Jabra is back with the Jabra Sports Pulse Special Edition, these revolutionary wireless earphone capable of heart-rate monitoring has received some nifty upgrades. The top-of-the-line earphones from Jabra is built with the needs of athletes in mind. These bluetooth audio devices seek to deliver you the perfect workout by not only supplying you with your favourite jams during your run, but also real-time feedback on your heart rate to ensure you stay in the optimal training zone. These comfortable and powerful audio devices are in my opinion, Jabra’s masterpiece. The only beef I have with these earphones are its price. At S$258, I wouldn’t say they are exorbitant, but they are quite expensive.
Design
The Sports Pulse Special Edition retains a similar design to the original Sports Pulse. The black and yellow design exudes a striking style most athletes will be able to appreciate.
The earphones, just like the Sports Coach Special Edition, has received the additional memory foam eartips upgrade, which I absolutely loved. These memory foam eartips squeeze through your ear canals like normal silicone tips, but expand to fill and fit the grooves of your ear canal to give you a comfortable and precise fit. The only issue with these memory foam tips is the fact that they may retain your ear wax, and it has proven hard to clean the ear wax off these tips.
Taken by Zayne Seah
The silicone tips are decent, but they weren’t as comfortable and in fact a little hard, so using them for prolonged durations do cause a little bit of aches.
The ear wings that came in 3 different sizes also helped tremendously with getting the earbuds to stick in my ears, even through the most intensive and explosive workouts. They have yet to fall out of my ears during a workout in these few days of usage.
Taken by Zayne Seah
Comfort and fit is really impressive, just like the Sports Coach, they are one of the best fitting earphones I have ever used and noise isolation as a result, is near flawless.
Underneath one of the earwings also hold the micro-USB you can use for charging. For Sports Pulse can go around 5 hours on a single charge like its brethren the Sports Coach, which is pretty average, but I expected better given its price.
There is also a remote control found on the Jabra Sports Pulse Special Edition so you can go hands-free and control your volume and playback with the control, and just like the one on the Sports Coach, it’s light and doesn’t hinder your workout in the slightest bit.
Heart-Rate Monitoring
The highlight of these earphones, the Jabra Sports Pulse Special Edition comes armed with a highly-accurate biometric heart-rate sensor that gives you constant feedback on whether you are in your training zone as you go on your cross-country adventures or cycling trails. These earphones are great as a workout companion since heart-rate monitoring doesn’t just help keep you working towards your goals, but helps you get a better idea of the number of calories you are burning per session. Comparing these to chest-strap monitors proved to be fairly consistent, which is more than I can say for wrist-based optical-based heart-rate monitors.
Audio Quality
Taken by Zayne Seah
Music sounds great with these earphones, partially due to their excellent noise isolation capabilities.
The Jabra Sport Pulse Special Editions actually sound quite well-balanced, capable of carrying themselves across all genres of music. The bass is punchy, but not overpowering, making EDM and rock music sound great because the heavy thumping doesn’t interfere with the crisp mids and highs. Overall musical reproduction was good too, and the maximum volume was definitely loud enough even in a gym.
In fact the noise isolation capabilities were so good I would be hesitant to use them for biking or running on the streets since they turn you oblivious to your surroundings.
Verdict
Taken by Zayne Seah
I loved the Sports Pulse Special Edition. I don’t think they were a huge upgrade from the older Sports Pulse, but I love them nonetheless. Compared to the similarly priced Jaybird Freedoms, they provide a better fit and better fitness tracking capabilities. Audio quality is comparable and the design, well, that’s a matter of personal preference. For $258, the Jabra Sports Pulse Special Edition is fantastic, but the hefty price tag might be a deterrent for the average user. Hence, only serious athletes who need the heart-rate monitoring capabilities should grab it, if not, getting the Sports Coach Special Edition might make more sense.
About the Aut
hor
A Dentist-To-Be Dabbling in Tech Journalism:
Zayne is a writer who reports for VR-Zone, Stuff Singapore and The New Paper on all things tech-related. Follow this geek on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!
