout the bass and treble ranges at moderate and high volume, but the rest of the frequency spectrum falls within acceptable limits, which should result in mostly clean and pure audio reproduction.
These are the settings used to test the Jaybird Tarah. Our results are only valid when you use the headphones in this configuration.
These in-ears do a decent job of blocking out ambient noise passively. They can reduce the volume of ambient speech quite a bit but struggle when it comes to lower-pitched sounds like bus engines and construction equipment. Thankfully, they're also reasonably effective at isolating you from noise in the treble range, like AC units.
Their leakage performance is remarkable. They barely leak any audio, so you can listen to your music at fairly high volumes without worrying about disrupting people nearby, even in a fairly quiet environment.
These in-ears have an in-line microphone.
The Jaybird Tarah's in-line mic provides satisfactory recording quality. Your voice should sound fairly natural but somewhat thin and lacking in detail to those on the other end of the line.
Their in-line microphone has mediocre noise handling capabilities. Those on the other end of the line will have difficulty understanding you if you're calling from an especially loud or crowded environment.
The Jaybird Tarah have mediocre battery life. They provide about six hours of continuous playback on a nearly two-hour charge. They also have a quick-charge feature advertised to give you 1 hour of playback for 10 minutes of charging. However, battery performance can vary with real-life use, so your experience may vary. Unfortunately, the proprietary charging cradle can get annoying since you always need it if you want to charge the headphones instead of finding a more universal and common charging cable.
The Jaybird Tarah are compatible with the MySound app, which offers an impressive array of customization options, including a parametric EQ. It also lets you access sound profiles created and shared by other Jaybird owners. The app doesn’t offer room effects but has an integrated Spotify in-app player for Premium accounts. The app also allows you to remap the function of the multi-purpose button, customize the headphones' audio cues, and change the length of the auto-off timer.
The Jaybird Tarah have great Bluetooth connectivity. They support Bluetooth version 5.0 and can pair with two devices, which is helpful if you often switch between your computer and your phone. They don't have NFC for easier and quicker pairing, but their Bluetooth pairing procedure is fairly simple. Unfortunately, their latency across all devices is slightly too high for them to be considered suitable for watching movies or playing video games. That said, apps compensate for this lag with differing levels of efficacy, so your experience in the real world may vary.
These headphones are Bluetooth-only.
The Jaybird Tarah are wireless headphones and you can't use them with a wired connection, though they do come with a proprietary charging cradle.
These headphones aren't compatible with PS4 consoles. While they can connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs, their latency is too high for them to be considered suitable for gaming.
