Jabra - Elite 85t True Wireless Advanced Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds - Titanium Black

I’ve owned and truly loved my Jabra Elite 75t for the last year. In my opinion, Jabra has taken everything that was wonderful about the 75t and they’ve delivered a next level experience in the 85t that is perhaps not earth shaking but is next generation excellent. In this review, I’ll highlight the notable differences between them. The first thing you want to do is go your App Store and download the Jabra Sound+ App. Then follow the directions to pair your 85t’s to your device. Once paired, open the app and go through all the available setup options. Out of the box, an update was available for my headphones, which took about 15 minutes to complete. Anytime an update is available, the Discover Tab in the Sound+ App lights up to let you know you can update. Jabra couldn’t make it any simpler if they tried. While I’m speaking about the app, it’s one of the best apps to control and manage earphones I’ve had the pleasure to use and I’ve used plenty of them. So what did Jabra do to make the next generation Elite 85t better? Small things first. The charging case is now Qi wireless capable. And its slightly larger than the 75t charging case. The earbuds themselves are slightly larger than the 75t as well. But that has NOT been an issue in wear, fit or most important, comfort. More on comfort below. As already mentioned, the Jabra Sound+ app is the same app, with minor differences to accommodate the more advanced ANC in the 85t. The app is and continues to be industry leading in feature and control options. I won’t go into great detail on the app, except to say it’s simple, intuitive and VERY effective. You can easily integrate with Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Assistant. It was the same on the 75t. Moving on to more important things, let’s start with Advanced Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). All of my headphones have ANC. For me ANC is not the driving force behind any headphone purchase. Mostly because when ANC is active, the soundstage is typically compressed. And so too is this the case with the Elite 85t when ANC is on. It's very good to be sure, but if you're not in a noisy environment and you don't need noise cancelling, don't engage it. The sound stage will be expanded and music sounds fuller without it. ANC also uses more power so you'll get longer average use times without ANC engaged. Jabra incorporated a special ANC chip which permits something most ANC headphones cannot do and that’s giving you the ability to adjust the level of ANC to the level of noise reduction appropriate for the listening environment you’re in. Most ANC systems are either on or off. You either get noise reduction or you don’t. With the Jabra system, you use a slider in the Jabra Sound + app to dial in the perfect level of ANC and Hear-Through. Jabra dials the level of ANC in levels of 3db in 11 adjustments from no noise cancellation to full noise cancellation, with a toggle to add hear through for situations when you need to have some sense of things happening around you. It’s simple and effective. Each earbud has a microphone on the outside to cancel noise from the outside and one on the inside to cancel noise inside the ear. For the price its remarkably good. When Jabra introduced the Elite 75t, they did NOT have ANC. Instead they offered passive noise cancellation. What that means is once you’ve chosen the eargel with the best fit, they go deeper in your ear, to block out the outside world. It’s pretty effective to a degree. But Jabra just did something truly remarkable by rolling out an update to the 75t and Active 75t bringing Active Noise Cancellation to them both. That Jabra didn’t leave the 75t series out and it was even possible to turn earbuds which didn’t offer ANC and turn them into earbuds WITH ANC, with an update is simply amazing. Is it as good as ANC on the 85t? No. But it’s very good and I believe this is the first time anyone has ever done this. Kuddos to Jabra! Another notable improvement for the 85t is going from 6mm speakers to 12mm speakers. To be honest, the Elite 75t’s should not sound as great as they do with 6mm speakers, but they do. In doubling the size of the speakers in the 85t, the sound to my ears is broader. Because the 75t requires a very tight fit to block outside noise. Bass on the 75t can be a bit much. In contrast bass on the 12mm speaker on the 85t is not overpowering (a good thing to me), because the new earbuds are semi-open as opposed to fully closed. I personally find the sound more natural. Bass is tight, without boominess and gives a sense of greater depth without rattling your head. Mid-range is enhanced and highs crystal clear with no hint of being shrill. Overall, I think the new 85t’s are better balanced and better sounding than the 75t. Not long ago, Jabra introduced a feature through the app called My Sound. My Sound, adjusts the sound precisely for your hearing, where each ear is played frequencies at varying loudness levels from audible to barely audible. Once complete, the app configures the earbuds precisely for each ear. You must be in a place where it’s totally quiet as some of the tones can be hard to hear and you tap a box on the screen for each frequency you hear. I’ve taken the My Sound test a couple times and I’m not sure I can honestly hear much of a difference either way. It would be great if could toggle back and forth to hear how music sounds with the results of the sound test or without the sound test. As it stands now, you can only start over and take the test again. Also new this year is a wireless Qi charge ready case. Last year’s case could only be charged with a USB C to charging brick. The case this year is just slightly larger than last years case. But the case is already smaller than most other earbud cases, so not an issue. The case is well engineered and has a nice matt finish (nothing shiny here, no siree). And the earbuds fit in their charging cradle magnetically. You can turn the case upside down with the lid open and shake it and the buds remain securely in place. On a full charge, the earbuds will provide up to 5.5 hours of continuous play with ANC or up to 7 hours without ANC. The case itself holds up to 25 hours with ANC or 31 hours without ANC. The Elite 85t has an IPX4 dust and water rating and can take sweat from a hard workout or splashing water. They cannot be submerged in water. The Elite 75t has an IPX55 rating, which is tad better. Both the 75t and 85t come with a two-year warranty against dust and water, so you are well covered if anything goes wrong. In terms of connectivity, the Elite 85t can connect to 8 devices and play through two simultaneously. Jabra provides actual tactile buttons you can program to do what you want from pause, play, answer a call, move from one track forward or back. I will say the buttons require a bit more force to engage on the 85t, but they’re so much better than touch sensitive buttons. Jabra truly excels at headphones for phone calls. The 85t continues this tradition with 6 (count ‘em SIX) professional grade microphones, three in each bud. They added what they call SideTone, so you can hear your voice more clearly and naturally on a phone call, coupled with advanced wind protection algorithms, phone conversations are amazingly clear. I took a walk on a breezy afternoon with ANC all the way up, pass-through on and made a phone call. The ANC did a great job removing wind noise. My office can get loud and It works great there as well. All in-earbud headphones need to fit your ears properly to sound their best. With the 75t, the eargels are round and need to go deeper in your ear to block outside sounds. This can cause pressure and listener fatigue, but it’s how Jabra manages to get great sound from 6mm speakers. It’s VERY important to try all three eargels (small, medium, large) to determine what fits and sounds best. Using a size too small will not only provide a poor fit but will ensure you're not hearing everything these puppies can produce. The 85t eargels are a new semi-open oval design with pressure relief vents to eliminate pressure buildup. I find the 85t’s immensely more comfortable and listener fatigue is non-existent, even for extended periods of time in your ears. You still need to make sure you’ve chosen the right size eargel to get the best sound. Like the 75t, you still can’t listen to either earbud in mono. The 75t and 85t are slave and master. This means they aren’t paired individually and thus, it’s not possible to listen through the left earbud individually. You can listen through the right earbud in mono mode by putting it in your ear and leave the left earbud in the charging case. If Jabra can add ANC with an update, maybe this will come in a future update. Sorry this is long, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the differences between the 75t and the new 85t. I’ve put the 85t through extended listening sessions over the last few days, some sessions exceeding 3+ hours without a break and they are simply terrific for long listening. The 85t is to me a great step up and better in all the areas they needed to be. The 75t is still terrific made even better when Jabra updated them with ANC for free. But the 85t is all around better with larger speakers, fully adjustable next generation ANC, a case with wireless charging, Jabra’s traditional superior call quality, coupled with more balanced sound Over the last couple years, Jabra has been making some stellar state-of-the-art Bluetooth earbuds. One can only imagine how they’ll top this a year from now, but I have every confidence they will. In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying the best earbuds for the money out there and that makes me a very lucky camper indeed.

Unboxing and Setup The Jabra Elite 85t True wireless earbuds with Advanced ANC came in a easy to open box. Opening the front lid displays easy to follow. The first step was to download the Jabra Sound+ app to my iPhone. Once loaded it had me select the type of earbuds. The earbuds paired easily and the Sound+ app stepped me through a custom sound configuration by asking my sex, age, then a hearing test through both earbuds. This was followed by a firmware update download which required the earbuds to be on, then the earbuds had to be put back in the case with the lid closed, to apply the update. The LED on the front of the case flashed during the update of around ten minutes. Earbuds The earbuds have a nice solid feel. There is a bright led light at the top of the push button on each earbud which can show six different status conditions. The push button on each earbud is significantly large enough to easily press. The right earbud button controls playing/pausing of music, increasing volume, and activating the voice assistant. The left earbud button controls the ANC/HearThrough toggle, decreases volume, and selects next/previous/restart music track. Both earbuds can be used to answer, end, mute, or reject a call. With the Sound+ app, the earbud button controls can be customized There are three different sizes of pads provided for different ear sizes and best fit for ANC noise isolation. I found that the earbuds, though small, fit quite securely and did not come loose during movement or conversations. I also like that music will pause when one of the earbuds is removed. Another nice feature is the earbuds will automatically turn on when removed from the case and will turn off when placed back into the case. The manual says there is 7 hours of battery without ANC in the earbuds and 5.5 hours with ANC on, and 25 hours in the case for recharging. I'm assuming this means the earbuds will automatically recharge in the case when it is not plugged into a power source, then both the case and the earbuds will also recharge when plugged back into the provided USB cable. Charging Case The case is solid and has a nice texture for easily gripping. An LED next to the charging port on the back of the case shows the status of charge and status during firmware updates. Magnetic attraction pulls the earbuds into their sockets which is great for preventing the earbuds from falling out of the case - even if held upside down. The only drawback is it's a little tricky to get a firm grip on the earbuds when removing from the case. I found that if I pull from the middle of the case with one finger, the earbud will easily come out. The Jabra Sound+ App The app is very detailed and has options for control all aspects of the earbuds. Here are some of the aspects of the earbuds which can be controlled and configured: • Viewing of battery levels of the case and the earbuds. • Setting and changing the "Moments" presets. • Adjusting the ANC levels. • Turning on/off HearThrough. • Music equalizer settings. • Selection of Music presets. • Soundscape settings. • Firmware updates. • Selection of the voice assistant language. • Registration. • Find My Jabra earbuds. • Switching of the voice guidance language. • User guides, manuals and FAQ. • Contacting Jabra Support. • Technical specs along with serial numbers. • Access the Jabra online store. In the Moments section of the app there are three different "moments" (My Moment, Commute, Focus) and a set of widgets to select from for each moment. By tapping on the "Edit widgets" button I was able to select which widgets I wanted for each moment. Music, Calls, and Sound It is important to note that the Jabra earbuds are specifically designed for handling phone calls and using voice commands. The sound is excellent for phone calls. My contacts tell me how impressed they are with the quality and they couldn't tell that I was using a Bluetooth headset. The music is clear and crisp. The Bass response is amazing for the size. The Sound+ App provides a nice equalizer and some default settings for music playback. When a music preset is selected, the equalizer will match the selection. I also enjoy the Soundscape generator with a wide range of effects for helping me to focus when working and studying. Rainy day is my personal favorite. Pros • Multiple mics helps to keep calls clear even when in windy conditions. • 20Hz to 20kHz music response. • 100Hz to 10kHz calls response. • Adjustable HearThrough settings for allowing external sounds to come through the earbuds. • Active Noise Cancelling with multiple levels. • Sidetone setting for allowing you to hear your own voice better when on a call. • Removing an earbud will automatically pause music. • One earbud can be used at a time and will switch to mono for music. • The earbuds can be paired to two devices at once. • Voice Assistant can be Siri or Alexa. • Multiple languages are available for voice guidance. • Solid and quality feel of the earbuds and the charging case. • Magnetic attraction of the earbuds to the case for snug storage and charging. • Three different Moments settings for personal, commuting, and focus settings with widgets for each. • A Soundscape generator for helping with focus during work and study, and masking of external noises. • The Sound+ App is amazing and offers everything needed for the earbud settings. • The case supports QI-wireless charging. • Fast charging of the earbuds. 15 minutes = 1 hour of music playback. • Adjustable sleep mode of 15 minutes up to never. Con • No indicators on the earbuds to show right from left, though the manual in the app shows the difference. Overall I am very pleased with the Jabra Elite 85t earbuds. They are perfect for anyone who does a lot of commuting and has to handle phone calls and voice control over their smartphone. The sound quality for voice and calls is excellent. The music playback quality is clear and crisp with good bass response. My primary focus for these earbuds will be for phone calls and device control while driving and doing food deliveries.

I've had used a LOT of earbuds in recent years, and these are the best I've tried in regard to comfort and sound quality. Once paired with the Jabra Sound+ app, there's an initial setup that includes choosing your age and gender and then there's a hearing test. The earbuds are fine-tuned to each ear's range of hearing. After that, you can adjust the equalizer to meet your sound preferences, and adjust the amount of outside passthrough sounds and the amount of active noise cancellation. The ear gels are a proprietary oval shape, so you're not going to be able to use any "extras" you may have laying around. The earbuds can be controlled directly or through the app. The controls differ if you're in "music mode" (using them both) or "phone mode" (using only 1). The bud controls are actual buttons you have to press and not just a touch-sensitive surface which I prefer since it results in fewer accidental commands. You can connect 2 devices at a time, and they have an in-ear pressure relief system, 25 hours battery life including the case with the noise canceling on and longer without it, and USB-C or wireless charging. There's a fast charge option where you can get about 1-hour use with a 15-minute charge, or it takes about 2 - 3 hours to fully wired charge. Wireless can take 4 - 5 hours depending on the charger. After the initial setup, they connect to devices with no lag and the connection quality is solid. There are 6 microphones so the outbound and inbound call quality is outstanding!

The Jabra Elite 85t are the newest generation of their great sounding bluetooth earbuds from Jabra GN. This set was an upgrade from my previous 75t Elite and I've gotta say I can hear the difference. What's different though? For starters the Elite 85t case is slightly bigger than the Elite 75t, not by much though. The buds are bigger too, but that comes from a design change. The Elite 75t set was made to go inside the ear while the new Elite 85t is made to sit in the ear, in a semi-open design. This new shape/fitting is a change and might be slightly uncomfortable for those used to the old fitting of in-ear buds, you will feel that they could fall out because of this new fit, I know I did, but after testing it out with some simple workouts they held in place, so I will say that they still fit perfectly fine for normal use. These are also set up with Advance Active Noise Canceling technology (ANC), there was an update released for the Elite 75t to give them regular ANC as well, but the 85t gives you more range of control over how high or low you want it be, which the 75t does not, and because it is built into the buds the overall quality is better. The HearThrough Mode and Talk/Phone Mic is greatly improved as well, the Elite 75t has 4 built-in microphones while the Elite 85t has 6 built-in microphones, this gives you a clearer and better sounding audio quality whether taking a phone call or using HearThrough mode, which is also given an improvement on range of control over how low or high you want it. I definitely noticed how weak at times the HearThrough mode felt on my Elite 75t and how much better the 85t is. These audio improvements come at a cost to battery life and you'll see a a decrease in battery life by about 1.5hrs when using ANC on the 85t than the regular use. They have changed the splash, sweat, and dust protection a notch from the original IP55 to IPX4, which isn't much of a change for the average wearer, and unless you're gonna be in an extremely humid or water prone area you won't be in any trouble. I do advise researching IPXX ratings to get a better understanding of this change. Lastly, the price is steep for the new Elite 85t, coming in at $229, while the Elite 75t came out at $199 and later dropped to $179. Overall, I love this new set. The sound quality is better and great as ever and they look sleek. The only thing keeping me from giving it a 5 Star rating is the price, which I hope that Jabra GN will drop like they did for the 75t. If you want a great bluetooth set I highly recommend Jabra and their new 85t for any one needing a new and great headset.

The jabre elite 85t earbuds are the best set of earbuds that I have found after an exhaustive search. My search for the perfect headphones has led me to try just about every one of it's competitors--Samsung Galaxy buds pro, Samsung Galaxy buds live, Beats powerbeats pro, Sony WF-SP800N, Apple airpods pro, and Bose SoundSport--before finally settling on the Jabre elite 85t. While there are specific griped that I found unappealing with it's competition, the main reason why I've settled on these is that it provides all the software capabilities I require to use them for all of my headphone needs while providing excellent comfort and decent battery life. At work I am able to connect to both my work and personal phone simultaneously and answer calls on either phone. I spend at least 4 hours a day on the phone and the digital ANC Jabre has is among the best I've found in a true earbud. Though they boast an all day battery I've typically been able to get about 5 hours on any given charge using nonstop between listening to media and answering phone calls before requiring a charge. The charging case and it's fast charge is a godsend as it provides the fastest charge I've seen. The six microphones these boast picks up your voice clearly when answering calls or online meetings which is a major issue among the competitors. You are able to customize preferences based on the function you are performing such as listening to audio and having a phone call which gives you the controls of your audio specific to what you are doing. I do wish Jabre would allow you to utilize just the left headphone without using the right one but unfortunately you can only operate with one headphone when using the right bud. The jabre software allows for customization of many functions to control media on your device without sacrificing design with buttons. You are able to set functions for one, two, and three taps for both the left and right headset which covers many of the controls you'd need to control your device without having to open the phone. You are even able to customize the sound to utilizing their software which does help if you are riding them for listening to music. While working out these headphones for snug enough to not dislodge even while running and it's water resistance means you don't need to worry about sweating while wearing them. One other feature, hear through, allows you to toggle between noise cancellation mode to being able to hear ambient noise clearly at the touch of a bud. The six microphones seamlessly allow ambient room noise to be heard and then removed by toggling the mode back to ANC which I haven't found in any other ear bud. It is a culmination of these features coupled with it's snug yet not invasive design, ability to pair with multiple devices, hear through and ANC modes, water resistance and multi on board microphones for improved speech clarity without sacrificing sound quality which separates this product from any other one I've encountered in the market.

The Jabra Elite 85t proves that good things indeed come in small packages. With a lightweight comfortable fit, good audio quality, a splendidly useful app, and strong active noise cancellation, the audio engineers crafted truly wireless earbuds that are a joy to experience. What you get in the Box. -Elite 85t wireless earbuds -Charging case -Type C to Type A charging cable -3 different size pairs of ear gels -warranty sheet Here are some of the things that I really like about the Elite 85t: **Comfortable Earbuds** The Jabra Elite 85t is by far the most comfortable earbuds I have used. A lot of the earbuds are uncomfortable and put a lot of pressure on my ear, much like how ear plugs feel. With the open design of the Elite 85t, I don’t feel any of the pressure. In fact they feel very lightweight and after leaving them in my ears for several hours, I didn’t feel any ear fatigue. The oval ear gels are also soft and provide just the right amount of seal without feeling tight. They also never once felt like they were going to fall off. Even vigorously shaking my head back and off, the earbuds stayed firmly in my ears. **Excellent Sound+ app** I recommend that you download the Sound+ app before you do anything else. Jabra developed a feature rich, highly useful app making it an essential complement to the user experience. Once you download the app and take the earbuds out of the magnetic case, the app will initiate the MySound feature to optimize the audio experience based on your personal hearing profile. Much like a hearing test, the app will have you put an earbud in each ear one at a time and play tones of various volumes to gather your hearing profile. The Sound+ app is the brains of the earbuds. Using the app, you’ll be able to perform a number of customizations such as adjusting the intensity of active noise cancellation (ANC), adjusting the amount of ambient sound that comes through the earbuds (Jabra calls this Hear Through), adjusting the user customizable five band equalizer, configuring the buttons on the earbuds to your specific liking, adjusting the Soundtone feature to allow you to hear your own voice while on calls, saving three different listening profiles (My Moment, Commute, Focus), and even playing sounds to mask the noise around you such as white noise and nature sounds. **Splendid ANC** I’ve tried various ANC truly wireless earbuds from various manufacturers and I have to say that the ANC on the Jabra Elite 85t is remarkably good. The noisy humming of my bedroom fan disappeared and my family’s dialogue became nothing more than a whisper and sounded distantly far away. The ANC does its job best with lower frequency sounds and ambient sounds become significantly muted at mid and higher frequencies. In other words, the Jabra Elite 85t does a darn good job at keeping unwanted noise out. You can vary the intensity of the ANC through five levels with a slider via the app. On the opposite end, sometimes it is not desirable to have ANC, and you may want to allow some ambient noise to come through the earbuds such as when you need to be aware of your surroundings. Well, the Elite 85t has you covered here with its Here Through feature. The microphones pick up the ambient noises allowing them to be heard and amplified through the earbuds. Just like the ANC feature, there is a five point slider that varies the intensity of the ambient noise to be heard. **Great Audio Quality** The audio experience is highly subjective. It’s a good thing the app has a five band equalizer to enable customization of the audio to each individual’s specific audio taste. The audio from the earbuds sound pretty good to me. I think it is well balanced. However, I would have liked to have a little bit more crispness and sparkle and a wider soundstage. It has plenty of low end energy when needed, without bringing down the rest of the audio spectrum. I listened to several bass test audio on youtube and was surprised at the amount of bass that rumbled through the earbuds. **Negligible Audio Latency** I love watching videos on my phone and pc while using bluetooth headphones but just hate it when there is a visible lag in audio compared to the video. The Elite 85t did not show any noticeable audio latency. Big thumbs up from me. **Robust Bluetooth Connection** With the Elite 85t I did not experience any dropouts, stuttering, or loss of connection between the right and left earbuds. The wireless connection was robust whether I was 30 feet away from my phone or had my phone in my pants back pocket. **Crystal Clear Call Quality** The folks on the other side of my business phone calls have told me that my voice sounds clear. **Ability to Connect to Two Bluetooth Sources Simultaneously** Jabra calls it Multi-connect, the ability to be paired to two devices at once. So if you happen to have two mobile phones for instance, you’ll be able to accept calls from either device. **Wireless Qi Charging or Wired Charging. It’s up to you.** When you need to recharge the earbuds, just place them in the case and either charge them wirelessly with a Qi-certified charger or use the included USB-C cable. The Elite 85t are a great set of wireless earbuds. They’re not perfect though, and there were some things which I wished they could improve upon. --Battery Life is Ok-- According to Jabra, the battery will last up to 5.5 hrs with ANC (up to 25 hrs with charging case) and 7 hrs with ANC off (up to 31 hrs with charging case). That’s decent but I’ve seen other truly wireless earbuds that will last longer than 7 hrs between charges. The Sound+ app shows three different battery meters. One each for the left and right ear buds and one for the charging case. It bothered me that the right ear bud drained between 10%-15% faster than the left earbud. I guess it makes sense that the right ear bud drains faster since it is the master earbud that receives the bluetooth signal from the source device and also must route the signal over to the left earbud. Nevertheless, I wished the two earbuds would drain more uniformly. --Mono Earbud Mode: Right earbud Only-- The left earbud won’t work on its own for music or for calls. Only the right earbud will. Conclusion: The Elite 85t just seems like the right choice. There’s a lot to like about these earbuds from the comfortable fit to the excellent ANC and the really good audio and voice quality. If anything, it should be on your short list of truly wireless earbuds to audition.

So I love the Jabra Brand they have been making Bluetooth headphones for a long time, a trusted brand! However, I upgraded from the 65t to these 85t and I'm highly disappointed. Really quick the issue is -- when I put the earbud back in the case, it connects and sometimes disconnects. Very frustrating so when I'm not using them, it will connect and when I'm holding the phone it will sometimes connect to the earbud in the case and back and forth... Again very frustrating and since its not sitting right in the case or making contact it takes twice as long to charge. In the pictures I have up, it shows connected but still in the case!!! I've cleaned the contacts inside the case and on the buds but to no avail! AT this price point I'm done!!!!!

These are some mighty powerful little ear buds with the ability to adjust the sound for my particular hearing, which includes some likely hearing loss that tends to happen as we age. The setup is simple with an app that walks you through step by step as you do a hearing test. It plays tones and you tap the screen each time that you hear a sound so that in the end, the sound that I hear while listening to music, watching videos or talking on the phone is adjusted for my specific hearing ability. That is absolutely fantastic in my book and I love them. They are easy to connect to Bluetooth and the battery has not yet had to be charged. There are also different ear pieces included that are easy to replace so that they fit your ear canal perfectly. I have never been able to wear ear buds before due to how uncomfortable or just how they would not fit correctly in my ear. These are even a great fit for my ears. Moving on to the actual sound and clarity, they are clear and can block out the sounds around you or you can set them to be able to still hear if you are being spoken to or need to hear what is going on around you. I have worn them watching tv at night and I felt like I was in the middle of the action! I have used them while mowing, because they are sweat proof, and the music was excellent even with the mower. They are easy to charge with the little case and easy to carry. I would definitely recommend! I did receive these at a discount in return for my honest opinion.