So right now, Jabra is in the middle of refreshing their truly wireless earbuds line up. Now personally I really like both the Jaba Elite 3 and Elite 7 Pro’s… but I gotta say, the Jabra elite 85T’s are still one of my favorite earbuds do recommend, especially if Active Noise cancellation is very important to you. Nonetheless if you’re thinking about picking one of these earbuds up… lets see which one is right for you.
Now regarding pricing, the Elite 3’s are Jabra’s entry level earbuds… and when I say entry level I mean entry level cause these things retail for $80. Then there are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s which retail for $200… and then there are the Jabra elite 85T which retail for $230. However, since these are the oldest earbuds here they can be typically be found on sale for around $180 or less. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about these cases. Now all of these earbuds have decently small cases for everyday carry and they’re all easy enough to handle. Which is something that couldn’t be said about Jabra’s older earbuds cause some of their cases were a pain to open. But not these. Now both of the Elite 3’s and Elite 7 Pro’s have roughly the same case sizes. They have roughly the same foot print and they have roughly the same thickness. Where as the Elite 85T’s case is a little taller. But nonehtheless… I would say that all three of these cases are in the same wheel house. However, when compared to any pair of AirPods, all of Jabra’s cases are noticeably larger… they have larger foot prints and are noticeably thicker… but when compared to other option out there like lets say either the Galaxy Buds 2’s case, Galaxy Buds Pro Case or Sony WF-1000XM4’s case… all of Jabra’s cases are in the same league. However, when compared to lets say the Beats Studio Buds, Beats Fit Pro, or Sennheiser CX Plus… all of Jabra’s cases are noticeably smaller. So overall, all of Jabra’s cases are decently small… and there isn’t a singular outlier with the smallest case here… but if you are an iPhone user and case size is very important to you because of convenience… then AirPods are still your best bet.
Now when it comes to battery life… Jabra’s earbuds are pretty good. Now the elite 85T’s have an advertise combined battery life of 25 hours and that with their active noise cancelation turned on. And if you were to use them with their Active noise cancelation turned off you should be able to squeeze out 31 hours out of them. Not bad at all.
Then there are the Jabra Elite 3’s which have an advertised combined battery life of 28 hours. The earbuds themselves can go for 7 straight hours and the case can supply an additional 3 charges. However just keep in mind, these earbuds don’t have active noise cancellation.
And then there are the Jabra elite 7 Pro’s which have an advertised combined battery life of 30 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on. The earbuds themselves can go for 8 hours and the case can supply 3 additional charges. And just like the Elite 85T’s if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancellation turned off… you’ll be able to extend their battery life even more.
Now when it comes to charging these cases… they all charge via a USB C port as they should. Which is great for android users. However, only the 85T’s and 7 Pro’s have wireless charging, where as the entry level Elite 3’s don’t. Now personally I don’t really care for wireless charging on my earbuds… but wireless charging is now a standard feature that we come to expect once we get to the Elite 7 Pro’s and Elite 85T’s price range.
But now lets talk about fit… because the 85T’s fit very differently from these other two earbuds. Now both the Elite 3’s and Elite 7 Pro’s fit the same… and they both fit like your standard pair of in ear ear buds, as in they go into your ear canal a decent amount like lets say the Galaxy Buds 2, or Sennhesier CX Plus. Now you can definitely wear these earbuds for a good long while without any discomfort… but these ear buds can feel a little intrusive when compared to the Elite 85T’s. Now the Jabra Elite 85T’s are a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro, Beats Studio Buds or Galaxy Bud Pro. As in they don’t go in super deep into your ear canal. Combined with their more oval ear tips… the 85T’s feel much more natural than the Elite 3 or elite 7 Pro’s… and I feel that the do a better job of staying place than the AirPods Pro. Now in general I would recommend all of these earbuds for casual use cause these earbuds can wiggle out fairly easily if you’re working out… but overall I do have to say that the Jabra Elite 85T’s fit much more comfortably and naturally than these other two earbuds. And in general, the Jabra Elite 85T’s are among one of my favorite fitting earbuds.
But now lets talk about connectivity because there are some major nuances here. Now the earbuds on the newer Jabra Elite 3 and Jabra Elite 7 Pro each establish a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And this is the connection set up that we expect to see from our earbuds nowadays.
Where as the Jabra Elite 85T’s are using a hero and sidekick set up. Meaning that one earbud, the hero earbud, in this case the right earbud actually establishes a connection with you phone… and then relays that connection to the left earbud. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you gotta use the correct earbud. Or in this case the right earbud, the heart earbud. Now there’s nothing wrong with earbuds that are still using a hero and sidekick set… but earbuds that are still using a hero and sidekick set up are either last gen or just cheaper.
However, the stand out characteristic of Jabra’s earbuds that are still using a hero and side kick set up is that they can be simultaneously connected to any two devices regardless of operating system. So you can easily hot swap between any two bluetooth devices regardless of eco system. So if you’re a power user with lets say an android device and iPad… then you’re going to be able to hot swap between them. Which is very convenient.
Where as with both the Elite 3 and Elite 7 Pro’s they can only be connected to one device at a time… however, as of December 2021, Jabra promises that the Elite 7 Pro’s will be getting Bluetooth Multipoint connectivity through a firmware update in January 2022. So hopfully the Elite 7 Pro’s will get the same functionality as the Elite 85T’s… which truly is great for power users. Where as with the Elite 3’s… they make no reference of them getting this upgrade.
But when it comes to over all performance, all of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs… things get a little strange here. Both the Elite 7 Pro’s and Elite 85T’s have support for SBC and AAC… a pretty standard stack. Where as the entry level Elite 3’s have support for SBC and APTX… No you would expect that these more premium earbuds would have APTX… but they don’t. Now AAC works perfectly fine… but it is strong that the Elite 3’s have APTX.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now in general I have always recommended Jabra’s earbuds to people who like a warmer sound signature cause these earbuds do like to put and emphasis on the bass, and they aren’t the most spacious sounding earbuds out there. And that definitely applies to both the Elite 3’s and Elite 85T’s. However, with the Elite 85T’s I noticed that their bass resonates and hits a little harder and their treble doesn’t get as tinny as the Elite 3’s. So the elite 85T’s and Elite 3’s have the same characteristics… But the 85T’s have the overall better performance cause their bass is richer and the treble is much cleaner. Now both of these earbuds have a few preset EQ settings that you can choose from… however with the Elite 3’s you can’t actually make your own EQ like you can with these other two earbuds. And personally I do find that rather strange. But overall, yes. The Elite 85T’s sound better than the Elite 3’s.
But then there are the Jabra elite 7 Pro’s, which I can’t help sound a little different. Unlike the elite 85T’s, the elite 7 pro’s don’t sound as shallow, which is good. And these earbuds are putting more of an emphasis on the mids so vocals are more pronounced. Now these earbuds have a decent amount of bass and they should satiate most people, but these earbuds don’t have as much bass as the Elite 85T’s or elite 3’s. But I also can’t help but noticed that the bass on the elite 7 pro is better controlled because it doesn’t roll off and interfere with the rest of your music like with the 85T’s or elite 3’s. But also the treble on the Elite 7 Pro’s has better clarity to it as well. So overall I would say the Elite 7 Pro’s sound better than the Elite 85T’s because they don’t sound as shallow… but I would recommend the Elite 7 Pro’s to someone who like a more neutral or vocal’s heavy EQ.
Now when it come to controlling your media, all of these earbuds have physical buttons. And this could actually be a deciding factor for someone people. Some people just don’t want to have to deal with touch pads on their earbuds. Now you can do all of your basic stuff like play or pause your music, skip through your music, raise or lower the volume and active your voice assistant of choose. However with the elite 3’s you can’t customize the layout of your buttons like you can with these other two earbuds.
And I also gotta point out that the Elite 3’s don’t have proximity sensors… like these other two earbuds. So the Elite 3’s aren’t going to automatically play or pause if you take them out of your ears or put them back on. And personally I really feel that this is a major inconviance. However, given that the Elite 3’s are a pair of entry level earbuds… it is forgivable.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now the Elite 3’s don’t have active noise cancelation… but these other two earbuds do. Now Jabra does active noise cancelation on their earbuds very well and both the Elite 85T’s and Elite 7 Pro’s rank very well. But don’t go expecting these earbuds to block out as much noise as a proper pair of over ear ANC headphones like either the Bose NC 700’s, Sony 1000XM4’s and especially the AirPods Max.
Now when it comes to overall ranking the Sony WF-1000XM4’s block out the most amount of noise here. Albeit they do have a slight advantage because of their itchy foam ear tips. The Jabra Elite 85T’s also block out a ton of noise all while being more comfortable, so personally I do prefer them. Below them are the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I feel are neck and neck… below them are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, below them are the Beats Fit Pro, and below them are the Galaxy Buds Pro.
Now below the Galaxy Buds Pro are the jabra elite 75T’s, below them are the beats studio buds, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2, and below them are the Sennheiser CX plus. So like I said, Jabra’s active noise cancelation ranks very well… and personally the 85T’s are my favorite earbuds to recommend if active noise cancelation is very important to you. They block out a ton of noise without getting super itchy like the WF-1000XM4’s, and they have a reasonably sized case unlike Bose’s earbuds.
But like I have mentioned in the past… I only use the active noise cancelation on my earbuds when I have to. And what’s really important to is the quality of their ambient mode. Now all of these earbuds have an ambient mode… even the Elite 3’s. And the ambient mode on all of these earbuds is usable. However I do gotta say that the ambient mode on the Elite 85T’s sounds much more natural than the ambient mode found on the Elite 7 Pros.
Now you can adjust the ambient mode on the both the Elite 85T and Elite 7 Pro’s to your liking. Where as with the elite 3’s you can’t. Now the ambient mode on the elite 3’s is good… but it could be just a touch too quiet from some people. But I do feel the ambient mode on the Elite 3’s sounds better than the Ambient mode on the Elite 7 Pro’s cause they don’t amplify noise pollution as much.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now jabra’s earbuds don’t have the best sounding microphone’s out there for phone calls… they can sound a little shallow. But they are usable while in a quiet room.
However I do feel the Elite 7 Pro’s do a little better on focusing on your voice than the 85T’s.
And then there are the Jabra Elite 3’s which sound a little brighter… which personally I do prefer.
Now when it comes to blocking out ambient noise… I kind of feel the Elite 3’s do the best job here. Now when it comes to this road noise… even though you can hear it in the background, these earbuds are doing a good job of elevating my voice. Very similar to AirPods.
Where as with the Elite 7 Pro’s… even though these earbuds are blocking out more road noise than the elite 3’s… it still sounds like there’s a lot of interference in the background. Which is more distracting than the constant road noise on the Elite 3’s.
But then there are the Jabra elite 85T’s which are trying to block out road noise… but my voice sounds like its getting pushed down.
Now when it comes to blocking out chatter, the 85T’s do a little better. But there is still some interference in my voice.
And with the Jabra elite 7 Pro, they are trying to block out this chatter… but there is still a lot of interference.
But finally here are the jabra Elite 3’s which even though they let in a decent amount of chatter… they do the best job of lifting my voice. So I feel theyre a little easier to understand me with. Overall, all of these earbuds have decent enough sounding microphones for phone calls while in a quite room… but if you need to take phone calls while in a noise envirmonet… I think the Elite 3’s will might be you best best. Ironically.
So with all that being said, if you are trying to choose between any of Jabra’s earbuds… here’s my break down. The Jabra elite 3’s are a solid pair of entry level earbuds. They have a small case, with a long combined battery life of 28 hours, they have an ambient mode, and they have a decent sounding microphone for phone calls. The Jabra Elite 85T’s are definitely still worth picking up if active noise cancelation is very important to you. These things are up there with the Sony WF-1000XM4’s… but they're way more comfortable. And thats why I prefer them. And then there are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s which also have very impressive active noise cancelation… but they have a much more balanced sound to them than the 85T’s. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s offer all of the features that you’d want in a pair of premium ANC earbuds… but I feel their ambient mode needs work.