Jaybird Freedom F5 Wireless 2016 Headphones Review

The Jaybird F5 have a sleeker form factor than the older Jaybird models. The earbuds are smaller and thinner than that of the X3 or X2 since a lot of the electronics was redistributed to the inline remote. Unfortunately, this also makes the in-line remote significantly thicker than the other Jaybird headphones. Overall though they have an understated look that will work for most but also come in brighter color schemes to suit your tastes and preferences.

The Jaybird Freedom are very lightweight in-ear headphones that come with multiple tip sizes to help you find a good fit. They also include foam tips in the box that are a bit more comfortable than the regular silicone tips. However, finding the right fit can take some time and they get a bit tiring after wearing them for a while. If you don't like the fit of in-ears, then some of the same issues will be present with these ones.

The Jaybird Freedom's control scheme is efficient and straightforward. They provide the essential functions; call/music, track skipping, and volume controls. The inline remote is not as wide or as responsive as that of the Jaybird X3, but it's simple and easy-to-use.

The Jaybird F5 very breathable headphones. The earbuds are smaller than most in-ears and barely make contact with any part of your ear except when the stability fins are attached. However, even with the stability fins on, they do not cause a big difference in temperature. They trap a little heat within the ear canal but it's negligible and should not make you sweat more than average, which is good for sports.

The Jaybird Freedom F5 are one of most portable Jaybird headphones that we've tested so far. Their earbud design is much thinner than the X3 or the X2, but they have a slightly thicker in-line remote. Unfortunately, if you include the charging accessory, they become less portable, but you most likely won't keep the charging dongle docked when using the headphones.

These headphones come with a carrying pouch that will protect the headphones from scratches and minor water exposure. However, unlike the X2, it's not a solid case, so it won't shield your headphones against impacts or drops. On the upside, this pouch doesn't add much bulk to the headphones, which makes it easy to carry on you at all times.

The Jaybird Freedom are well-built and decently sturdy headphones. The earbuds are lightweight and made of a tough plastic that won't easily break even after multiple drops. However the inline remote feels a bit cheap, and the cable is not as durable as that of the X2 or the X3. Also, some users have experienced issues with the sweat-resistant design when the charging clip is connected. This means they're more likely to get damaged if used while charging.

These headphones are quite stable. They're lightweight, wireless and don't move much once in your ear, provided you get the right fit. This makes them suitable headphones to use at the gym, especially if you use both the foam and wingtips. You can also use the cable management units in the box and make the cable pass behind your ears to further increase their stability if needed.

• Jaybird Freedom Headphones
• Earbud tips (x6 sizes)
• Stability tips (x4 sizes)
• USB charging cable
• Carrying pouch

The bass and treble delivery of the Jaybird F5 is very consistent. However, this is assuming the user is able to achieve an air-tight fit and seal using the assortment of the tips that come with the headphones. But, if a proper seal is not achieved, there could be a big drop in the amount of bass that is generated by these in-ears.

The bass of the Jaybird Freedom is very good. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is great for bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop. Low-bass and mid-bass are also virtually flat, indicating a good balance between thump and punch for the bass and kick instruments. The overemphasis in high-bass, however, will be noticeable as it will make the bass sound a bit boomy.

Very good mid-range. The bump in low-mid, which is the continuation of the high-bass overemphasis, makes the vocals a bit thick and mixes a bit cluttered. The dip surrounding 800Hz will push the vocals/leads to the back of the mix. However, at about 3dB, these effects will be subtle.

The treble is very good. Low-Treble is a bit inconsistent. The dip surrounding 5KHz hurts the clarity and detail of vocals/leads slightly. They also show a bit of a bump in the sibilance range, but not as bad as the X3 or the Run. However, this could be within the margin of variance for our test unit, and the one you buy may match the X3 and the Run perfectly.

The stereo imaging is great. Their weighted group delay is at 0.11, which is among the lowest we have measured. The group delay graph also shows that the entire response 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 were decently matched. This is important for accurate placement and localization of objects, such as footsteps and instruments, in the stereo field.

The soundstage of the Jaybird Freedom, like most other in-ears, is poor. This is because to create a large and out-of-head soundstage, the headphones need to activate the resonances of the pinna (outer ear). However, since in-ears bypass the pinna and are inserted directly in the ear-canal, their soundstage will be perceived as small and located inside the listener's head. Also, because of the high isolation, these in-ears won't sound as open and spacious as open earbuds such as the Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless and Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless.

The Jaybird F5 provide a good passive isolation. In the bass range, where the rumble of airplane and bus engines sit, they achieve about 8dB of isolation similar to the X3, Run, and BeatsX. Although this is below-average, it is still quite impressive for a passive in-ear. In the mid range, which is important for isolating speech, these in-ears are able to achieve a good 18dB of isolation. In the treble range, which is occupied by sharp S and T sounds, they attenuate outside noise by 40dB, which is excellent.

The leakage performance is excellent. These in-ears do not leak below 1KHz, which is great. The significant portion of the leakage is around 3KHz, which is very narrow range. The level of the leakage is very low too. Overall, the leakage of these headphones won't be noticeable to people around you, unless you are blasting your music and are in a very quiet environment. And even in that situation, the sound leaking out the headphones will be very thin.

The performance of the Jaybird Freedom's integrated microphone is mediocre. Voice recorded/transmitted with their mic will sound noticeably thin and muffled. However, speech would still be easily understandable in quiet environments. In noisy situations however, they to struggle to separate speech from ambient noise, even in moderately loud environments such as a busy street.

The recording quality of the mic is mediocre. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 330Hz indicates a voice that sounds thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 3.5KHz results in a speech that is noticeably muffled and lacking presence. However, this doesn't have a big negative effect on the speech intelligibility, since that is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-3KHz range.

The mic is mediocre at noise handling. In our test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 15dB, which is below average. This suggests that they are best suited for quiet environments and may struggle in moderate and loud places.

The battery life of the Jaybird F5 is just above 4 hours. They also charge relatively fast, 20 mins of charging giving you up to 1 hours of listening. Charging clip also adds another 4 hours to the battery life which makes the battery performance slightly better than that of the X3 as long as you don't mind having the somewhat bulky dongle dangling from the inline remote. On the upside, you can charge them with the charging clip while using them although they will briefly shut off for safety purposes. If the charging clip system is a deal breaker for you then maybe consider the Anker Soundcore Spirit X or Aukey Latitude for their longer continuous battery life and easy to use microUSB port.

Update: 05/03/2019: We've updated the review since we had previously listed the Jaybird app as not having an in-app player, but it has an integrated one for Spotify Premium users.

Update: 08/03/2019: We've updated the app score of the Jaybird MySound app to reflect the customization level of their Equalizer. Unlike most phone apps, they have a parametric EQ compared to a typical 5-band graphic one.

These headphones do not support NFC but they're fairly easy to pair with most Bluetooth devices and have multi-point pairing so you can easily switch between Bluetooth sources once paired.

The Jaybird Freedom have quite a bit of latency which will be noticeable when watching videos. It's not more than most typical Bluetooth headphones but it won't be ideal for gaming and watching movies.

The Jaybird Freedom have no wired option. If you want a good sounding wired in-ear, then check the 1More Triple Driver In-Ear.

These headphones do not have a dock. If you want a headphone that's versatile and has a dock, try the SteelSeries Arctis 7. However, they won't be as portable or as suitable for sports as the Jaybird F5.