At Small Business Answers, just like everyone else, we have work time and personal time where headsets/earphones become useful. The work time, we have lots of phone calls and video conferences, and the personal time I try to walk or ride a bike every day. Some of these walks will be on the phone to family or listening to podcasts/music. Thus I get plenty of opportunities to review headsets. Even if it does look pretty funny seeing me walk down the street wearing a full-blown over-ear headset. Then Jabra sent me a set of Elite 7 pro wireless earbuds to review.
On opening the package, you notice how small the earbuds are. Jabra quotes them as 16% smaller than a previous model and weighing only 5.4 grams. My experience is they fit comfortably in the ear. They don’t stick out like other earbuds I have, so they don’t make you look as dorky. I have tried to shake them out of my ears, and so far, they have stayed in, so you have a level of confidence that you will not lose one at an inappropriate time. Another benefit is when using them for video calls they do not interfere with your hair and participants may not even realise you are using earphones.
The package comes with three earbud sizes to ensure you get the right fit for your ear canal. Next, you download an APP and pair your earbuds with your Android or IOS devise. The APP has a nifty setup procedure that appears to tune the earbuds to your hearing ability using tones you must respond to.
These are top-end earbuds, so you expect the audio quality to be excellent, and it is for an earbud. Sound is one element but interacting with the sound in the buds and the sound around you is equally important. What I like is you can use one earbud or two. Thus, when I use them on a bike, I only use one to always hear surrounding noise. Wind noise is eliminated in the bud if you go into ANC mode or noise cancellation. You can switch out of this to a mode called hear through. Hear through, I found, slightly amplifies the surrounding noise, so great to listen to what people are saying without taking an earbud out. Taking an earbud out whilst listening to music or a podcast automatically pauses what you are listening to. Back to the bike, if I had 2 earbuds in with ANC activated, I would hear no wind but no surrounding noise. If I switch hear through on, I hear the surrounding sounds and the wind, as does the other participant if you are on a call. Thus a bit of a catch 22 but with a workaround.
The noise cancellation quality is excellent (ANC), although untested by me on a plane at this stage. The Elite 7 pro have a large press button on each earpiece which gives a great reassurance it has registered. When you push, you can action ANC on or off, answering a call, playing or pausing music, increasing volume or activating Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. When compared to other models, I have tested. I found the real button control to work every time, allowing me to ignore my handset for complete remote control.
The Jabra’s allow Bluetooth multipoint, which means you can seamlessly connect to your computer one minute for a video call then to your mobile the next. The buds feel durable and come with a two-year warranty for peace of mind, including failure from dust and water once you have registered your product. Note these buds are splashproof, not waterproof, so don’t intentionally get them wet.
The Elite 7 pro come with a USB C to USB A charging cable and small magnetic docking and closure case. Jabra quotes up to 8 hours of continuous use, expanding to 30 hours using the charging ability of the case (dock). I really like that a 5-minute charge in the dock will allow 1 hour of listening time. The operating range of the Bluetooth is quoted at 10m, but my experience was greater than this.
You pay for quality at $299. A pair that you can use for personal and business use works out reasonable compared to having two separate solutions. The earbuds can be bought directly from Jabra or from most Australian retailers.