Jabra - Elite 5 True Wireless Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling In-ear Headphones - Titanium Black

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  TOTL performance from Jabra’s mid-tier offering!

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  • Top 25 Contributor

  Jabra continues its streak of consistently upping the ante on audio performance and capabilities with each new generation of their wireless buds. Starting back in 2018 with Jabra’s highly regarded Elite Active 65T (which still sound great and hold a strong charge, BTW!), I have moved up through the ranks through Jabra’s earlier industrial-looking offerings like the superior-sounding and ANC-upgradeable Elite Active 75T, to the more recent technology packed underneath the curvy smooth outlines of the Elite 3 and the flagship Elite 10. Now I’ve had the opportunity to audition the Elite 5s--a set of buds near the middle of Jabra’s current Elite lineup--and the results are frankly VERY impressive. These buds easily trade blows with the higher/pricier end of Jabra’s lineup and even come out on top in a few areas: - The Elite 5’s stellar 6mm drivers are the same size as all of Jabra’s current Elite buds, save for the Elite 10s, which offer a slightly beefier 10mm driver. - The Elite 5s are also the first model in the Elite line to offer a 6-microphone array for handling voice calls, hear-through, and ANC functions, but this same design/capability is carried up all the way to the flagship Elite 10s! - Unlike the “Active” versions of Jabra’s earbuds which are dustproof, sweatproof, and waterproof to levels suiting hardcore gym-rats or listening in sandy/desert environments, the Elite 5s feature the same IP55 (“rainproof”) ratings as the Elite 3 and 4…suitable for light workouts, wet weather, and protection against harmful dust ingress--but they aren’t dustproof per se, and I wouldn’t recommend swimming in a pair! - The charging case is slim, smooth, and nicely rounded to avoid pressure or discomfort in pocket. The lid features a magnetic closure and can be juiced using both USB-C and wireless charging, the latter of which is not available on the lower-end Elite earbuds. - All of the Elites support AAC and SBC codecs, but the Elite 5 is the last of the lineup that DOES support the Qualcomm aptX high-definition codec. If you like to listen/stream high-definition music, the Elite 5s offer better codec support than the Elite 7, 8, or 10! - The Elite 7, 8, and 10 all have a rounder, even more streamlined bean-shaped shell, supposedly the result of Jabra’s continued research into the average user’s ear anatomy. While this can provide for a very comfortable fit, the slightly more elongated shape of the Elite 5 is still incredibly comfortable, but it actually provided a MORE secure fit for me as the shape of the Elite 5 (and Elite 3) “bites” slightly further into the folds of my tragus/antitragus. While jogging with my Elite 10s, a particularly vigorous run would start to shake the buds loose from my ears--the Elite 5s stayed more resolutely in place for much longer periods of time without any additional fatigue or hot spots. - All Elites can be configured and personalized with the Jabra Sound+ app, but the Elite 5 offers virtually all of the higher-end features and customizations of Jabra’s pricier lineup including battery charge status displays of both earbuds and the case, adjustable noise cancellation levels, HearThrough activation, 5-band music EQ with presets and custom sound profiles, “Soundscape” settings that provide various white noise and environmental sounds for focus, concentration or relaxation, as well as setting up to 18 different media playback and call functions with a single, double, or triple press of either earbud’s control surfaces (3 settings per bud customized for use during music and media, incoming calls, and active calls). Speaking of the controls, the Elite 5s feature a large, tactile flat button that is much easier to use than swipe/tap controls (in my experience) and doesn’t require so much pressure that you feel like you have to press the bud into your skull to activate. - Voice assistant support includes Siri, Google Assistant, and full Amazon Alexa integration; Spotify tap is also thrown in for good measure, though I don’t subscribe to that service so I can’t comment on how well it works. - I greatly appreciated the clear voice prompts and status reports that the Elite 5 provided versus the rudimentary beeps and tones of the Elite 3s. - Jabra’s marketing materials make a big deal about the Elite 7 Pro’s improved call quality via their Multisensor Voice feature, but I had no difficulty making long calls on the go with the Elite 5s, even during a particularly windy jog through the neighborhood…no one ever reported having difficulty hearing me or complained about audio quality from my end to theirs. - The Elite 5 offers Jabra’s “Hybrid ANC,” an adjustable noise-cancelling function that simply blew me away with just how much sound it blocked out beyond any passive isolation achieved with a good, snug fit alone. Specifically, despite their high price and placement at the top of Jabra’s Elite lineup, I found the Elite 10’s supposedly TOTL Advanced ANC supremely disappointing…at best, it attenuated background noise, but cancelled virtually nothing (I think in large part due to its semi-open design). With the Elite 5s, I was ensconced in almost complete silence in my 3-man office with the ANC setting at maximum. High-pitched, repetitive impulse noise like keystrokes and the loud drone of our building’s HVAC system were barely audible and I couldn’t hear anyone talking in the hallway more than 15-feet away. But what sold me on the Elite 5’s ANC prowess was when I was using them at home and our washer became unbalanced during a spin cycle. I was one room away and I had no idea my wife was even using the washing machine, much less that it was making loud rhythmical thuds as it scooted across the floor. I immediately switched over to the Elite 10s at full ANC for the purposes of this comparison and could easily make out the mechanical noise and thuds of the spinning washer drum--admittedly, the sounds were dull, but definitely still audible. I switched back again to the Elite 5s and I actually had to struggle to make out the sounds I knew were there in the background. Despite sitting in the middle of the Jabra Elite lineup, I believe the Elite 5 may actually offer the best value for the money if you want a wonderfully musical-sounding set of earbuds with supremely capable ANC. Yes, the added oomph of the Elite 10’s larger drivers provide *just a hair* more body in the low end of some really bassy tracks, but I could still enjoy visceral, chest-thumping bass with the Elite 5s after just a tiny bit of EQ if I even felt like it was warranted. Otherwise, mids, highs, and vocals were all clear, crisp, detailed, and rendered without any strain or sounding unnatural/overly processed. BT latency was barely perceptible, if at all—you can easily watch movies or play video games with the Elite 5s without distracting A/V sync issues. And unlike some other ANC solutions I’ve experienced in the past, activating even the highest ANC setting did not have an appreciable effect on sound quality, nor did it create any painful pressure in my inner ear. Although the Elite 5s lack the onboard Dolby Atmos capabilities of the Elite 8s and Elite 10s, I personally found that effect somewhat gimmicky as not every piece of music or soundtrack lent itself well to artificially expanding into a 3D sound-field, and many audio sources offer the same sort of experience without needing anything built into the earbuds anyway; i.e., Amazon Music offers Dolby Atmos across a large swathe of its tracks while most PCs have some kind of spatial audio of their own as well as commercial solutions like Dolby, DTS, THX, etc. Considering the Elite 5’s higher-definition codec support and superior ANC performance, I could just as easily recommend these earbuds over Jabra’s current flagship Elite 10s…DEFINITELY keep these on your [very] shortlist of high-quality, high-definition, ANC earbuds!

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  Posted 1 year ago by WyldeBlue

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Another Solid ANC Bud From Jabra

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  I’ve had a chance to try out the new Jabra Elite 5 in Titanium Black for the last few days. I’ve used them at home doing chores, walking the dogs, listening to music, gaming, and online meetings. These are true wireless buds that are focused on being a good all-around bud. I have used several other Jabra headsets and earbuds including the Elite 10 and Elite 7 Pro, so I have some experience with Jabra’s design layout. So far I have found the buds to be pretty good with a few improvements (for me anyways) over the 7’s and 10’s. Features The Elite 5’s are ‘in-ear’ buds and come with 3 different sized swappable ear tips. The shape of the bud as and the ear tip work together to keep the bud secured. These buds carry an IP55 rating so they should be good for exercising, but not so much for swimming or in the shower. Each bud has a small status light, and a metallic flat outer surface. This surface covers the clickable button on the bud. The material on the rest of the bud is a soft and smooth plastic that provides a little bit of grip for picking the bud out of the case or retaining it in your ear. The buds come with Bluetooth 5.2 and a rated range of 33 feet. The buds can remember 6 devices to pair with, and supports multipoint pairing as well. Battery life of the buds is pretty good at 7 hours with ANC on and playing music. Toggling off ANC bumps the buds battery life to 9 hours. With the included case the buds have an overall battery life of 28 hours with ANC on or 36 hours with it off. The 5’s also feature a quick charge option where 10 minutes in the case gives you an extra hour of life – this is a bit longer than the 5 minutes for the 7’s and 10’s. Total charge time is 3 hours, and that can be accomplished with the provided cord or on a wireless Qi charger. I use a Qi charger on my nightstand, and my desk so this is a convenient way for me to charge. My Pixel 7 Pro can also share charge wirelessly, and it’s something I have used before to resurrect my 7’s on a flight. With regards to the case it is small – just a touch smaller than the case for the 10’s. However, I like this case a little more because it has a flat bottom and can stand upright. The charge port is on the backside and the Qi charging surface is the flat bottom. The case is small enough to fit in you pocket without being in the way, and it would easily tuck inside a laptop bag for travel. Pairing was very easy on my Pixel 7 Pro since I already had the Sound+ app installed. With the app running I pulled an earbud out of the case. It paired straight away and took me into the setup, which you have to complete before you can adjust any EQ’s or button functions. I have the buds paired to my phone and work laptop so I can utilize the multipoint feature – laptop pairing was easy, but you can’t adjust any settings unless you are in the phone app. With the Sound+ app I setup my controls, call settings, desired EQ, and sound modes. There are 3 sound modes - ANC (active noise cancellation), hear-through, and off. Both ANC and Hear-through are tuneable in the app, so you can adjust them to your preferred levels. The ANC works great in my experience. I would say they are similar to the 7’s with how well they isolate the sound out, but actually come out ahead of the more premium 10’s. Part of that is the bud shape – the 10’s are more open and designed for longer wear comfort. The ANC tunes out white noise with ease – even handling the sounds of my kids playing video games. I got to test buds against their noise production this week because it’ss Spring Break and I’m working from home. While walking my dogs the ANC would tune out the sounds of cars passing by completely, so for safety reasons I made sure to set them to hear-through if I was in the street. Fit/Comfort My initial impression was that the buds felt a little more compact in my ear. The tips wedge into my ear well, and the body of the bud sits flatter to my ear surface than the 7’s and 10’s. For this reason I had my girlfriend, who has smaller ears, try the 5’s out. She does not find the 7’s or 10’s comfortable because of the fit in her outer ear, but she didn’t mind the fit on the 5’s. I was kind of surprised because in comparison I thought the 5’s shared a close resemblance to the design of the 7’s. So that’s nice to see that these buds might fit a broader range of ear sizes. The tips themselves do wedge in there, and over time may create some discomfort. The tightness of the fit is necessary to hold the bud in and to create a good seal for the ANC and music sound quality. I am looking forward to trying these out while doing yardwork – the flatter profile gives me a little more confidence that a stray tree branch won’t knock these out of my ear while I’m mowing. Controls The controls the same as my other Jabra’s, which are pretty easy to get used to. Each bud has a physical that when pressed performs a different function depending on the activity you are using them for. Music, incoming calls, and on-going calls all have different control schemes. The button press is easy to pull of even when running on a treadmill, and the act of pressing the button doesn’t force the bud further into your ear, which is nice. The button gives a nice click feedback, and doesn’t require a lot of force. Inside the Sound+ app you can customize what you want your controls to be. The controls are split between the left and right buds, and you have the option of 1, 2, or 3 button pushes to assign your command to. If you decide to just use one bud in mono, you will only have the controls you assigned to that bud available to you. Also, for the first time I can use the Spotify connections feature, which is activated by a double tap on the left bud. I just signed up for Spotify at the beginning of the year, and I hadn’t set it up on my other buds yet. It’s not on by default, so you have to find the setting in the app and toggle it on. Using this feature opens up Spotify and starts playing where you left off. This would be useful if your phone is tucked away in a bag or pocket. Sound Sound out of the buds is great. I have been really impressed with my Jabra buds and have told many coworkers about them. The sound quality keeps up with the 7’s, but lacks a little bit of the extra punch that the 10’s have due to their larger 10mm drivers. The 5’s come with 6mm drivers, and they provide a good level of punchy bass and sound quality. There are 6 different preset EQ’s in the app and you can always customize a preset to your liking. I prefer a little more bass to my EQ’s, so I always bump the lower levels up a bit which the buds handled well. The tight seal of the ear tips helps to boost the bass you hear, and the sound clarity is excellent. The 10’s are the best sounding buds I have used with the 7’s, and now the 5’s right behind in that ranking. They offer a good blend of comfort and sound quality that is hard to dismiss. For calls I am just resigning myself to the realization that buds are not the best. Call quality on my end was superb. For those I was talking to it depended on my surrounding. Wind gets picked up even though the buds try to filter it out. Background noise in my house, or my furnace blower kicking on gets picked up. Driving in the car creates a baseline fuzziness, so I would have to speak up. Like with my other buds I found that the call quality would improve with ANC and hear through toggled off. I guess it frees up those mics to better filter things out. Overall The Jabra Elite 5’s make a solid addition to Jabra’s lineup. I am impressed again with the build quality and the overall performance. Music sounds great, the ANC is really isolating, and the fit is good. I am happy to see these are more comfortable for smaller ears unlike so many earbuds I have tried out.

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  Posted 1 year ago by DaveW

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Impressive execution of sound and comfort!

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  • Top 50 Contributor

  The Jabra Elite 5 earbuds in titanium black carry a sleek and clean design. It offers a Qi-enabled wireless charging case that closes magnetically and secures the buds inside. These earbuds are a strong competitor compared to similar earbuds on the market, considering the quality and premium features offered. Its elegant and compact design makes it easy to carry in pockets or backpacks. With an IP55 rating, they withstand dust, sweat, and water splashes. These earbuds are top-notch, providing a premium quality feel. Comfort is outstanding, surpassing many other earbuds I've tried. The snug fit keeps them securely in place without any discomfort or risk of falling out, even when using and pressing the multifunctional button. Pairing is a breeze, taking just a minute to set up, and Bluetooth 5.2 allows for reliable connections to two devices simultaneously. While the Jabra app enables customization of controls, it lacks volume control, a feature I hope to see in future updates. Nevertheless, the active noise cancellation (ANC) is impressive, with a quick switch to HearThrough mode for awareness of surroundings. The sound quality is excellent, and the microphone delivers clear voice quality during calls. Integration with voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google enhances usability, and a dedicated Spotify button offers quick access. Alexa is built-in, which means it is always on but one voice assistant can be set. Wear detection pauses music when removing the buds, but putting them back does not resume playback. Media and phone call controls can be customized through the app except the volume so I hope volume control ability can be added by Jabra’s future firmware. The Jabra Elite 5 has EQ options for sound customization, but the default settings suited my preferences well. Overall, these earbuds have become my favorite, offering comfort, connectivity, superb sound quality, reliable noise cancellation, and long battery life for extended use during work or leisure activities. The sound and comfort make them my daily use from now on.

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  Posted 1 year ago by Zaid