If I’m brutally honest with you, I’d never heard of Rock Jaw before I started writing this review. However, what I did know (after a few minutes of Googling) is that ..
a) They have a very cool name
b) They’re based up the road in Belper, Derbyshire, and in my mind anything from Derbyshire has got to be worth a look.
c) I loved their ethos, which states..
We are all music lovers at Rock Jaw, it would be safe to say that between all the staff nearly all genres are covered. More than a couple of us have worked in the music industry in our earlier years, from DJ’s to studio techs.
The one thing that we all agree upon is that in order to get the best quality sound reproduction from headphones and earphones/ear buds, you have to buy premium quality headphones/ear buds. There is the old saying that “you get what you pay for”, but is this strictly true? We don’t think so.
There are many great brands out there that offer some spectacular equipment and provide a great listening experience, but what about the rest of us that can’t afford to spend £300.00+ ($450.00+ USD) on head phones or £100.00+ ($150.00+ USD) or ear buds?
Yes. Hands up on that one. I have an inbuilt dislike for spending hundreds on some Fanny Wang or Beats headphones, so you’ve got my attention straight away.
These are the Hydra headphones and cost – wait for it – just £39.99.
Before I’ve even opened the box there’s a classy feel to the product. The box is pretty posh and the presentation of the headphones and ear buds has been thought out. Those differently-sized ear buds aren’t just thrown into a plastic bag – they sit proudly in a window next to the headphones themselves under a large banner stating “BRITISH ENGINEERED”.
At this point I started to worry.
I’m a Brit. I want these to be good, y’know? If they’re not, and they’re no better than the free ones you get with your phone.. what’s the point?
Luckily, and I’m very happy to report this, they’re exceptional. For a start you have that 1.2 metre cord, which is twisted to reduce that annoying moment when you get your usual heaphones out of your pocket and they’re impossibly tangled. Spending 5 minutes in the dark trying fix a maze of cable when you’re running for the bus is never fun, so it’s good to see that these have these “twist wires” to prevent the knotting. There’s a little bag too, so you can carry them round. I’ve carried these round in my pocket without the bag and they’ve remained untangled throughout.
The Hydra headphones come with a built-in microphone, so you can use them on your smartphone and the headphones / earphones themselves are built using light-weight aluminium with a deluxe feel.
Sound-wise Rock Jaw tell me that these include newly designed drivers which should deliver an entire bouquet of sound – from the deep bass notes all the way up to the fine high notes.
Now, at this point my wife got involved, and I should let you behind the scenes a little. The Hydra headphones arrived at my home address, and my wife immediately grabbed them because she wears headphones a lot more than me. When she’s doing the housework or shopping she’ll usually use the headphones that came with her Samsung Galaxy S5. She loves those headphones and, I’ll admit, I think they’re very decent too.
She’s recently subscribed to Spotify and tends to bop around the house singing if she’s doing housework etc. Emily loves to sing, and I’m assuming the neighbours like it too. She’s crackin’ I tells you. Glad I married her. Anyways, I can’t get the Hydra headphones back. She loves them. I asked whether they were as good as the Samsung ones and her exact reply was..
Much better, you’re not having these.
Well, thanks.
However, I did manage to get hold of them when she went out and I must admit that I’m impressed. You know that moment when you listen to some music on someone else’s headphones or speakers and you hear new parts of the track that you’ve never heard before?
That.
There’s a great balance between the earthy “whoomp, whoomp” bass sounds and both the mid / high range. I couldn’t detect any distortion and there was a definite detail and granularity about the music I was listening to.
Conclusion
If I’m to circle back to that original quote from Rock Jaw for a moment..
There is the old saying that “you get what you pay for”, but is this strictly true? We don’t think so.
Yes, generally speaking, if you pay more you do indeed get more, but every now and then there’s those gems. Those products that perform brilliantly and have clever, hard-working and passionate people behind them but they don’t cost the earth.
The Hydra V2 headphones are a superb example. They have a strong, superior build quality and cleanly deliver the full audio rainbow.
Oh, while I’m here. Don’t tell Rock Jaw that I told you this, but if you order anything from their website then you also receive a free bag of Haribos 😉
