REVIEW: JBL Quantum 100 Wired Headphones

I decided to treat myself to some new headphones, I like over-ear headphones and I found these JBL Quantum 100 headphones in WH Smiths while looking for a birthday card. They were the last ones they had, as apparently people kept stealing them, they took the last ones out of their box and put them safe behind the counter. Anyway, I checked online for reviews and price comparisons and they seem to get decent reviews and are about £30 everywhere I looked. I could also have bought them from Amazon but they were there in front of me at the same price, and it's easier to take them back to a bricks and mortar shop if I need to. I was the only customer in the shop so I had plenty of time to decide and check them out to see if they looked OK before I bought them. 

The first thing that struck me about these headphones is how soft the ear pads feel and also how light they are. They are very light and comfortable to wear, even for extended periods of time. In the box next to the headphones there's a detachable mic, which I like because it's something I rarely use. Also in the box is a Quick Start Guide and Warranty. 

Sound

The Quantums have a decent sound for their price, for a budget pair of headphones, I gave them my usual headphone test of playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" album through them. Speak To Me/Breathe sounded great, plenty of bass oomph to them without being too much. 

There's a little twist wheel volume control and mic on/off switch on the left hand side and the detachable microphone but it's only useful if you are using it with a device that can use the 3.5mm socket with 3 contacts (left, right and mic). 

Issues?

My only real niggle with these headphones so far is the lead only just reaches my computer from my chair, so leaning back just a few inches ends up yanking them out.  Not too keen on the angled plug either, it's not right angle, and not straight, seems designed more for mobile phone use rather than PC/gaming use. A 3.5mm socket to jack lead can extend the lead so that alleviates that issue. Also it would better for PC use if it had a seperate 3.5mm jack for the  microphone. And of course I would need a 3.5mm extension lead with the 3 pins too. They also seem to be a little too quiet when used with my phone and my desktop PC. I have the volume set to 100% on my phone and they're at an acceptable volume. On my desktop I have the volume control in Linux boosting the volume to over 100% to get an acceptable volume. It's probably not helped by me being a bit deaf but still I prefer a little head room on the volume front.   

Conclusion

Overall, I am quite pleased with these JBL Quantum 100s, they have decent sound quality for the money, and they're comfortable, fitting over my ears nicely, with soft pads on them. The slightly too short cable is my only real criticism of these headphones, clearly aimed at mobile phone usage than desktop usage, oh and they could be a bit louder too.  Hopefully they will last a while, I'll just have to see how durable these are, and I'll update this post again once I have had them awhile.  

Moto Mods... Add-Ons For The Motorola Moto Z Range

I have just bought a Motorola Moto Z Play (first gen 2016 model) and one thing that grabbed my interest were Moto Mods. The back of the Moto Z range is flat with a 16 pin connector which enables a range of accessories to be added to the back of the phone via a magnet.

There was a huge buzz around upgradeable phones in the middle of this decade, with Google taking the limelight with its Project Ara modular upgradeable phone. Others jumped on this and Motorola came out with Moto Mods.

There are a range of different mods covering a variety of features.

You have a simple back cover, which protects the pin connector and gives your phone a different look and a newer version which includes wireless charging.

There are three additional batteries, the Power Pack and the Turbo PowerPack as well the incipio OffGRID Power Pack which includes wireless charging.

You have two camera mods. The Moto 360 camera is a full HD 360 degree camera and the HasselBlad True Zoom, an optical zoom camera.

The JBL SoundBoost and SoundBoost 2 add stereo speakers to the back of your phone and drastically increase the sound quality, both include a kickstand too.

The Insta-Share Projector turns your Moto Z into a screen projector so you can share and watch your phones screen on a wall. Interesting.

Three new mods which I didn’t know about until recently are an instant Polaroid Printer (yes, a mini printer mounted to the back of your phone), a Alexa smart speaker and a gamepad which turns your phone in to a portable gaming machine with physical buttons.

You have to applaud Motorola for not only breaking the mould and creating a unique take on expanding your smartphone, but also for keeping it compatible with any of the Moto Z range including the Z Play and Z Force range and covering the oldest to the newest release.

However the downside to these mods are the price. While the simple Style Shell wont set you back too much, some of the fancier Moto Mods can end up costing over £100.

Some of them interest me and if I could find some second hand ones at a good price I probably would grab a battery pack or a speaker.

Its a fun and innovative idea and if you have a Moto Z and upgrade to a Moto Z4 all your existing Moto Mods will work which is a great idea, but it hasn’t really taken off as well as it should have done.

Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal