Fiio is back with another product from Jade Audio. This time, we’re looking at an affordable pair of over-ear headphones that are tuned for both music and gaming and even include a built-in mic! At only $69.99, they’re reasonably priced, super comfortable, and worth considering for the bass-lover on your holiday shopping list.
Specifications
Current Price: $69.99 (AliExpress, Amazon)
Fiio x Jade Audio JT1 - Design and Features
The Fiio x Jade Audio JT1 is an over-ear pair of dynamic driver headphones. They’re designed with comfort in mind but also durability with a metal frame and yokes. Despite weighing 355 grams, which are medium weight for a headphone in this class, it feels remarkably light on the head due to its suspension headband design and extra-soft leatherette ear cushions.
The headphones come in a cardboard box with a stealthy picture on the front and bold red lettering. Inside, you get the headphones themselves. A braided detachable cable (dual 3.5mm to each earcup and 3.5mm to your source) with a 6.35mm adapter, and a fabric travel bag. The bag doesn’t offer much protection but will keep the headphones clear of dust when they’re put away.
The headphones have a stylish look to them with black earcups and brushed aluminum silver for the frame. The earcups also have patterned grilles, cut in a diamond pattern. Don’t let that fool you, though: these are closed back headphones. They isolate sound well and don’t bleed what you’re listening to out on your neighbors very much at all. They’re a good fit for listening or gaming when you have other people around.
One of the keys to their comfort is the suspension headband design. Underneath the metal frame, the part that touches your head is made of soft leatherette. It’s hung on two elastic bands and automatically adjusts to fit your head and distribute its weight. It’s a proven design but usually one reserved for higher price points. It works wonders here.
The ear cushions are also very nice. They don’t get exceptionally warm either, despite this being a closed back. I do wish the headphones could pivot to rest around your neck, but they only support angling to match the shape of your face. It’s not a big deal, really, since breaks will only be necessary in rare circumstances but is something I would hope to see in a future version. If you do want to change them, they simply twist off to reveal the driver inside.
Inside the earcups, the listening experience is driven by a pair of large 50mm dynamic drivers. Slightly larger than the drivers found in many mainstream headphones (the Sony XM5, for example, is only 40mm), but driver size isn’t everything. Much more important is the material that the driver is made from and its tuning. Here, Jade Audio has opted for a composite material on the diaphragm: PEK+PU and aluminum foil, increasing its rigidity.
This matters because a driver’s rigidity directly impacts is bass response, speed, and detail in the higher registers. Faster drivers start and stop more quickly, leading to better, more realistic bass hits. More on the success of this driver in the listening sessions.
The cable is quite nice. Despite being thickly braided, it’s soft and doesn’t retain much packaging memory at all after being straightened the first time. I really like that Fiio opted for dual 3.5mm connections to each earcup because it makes upgrading and replacing the cable much easier since this is a standard connection. Should the cable ever get damaged, you can simply hop on Amazon and find a compatible replacement.
There’s also a microphone built into the cable, which is a large reason why Fiio and Jade Audio classify this as good for gaming. In truth, this is the same kind of in-line mic you would find on a pair of wired earbuds for many years and still sometimes do. It’s clarity is okay but I found that my sample had a low hum that never went away. It will work for calls and Discord, and is about on par for gaming headsets at this same price.
Fiio x Jade Audio JT1 - Listening Impressions
The Fiio x Jade Audio JT1 is out to strike a balance. It aims to sit in the middle, splitting the difference between a rich, warm, mainstream-friendly sound and the kind of detail that Fiio has built its reputation around. The end result is a u-shaped headphone that embraces powerful bass with noticeable elevation in the upper mids and treble.
The low end really is the star of the show here, but whether or not that’s a good thing will depend on your personal tastes. The bass is wide and has an elastic quality you can both hear and feel; the sub-bass extends low enough for ample rumble and is then punched in heavily in the mid-bass region. Texture and detail in the bass is only average and can have a smoothed over quality at times. This extends very close to the mids, which warms them up quite a bit.
Vocals and mid-range instruments like guitars have a smoothness to them as a result of this tuning. There’s nothing at all fatiguing in this range. Clarity and detail is diminished by the added color from the bass, however, so I find this to be less resolving than many of Fiio’s in-ear monitors. With that said, this tuning is surely going to appeal to a lot of listeners who enjoy a nice wide bottom and laid back feel to their music and games.
With that in mind, it would be a mistake to assume these headphones don’t have detail. They certainly do! The elevation in the upper mids and treble definitely enhances their clarity and restores some of the sparkle that many headphones with this style of tuning lack. They’re never bright or sharp but they do a good job of pulling back the clarity veil compared to much of the competition in this price range — and remember, it does this with exceptionally great comfort. I was able to wear these for hours and hours without any soreness whatsoever. They’re impeccably well balanced in that regard.
The soundstage is wider than I expected from a closed-back pair of headphones. They’re don’t compete with a true open-back, obviously, but they’re not congested and have solid positional stereo audio. Layering is somewhat tight, so they aren’t a technical powerhouse, but you can still discern everything that’s happening.
For gaming, they actually work quite well. The powerful bass is perfect for explosions and immersive, cinematic feel. The positional audio is also good enough that you’re not disadvantaged compared to a gaming headset, and in fact, I found that the treble boost actually enhanced some of the details I was able to hear even in chaotic gunfights in the likes of Battlefield 2042 and The Finals. With the help of Dolby Atmos for PC (or Windows Sonic), positional audio gets another boost. The clarity they offer for music and movies is also better than most gaming headsets at this price, so for a good set of PC cans they work quite well.
Final Thoughts
The Fiio x Jade Audio JT1 is a solid pair of over-ear headphones at a good price. The bass is a bit much for my personal taste and it does impact the mids, but for pop, hip-hop, and gaming, I think a lot of people will really like this tuning. Their biggest high point is their comfort: you can wear these all day and barely notice they’re there. You’ll get better performance if you spend more, even turning to Fiio’s IEMs, but if you’re looking for a good all-arounder for your PC that won’t break the bank, these are a good bet.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Some articles may contain affiliate links and purchases made through this will result in a small commission for the site. Commissions are not directed to the author or related to compensation in any way.
