Jabra - Elite 3 True Wireless In-Ear Headphones - Navy

I'm one of those for whom the hanging Airpod design simply doesn't work well--they don't stay in my ears or provide a good enough seal to really let me sink into the music. I've tried, kept, resold, or handed down at least two dozen different wireless and true wireless budget, high quality, workout & ANC earbuds in my search for decent-sounding and decent-performing alternatives, ultimately settling on an array of buds from (coincidentally) several big-name "J" brands: Jabra (best all-arounders with SQ that has been virtually impossible to beat), Jaybird (still great for workouts but SLIGHTLY inferior sound quality to Jabra), and JLab (surprisingly great performance at VERY budget-friendly prices). In the end, I routinely turn to the Jabras for my more "critical" BT use because of their clearly superior sound quality and extreme comfort over long listening sessions. From the Jabra line, I've been immensely impressed with the Elite Active 65t, and the even more capable and more comfortable Elite Active 75t (which I actually preferred over the 85ts due to their slightly longer battery life, better comfort, and better sound quality, even at the expense of less aggressive & less capable ANC). Could Jabra's new budget-minded Elite 3s even hold a candle to these pricier, top-notch buds? Surprisingly, the answer is mostly yes, but DEFINITELY when it comes to top-notch sound quality! The Elite 3 features a slightly smoother, more streamlined exterior than Jabra's recent Elite buds with a less pronounced, forward-jutting microphone array up front. The single round button on each bud has been replaced with a larger, full-profile “button panel” that makes it easier to find and operate the controls because any outward-facing flat surface you touch is actually part of the button itself. Anatomical fit is outstanding as the Elite 3 nestles securely (and pretty flatly) between the folds of the tragus and antitragus with only a single stealthy microphone opening facing toward the mouth. Jabra makes a big deal about these various "Danish design" elements in the Elite 3’s marketing materials, but the result really is a very comfortable fit with a more svelte, sculpted, and modern appearance as opposed to the more industrial looks of the Elite 65t/75t/85t with their more obvious honeycomb mic perforations and slightly more functional (and blunt) design cues. Although the Elite 3 doesn’t feature ANC, passive noise isolation was actually VERY effective thanks to their super-secure fit and comfortable selection of soft-tipped ear-gels (3 sets are included w/mediums pre-installed--large and small gels are in the box). According to our kitchen scale, each Elite 3 bud weighs about 5 grams, a full gram lighter than the Elite 75t’s buds…this doesn’t sound like much, but it did make for a subjectively more comfortable feeling while worn in the ear, and combined with the slightly redesigned shell, seemed to afford a slightly snugger fit because I could get the bud a bit further down in the ear canal. The Elite 3s are decently rated at IP55 for wet weather use, and though I didn’t notice any movement requiring readjustment during my evening runs, I probably still wouldn’t use these regularly for extreme mudder runs or P90X style ultra-sweaty workouts. The charging case offers a magnetic closure for the lid but also clocks in about 3 grams lighter and a few millimeters shorter than the case for the Elite Active 75t--very pocketable! Sadly, there is no option for wireless charging with the Elite 3’s case, but there is a USB-C port (no more easy-to-break, one-way insertion, micro-USB!) on the back and a short USB-A to USB-C charging cable in the box. Battery life on the Elite 3 beat out my 75t's by a bit more than 1.5 hours on a single charge…I got roughly 6 ¾ hours of sporadic use at moderate listening levels before really feeling like I needed a recharge. You can use either bud in mono mode to double your playback time, but as I’ll get to in just a bit, the sound quality here was good enough that I never wanted to sacrifice the outstanding stereo performance for the sake of a bit more playback time. The Elite 3 offers a similar 4-microphone array as the Elite 75t which afforded excellent call quality for all but the windiest or most active of workout conditions. Those mics also give you vital “HearThrough” capabilities for situational awareness when you're out and about by using the front and rear-facing mics to funnel environmental sounds into your buds when activated. However, the capabilities of the Elite 3s do appear to be slightly limited compared to their pricier siblings. For one, there are no spoken voice prompts (that I ever heard) and status indicators, only sets of rising and falling tones to indicate power, connection status, etc. There is also only one (on/off) setting for the HearThrough feature, as opposed to several HearThrough volume levels on the higher-end Elite buds. Only five EQ presets are currently available in Jabra's Sound+ companion app (though more are supposedly on the way), but there is no EQ display to know what frequencies are boosted or cut (or by how much), and there is no option to create/store a custom EQ setting. Earbud charge levels are displayed in Sound+ on the main page, but the charge level of the case is not. Unlike some of Jabra's pricier Elite buds, there are also no “Moments” or “Soundscapes” features that combine various EQ settings, HearThrough adjustments, or ambient sounds like waterfalls, babbling brooks, ocean waves, etc. These shortcomings are all pretty well forgivable given the Elite 3’s budget-minded price point, and time will tell if Jabra rolls out more features in the Sound+ app as their website suggests they will. That said, you can use the Sound+ app to enable sidetone for phone calls (allows you to hear your own voice through the buds if you want), as well as check for firmware updates, consult a graphical user guide, and even activate a helpful “Find my Jabra” map and sound locating feature when you need to track down your misplaced/wayward buds. At the very least, I give kudos to Jabra for giving us an app that does not require another login/password to operate (unless you want to register your Elite 3s to get 2 years of dust and water damage warranty protection). But the buds also work just fine without the companion app and give you a full range of BT control with a few simple button presses for volume adjustment, track skip (in both directions), call answer/reject, HearThrough activation, and voice assistant activation. Overall, the Elite 3s really do have a pretty comprehensive feature set, especially given their price compared to other members of Jabra’s Elite lineup. Where these buds REALLY shine, however, is in audio quality. In this case, the Elite 3s easily traded blows with the much pricier Elite Active 75t. In fact, using the lower-bandwidth, lower-complexity SBC connection with my iPhone 12, I was honestly hard pressed to tell the difference between the two even after a full hour of critical back-and-forth testing. That was no small feat given that the Elite 3s are considered Jabra’s “entry level” BT buds. However, the Elite 3s seem to scale VERY well with more capable source components and signals--when I moved over to my new FiiO DAP with a Qualcomm aptX chip, AND I streamed a higher-quality audio signal from Amazon Music HD (especially 24/48 or 24/96 streams), the Elite 3s clearly surpassed the 75ts in terms of sound quality. Bass was slightly more authoritative while mids and highs were just a HAIR more delicate, more articulate, and more detailed. Female vocals especially were slightly more airy without any sparkling glare or harsh sibilance, and acoustic guitar strings and piano notes seemed just a bit more controlled and well-defined on the Elite 3s than on Jabra’s formerly premier buds (which cost nearly double the price). These performance gains were minor to be sure, but definitely noticeable...so if sound quality is at all important to you, I’m happy to report that Jabra didn’t seem to scrimp on a single note when working hard to land these buds at a more wallet-friendly price point—HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

--- SETUP --- I set up my Jabra Elite 3 with an iPhone Pro Max 12. First, I opened the app which recognized the headphones. It then sent me to the phone’s bluetooth settings to pair and back to the app to teach me about the headphones and the app’s features. --- FEATURES --- The Jabra Elite 3 features a noise-isolating design, HearThrough sound (ambient noise allowed), single-button controls on both sides of the earbuds, mono mode (use one earbud without using the other), and an app to change preset equalized sound. They have an IP55 index (rain and sweat proof). --- PERFORMANCE --- First, download the Jabra Sound + app. In the app, you can customize your own sound only through select presets. The options available are Neutral, Speech, Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Smooth, and Energize. For when I listen to podcasts, I set the app to speech. When I listen for enjoyment, I set it to bass boost. When I practice my salsa dancing, I set it to smooth to hear the instruments that I want to focus on for dance moves. In the app, you can also turn HearThrough on or off. It is off by default. This mode allows you to hear ambient sound around you without having to take off your headphones. Though presets are nice, I couldn’t find a place in the app to fully customize my sound outside of the presets. They will satisfy most users, though. When playing music of various genres and podcasts, the earbuds performed well. Your experience on the music you hear is based on the preset that you select. When playing music with lots of bass, the bass boost made the sound feel much fuller. Songs that I preferred hearing the lyrics and voice to did well with the treble boost. Overall, I am satisfied with the performance of Jabra Elite 3. --- EXPECTATIONS --- These are a great pair of earbuds with more features than most at a similar price range, but a few tweaks could have made these earbuds a slightly better experience. For one, it would be nice to have the earbuds tell you if HearThrough is on or off. All you get when you press the button is a beep. When you’re first getting used to them, you might not know if you turned it on or off. Next, if the app allowed for full customization of sound, that would have been a greater user experience. Additionally, the presets can only be chosen through the app and not through the earbud buttons. This means that if you are changing between various types of genres or going from music to podcasts, you have to also open the Jabra App to change the preset. Lastly, the box says that these have a noise-isolating design. This is true, the design makes for less noise to come in through your ears. However, this is not an active noise canceling feature. This could be misleading to unaware buyers, so I felt it important to mention the distinction. What is great, though, is that you can charge the earbuds for 10 minutes in the charging case and get a full hour’s use out of them. The HearThrough sound works great and allows you to hear people that may be talking to you without having to remove them. The charge on the earbuds are up to 7 hours with an additional 28 hours of use when you keep recharging them in the case. --- VALUE --- For the price, these earbuds have more features than others in a similar price range. --- APPROVAL --- You can’t go wrong with the Jabra Elite 3 if you aren’t looking for earbuds with active noise canceling. The sound quality is great and you can use them for a long time without having to recharge them. I used them while practicing dancing and they didn’t fall out of my ears. I recommend these to active users or for daily commutes.

First off, the pairing was simple and works with Google fast pair. So every time you connect you get the pop up on your phone to indicate the connection and battery level of each earbud. The fit is fantastic. Fit straight out of the box. I usually have trouble with earbuds fitting and staying in, so far, no problem with these. They have a narrow neck that fits down the ear canal nicely. They are also very light which helps. Sound quality is what I would expect from earbuds twice the cost. Jabra uses AptX technology to deliver an amazing clean mix of sound you expect from the Jabra brand. You can choose from preset EQ setting from within the Jabra+ app. I use the BASS setting and I must say I am very impressed with the bass you get from these earbuds. The app also allows you to select a Hear Through setting which utilizes the mics to let you hear sounds around you better. These don’t have noise canceling, but the noise isolation seems to work as well. I tested them against another set of NC earbuds when using the lawn tractor and they isolated the sound the same. One of the standout features for me are the Physical buttons. I really prefer this as you can actually feel the press of the button instead of hoping the earbud felt your finger touch. Speaking of the buttons, you can easily activate the Hear Through or Assistant (Siri, Google, Alexa) with simple touches of the left earbud. You can also assign one touch to Spotify if you prefer. Call quality is great as well. Battery life – up to 7 hours when in use (28 hours with case & fast charge) and you get 1 hour of use per 10 minutes of charge in the case. Bottom line – These earbuds are amazing, especially at this cost. Highly recommend. You won’t be disappointed.

I've used 5 pairs of in-ear headsets and this is the best set so far. What I like most about the Jabra Elite 3 is that they are easy to pair. Other devices always seem to struggle to pair or take too long to do so, but these paired up with my iPhone, my HP laptop and my Dell desktop computer with no problem or delay. They are a little different as far as the size and shape goes and that may take some getting used to. They are more compact than others I have used. I like that the case is also more compact, taking up less space in my pocket or computer case. The instruction manual is short and clearly-written and the headphones performed as per the instructions. Because of their smaller size, I think they are less noticeable than most, certainly less than walking around with white straws sticking out of your ears. Despite their small size, they pack a punch and have very good bass sound quality/boost.

Overall these are nice earbuds. They are functional and easy to pair with almost any device with Bluetooth. They sit well and more flush in my ear. They offer multiple cushion sizes. There are some features that are missing on the series. It is not true noise canceling. You cannot customize your equalizing Sound preference. The number of missing features as opposed to the functional features that it does have make these a decent pair of earbuds. A full charge will last me a full day at work.

Loving these earbuds. They come with a charging/carrying case, different sizes gel earplugs and a USB type C cable. This cable is tiny so you better get a larger one. Setup was super easy, just download the Jabra sound + app and they connect to your phone. From there you can change several settings like call behaviour, music EQ etc. They fill very comfy and music and call quality is great. I love that they can pass thru audio from the outside so you can hear what's happening around you or tall with someone without taking them out. Highly recommend them!

just bought this buds for myself as an early bday gift, gotta give major props to the engineers at jabra for producing a great quality device and most of all for making it affordable for customers to purchase.

The Jabra Elite 3's mark a new area of focus for Jabra in the true wireless headphone space: The High-Value/Low(er)-Price segment. Whereas the new "Elite 7/7 Pro" series seek to replace the VERY good 75/85Ts and their "Sport" counterparts, the "Elite 3" creates a new series - A "budget" line, if you will. There will also be an Elite 2 series with even more basic functionality. What I learned in using these headphones is that, while the materials used to create them do seem to be simpler than previous models (again, the previous models were all "premium" focused), I found the use experience just as good, and the audio quality excellent, both for music and calls. Music - Both AAC and Qualcomm's AptX codecs are supported, and I had nothing but FANTASTIC audio experiences, including while active and when in noisy environments. These new Elite 3's do NOT offer ANC (active noise cancellation) but instead offer "noise isolation" - Basically a good seal to your ear where the headphone acts as an earplug passively. This still lead to great listening. The Sound+ app allowed for tweaking the EQ, and for my listening tastes, these certainly 1-up'ed my daily driver Elite 75t's, which were fundamentally the same as their newer 85t counterparts. If you're a fan of what AptX does for better wireless fidelity, I think you'll be very pleased here, vs many major brands that just dont offer it. Another WELCOME new feature is L/R MONO mode - Either headset earbud can be used without the other one! Finally! This works for music/digital audio AND calls, and finally gives Jabra's buds a feature that MANY others have offered for some time. Its about time, it worked perfectly in my testing, and did I say it's about time already? :) Calls/Commands: The Elite 3's call quality was also clearer based on feedback I received on the other end of both phone AND Microsoft Teams calls. I'm sure this has a great deal to do with the quad-microphone technology in the Elite 3s and their computational background elimination. I noticed a clarity that wasn't there in their older lines when listening to recordings of myself over the mic, and others commented also. These will be excellent on-the-go headsets for frequent call takers, and no longer will you need to keep track of whether you pull the right or left bud out to do so. BOTH buds can be used for calling without the other. Accessories/Charging: The buds charged quickly and the rated time of 28hours seems accurate, considering an almost 7 hour listen time (I never killed them on my longest 6 hour listening spree while testing!) and recharges in the charging case. Topping up the case and buds can be easily done overnight (its actually only a few hours to a full charge, and you can get an hour of listening into the headphones with only 10mins of initial charging!). The charging case is actually the first place that I realized where the Elite 3 must be a value model: No wireless charging, and the case is made from much more standard "ABS plastic" vs the smooth, soft-touch material of its more premium predecessors. This will be a show-stopper for some, but not I, as I usually charge wired anyway from one of DOZENS of USB type C cables throughout my office, bedroom, and home. Overall, this is a welcome addition to the family at a new lower price point, and retains much of the good from the 65/75t line, while leaving just enough room to improve to make the Elite 7 series something of an aspirational purchase for those willing to pay anything for top-quality audio products.