Usage and Performance
First off a disclaimer. I am not an audiophile. If you are an audiophile, I’d love to know why you’re looking at a small, $50, portable speaker.
I first tested the unit by plugging it into my MP3 player. Not surprisingly there were no issues at all between the two. This is the root of the claim that it’s compatible with Pretty Much Everything. It really is, too.
The sound quality is interesting, if you’re standing over the Jam or have it aimed at you the high range is rather accentuated, while the mid range disappears somewhat. If you plop it on the table and back up a couple feet, it really sounds quite good. Obviously a <2.5″ speaker isn’t going to have earth shaking bass, but the bass sounds good.
Next on the list for testing was Bluetooth. I have some cheap ($3…) Bluetooth adapters I got off eBay. Two Windows 7 computers I tested were willing to link up with the Jam, but neither was willing to actually play audio on it.
I suspect this has more to do with overly cheap Bluetooth adapters than the Jam. Some looking around the Internet points out that BT audio on Windows 7 is a questionable arrangement in the first place. Plugging it in with a cord worked perfectly.
I also linked it to an iPod Touch 3G, the linking process was 100% pain free and the sound quality was equal to using a cord.
I found the indoor range to be quite good, over 50′ with minimal walls involved. I did some testing outside as well, leaving the iPod inside. 30′ through a steel and wood wall was about all I got, and if I held the Jam with the speaker between the BT antenna and the iPod the range was about 5′ shorter. All told I was impressed with the range. Actually I was impressed by the whole thing when you get down to it. Also nice is that when I came back within range the iPod and the Jam re-sync’d immediately and continued playing, no issues.
The manual says a full charge takes 3 hours and you get 4 hours of Bluetooth sound, that’s not the worlds greatest ratio. Corded audio is rated at 12 hours, which is much better.
If you set the volume of the Jam high enough you’ll get a bit of soft static, as with almost anything that has an analog input. There’s minimal reason to crank the volume that high unless it’s a noisy environment, at which point you won’t hear the soft hiss anyway.
When you do crank the volume the Jam gets quite loud, I was surprised. You can easily hear it, with decent sound quality, from 50′ away through a house.
When plugged in charging, the battery LED shows red when it is charging and green when it is fully charged.
I did a AUX port battery test, with medium volume the Jam played nonstop for over 24 hours with no change in sound and no low battery indicator. Impressive!
I also took it out into the woods for some outdoors Bluetooth testing. This it didn’t appreciate as much. While the sound quality was excellent and carried quite well, the range was seriously limited by the wet redwood forest terrain. Rather than 30-40′ I got between 5′ and 25′ depending on the specific conditions. That said, this is not advertised as an outdoor speaker.
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