Not As Soft As The Name Implies, JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones Underwhelm.

The Good: They work flawlessly with MP3 players and computer products, Fashionable, Discrete, Inexpensive
The Bad: No volume control on buds, Not very soft
The Basics: JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones are good, but not quite what their name implies!


When I think of gummies, I think of soft, chewy candies, like Gummy worms or Gummy bears. I think that’s a pretty natural association, too. It seems strange to think about something called “Gumy” and get something that is hard. That is exactly what I got, though, with the JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones I was recently gifted. Given to me by my sister-in-law, the JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones she gave me are Coconut White, though they come in many stylish colors. Other than that and the very slightly softer ear pieces than the standard Apple iPod iBuds (reviewed here!), the JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones are pretty standard themselves.

As a result, the JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones hurt my ears, though not quite as much as the standard iBuds. I grew up in the 1980s, the decade that saw the big headphones of the prior decades made smaller into foam-covered headphones that cushioned the ear while pumping music right down the ear canal. Now, headphones are gone in favor of “earbuds,” which are hard plastic speakers that get shoved right into the ear canal. The JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones are not soft for their ear speaker’s coating, but somehow the plastic is smoother and just a little less hard than other earbuds I have tried.

The Gumy headphones come in an array of colors and they end in a traditional portable music headphone jack. The male end of the Gumy is a thin metal jack which fits into the “female” port on computers, MP3 players, portable stereos, portable c.d. players and anything else that used to accept small jack headphones (not like the big-60s and 70s headsets). Coconut White is the most simple Gumy color and that does not fit my personal style (black all the way), but all Gumy headphones seem to work equally well.

One is supposed to place the hard plastic – which includes the thin grille that makes up the speaker on the Gumy - directly into the ear and it generally remains in place for as long as one can stand it. The Gumy earbuds do not have volume control on the actual device. Instead, this is a thin white cord that is 39” long; plenty long to reach to portable or stationary music source nearby, provided one does not drop it. If one drops or knocks over their music source, depending on the angle, the earbuds will either wrench out of your ear canal (painful!) or it will disconnect from the jack (seldom will the very durable cord actually snap).

JVC Gumy Stereo Headphones are very average earbud style headphones, which are fairly inexpensive, work fine, but still allow users to only use them for about six hours before they hurt one’s ears.

For other MP3 players and computer support products for them, please check out my reviews of:
GE 34205 HDMI Cable
iPod Shuffle (4th Generation)
RIM Snap-On Case for the Blackberry Curve

5/10

For other electronics products, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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