review: JAYS q-JAYS earphones
Official Specifications
Driver: Dual Micro Armatures
Isolation: JAYS Sound Isolating System
Sensitivity: 95 dB SPL @ 1 kHz
Impedance: 39 Ohm @ 1 kHz
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20 000 Hz
Cord type: PVC coated with Kevlar filling
Cord length: 60 cm (24 in)
Cord diameter: 2/1.5 mm (0,079/0,059 in)
Weight: 8 grams (0.46 oz)
Plug: Straight, Gold-Plated Stereo Mini-Plug 3.5 mm (1/8 in)
Accessories
q-JAYS Dual Armature Earphones
I-shaped extension cord, 90 cm (~35 inch)
L-shaped extension cord, 90 cm (~35 inch)
7 Pair of Silicon Rubber Sleeves (L, 2 x M, 2 x S, XS, XXS)
1 Pair of Foam Sleeves
4 Pair of Canal Filters
Airline Stereo Adapter – for listening to in-flight entertainment systems
Stereo Splitter – Used when listening two persons to the same sound source
Leather Carrying Case
User Guide in English, Swedish, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese
Overview
q-JAYS are manufactured by JAYS, a relatively new company to the high end earphone scene. JAYS claims to have the created the world’s smallest earphone. They’ve somehow managed to cram two dual armatures into a small housing. The earphones also come in a stylish and classy package that’s packed with a lot of accessories. The q-jays are available in 4 distinct colors (black, white, maroon red, and sea blue).
Sound
Highs: The q-jays have analytical and silky sweet highs; fortunately they are not enough to cause sibilance on tracks that emphasize them.
Mids: The mids are a bit recessed and laid back, causing them to seem overshadowed by the highs on some tracks.
Lows: The bass is balanced and the quantity is sufficient but rarely felt. This can be a bit problematic with certain genres.
Comfort
The q-jays are one of the most comfortable pair of earphones I have had, they feel almost weightless when worn. The sleeves are soft and very comfortable.
Design
JAYS used a brilliant design on these earphones; they fit snugly and are very minimal. They feature a small enough profile that would be comfortable to sleep++ with. The sound isolation is good but a bit sporadic; they seem better at blocking certain frequencies than others. It’s easier to hear your fingers typing on a keyboard than it is to listen to a conversation. With the q-jays sensitivity and impedance at 95 dB SPL @ 1 kHz and 39 Ohm @ 1 kHz respectively, they prevent most hissing from mp3 players but suffer from a lower volume than other earphones.
++not recommend sleeping with for safety reasons.
Conclusion
The q-jays sound great, however at its price point of $179USD, it faces stiff competition from similarly priced and arguably better Ultimate ears Super.fi 5pro and Etymotic Er4P.
news: Java is set to be free and open source!
As recently announced, Sun Java will be free this year. “Sun makes the new OpenJDK Community TCK License available, putting the means to certify compatibility in the hands of the community, and opening the door to free, compatible Java SE implementations for GNU/Linux distributions.”(source: sun.com)
The entire source code is supposed to be free and available soon. This move should spur innovative new developments in the Linux and mobile phone field.
how to: Setup an automated system maintenance
Tired of manually cleaning temp files, defraging your harddrive, and scanning for spyware? Here’s an easy way to have all of that done automatically.
The free software you will need:
CCleaner: CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. (source: official website)
Spybot Search and Destroy: Spybot – Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. (source: official website)
Follow these steps below after you are done installing the above software.
Steps
- Allow windows Vista to create a batch file
Open my computer and select the “organize” tab, scroll down the drop down menu and select “folder and search options”.
- Create the batch file
Right click on your desktop, select “new”, and then select “Text Document”.
Rename the text document to maintenance.bat
Make sure the file ends with “.bat” and not “.txt”
Right click on the batch file and click “edit”.
Type the batch commands into the text box that opens. To create a batch file that automatically defrags your hard-drive, cleans temp files, and removes spyware use these commands.
To automatically clean temp files
“C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe” /AUTO
If ccleaner is installed in a different directory, you will have to change the command to match it.
To automatically search for and remove spyware
“C:\Program Files\Spybot – Search & Destroy \SpybotSD.exe” /taskbarhide /autoupdate /autoimmunize /autocheck /autofix /onlyspyware /autoclose
If spybot is installed in a different directory, you will have to change the commands to match it.
To defrag your hard-drive(s)
Defrag C:
You can always add more hard drives if you wish to do so
The screenshot below uses the following commands for a typical setup
You can copy and paste this into the batch file
“C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe” /AUTO
“C:\Program Files\Spybot – Search & Destroy \SpybotSD.exe” /taskbarhide /autoupdate /autoimmunize /autocheck /autofix /onlyspyware /autoclose
Defrag C:
This is what it should look like while it’s running. (the commands in the following screenshot may differ from yours).
- Setup your task scheduler.
Now that you’ve got the batch file working, you can set it up to run on schedule by placing it on your task scheduler. Don’t forget to place your newly created batch file into a permanent folder like your “documents”.
Type in “task scheduler” into your windows search box.
Create a basic task
Give your task a name and description
Set the schedule date and frequency.
Pick the day of the week that you want your batch file to run
Select “Start a Program”
Use the “browse” button to find and select the batch file
Click on the finish button and close the program.
Assuming you completed the steps successfully; you would have setup your batch file to maintain your computer automatically.
A minor annoyance with this method is that the batch file will popup and may distract you when it’s on schedule. To remedy that, we can create a shortcut to the batch file, and use that as the primary file in the task scheduler. To create a shortcut, right click on your batch file and select “create shortcut”. Right click on the shortcut and select “properties”, select the “shortcut” tab, change the drop down menu under “run”, from “normal window” to “minimized” and click “ok” to complete the process. This will force the shortcut to run while minimized.
This guide does not include other necessities in PC security such as an anti-virus and firewall; there are numerous programs that offer those services for free with built in automation. If you are curious about my preference of those applications; I use Avast anti-virus and the built in windows firewall.
how to: Force Firefox 3 to work on outdated websites.
Firefox 3 was released recently and I am sure you have run into a few websites that refuse to work properly on it. You can work around that by tricking the website into thinking you are on firefox 2.0.
Here’s how:
- Type about:config into your address bar
- You should see a webpage warning you of the dangers of altering those files. Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” to continue.
- Type in useragent into the filter bar.
- Select the line that shows: general.useragent.extra.firefox;Firefox/3.0
- Double click on Firefox/3.0 and change the value to Firefox/2.0
- Close the tab once you are done.
Although this trick works on websites that do not load on Firefox 3.0, it will not work on others that require Microsoft Active X.
