Jabra Elite 85t earphones review – improved audio and now noise cancellation

85%

• VERDICT

The Jabra Elite 85t earphones offer impressive audio quality and respectable noise cancellation while being backed by a handy companion app so you can have even more control of the sound and keep an eye on the battery.

Jabra’s Elite 85t wire-free earphones have gone to the next level in terms of design and audio quality over the previous generation – and they now include Active Noise Cancellation. (ANC).

Onboard is Jabra’s Advanced ANC which uses a dual chipset to offer not only impressive noise cancellation but also optimal sound processing.

Design-wise, the Elite 85t earphones are still small and comfortable.

The earphone twist into place in your ears securely so there’s no fear of them falling out. They’re locked in there.

This means you can use them while exercising, running, or in the gym.

They are also IPX4-rated for water resistance.
What adds to the comfort and secure fit are the oval-shaped ear gels which offer a more natural fit and a better seal.

They also have a semi-open design which relieves pressure and also gets rid if that annoying earplug effect you get with some other earphones.

ANC comes courtesy of the six microphone technology – three on each ear, one on the inside and two on the outside – which examines the ambient sounds and cancels them out.

The level of noise cancellation with the Jabra Elite 85t is not in the class of the Bose, Sennheiser and Sony headphones to our ears but about on par with the Apple AirPods Pro.

It’s still pretty impressive considering the Jabra earphones are a lot smaller and also slightly cheaper than these other brands.

And it’s easy to adjust the level of ANC between full ANC and full HearThrough mode and the various levels in between.

This can be adjusted on the left earbud to toggle between the levels or finessed a bit further within the Jabra Sound+ app.

The app lets you choose ANC, HearThrough or to turn those sound modes off completely.

You can also see the battery levels of each earbud and the charging case and also access equaliser presets and the ability to tweak the sound.

There’s also a My Sound feature that can optimise the sound based on your hearing profile which is determined after a short calibration.

The earphones plays some sounds to determine how your ears absorb sound.

We enjoyed the sound before the calibration but still noticed a slight improvement after the calibration.

The Jabra Elite 85t have 12mm speakers onboard which offer a powerful sound with surprisingly solid bass.

Even though the earbuds are relatively small, there is nothing small about the sound.

When ANC engaged, you can enjoy the audio quality even more.

Even phone calls sound good on the Jabra Elite 85t so handy if you’re making and receiving calls and want to stay hands free while still enjoying quality.

On the battery side, the Jabra Elite 85t ran for about five hours before they needed to be placed back in the charging case.

This is slightly below what we were hoping for so something to keep in mind if you need to wear them throughout the day.

The charging case can recharge the Jabra earphones almost four times. And a quick 15 minute charge in the case is good for an hour of listening.

The case itself is also Qi-wireless compatible which means they can recharge sitting on the same wireless charger as the latest smartphones.

The Jabra Elite 85t are priced at $349 and are available now.

VERDICT
The Jabra Elite 85t earphones offer impressive audio quality and respectable noise cancellation while being backed by a handy companion app so you can have even more control of the sound and keep an eye on the battery.