Jabra - Elite 65t True Wireless Earbud Headphones - Titanium Black

I stayed away from wireless earbuds for quite some time. All of the ones I had tried previously had horrible battery life, dropped the signal all the time, were way too obtrusive in my ears, and worst of all they usually sounded pretty bad. The first pair of wireless earbuds I kept and loved were the Apple AirPods and I still think they are a great choice for many people, but they do have some serious issues for some folks. They don't block out any outside noise, are not IP rated (so can't be counted on to keep out dust and moisture), and can easily fall out of your ears if you are doing anything other than sitting or walking casually. They have some pretty great benefits as well with great connectivity to Apple devices, very good sound quality, great battery life, multiple charges from the storage case, and they are small and compact. The great thing about the Jabra Elite 65t earbuds is that they match or surpass most of the best qualities of AirPods and solve all of the problems I mentioned. Let's break this down shall we? Looks: While I appreciate the Apple aesthetic, many people have commented that they thought the AirPods looked weird. Perhaps because they don't look like 'normal' earbuds or because they are so jarringly white. The Elite 65t looks sharp and professional. The black and gunmetal gray are unobtrusive and since they hug your ear rather closely, some people may even miss that you are wearing them. Big win goes to the Elites. Sound Signature: Here I would call it a tie. I enjoy the sound from the AirPods and I think the sound is phenomenal from the Elites. While some people such as myself like the fact that the Jabra Elite app allows for fine tuning the equalizer settings, most won't care about this or even know that they can do this. I'm going to give the Elites the win on this one too, mostly because of the sound options not necessarily over quality of the sound signature. Isolation: This is an easy victory for the Elites. AirPods have virtually none unless you have REALLY small ears and have them jammed in there. The Jabra Elite has traditional earbud tips that come in three different sizes and provide a nice seal that passively blocks a lot of noise. This lets you enjoy your music a bit more and you can listen to it at a lower volume since it isn't competing with other noise. The good thing about the different size tips is that you can mix and match with them. I have a small tip on the right earbud and a medium on the left since my ear canals are different sizes. That being said, many people don't like earbuds with tips that go into your ear canal because they find them uncomfortable, I am usually one of those people (which is one of the reasons I like the AirPods) but these tips seem to be soft enough and well sized and I haven't had any problems so far. You get a good enough seal without having to really cram them in your ears so that is a nice plus. Active Use: Another win for the Elites. Apple AirPods stay in my ears better than I thought they would but I have had them fall out many times while doing yard work, exercise, and sometimes just walking around. The fit of the Elites is snug enough that this is not a problem. I have yet to have them come out even when cranking hard on an elliptical machine (which is probably the most jarring of the activities I do on a regular basis). Also, the Jabra Elites are IP55 rated that gives them considerable dust and moisture resistance. Now I wouldn't wear these in a dust storm and you sure a heck can't submerge them but they can take the elements far better than AirPods. If you have always wondered about IP ratings I have attached a handy little graphic that breaks it down for you. The Sport version of these are IP56 so they are a bit more moisture resistant. Charging Case: This one goes to Apple. The AirPod case is smaller, holds more of a charge (24 hours), and therefore can recharge the earbuds through more cycles. That being said, they Jabra case is much smaller than I expected and has one really good feature and that is the snap lock. The magnetic latch on the AirPods sometimes doesn't keep the headphones tightly set and I've had several times where one of the AirPods doesn't charge while the other one does. The lid on the Jabra Elite case holds the earbuds down on their charging connectors consistently and well so this is not a worry. While the Jabra case may not hold as much juice, what it does have is going to reliably charge your Elites. Call Quality: This one is a tie. My wife says that I sound better through both the AirPods and Elites than I do just talking though my phone normally. The sound isolation on the Elites though makes it easier to make out softer talking from those calling you. Bluetooth Connectivity: Again, a tie. Both have solid connections to my iPhone and other devices and I have yet to have a dropped signal from either. The AirPods seamlessly hook up to all of my Apple devices without any work from me but the pairing with the Jabra Elite is easy as well (it's just not 'magical' like the AirPod sync). The Jabra Elites are on the new Bluetooth 5 spec but I have yet to determine a difference between it and the version 4 on the AirPods but perhaps as more devices support it (my phone does not), it may be more of an issue. Controls: This one is a win for Apple. This is only because there is one glaring problem with the Jabras and that is that they aren't gesture control or just touches but are actual button presses. The buttons can sometime be hard to actuate and have the unfortunate side-effect of forcing the earbud into my ear. For someone who really does not like that sensation, it can be a problem. That being said there are a lot more controls that are available through the button presses than are available for the AirPods. Also, I have an Apple Watch and control my AirPods with it, so that has always been really seamless for me so I have to give this one to Apple. This would be different if Jabra would change from actual button presses to taps. I would be ok with the loss of some control features to not have to push the Elites into my ears to get a good actuation. Overall: The Jabra Elite 65t is probably they best wireless earbud out there now and it is going to take a lot for anyone to push them off the top of that hill. Across the board they either meet or exceed the quality of Apple AirPods and absolutely destroy any other wireless earbuds that I've tried. These are an outstanding choice for anyone and I highly recommend them. I think it would almost be impossible to be disappointed in them. I don't say that about many things.

Jabra Elite 65t Setup/Testing/Conclusion I have to first say… I am quite impressed with Jabra on creating the Elite 65t. When I first saw the box I really liked the packaging. Jabra made the box standout with the yellow color that you’ll typically see with other Jabra products. Some of the text on the box is silver so it gives it that “premium” look. Jabra didn’t overdo it because they only made the Elite and one side of the box text silver. Once you break the seal on the bottom of the packaging and pull the yellow box out, you’re prompted with a little grey tab to pull out which discloses the “Welcome to Superior Sound” card. On that card you’ll be able to see the earbuds through a hole. Once you remove that card you’ll gain access to the Elite 65t, the charging box, need help contact sheet, get started booklet, usb charging cable, and of course extra ear gels. For those of you that require different size ear gels; Jabra provides you with a small, medium, and large (medium installed by default). I personally didn’t have any problems at all with the already installed medium ear gels. Getting started was honestly pretty simple and straightforward. I took a look at the get started booklet for reference but found that I got a better understanding of how everything works after downloading the app. The app you want to download is the Jabra Sound+ app. After, you’ll be able to download the Jabra Service app. Please note that the Jabra Service app is not a standalone app! Make sure you download the Jabra Sound+ app. After downloading the two apps I paired the Elite 65t with my Google Pixel phone without any issues whatsoever. Within the app, you’ll be able to set the voice assistant which is on default or you could select Amazon Alexa. When clicking on Audio experience you’ll be able to change settings of HearThrough, Auto Pause, and Headset Prompts. HearThrough basically gives you the ability to have it off where no audio from your surroundings will be transmitted to your headset. Or you can set it to Mix or on and customize the way you want it. AutoPause works where if you remove one earbud from your ear, audio will pause. Headset Prompts basically gives you verbal headset prompts, pretty straightforward there. Other things you can customize is the call experience like call audio, caller ID or even the Sidetone. If you don’t know what Sidetone is, it’s basically where you can hear your own voice when on a call; I set mine to off. The last thing you can customize is the Equalizer. Don’t forget! If you need to change the language for guidance; Jabra gives you the ability to change it to either Deutsch, English, Francais, or Chinese. I must say, the Elite 65t is definitely customizable. I like the fact that the app can control so many things. But what helped me out the most personally is having the ability to reference the actual user manual within the app. So instead of looking at a paper instruction manual or downloading the PDF manual online, I was able to reference to it within the app at any given moment; which I did quite often. Using the Jabra Elite 65t was fantastic. The earbuds fit into my ear snug and didn’t cause any discomfort at all. My coworker mentioned that it looked just a little bit bulky in his opinion. I personally felt like it wasn’t a problem at all. The sound quality when playing music was fantastic. The earbuds did a great job with blocking out people around me (when working in an office). I tested the Elite 65t by making a couple calls and the receiving end said that I was clear and could barely hear any noise around me. I tested this because I work near the airport runway along with having my window rolled down and driving while talking to someone. The button placement on the earbuds are also not a problem for me. Left earbud basically controls the volume along with being able to skip songs. Right earbud is the “master” earbud I guess you could say. It functions by pausing music, holding it down to access your voice assistant, hanging up phone calls, or even turning off the earbuds. I like the fact that the Elite 65t comes with the portable on-the-go charging case. So the earbuds alone can operate up to 5 hours of use, with the charging case; you’ll get a total of 15 hours. The portable charging case basically gives you 2 full charges, meaning 5 hours (earbuds) + 5 hours (case) + 5 hours (case) gives you a total of 15 hours. I didn’t have any problems loading the earbuds into the case and plugging it into my PC with the included charging cable. In conclusion; the only thing I would’ve liked to see is instead of the USB charging cable, a USB C cable instead. Only reason why is because a lot of electronics are moving to USB C now. It’s just flat out better… Nonetheless, Jabra has truly done an excellent job on the Elite 65t. Everything from packaging, to sound quality (input and output), to materials used was really thought out by Jabra. The Elite 65t definitely reached and exceeded my expectations. I will continue to use the Elite 65t on the daily and tune everybody out at work while jamming to some music. Don’t forget ladies and gentlemen! Register your product after downloading the app to take benefit of the warranty! Product Information 4 Microphone Enhanced Sound Customize your Music Proven Wireless Connection Up to 15 Hours Battery Voice Assistant Enabled 2 Year Warranty (Dust & Water). Registration required with the Jabra Sound+ app. What's in the box? Elite 65t Earbuds (w/ Medium Ear Gels Installed) On-The-Go Charging Case USB to Micro USB Cable Large and Small Ear Gels Get Started Guide Contact (Help) Sheet

-=First Impressions=- Typical Jabra presentation with secure and simple packaging. My first thoughts were "these look so business/corporate, they could replace my Plantronics Voyager Edge". Fitting took some getting used to, but once I found the right tips they did not fall out or move at all. Initially, you may feel discomfort while trying to find YOUR proper ear tips, but that goes away fairly quickly. These are pure quality and built to last! The Elite 65t buds are a little bigger than a nickel. The case is pocket sized and fits nicely in the palm your hand although it takes some practice for one handed operation. I wish there was a way to get more accurate battery representation for the case in app or a light bar/indicator. Sound isolation is very good and I think these are the most well balanced for music and voice calls. The best part is you will NOT look like Frankenstein with these in your ears! I love the low profile build of these. Things I like: +Bluetooth 5.0 - these are the ONLY ones on the market with Bluetooth 5.0 as of this review 2/13/2018. +Total Wireless Solution - no wires bouncing on your neck or sticking to you when you work out. No more accidental tugging to annoy you when you are running. Lightweight and can go hours without noticing them. +Built Quality/IP55 - splash proof and dust proof. Offers 2yr warranty on IP55 protection! Built like tanks! +Fit - the fit was perfect and not one single movement during my run or workout. I ran about 5 miles and then did my weight routine. Not a single wiggle. Great job Jabra! +Quick Charge - a quick 15-minute charge provides up to 90 minutes of play time! +Case - has battery reserve of 2 charges. That means 10 hours in the case and 5hrs on the headphones for 15hrs total. +Battery Life - I can probably get a week's worth of use before needing to recharge the case. Easily makes it through a few gym sessions. +Sound & EQ - nice balanced sound. Not too bass heavy and not sharp in highs. I would say it is a sound profile similar to Jaybirds. These have great sound isolation though. EQ available through app. +Mono/Stereo - these can be used in stereo or mono. Use only the right side if you want to have a single Bluetooth experience +Call Quality - in stereo these are amazing. Callers cannot tell if I am using a Bluetooth or not. +Pass Through Sound - these use the on-board mics to allow sound in so you can hear around you while listening to music. +Sound Synced - there is no latency between video playback and audio in my ears. It is perfect and not a complaint in this department. +Look - looks nice, business/executive styling. Very subtle and no not attract much attention. Things I would change: -No aptX - no support for aptX or aptXhd. Sound quality is good, but this should be standard for all wireless headphones with BT5.0 -Button Placement - after some practice, I have figured out where things are. The left ear controls are difficult to find and press. -Buttons - the left side buttons are very stiff and require a LOT of pressure to activate. This make the earbud uncomfortable since you press into your ear to activate. -Charging - you're only able to charge in the cradle. If anything happens to it, you will probably have to shell out more cash as they require a proprietary pin charger. -No Tracking - there should be some sort of way to blast sound to these in case you lose them. An alert with last known location should be an option when out of range. -No USB C - it's unbelievable we are still using micro USB in 2018. I worry I may break the connector since everything I own now has USB C. -App - the app is excellent with regards to features but these do not get stored once you put them away. -Lost Settings - I would incorporate some way of storing last used settings to the ear buds so you don't need to use the app to reactivate them each time. -Range - these are advertised as BT5.0. That means you should get around 120ft range with them if you have a phone that also supports BT5.0. Not the case here. I seriously doubt these are actually BT5.0 being that the range is around 30ft like BT4.0. -Case - I would like to see a light bar or indicator LCD that shows battery level. One light isn't good enough for me. Also, it is tough to use with one hand. It takes practice but can be done. Maybe wireless charging in the case would be nice as well. -Voice Commands - there is a terrible delay in the time you say "answer" and the time the call is answered using voice commands -=The Verdict=- These are a great release from Jabra. Audiophiles, these are not for you since you know only a wired listening device produces the best sound. If you want new Bluetooth headset, these are a buy. They offer versatility without sacrificing call quality and music quality. These are built to last.

Pros Sleek and does not stand out for completely wire free Autopause pauses thesong automatically when an earbud is removed Options for noise isolating or mixing outside sounds Good sound quality and reasonably balanced IP55 dust and water resistant Quick and easy pairing process on iOS Cons Earbuds don’t feel secure with sweat or when cold Pressing buttons requires pressing earbud hard into your ear While sound quality is good it sounds flat and equalizer can’t fix it Options for mixing outside sounds miss some important low frequency sounds Ambient sound option causes cycling of earbuds on and off following sound on Android Call recipients report frequent microphone dropout with wind noises Poor cross body signal quality causing sound dropout for some Instructions are confusing of what app to use and multiple apps are required on Android No earbud tracking or find option Charging case finger slot is too small for opening for those with short fingernails Charging case has no flat surfaces for laying down The Jabra Elite 65t true wireless headphones join an increasing number of wire free headphones. Included are four microphones to improve call quality while reducing unwanted noises. The earbuds are noise isolating but include an adjustable setting in the software to allow outside noises as needed for safety. Connectivity is by the latest Bluetooth 5.0 to allow high quality sound and more stable connections. Included is Alexa as a voice assistant or you can use your phones default assistant. Total listening time is rated at 15 hours with included charging carrying case. The Elite 65t also comes in an active variant, which is nearly identical to the standard 65t. The design of the Jabra Elite 65t is very sleek, particularly for true wireless headphones. Most of the body of the earbuds stays hidden inside the ear canal with only a relatively small portion visible. The earbuds are held in place with a rubberized tip, which is said to have a special coating to improve grip. You put them in your ear with a slight twisting motion to lock them in place. It sounds nice but in practice, the earbuds loosen from moisture from sweating or if you ears become cold from being outside on a cold day. Fortunately, it is easy to tell when they become loose to correct them but considering their compact size, you might find yourself worried you would lose them. Unfortunately, unlike some other brands that keep a track of the earbuds via GPS on your phone and list where they lost connectivity these include no such feature. They also do not include a feature to ring the buds to assist in finding them as some other true wireless earbuds include. If you drop them and do not realize it, there is no GPS log to the rescue or other tools to help you find them. Starting with setup, the instructions say to install the Jabra app on your on your phone. When using an iPhone this is not even necessary since the moment you pair the phone it tells you it needs an app and even sends you directly to the app store to install it. Very easy to use. On Android, the process is more manual. You must search for the Jabra app as indicated only to discover there are multiple Jabra apps, none of which match the name you are given. The app you need to install is actually called Jabra Sound+ in the Play Store but you aren’t done once you install this. After installed Jabra Sound+ you will receive a message stating you need to install Jabra Services. Once installed the confusion does not end. If you look later on your phone for the Jabra Sound+ you don’t find it. Instead, the app is called Sound+. Overall the setup experience on Android feels less refined and in need of updates. Once you have the earbuds, set up you will find the app has options to choose your voice assistant. The options are to use Alexa or your phone’s default voice assistant. A section called Audio experience allows to you to adjust such settings such as how much ambient noise you want played through the earbuds, if you would like Autopause activated, and if you want headset prompts. Under Call Experience, there is a helpful feature where you can choose to hear some of your voice as you speak in calls or if you would like the Caller ID announced. An equalizer is available for some basic tuning of sound with options to adjust the 60Hz, 250Hz, 1KHz, 4KHz, and 7.5KHz ranges. Battery level is listed in the app but unfortunately the earbuds do not announce battery level on start. Overall, the app is simple to navigate and offers a good selection of settings for most people. Continuing the split experience for Android and iOS users, sound quality and connection stability is different for each. Using an iPhone 6, music quality is good and mixing of outside sounds happens uniformly in each ear. When using a Galaxy S8+ sound quality sounds more of what can be best described as flat and the mixing of outside sounds results in an odd left to right cycling at random times. It not that music sounded bad using an Android phone. It just seemed to lack body. This seems to be related to the way the earbuds work with Android since more than one GS8+ was tried as well as other older Android phones lying around. It seems Jabra needs to optimize how they work with Android more. A problem common regardless of phone was cross body signal quality. If you kept your phone in your pocket and bent over the thickness of your leg could block enough signal to cause dropouts. The adjustment for ambient noise still needs fine tuning as well. Traditional earbuds that naturally allow ambient noise allow a small amount of all noises through. The electronic version in the 65t seems to favor allowing high pitch noises while blocking deeper noises. This means that when outside the noise of crickets will blend straight in with your music while a car passing by or a person with a deep voice will be inaudible. For safety reasons, this needs fine-tuning. If Jabra could improve this, the largest flaw would be a non-issue. Just as the earbuds are surprisingly small for the feature set, the charging case is small as well. The earbuds are rated to work for 5 hours on the integrated batteries with the charging case allowing two additional charges for a total of 15 hours of playback. The case can be easily stored in back. The inside is lined with a soft plastic. The earbuds light up on a successful connection to the charging case. On the outside of the case is a single status light. The case is rounded on all edges, which makes placing it on a flat surface awkward. You could stand it on end but that also does not seem correct. It feels that Jabra, in order to create a sleek and smooth design, forgot you might want to actually place it on a flat surface. This is of course a small gripe but an important one to mention nonetheless. Overall, the Jabra Elite 65t true wireless earbuds are a decent offering that, with software refinement, could make a very compelling case for anyone who wants to get rid of the cables without spending a fortune. If you are an iPhone user, they can already be a good option and would be rated 4 out of 5. For Android users the decision is less certain without some updates and would be rated 2 out of 5.

After using the Jabra Elite 65t and the Jabra Elite Active 65t, here are my comparison of the two. Hopefully this will help you decide between the two. The Active version adds a motion sensor to count steps, and a rubberized coating for the higher IP56 rating and slightly better grip in ear. Battery life and connection is slightly poorer than the non active ... read more below. Protection against dust, water: The Elite Active 65t is rated at IP56 vs IP55 for the non active. The first number is for solids protection, both have 5 for same dust protection. The second number is for liquids protection, Elite 65t has a 5 rating which means lower pressure water protection, water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects, whereas the 6 for Active 65t means high pressure water with a nozzle of 12.5mm will have no harmful effects when sprayed against the enclosure. Basically what this means is, both versions can be used for sports, both versions should be able to withstand dust, water, and sweat with Active version being slightly higher rated for water at high pressures. Fit: Both versions come with 3 interchangeable ear tips to give you a good fit in the ears, I had no issues with either during extensive workouts, neither fell out of my ear. Either version will work fine for sports usage, the Active version has a rubberized coating that gives it a slight edge at grip in your ears when they are sweating. Connectivity: Both come with Bluetooth 5, which gives strong connection and battery life. During workouts I did feel that the Elite 65t had better connection over the Active version, I didn’t experience any cutouts with the Elite 65t, the Active version, although has a good connection, every now and then, it will disconnect from the left ear bud for a sec and reconnect again. I contribute this problem to the rubberized coating on the Active version that may be interfering somewhat with the connection. Battery life: In documentation both are rated for 5 hours, but in my testing I found the Elite 65t to be superior in battery life, I consistently got 6.5 to 7 hours, whereas the Active version only got 4.5 to 5 hours. This is due to the fact that the Active version has a motion sensor that is always active and counting your steps even though you do not activate it in the app. App for IOS and Android : Both come with a nice Jabra Sound + app for IOS and Android devices, that can recognize upto 8 devices and can simultaneously connect to 2 Bluetooth devices at the same time. Version 2.2 of the Jabra Sound + app now comes with equalizer preset settings. Energizer preset is very good, gives you a nice boost in Bass. There is a HearThrough feature which allows how much of ambient noice you want to let in, a Sidetone feature that allows you to hear your own voice in the headset if you choose. A pink noise feature, which drowns out any external sounds if you are trying to concentrate at work, plays ocean waves if you want to relax or sleep. The Active version adds one additional feature which the non active version does not have, ability to count your steps as it has a built in motion sensor. For me I didn’t care for this feature, as it gave poorer battery life and my Apple Watch already does this feature better, I preferred the longer battery of the Non active Elite 65t Aesthetics: This is personal taste, but I found the look of the non active Elite 65t that comes in platinum or copper to have a more appealing look than the Active 65t version. The Active version comes in matte black or blue, the black version is a Best Buy exclusive. I ended up keeping the non active version, $20 cheaper, looks better, slightly better connectivity and better battery life.

I was pretty skeptical going in when my Jabra Elite 65t arrived. Granted I had never tried truly wireless ear buds before, but I had read various horror stories of other brands ranging from Bragi, Jaybird, Sony to Apple. In fact, these reviews and stories made me want to avoid the category altogether. When the opportunity came along to give a pair a try I thought it might be worth my own investigation instead of relying on others. Now, I would have never expected a set of good musical ear buds from Jabra. I just wouldn't. They have always been more the bluetooth earpiece company for me and I just wouldn't have associated great musicality with them. Consider this review a correction to my thinking. First and foremost, the Elite 65t is super simple to get rolling with. Pair the buds to each other, then to your device, and lastly Install the app. I had no issues whatsoever and if it took more than 30 seconds I would be shocked. They use Bluetooth 5.0 and I never experienced any connection drops or out of sync audio when used with my iPhone 8 Plus. I changed the earpieces to something a little larger to account for my larger ear canals and popped them in. This was the stage that took some getting used to. They are fairly comfortable once you get them rotated into the correct position. They are lightweight and do not protrude from the ear for more discrete use. For my ears they are pretty snug and I have no concern about them possibly falling out. This has always been one of my chief concerns and is why I have generally avoided the true wireless ear bud category. Not a concern with these. The snug fit also means good passive noise cancellation. I will certainly give these a go on my next business trip. They will hopefully be replacing my much larger Bose QC35s I currently use. Let's talk sound quality. In one word.... outstanding. It is far better than I could have possibly imagined. Is this going to replace your $1000 planar magnetic headphones? Absolutely not, but that wasn't the intent either. Compared to my Beats X these Jabra Elite 65t easily outperform them with a nice balanced sound. Out of the box they are a tad thin in the bottom end, but thankfully the app allows you to EQ the buds to your liking. So, I goosed up the bass at 60Hz a bit and now they have a much 'fuller' sound. They are incredibly clear and detailed. As I said before, I was surprised just how good they sounded. The right ear bud offers play/pause, end/receive call, and audio passthrough (more on that) functions with a single or double tap of the physical button. The left ear bud offers volume control, and skip functions. It is all pretty intuitive and at no point did I feel like I was going to lose a bud when fiddling with the controls. The audio passthrough function is quite nice in that it allows you to mix in the outside audio so that you can more easily speak to someone. This is a function seen on many high end noise cancelling headphones and a very welcome addition to the Elite 65t. Thank you Jabra for adding this function. The call quality is exceptional. I suppose this should come as no surprise given Jabra's history. The four mic setup really helps in situations where there is excessive ambient noise and people I have spoke to while using them had no idea I was even using them. Can't ask for more in my opinion. Battery life is on par with my Beats X at around 4-5 hours per charge, but the compact carrying case offers up to an additional 10 hours worth of play time so it should have you covered for all day use or an international flight. The down side is the charge time. Yes, you get around an hour and half on 15 minutes, but to get a full charge you are closer to 45 minutes and if you have a busy day ahead that can be a bit of a hindrance. I can't blame Jabra, but more so the slow advancement in battery technology. At least you have nearly 15 hours to work with even if you do have to pause a couple times to get it. Overall fit and finish is top notch and the IP55 rating means I can use it without worrying about rain or sweat. To top it off, Jabra offers a 2-year warranty so I figure I am covered against most things save losing one or say dropping one in the toilet. These very well could be the best truly wireless earbuds on the market at this time. They represent a strong value and offer the audio quality, call quality, build, and features one would want. I can't recommend them enough.

I recently reviewed a set of wireless on-ear headphones from Plantronics, a company better known for their office phone headset presence, not so much their products in the personal audio space. Nonetheless, I thought that those headphones were worth a look because of my overwhelmingly positive experience with Plantronics products in the past, as well as their reputation. So too was my approach with this new product, the Jabra Elite 65t True Wireless Earbuds. My experience with Jabra, similar to Plantronics, was more along the lines of professional use, not personal audio—and although the lines between the two are blurred, I haven’t seen much from Jabra strictly in the personal audio market. For starters, the packaging was simple and it took very little time for me to get my hands on the earbuds. My first impression of the buds themselves were that they looked big, but otherwise the design was sleek and modern. The included charging/carrying case is also relatively small, larger than the AirPods case, but not by much (I’d put it around the size of a slightly wider-than-usual Tic Tac container). The charging case has two leads per bud which need to be in contact with the buds in order to charge, but there are no magnets that hold the buds into the case—so, be careful when you’re opening it. Before we get into audio quality, there are a few other “goodies” that need to be called out, the first of which is Bluetooth 5.0. The 65t’s are among the few products in the truly wireless earbud space with it, which helps with wireless range and battery performance. And speaking of battery performance, the battery on the buds is rated at 5 hours of life before needing a recharge, but this number may be different for you based upon your listening habits; high volumes, excessive bass, etc., will drop the average listening time down. I personally found that the 5-hour estimate is fair, and some review sites have found up to 6 or more hours on a single charge. The charging case will recharge your buds twice before it needs to be charged, so a light-to-moderate user will probably need a charge one or two times per week. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when it came to battery life. And, no, the case does NOT have a USB type C connector, however it does support quick charge which is a plus. From a durability perspective, the 65t’s carry an IP55 rating, which means that sweat and dust shouldn’t be a problem if you’re using these at the gym. I remarked earlier in the review that my first impression of the buds themselves were that they seemed large—however, once I put them in my ears my opinion changed immediately. These are probably among the best-fitting and most stable earbuds I’ve ever tried, and that comparison includes Bose’s ear tips which are my current favorite for earbuds. The 65t’s are an ear-canal style bud, and there are multiple sizes of ear tips in the retail packaging. I was a bit concerned at first that there were no fins to keep these seemingly large buds in my ears, but the body of the buds is almost perfectly designed for my ear and is held in place snugly; attempting to “shake” them out of my ears is not an easy thing to do. That said, my wife who has smaller ears didn’t like the fit at all and they were a little large for her, so your individual ear size may “make or break” this purchase for you. The onboard buttons allow for play/pause, answering and hanging up calls, volume up/down and track skipping—all standard stuff. On to sound performance: the ear-canal style bud makes for great passive noise reduction, and the fit for me was such that almost all outside noise was eliminated when I put these in (I’ll cover the app later, but it is worth noting that the buds allow you to “pipe in” outside noises if you’re in an environment where that is preferred). The sound profile of these buds was relatively flat—which is a nice change for newer products which [in my experience] tend to favor lows. A flat profile allows for maximum sound customization, which is allowed by the Jabra app which I’ll cover shortly. Listening at the default settings, lows, mids and highs all came across clear even at higher volumes, and there was very little sound leaking heard by those around me up to 70-80% volume. These buds also had a familiar feature: the automatic pausing of music when one earbud is removed. This is achieved via a proximity sensor between the two buds, so slightly different from Apple’s AirPods, but nonetheless a plus when it comes to features. Another quick note—truly wireless earbuds sometimes have audio/video syncing issues when it comes to using them to watch Netflix or Youtube; in my experience, that delay in audio does not exist for the 65t’s, making them a good all around earbud (and not just for music). Call performance was as expected from a name like Jabra: called parties were able to hear me clearly without much background noise being picked up in quieter environments, however, as with most Bluetooth headsets, noisier environments are not ideal as background noise usually comes through more readily to called parties. The sound and call performance both are enhanced by what I consider to be among the best audio companion apps that I’ve used. The flat sound profile, although default, can be modified with a decent equalizer, and the response to those adjustments are easy to hear compared to some of the competition. Also in the app, Elite’s “HearThrough” feature can be enabled, which passes outside audio into music or calls; the app also allows customization of your own voice to be passed through in a feature called “Sidetone,” which is just a monitor function built into the earbuds. And finally, the app allows you to chose your voice assistant; currently Google’s voice assistant and Siri are available, and Alexa will be available in the future. The gold standard for true wireless earbuds right now, if such a thing exists, is undoubtedly Apple’s AirPods—and whether or not they are the best audio performer, they do a great job at a few things which put them ahead of the competition. It is well known, though, that they are not the greatest choice for audiophiles, as their fit and overall design don’t allow for a great audio experience. The 65t’s, in contrast, do provide a really good audio experience, and they do so at $169, which is only $10 more than Apple’s AirPods. And, they have a better app experience, more customization, arguably a better fit (although that’s subjective just like everything else), and similar features—all while being cross-platform (technically, I recognize the AirPods are also cross-platform, but not in the truest sense since some features are lost when you use AirPods with Android). I think it also stands to reason that the 65t’s will be available on sale more frequently and at higher amounts that the AirPods, meaning you will probably be able to get your hands on them at or below the cost of AirPods. AirPods aside, a great design, excellent battery life, really good audio performance and customization all make this a great buy for the price, especially considering they are available at a price lower than many of their direct competitors.

Compared to other manufacturers, Plantronics generally isn't associated with good quality headphones. However, after using these earbuds for a little while, I can say that these are on par, if not better than a lot of other manufacturer earbuds. Quite surprising actually as these are great all around earbuds. I have a pair Bose Soundsport earbuds that I've been using for awhile. Very nice and lives up to Bose quality. Compared to these, the 65t's are, again, quite impressive. As far as sound quality, these are very good and offer a great mix of highs/lows. Personally, I wish the bass had a little more thump to it but not a huge thing. Mids and highs are very clear and crisp and volume is good as well. Size/portability. While both the 65ts and Bose are small and compact, the 65ts have the edge here as they're smaller than the Bose earbuds/case. The case for the 65t is about half the size of the Bose which isn't a big issue however, it is nicer that these can fit in even the smallest pocket you have. One of my biggest complaints with the Bose earbuds is how they stick out of your ear when you wear them. Looks a tad strange but this is more a personal preference. This is not the case with the 65ts. They sit almost flush in my ear. The fit on these is very good and I don't have any concerns about them falling out or anything. Call quality. These have the ability to take calls and people on the other end of the line can't even tell I'm using earbuds. The call quality is quite clear however I did have a couple pauses during my call. I'll blame that on the bluetooth connection but just something to note. And these also have the ability to interact with Alexa which, I presume, is nice. I don't have Alexa (I have Google) so I'm unable to test this aspect of the earbuds. I imagine though it would be quite convenient to interact with Alexa in this fashion. Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed with these and I think they're great for working out, out and about or for whatever. The compact size and good battery life will just about appeal to anyone and the sound quality will be more than adequate for any time of music listener.