Die-hard fans of Bob Marley will likely remember the legendary Smile Jamaica Concert where Bob Marley performed in front of 80,000 people one of his best, yet most intense live performances because of the assassination made against his life only 3 days prior the concert!
Appropriately named after the Smile Jamaica Concert and to pay tribute, House Of Marley has released the Smile Jamaica Wireless 2, which are wireless earbuds with a long cord, measuring 57cm long from earphone to earphone. The cable sleeve is made of recycled plastic fabric, which has a braided and flexible construction with red, yellow and green color accents of the Rasta flag.
The Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earphones integrate a 3-button remote and microphone, which is located 6cm away from the left earphone. The remote/microphone box hangs around jaw level, while the microphone pinhole is located on the front side of the remote, as opposed to on the backside like on most wireless earbuds with cable remote.
Having the microphone facing forward and at jaw level makes call conversations better, especially when having private calls since you can easily sway the microphone closer to the mouth so, you don't have to project your voice.
The 3-button remote and microphone box is fairly large and bulky though, measuring 50mm long, 8mm wide and 8mm thick. That said, the 3-button remote feels great to use, thanks to the rubberized rocker and tactile buttons, which have raised embossed symbols. The centre part of the rocker is curved in, helping to easily distinguish it when playing and pausing the audio. The 3-button remote allows you to also control skipping, volume, and taking calls.
The large size of the remote makes it ideal for those with chunky fingers, although the trade-off is its weight. The remote is not only bulky but also weighty, weighing 7 grams, which is half the total weight (14 grams) of the Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earphones. The Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 three-button remote has the word MARLEY etched in capital letters on the back side of the button remote where the USB-C charging port is located.
The charging port is concealed by a rubber pop-up flap and has an input charge rating of 5V/90mA, which is enough current to fully charge the earbuds within 2.5 hours. A full battery charge provides up to 8.5 hours (on 50% volume). There is quick charge support too, which means from a 15 minute you can get 2 hours of playtime.
Because of the weight of the 3-button remote and its dangling position around the jaw, you will notice the downward pull of gravity, especially if you're not used to wireless earbuds with cable remote. If you prefer a wireless solution without cables getting in the way, it's worth going for a pair of headphones or truly wireless earphones such as the Liberate Air or Positive Vibration XL.
Inline the cable, there is a plastic cord cinch for managing the cable excess, which is plenty given the long length of the cable. When running or jumping, the excess cable may sometimes slap the back of your neck, in which case you will have to tuck the excess cable inside the neck of your t-shirt.
The House Of Marley Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earbuds have a bullet style design with a shell made of FSC certified wood and recycled aluminium nozzle necks coated in red anodized finish. The sound produced by the Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earbuds is full and rich and with deep bass, thanks to the large 9.2mm speaker drivers and electronics not being jammed inside the earbuds.
With true wireless earbuds (without cables), the bluetooth chip and battery are jammed inside each earbud, whereas with the Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earbuds, the bluetooth chip and battery are located inside the button remote. This frees space inside the earbuds so, air is able to move more freely inside, which helps produce better bass and noticeable better sound. There is no aptX or AAC support though; hence lag will be a little bit detectable when streaming videos.
The accessories that come with the Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earbuds include a charging cable with an eco-friendly twist tie wrapped around it. There is also one set of eartips looped inside a twist tie, which is made of recycled plastic fabric. The charging cable itself is House Of Marley branded and measures 26cm long. You can buy the House Of Marley Smile Jamaica Wireless 2 earbuds on amazon. Check out the review of the Champion earbuds, Redemption ANC earbuds and Exodus ANC headphones.