Jabra Elite 65t - DIGITAL TRENDS REVIEW
Though more and more of us are gazing out at the fully wireless universe in 2018, one simple fact remains. There still aren’t many competitive options. Apple’s AirPods, far and away the industry sales leader, helped set the mold thanks to solid connection and battery life — issues that still plague many early true wireless options. But they come up short on sound, fit, and passive noise isolation. Another top option, Bragi’s ostentatiously named The Headphone, have better sound, but still exhibit their own hang-ups — specifically, they lack the now-ubiquitous portable battery case for charging on the go.
In this field of up-and-comers and almosts, Jabra’s new Elite 65t really shine. A solid sounding pair of true wireless headphones with stable wireless connection, good battery life, and advanced features that actually work well in the real world, the Elite 65t offer a blend of everyday usability and fidelity that puts the rest of the market on notice. Unless you’re a die-hard iOS enthusiast or plan to sweat your ever-loving brains out, that makes these the new true wireless headphones to beat.
Out of the Box
The Elite 65t come arrive in a grey box with Jabra’s signature yellow accents that slides open to reveal the two earbuds, a small black charging case, and three sets of rubber eartips. Also included in the box are a micro USB charging cable and a small user guide to get you up to speed on their various features.
Features and Design
At first glance, the Elite 65t resemble the kind of miniature hands-free headset you imagine Derek Zoolander would pair with his tiny little flip phone. But the small extrusion for the mic piece somehow manages to give them some style points, adding to the futuristic aesthetic rather than diminishing it. The earbuds come in all black, with silver accents to add some extra flash to their understated profile.
The included charging case is a small black pillbox with a micro USB charging port on the bottom and single LED on the outside to let you know when it’s charging or needs more juice. A treasure-chest hinge opens the top third of the case, revealing two snug cutouts for the headphones, with a green LED in between that lets you know if the headphones are fully charged. The lid is tightly sealed and can be tricky to open at first, but our fingers cracked the code over time. When the earbuds are in the case, LEDs on their exterior pulse red or green, depending on how much juice they’ve got.
Jabra Elite Active 65t - CNET REVIEW
Compared to their Elite predecessors, the Active 65ts have a more refined, comfortable design, improved sound, slightly better battery life, excellent call quality and voice support for all major virtual assistants, including Amazon's Alexa on-the-go.
The step-up Active Elite 65t reviewed here looks almost identical to the standard Elite 65t but has some small cosmetic differences, including a slightly grippier finish, plus three feature upgrades: Added sweat-resistance with an IP56 rating (versus IP55 for the standard Elite 65t), a built-in accelerometer and a quick charge feature that allows you to get 1.5 hours of juice from a 15-minute charge in the included charging case. That charging case is also coated with the same, faintly rubberized finish you'll find on the buds.
While I can't say those small upgrades make a major difference, their addition serves to make an already excellent set of truly wireless headphones slightly better -- and that's why we're awarding the Active Elite 65t an Editors' Choice over its less expensive sibling. It's the best overall truly wireless headphone you can buy, as of June 2018.
What's new and different
Unlike the earlier Elite Sport, there's no heart-rate monitor built into these earphones. But that's a good thing.
Removing the heart-rate monitor allowed Jabra to trim down the design and simplify operation, as well as improve battery life to 5 hours (the Elite Sport's is rated at 4.5 hours). That's in line with the AirPods' battery life.
Jabra's included charging case delivers an additional two charges. Although it's not as small as the AirPods charging case, it's still compact and fit easily into my pocket.
Jabra has mostly nailed the design this time around. The earphones come with three different sized eartips and while there are no wings or fins to hold the buds in place, they stayed secure in my ears. With the largest tips I was able to get a tight seal, which is crucial to maximizing bass response.
I found they fit similarly to the Jaybird Run truly wireless headphones. Like that model, after you wear them for a while, your ear canals may start to itch a little. Not to get too graphic, but I simply removed the bud for a moment, stuck my pinky finger in my ear for a quick scratch, then reinserted the bud. Problem solved.
Technically, the Elite 65t is not considered a sports model, though its IP55-rated design makes it splash-resistant and dust-resistant. I used the standard Elite 65t at the gym and while running and it survived just fine. But the Elite Active 65t apparently have an added degree of sweat-resistance that should make them a bit more durable in the long run.
Both the standard Elite 65t and Elite Active 65t stayed in my ears securely during my modestly paced 3-mile runs and I didn't sense that the Active's special coating made a real difference in terms of fit. Currently, you can use the accelerometer -- Jabra calls it a motion sensor -- to count steps in Jabra's companion Sound+ app for iOS and Android. However, there should be other applications for it, such as counting exercise reps, in the future.
Both the Elite 65t and Elite Active 65t are equipped with Bluetooth 5.0, which is just starting to appear in devices and is supposed to create a more stable wireless connection with fewer dropouts. It's backwards compatible with any earlier version of Bluetooth, too, of course.
Advantages over AirPods
I'm a fan of the AirPods, but they don't sit quite securely enough in my ears, which means I can't use them for running or during other sporty activities. Lots of people are able to run with their AirPods, just not me. As I said, the Elite 65t gave a much more secure fit.
The Jabras are noise-isolating earphones, which means they passively seal out ambient noise while the AirPods' open design allows sound to leak in. As a safety feature for runners and bikers, the Jabras do have a HearThrough transparency feature that you can toggle on in the Jabra Sound+ companion app. You can adjust the degree to which you want to let in sound.
