Jabra Move Style Edition Review

Danish audio brand Jabra may be best known for its expensive professional and consumer audio headsets, but the company also sells a variety of affordable headphones and earphones, including the Jabra Elite 25e and Jabra Move. The latter has been one of the most popular affordable on-ear wireless options available, and we now have a new and improved version of it.

Priced at Rs. 7,299, the Jabra Move Style Edition is a step up from its predecessor. The new headphones feature a larger battery and improved colour options. We've tested the Jabra Move Style Edition, and here's what we think about this new pair of entry-level wireless on-ear headphones.

Jabra Move Style Edition design and specifications

If you're familiar with the Jabra Move headphones, the Style Edition looks identical. However, the Style Edition is available in new colour options — titanium black, gold beige, and navy blue. The headset features an on-ear design, with a metal frame and soft padding on the ear cups and headband. The matte finish on our titanium black variant looked excellent in our opinion, and gave the headset a premium feel.

The right ear cup of the Jabra Move Style Edition has the power switch and a Micro-USB port for charging, while the left has the volume and playback controls, and a 3.5mm socket for wired connectivity. The power switch has indicator lights for Bluetooth and battery status. We found the controls easy to use, and convenient. There is also a small microphone on the right ear cup for hands-free functionality.

The Jabra Move Style Edition headphones have an on-ear design, but aren't very large and just barely covered our ears. The snug fit was a bit of a problem for us when wearing spectacles; the tight clamping started to hurt a bit around our the ears, and our spectacle arms were pressed against the sides of our head. Without spectacles, the fit was fine, although we did need to give our ears a breather every 30 minutes or so.

The sales package of the Jabra Move Style Edition includes a Micro-USB charging cable and a 3.5mm cable for wired audio input, along with user manuals.

We were able to get around 13 hours of use from a full charge of the battery; close to the company's claimed figure of 14 hours. The headset only supports the SBC Bluetooth codec, which is disappointing given that similarly priced wireless options such as the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2 and Blaupunkt BTW01 have wider codec support.

Jabra Move Style Edition performance

We've usually had good experiences with wireless headphones from Jabra, so we were looking forward to good sound quality from the Jabra Move Style Edition as well. This is a value product from the Danish headphone manufacturer, and is one of the most affordable on-ear headsets from a major global company in India. While sound quality was decent, it wasn't quite as good as we've experienced with the now-similarly-priced Sennheiser HD4.40BT.

The sonic signature wasn't the typical V-shaped one we tend to hear from reasonably priced headphones. The Jabra Move Style Edition has stronger mid-range response than we're used to. However, the lows and highs did also still have elevated responses, making for a sonic signature that was unique and enjoyable, but not necessarily ideal for most music genres.

Listening to Kaskade's I Feel Like, it started out clean and sharp, and the heightened mid-range responses were enjoyable. The lows had a satisfactory sense of tightness and attack, while the highs had an enjoyable sparkle to them. However, the sound lacked excitement and drive, feeling a bit sluggish and dull on the whole. Turning the volume up did make things a bit better for the lows and highs, but made the sharpness of the mids a bit fatiguing.

Next, we played Grand Theft's All The Way Up, which once again sounded good until the fatigue from the mid-range kicked in. The track did however reveal the open, wide nature of the sound from the Jabra Move Style Edition. Moving on to the much more aggressive Montserrat by WhoMadeWho with the volume close to maximum, the headphones sounded much more engaging and involving. We also noticed that the sound changed significantly as we adjusted the headphones on our ears, and unfortunately, the best performance came from an uncomfortable wearing position.

The Jabra Move Style Edition can be used as a wired headset with the 3.5mm cable included in the box. Sound quality was largely the same over Bluetooth and wired connectivity; keeping the wire with you might come in handy for those times when the battery runs out and you don't have easy access to a charger. Sound quality is also decent for dialogue when watching videos or movies on a smartphone.

Jabra's expertise in the field of office and business-use headsets is evident on the Move Style Edition; the headphones were decent for voice calls, with clear sound on both ends. The microphone does a good job, and the elevated mid-range comes in handy, making voices sound loud and clear.

Verdict
The Jabra Move Style Edition brings few changes compared to the original Jabra Move, with a bigger battery and new colour options being the only tweaks. The battery life improvement is a significant one, bringing this pair of headphones up to date with current standards for battery life in the category of wireless headphones priced below Rs. 10,000. However, the fit, comfort, and sound leave a bit to be desired at this price, especially considering the quality of competing products such as the Sennheiser HD4.40BT and the newly launched OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2.

Perhaps the best reason to pick up the Jabra Move Style Edition would be if you intend to use the headset for a lot of voice calls — call quality is excellent, as is sound when watching videos, TV shows, and movies. If you're looking for music-focused wireless headphones, the Jabra isn't a bad option, but certainly isn't the best you can buy at the price.

Price: Rs. 7,299

Pros

• Good looks
• Easy-to-use controls
• Good for voice calls
• Clean, wide sound for the price

Cons

• Fatiguing mid-range
• Uncomfortable when wearing spectacles
• Only SBC Bluetooth codec supported
• Sound is somewhat dull at times

Ratings (out of 5)

• Design/ comfort: 3.5
• Audio quality: 3
• Battery life: 3.5
• Value for money: 3
• Overall: 3

Which are the best budget Bluetooth earphones and headphones in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.