Jaybird is a

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

-based consumer electronics company owned by

Logitech Logitech International S.A. ( ; often shortened to Logi) is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Newark, California. The company has offices throughout Europe, ...

. The company designs and manufactures

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

and wearable

activity trackers An activity tracker, also known as a fitness tracker, is a device or application for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It is a type of wearable comp ...

. The company is mainly known for its line of wireless

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

sports headsets. Jaybird was founded in 2006 by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

entrepreneur Judd Armstrong.

Company history

Jaybird was founded by Australian entrepreneur Judd Armstrong in 2006. An athlete himself, Armstrong was disappointed with the performance of headphones available at the time, and wanted to create a product for himself that would be sweat-resistant and non-restrictive for physical activity. Armstrong placed a few of his prototype products online for sale to recoup production cost. After receiving positive feedback from the public, he founded JayBirdGear LLC in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in 2006. The company's first Bluetooth headset, the JB100 Freedom, was launched in late 2007. In 2014, the company was listed for the first time amongst the 5 top-selling premium headphones along with Beats,

Bose Bose may refer to: * Bose (crater), a lunar crater * ''Bose'' (film), a 2004 Indian Tamil film starring Srikanth and Sneha * Bose (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name) * Bose, Italy, a ''frazioni'' in Magnano, Province of Biella ...

Sennheiser Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German privately held audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories and aviation headse ...

, and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, according to market research company

NPD Group The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966, and based in Port Washington, New York. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest mar ...

. On April 12, 2016,

acquired the company for $50 million. In August 2019, Jaybird released the first generation of “Vista” wireless Bluetooth earbuds. In 2021, Jaybird released the next iteration, “Vista 2” wireless Bluetooth earbuds. In June 2021, Jaybird debuted the release of the Vista 2 model of Bluetooth earbuds, which are fully wireless and feature active noise cancellation and what Jaybird calls "SurroundSense."

Products

*JF3 Freedom- Bluetooth headset *Bluebuds X - Bluetooth headset *X2 - Bluetooth headset *Reign - activity tracker wristband and mobile app *Freedom (2016 model) - Bluetooth headset *X3 - Bluetooth headset *Run - Bluetooth earbuds *Tarah - Bluetooth headset *X4 - Bluetooth headset * Tarah Pro - Bluetooth headset *Run XT - Bluetooth earbuds *Vista - Bluetooth earbuds *Vista 2 - Bluetooth earbuds

Reception

The company's "X2" headset model released in 2015 has been included in "Best Headphones" lists by

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

and gadget publishers such as

Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...

, and

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

. Tim Gideon, writing for ''PC Magazine'', rated the headset 4 out of 5 stars, and praised it for its "high quality audio performance," and for being "ideal for athletes who need a very secure fit for intense training." Jeff Dunn from

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

included the X2 in his list of "best headphones for working out." Dunn commented, "For the best sound from an exercise-oriented headphone that isn’t outrageously overpriced, go with the Jaybird X2." Dunn warned, however, that finding the best fit for each individual user could take time to set up as the headset is shipped with rubber buds, foam earbuds, and fins of various sizes for the user to configure to their ear size. Jaybird's fitness tracker, "Reign," released in 2014, was met with mixed reviews. Many reviewers praised its ability to determine the optimal time for a user to exercise by tracking their heart rate variability, but criticized its companion

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

lication. Slashgear reviewer Nate Swanner wrote, "Reign is just as good as anything else out there, and much better for workout enthusiasts than many. Start comparing platforms, though, and Reign has a lot of work ahead of it." In her critical review for ''PC Magazine'', author Jill Duffy surmised: "The Jaybird Reign puts unique functionality into an all-day activity tracker and mobile app, but it ignores basic features that make fitness gadgets truly usable."

References

External links

* {{Logitech Electronics companies established in 2006 Manufacturing companies based in Salt Lake City Headphones manufacturers Activity trackers Wearable devices Logitech Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States 2006 establishments in Utah 2016 mergers and acquisitions