Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds are small, fit easily in my ear, come with a very small charging case, and includes a wireless charging pad for the case. I work from home full time. The majority of my day is either on MS Teams or my cell phone. I normally use a 5yr old Plantronics headset for all of my MS Teams meetings and then switch over to another headset for my phone calls. Since the Jabra Connect 5t can connect to both I decided to see if they would be a worthy replacement for a full blown headset.
Connecting the Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds to my computer and phone was easy. Press and hold each earbud’s button for three seconds and then select Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds from the Bluetooth connect menu from the windows 10 wireless device management screen or the iPhone Bluetooth screen. The earbuds do have a nag function that will inform you every three seconds or so that they are ready to be paired with something. When I connected my iPhone the headset informed me that the second device was paired. This multipoint pairing is an either/or function. Meaning, I cannot listen to both devices at once. The earbuds do play nice with both devices. If I hit play on a video on my laptop then the Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds will play the audio from the Windows 10 PC. If I take call on my iPhone then the audio automagically switches to my iPhone. And then back again.
The Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds ships with three silicon tips: small, medium, large. The default installed tips are medium. I found that the earbuds held well in my ear with both the small and medium tips. The ear buds are shaped in such a way that the tip goes deeper into the ear canal than other brand earbuds. The body of the earbud is design to fit snuggly in ear cavity just above the ear lobe. The first day I was able to wear these for six hours out of my eight hour workday. Ironically, I also got the low battery nag from the earbuds around the six hour mark. The next day, I tried to use the earbuds and found that the cartilage just above my ear canal was tender enough that the earbuds proved uncomfortable to wear for longer then 30 minutes. I did wear them sporadically throughout the day. But my ears were so sensitive that I was not able to repeat the marathon session from the day before. These are still fairly comfortable compared with other earbuds I have owned. However, they still cause discomfort after pronged use.
Sound quality for phone calls is excellent. MS Teams was loud and clear. My voice was also reported to be very clear and immediate. I turned on the HearThrough feature and listened to the news on the radio. I wanted to see how well the HearThrough feature worked. Duh! It worked very well. You could tell the sound was a little muffled. But only just. I could easily carry on a conversation. And, in some instances, like music, I think the HearThrough worked better at sound reproduction than it did when processing a signal from iTunes. The one downside to the HearThrough is the Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds did not pick up my own voice while in this mode exclusively, without music or phone call. Unfortunately, this gave my own voice an underwater like quality. This did cause me to speak a little louder than I normally would when I can easily hear the volume of my own voice. I still find it odd that this not an issue when speaking on the phone or on an MS Teams call.
Music is ok. My primary use of the Jabra Connect 5t Earbuds is for office and business. Not music. So, I did not spend a lot of time on critical music listening. I did listen to some classical, heavy metal, electro swing, dance, and classic rock. It sounds like a lot but in reality I was just throwing stuff at them to get a sense of musical performance. Overall, I though the highs were clear, the mids seemed a bit flat in some instances, and bass response was heavily dependent on volume level. The Sound+ app allows for EQ presets and custom EQ presets. For example, I was able to turn up the bass response with classic rock while listening at low to moderately volume levels. Relatively solid bass only comes when riding the volume button to higher levels.
Sound+ is a solid experience. Hunting for what you want is kept to a minimum. What I like about Sound+ is that the first time I connect a new device the app presents the key features for setup of that device. For example, instead of hunting for ANC setup I was present with an option to calibrate ANC for my environment up front. Since I was in a quiet room that did not require ANC I passed on the configuration step. But, later in the day, I was at a sporting event and decided the event, with the crowed around me, would be a good place to try out ANC. I loaded up the app, turned on the calibration, and within seconds I had ANC calibrated to tune out most of the white noise from the crowd. Overall, ANC is really good. Much better than other earbuds I have owned in the same class as the Connect 5ts. From the app, I can further adjust ANC, HearThrough levels, and turn off both. I do have control over on off of each of these features from the earbuds themselves. The app simply gives me more flexibility.
The Sound+ app provides a lot of flexibility with the earbuds. The buttons on each side of the earbud can support up to three contextual actions each. If you are playing music then you can configure the button to handle things like volume, pause, track skipping, etc. When using for phone or conference calls then those same buttons can be used for three additional functions. The system is quite flexible. The Connect 5ts also support voice assistants, personalization, Find my Device, Spotify Tap, and more.
Final thoughts. Overall, I do like the Connect 5t even after some of the criticism I provided here. Most earbuds I can only wear for 45 minutes before they become uncomfortable enough to remove. The Connect 5ts unique shape extends that period by hours. They will not, however, be replacing a my dedicated headset simply because I cannot wear the Connect 5ts for extended periods of time.
Phone calls and MS Team’s calls are crystal clear for both me and my team. The ANC is powerful enough to block out background noises in my home and at a high school sporting event. Music is good enough as an ultraportable solution. And the battery life is solid for an earbud this size. I also like the multi-point connect. I find multi-point to be an important feature because most professionals similar to myself rely on both our laptops and cell phones for voice communications. My only real gripe is that I wish Jabra had designed the earbuds with capacitive touch surfaces instead of push buttons. The cartilage in my ears does become sensitive after a few hours of use. The last thing I want to do is press a button the also presses the Connect 5ts into a spot that is already sensitive. Finally, HearThrough is excellent less the issues with my voice sounding muted.
If you are a professional who is looking for a mobile communications solution then I encourage you to give the Jabra 5t a try.