Jaybird Vista 2 - "review" (Patreon)

I got the Jaybird Vista 2 yesterday. I bought it based on a comment on Youtube and as I liked the X3 and X4 which thanks to the app and the parametric EQ could be tuned quite nicely I wanted to try my luck with the Vista 2.

Instead of wasting my time shooting a full video I decided to just write down a short summary about my thoughts:

The Vista 2 is a very weird design, instead of standard eartips you get some kind of "condoms" which are wrapped around the entire housing with the earhooks already included. The package comes with 3 pairs in different sizes. I get the best seal with the largest set. Actually I noticed some rattling or vibration when I played some deeper sine tones, thus the design with these condoms doesn't seem to be that great actually as they resonate against the body. I also get some crackling and driver popping during inserting, I really don't like that. I like the charging box though which is nicely small and flat, also the inears themselves are not too uncomfortable and stay inside my ear really securely thanks to these earhooks which clip into your ear twists.

Soundwise a horrid experience with a very peaky harsh sound, a total letdown especially for the asked price, I really wonder how this can even be sold without becoming a total flop. I attached some measurements which were done by playing pink-noise from my phone (default tuning in green) so that I could immediately adjust the EQ through the app and see the result. I created a quick EQ which improves the sound significantly (shown in blue), but with only 5 filters it was impossible to make them sound really great. Upper treble is still not really smooth how I would like it, but I think like it is more than usable and better than many other IEMS. I didn't want to fine tune it any further as for me the sound can change quite a lot depending on how I wear them, I sometimes perceive treble to be bright, other times it becomes quite muddy if I just twist them inside my ear slightly. I tried several of the other posted EQ settings, done by alleged "sound experts" or "audiophiles", but they were all terrible, none of them really tried to reduce the horrid peaks, I think my setting at least brings them a bit closer to what I would call a "natural response"

You can find my EQ here: https://jaybirdsport.run/en/preset/3028544251075233

The EQ works only with ANC disabled, enabling ANC changes the sound again and it would need different settings. It must be a bug within the EQ implementation as with default flat settings there is no change in sound between ANC and ANC off.

I will return the Vista 2 again as I don't think it has any qualities to justify the price, although with my EQ I could live with the sound. I am getting the peak at 6.5K, others may get it somewhere else, thus no guarrantee that it works the same for everyone. I didn't even try preparing any sound samples as I don't think it's really worth it. 

I would stay away from this IEM except if you really like the design and the somehow secure fit.