Jaybird Vista
The Jaybird Vistas are true wireless earbuds for athletes, with a secure fit that won’t budge even when you start to kick like Mo Farah, alongside IPX7 water- and sweat-proofing. Even if the worst happens and one earphone escapes your grasp before you manage to put it in, the Vistas are crushproof so should survive the fall and any trampling. Sure enough, they feel durable in our hands.
Featuring all-new 6mm drivers, the Vistas will give you six hours of playback on a full charge, plus an additional 10 hours from the charging case. A single-earbud mode means that if you switch periodically from right to left you could potentially get 32 hours out of them, though that seems a little desperate. Jaybird claims a quick five-minute ‘super-charge’ will give you an hour’s playback.
All sound analysis is secondary, of course, if a pair of athletic in-ears cannot achieve a decent fit. The tips that come pre-fitted with the Vistas are perfect for us. The units are comfortable to wear, relatively cool, streamlined and do not budge as we pound the pavement.
We cue up our running playlist on Qobuz, and first up is Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. We switch our EQ preset to ‘Flat’, with no optional
EQ alterations, thus enabling like for like musical comparison.
Freddie Mercury’s voice goes down through an easily handled and meaty bass right up to a highly likeable treble. The high hat plays around our right ear beautifully as Brian May’s vocal comes in.
The Vistas time as well as any runner’s pacer app. There’s a fair dollop of detail on offer – we easily hear Freddie utter “all right” during May’s instrumental electric guitar section. There’s no shortage of excitement and clout; the Vistas are punchy, perky performers.
Play Edwin Starr’s War and we notice a marginal deficiency in detail – the saxophones aren’t as full or detailed as they are via Cambridge’s Melomania 1s. It’s a small issue, because the Vistas provide a pleasing, musical sound overall. There’s no shortfall in stereo imaging in the soundfield; the initial drum-fill moves just as decisively from our left ear into both – there’s just a fraction more detail dug up by the Cambridges.
If you’re tired of your earphones slowly falling out of your ears when out running, the Vistas are a great solution. The sound isn’t the very best at this price, but the fit is among the best we’ve tested. This is a frontrunner in the niche, true wireless sport category.