Normally Jabra hasn’t been a key player in a headphone market recently dominated by Bose and Sony. Jabra’s recent wireless 65t earbuds though put them in contention for a new player in the headphones space. As far as wireless earbuds go, I think the 65t’s are one of the best all-around earbuds on the market currently. So, when these 85h over-the-ear headphones came out, I figured it was definitely something to check out, especially since these were being classed in the category as the Sony MX3s and Bose QC35s. Jabra says they’re better than the others but are they really?
To start, I own both the Sony MX3s and QC35s. Of the two, the MX3s are my favorite, overall, as they have better noise cancelling, sound and slightly better battery life; the added earcup controls are a nice little bonus as well. So, now it’s time to see how the 85h’s compare to the other two headphones.
IN THE BOX: You get the headphones in a very nice carrying case with a velvety interior, airplane adapter, 3.5mm cable (really short) and a USB-C charging cable (also really short).
FIT: Of the three headphones, the QC35 fit the best. While the 85h do fit well, they are a tad on the snug side for my tastes. That said, I’ve been wearing them for the past 3-4 hours and no discomfort at all. Also to note, I have a big head so pretty much all over-the-ear headphones are going to feel snug. With the other headphones, I usually have to extend the arms most of the way to get it fit well. These 85h’s I have to pull the arms out all the way just to get it to fit.
NOISE CANCELLING: The MX3’s win here. They do a fantastic job with ANC and block out a lot of exterior noise. The 85h’s, however, are a close second. With the snug fit of the headphones, the ANC does a pretty good job at blocking out external noises better than the Bose but not quite good as the Sony’s. I’d put the noise cancelling feature a very close second to MX3’s.
SOUND: MX3’s win here. The extra bass the Sony’s have add that stiff punch to bass notes that the Bose and Jabra just doesn’t have. Even with the EQ pumped up, there isn’t that oomph you want when listening to EDM, Hip-Hop, Metal, etc. However, if you listen to other types of music like vocal, instrumental, classical then the 85h are probably a better fit regarding sound. Aside from deep bass notes, the mids/highs are crisp and clear. Really depends on what type of music you listen to so it’s kind of a draw across the board in my opinion. Since I listen to more bass heavy music, the MX3 do it for me. With the Jabra app, you can fine tune the EQ to your liking and save presets as needed for your headphones. There is also an AI component to the sound where 4 of the 8 mics on the headphone pick up and analyze where you are and how noisy it is and switches the headphone setting to optimize sound and battery life. For example, if you’re at home and it’s quiet, it’ll shut off the noise cancelling. Or if you’re in a subway and it’s super noisy, it’ll switch the ANC on. There is also a hear-through setting where you can hear outside noises while playing your music. There is a similar feature on the MX3’s so it’s interesting and a nice feature.
BATTERY: Honestly, this really isn’t a huge factor for me. I believe the QC35’s have the lowest battery life and the MX3/85h tout 32+ hour battery life. I’ve never gotten any headphone down to more than 20% battery so, for me, this really isn’t an issue since all three are relatively the same in this aspect.
VOICE ASSISTANT: I don’t really use this feature on any device I have so it’s not a huge concern for me. However, with most headphones, you’ll either get compatibility with Alexa OR Google OR Siri but never all of them. The 85h allows you to use any of them depending on what device you’re paired to. You’re only able to setup the headphones with one assistant at a time however you’re not limited to having headphones only being compatible with Google Assistant or just Amazon Alexa. I’ve tested this with my iPhone XS Max and it works as expected. There are 8 mics on these headphones, 2 of which (I think) are dedicated to for the voice assistant feature. Just say Hey Alexa/Google/Siri and it works. No issues here so far.
ODDITIES: There’s no power button on these. Had to read the manual to find this out. Basically, you turn the earcups flat to turn them off. Not sure if I like this feature honestly. If you accidentally take your headphones off and hang them around your neck, the cups will kind of turn flat and you may shut off your headphones inadvertently. And if you’re like me and put your headphones on stands, the headphones will stay on.
There are three buttons on outside of the right earcup; volume up/down and play/pause button. The MX3 has a feature like this but are touch/swipe and that I do like. The 85h controls don’t seem quite as refined and seem like they were put there as an afterthought. I might get used to them over time however, for this feature, I prefer the MX3 implementation.
OVERALL: The 85h are a great set of cans for anyone looking to get an upgraded/higher end set of headphones. With the MX3/QC35 being in the $350 range, that might be a damper for most people looking to pick up new headphones. The 85h come in at $300 which might be a little easier to swallow. You can find the other two headphones slightly lower than retail however, the price point for the 85h should be a nice selling point. Considering that, the features and performance of the 85h are on par with the other two headphones. Might not be as good in one area compared to the others but I think they perform really well and are worth the buy if you’re in the market for a nice pair of higher end headphones.