Jabra Elite 85t In-Depth Review (vs Elite 75t vs AirPods Pro) | The Best ANC Earbuds Yet?

We're now seeing an increasing number of companies adding ANC to their headphones and so far Sony and Apple have maintained a clear lead when it comes to noise cancellation performance, but I think a new competitor has finally been able to reach that standard . and

jabra

's

elite

85t might even have the

best

noise cancellation, but confusingly,

jabra

added anc to their t's viral software updates and we'll also see how they perform during this video, but you can see that the hardware doesn't It was designed with noise cancellation in However, please note that the 85ts has been built with ANC at its core and the performance really shows it in this video.

We'll

review

the 85ts in full and compare them to the older 75ts and Apple's noise-canceling Airpods Pro, let's take a look before we get started. To start off, I thought I'd answer a question I get asked quite often: what about Jabra's

elite

active 75t? This additional model makes their line of headphones more confusing, but simply put, the active version comes in a few different colors and has a higher water resistance rating. than the non-active version and that's it, so basically you can consider all the differences between the 85 and 75 ts to also apply them to the active model starting with the unboxing.

It is a mostly family experience. Jabra's presentation is always very good and the box comes. Packaged with the

earbuds

and the charging case, just a couple of extra pairs of ear tips and also the USB-C charging cable, but I want to draw your attention to the packaging because it is made from 100 recyclable materials from environmentally responsible sources, so I wanted to call out Jabber for setting a good example, the color I have here is the titanium black model and I also have the titanium 75 ts so we can do a direct comparison. The Jabra 75t case is one of the few on the market that is actually smaller than Apple's AirPods Pro, but the new 85t case is a little larger to accommodate the new earbud design.

Still, these three cases are very small and compact and are certainly some of the most travel-friendly headphones out there, aside from the size of the 85 and 75t cases. almost identical to the Jabra logo on the front and the USB-C charging port on the back, but the new model moves the battery and charging LED to the front, like on the Airpods Pro, there is also a Qi wireless charging on the bottom surface of all. The 85t models, while only some 75t models support this feature, that's one of the biggest changes that I'll come back to later talking about different colors.

There are more color options for the new 85t than last year's model, but this is also one of the largest. differences with the

airpods

pro which are of course only available in white, regardless of the color choice. I prefer Jabra's matte finish because the

airpods

case gets quite scratched over time. One of my favorite aspects of Jabra cases is the use of strong magnets that hold the

earbuds

in place. securely in place and also ensures the charging pins align with the earbuds. One of the biggest problems I have with airpods is that over time their contact in the case weakens and I often come back to find that one or both airpods have not charged.

For all airpods, the wonderful convenience, longevity remains their biggest weakness and Jabra's satisfyingly strong magnets help prevent this problem, the magnetic lid also feels a bit more secure and also locks in the open position unlike of the airpods pro case, but I think the

best

thing about it is that they use USB-C for charging instead of Lightning, so I generally prefer Jabra's charging cases. Two things Jabra does very well are build quality and ergonomics of the headphones, and I think both the 75 and 85 T fit very well. The new model has a slightly larger earpiece and a new shape that optimizes sealing and comfort.

You can see that the ear tip doesn't extend as much with the new model and you can feel this in your ears, but the 85ts don't push as much into your ear canal perhaps the most interesting new additions are the new pressure relief vents, A feature that many people are now asking for in their headphones, this prevents pressure from building up inside the ear and, together with the new oval-shaped ear pads, eliminates the plugged-in-the-ear feeling that some headphones give me and I personally find that the 75t can cause this after a while due to how deep the tips penetrate the ear canal, so the new semi-open design of the 85t changes three really important factors, number one is comfort, which overall is a good improvement.

The model is not as small or as light as the 75ts and in its defense this is sometimes better for short term use, but the new pressure vents in their new shape have improved comfort particularly in the long term and I think that the ear pads don't penetrate as deeply. that I can use the 85t for longer without my ears hurting, the second factor is the audio quality and I have said before how important in-ear headphones are to optimize the sound. At first I found the bass response to be much more powerful with the older 75ts because of their tighter seal in the air, but after switching to the larger pads this improved the seal with the 85ts without them having to push both inside my ears, this dramatically improved the base and immersion of the audio, bringing it much closer to that of the 75t, but we'll talk more about the audio quality later and the final factor and perhaps the only drawback is the reduced passive isolation from noise, since the 85 tee ear pads don't sit as deeply and the seal formed is not as tight, a little more sound.

They allow input from your surroundings than the 75ts, so they feel a little more airy and open, but the trade-off is noise isolation, this depends on the shape of your back and the size of the ear tip you have. wear of course, but I feel like the 85ts strike a better overall balance between isolation and comfort than the airpods pro, the seal is the weakest of the three and as a result the noise isolation is too, but also They are the lightest and feel the most open with the least sensation of ear plugging. I don't notice them as much in my ears, so for comfort, the Airpods Pro are still the winner.

The seal is also important for keeping the earbuds in your ears and I would trust the Jabbery earbuds to stay in my ears much longer than the Airpods Pro. They don't usually fall out when I'm running, but they do move around which is quite disconcerting . I'm never sure they won't fall out, while they both talk about staying securely in place during workouts, even without the wingtips all earbuds have some form of sweat. and water resistance with both airpods in the 85 ts offering an ipx4 rating, but the 75ts actually have a higher rating of ip55 which also protects them from water jets and dust and as we mentioned above, the active75ts have a protection Even better, even for full immersion, the new 85ts meet a sufficient standard to protect them from everyday use, but it was a shame to see the IP rating drop from the previous model.

The 85ts have the same controls as the 75ts with a single button on each earbud, but the button is much easier to click. this year and requires a little more pressure to activate, this can often be a problem with true wireless earbuds because pressing the button can push the ear tips uncomfortably into the ear canal and so I would normally say that touch controls are a better option, but thanks. In the new shape of the earbud, the pressure is applied to the outside of the ear, so it doesn't hurt even when pressing firmly. It's not as fast as the 75, but I like how distinctive the click is to help you make sure you activate the control.

I want the AirPods Pro to avoid these problems by placing the four sensor controls on the stem of the earbud and they provide a really nice haptic feedback when you press them, but their main disadvantage compared to the Jabra earbuds is that there is no option to customize the controls. Jabra on the other hand, offers extensive customization in its excellent Sound Plus app. You can set the controls for each earbud from a single touch to three times and hold to change the volume. There are even specific controls for when you're on a phone call, so it's pretty simple.

depth

and this works for both the 75 and the 85 ts.

All earbuds have an auto-pause feature when you take off the earbud and auto-play when you put it back in your ear. It's good on the airpods pro but very fast on the Jabra earbuds and it's the most responsive auto-bud system I've used with true wireless earbuds, but let's talk about the biggest new feature and there are two major hardware differences between 85 and 75 t that make the new model designed for them. First of all, they use six microphones. configuration where four of these are used for noise cancellation and the second is that they have a dedicated anc processor inside and together they make what Jabra calls advanced anc noise cancellation much easier to control with the new model, simply Drag the slider to set the desired ANC level and you can clearly hear the effect this has, making it very intuitive and easy to use the 75T ANC set added via a software update.

Surprisingly the ANC isn't bad, in fact it's better than some headphones that have been built for ANC but without that dedicated ANC hardware as a base, noise cancellation performance and customization is much more limited than with the 85ts. You will see that there is no slider to control the anc level, it is simply on or off, but you can set it as a custom setting through a somewhat confusing procedure in the app, you can hear this changing the anc effect, but it is not exactly clear How are you changing it? The squares you touch don't seem to correlate with an intuitive change in anc.

The 85 ts don't have this. complicated step and the slider is more powerful and much easier to use, but more to the point, the actual noise cancellation performance is significantly better with the new model, the 85t blocks much more sound and the difference with the 75t is quite considerable in the defense of the 75t. They actually passively block more sound due to the tighter seal the pads form, but when you get a good seal with the 85 ts and test them side by side with the older model, you can hear how much better the noise cancellation is. noise.

I also noticed a slight artificial hiss when using anc with the 75ts, while the 85ts do not have this and therefore sound more natural, so the noise cancellation of the 75t was much better than I expected and they are even one of the best of that type. Of mid-range ANC headphones now sit at the 150 mark, but the 85t are a clear step up and belong in that elite category, after Sony and Apple compared them side-by-side in a variety of environments, In fact I think they surpass the AirPods. pro for noise cancellation, a lot of this has to do with the tighter seal formed, so the earbuds are already passively blocking more sound than the airpods.

The noise cancellation technology could be better on the airpods pro, but at least the overall effect of blocking noise is better on the jabra 85t, if I had to pick a winner I would probably still give Sony the crown for the Noise Cancellation. Their earbuds seem to do a little better with mid and high frequencies, but Jabra is certainly on par with them and Due to their smaller, more comfortable size, the 85ts are my new favorite anc earbuds. The thing is that right now you need to spend a little more to get really good anc on true wireless earbuds, this also applies to audio quality ones, whereas now we are seeing cheaper earbuds competing with the best in audio and I am sure that before long we will see the same thing happening with noise cancellation.

Soundcore's Liberty Air 2 Pro that I

review

ed last week are a great example of this flagship-quality audio, but the ANC wasn't on the same level as the high-end models that cost 80-100 more. Jabra's 85t are also in that higher price category, but with better anc performance to match, you get what you pay for, it doesn't always apply in technology. but it seems to apply to anc at the moment. Noise cancellation also affects phone call quality and it is much easier to hear the caller with the 85ts and airpods pro because of how good the noise cancellation is, but the noise cancellation technologyNoise cancellation is also used to help.

Isolate your voice when using the headphones in noisy environments such as nearby traffic, Jabra are excellent quality experts and their headphones have always had good sounding microphones for phone calls, even in this heavy and noisy traffic environment, the headphones do a good job isolating my voice and since then the anc is really good, it's also easy to hear the caller, the 75 ts gave very similar performance, but in very noisy environments I think isolating my voice was a little better with the newer 85 ts but the main advantage of the newer model is that you can hear the cooler better due to the improved airpods pro anc which are still the best sounding in most situations and my voice sounded a little louder and clear, but they don't cancel out background noise as much, so 85ts tend to be better on louder ones. environments and, again, it is also easier to hear the caller.

Jabra offers extensive customization for a great experience, including custom sidetone controls that let you hear your own voice during the call and even a cool equalizer, so the options are much more advanced than most headphones. along with anc we also have jabra transparency mode which is called listen through jabra it has one of the best transparency mode with more natural sound which allows you to hear your surroundings clearly the 75t sounds a little more artificial because You may hear a hiss as the microphones try to amplify outside noise, whereas this is much quieter on the new 85TS, but like the ANC mode, you can lower the hearing slider for a more natural yet quieter effect.

Performance is about the same as the airpods transparency mode, but I would give jabra an edge simply because once again you can customize this, you can also save custom profiles in the app to suit your listening preferences. These are called Moments and, like Sony's app, are set by default to suit different situations, for example, commutes here. via deactivated for spatial awareness while the focus mode increases the noise cancellation to the maximum, these three moments allow you to save a custom sound mode with the desired anc level and even a custom equalizer to accompany it and again, this is a big advantage over The customization and features of the Airpods Pro are really the key benefit of Jabra's headphones, and indeed many other companies, over the Airpods and the equalizer is a great example.

You can choose from one of the preset options and also save multiple custom equalizers that will even transfer to your other devices along with your settings, one of my favorite parts of the app is the soundscapes feature. This is a bank of ambient sounds like a storm and crashing ocean waves, and combined with Jabra's superior sound quality, they provide a truly immersive experience that I found myself using. This is more common than I expected and if you've seen my Bose sleeping beds review, then this is the high quality surround sound feature I was referring to in that video.

The app allows you to further customize your headphones with my sound, which will test your hearing, and then adjust the audio experience accordingly. It's very easy to set up but interestingly it doesn't actually show you the results, it just tells you that your unique profile is activated in the background. We've seen plenty of features like this before on other headphones. but it's not as sophisticated as something like soundcores here id which now has advanced features like integrating custom equalizers into the profile. You also have findmyjabra, one of the few additional features that you will also find on airbots pro, the tracking function shows the current status or last known locations and, as with the airpods, you can play a loud sound through the headphones to help you to find them.

The Soundplus app may be my favorite headphone companion app I've ever used. It has a very clean and intuitive interface like many others we have used. seen but it is one of the most feature rich apps, these features are the same for the 75 and 85 ts but one small difference I noticed is that the battery tracking was better for the 85 ts with faster and more accurate updates for each individual earbud, so for battery life the 85ts offer 7 hours per charge and 31 total with a charging case, this is a little less than the 75ts, although the larger charging case gives you a little more total battery life, understandably, both drop to around five and a half hours on and off, but it still beats the Airpods Pro, which are now lagging behind on battery.

The quick charge feature should give you around 60 minutes of playback after a 15 minute charge on both the 75 and 85t, but I sometimes got double that, so the stats are very modest, the total charge time It's a little slower on the new 85t and both fall short compared to the airpods pro. All three headphone cases can use wireless charging, but only the 85t and airpods pro guarantee this, as I said before, only specific 75t models. Support this feature where it will be an optional extra with Jabra headphones. You can also customize the time after which they automatically turn off to help save battery life.

With airpods you can't customize auto shut-off as they never actually turn off, they just go into sleep mode when not in use, but to be honest, battery conservation is very good when they do. In terms of connectivity, the 85ts are one of the first headphones to use bluetooth 5.1 and the connection to my phone in terms of range and stability. It's been great, the higher specs are great and can help with feature testing, but at least at the moment it doesn't offer any advantage over bluetooth 5. Also, the device you're listening to is unlikely to support it yet, so that performance will be Like the 75ts with the master-slave setup, Jabra only lets you use the right earbud on its own, while many earbuds now including the Airpods Pro let you use both sides independently, although there is no latency on iOS or Android, so all three are great. for watching videos even though none of these support aptx, at least I was hoping the newer 85ts would have this, but like the t's they still only support spc and aac, this won't affect apple users but It is a disappointment for Android users where aptx is.

However, a much more consistent codec to use a nice feature they have is multipoint, so you can connect the 75 and 85t to two devices at the same time. You have to pause on the first device before pressing play on the other and sometimes using the headphone controls will switch devices randomly, so it's best to use the device controls, but switching between two devices is quite fast and overall works very well, so it's good to see the features supported, especially since it's still uncommon in true wireless earbuds. The AirPods Pro are known for having excellent multi-device compatibility thanks to their H1 chip, but an important distinction from the Jabra headphones is that this and many other features are exclusive to Apple devices.

I've talked a lot in the past about how wonderful the experience is. You're using AirPods with Apple devices, from automatic device switching to hands-free Siri and spatial audio, and these unique features are usually enough to offset the drawbacks of AirPods and the high price, but you really only fully benefit from them if you It has several Apple devices and even the basic ones. Features like voice assistant with ear detection and battery tracking do not work on Android. Jabra can't match the airport convenience of Apple devices, but it still offers a lot more features overall, and if you're an Android user, it's a no-brainer which earbuds to use. we should choose, so the last point we need to discuss is the audio quality.

Jabra have always been excellent sounding headphones and their sound signature leans towards the warmer side, which I personally quite like as it creates a relaxing sound free of harsh sibilance, and most importantly the bass is very deep but does not muddy the audio, so the midrange remains clear and the listening experience is very immersive. The new 85 ts use 12 millimeter drivers compared to the 6 millimeter on the 75 ts and as expected I think the base response is deeper. and more powerful, but this does not have the substantial impact that one would expect and, as I said before, it took me a while to experiment with the different ear tips before I could hear the true difference in audio quality in their original settings, the 85ts seem to have a flatter, more balanced response, while the 75ts, in comparison, sound almost like they're using a V-shaped EQ, as a result the older model actually seems to have a bit more

depth

and clarity and certainly the treble sounds crisper.

Let's say I prefer the default sound profile of the 75t but of course you can increase the treble and create a similar profile with the 85t using the app. Suffice it to say that the overall difference is small enough that you don't need to upgrade from the 75t. On sound quality alone, the overall audio quality is excellent and should be more than enough for the average listener, but I think they are not on the same level as the market leaders. They don't have the refined low end of Sony's m3 headphones. the detail and soundstage of Sennheiser's Momentum 2 or the bright highs of Soundcore's Liberty 2 Pro, but if those three stand out from the rest, then Jabra is no slouch, as it's no secret for the Airpods Pro that the Audio quality is one of its weakest aspects. and in fact, of all the flagship true wireless earbuds, the airpods probably have the worst audio quality, the sound is still clear, well balanced and distortion free, but like many other earbuds, Jabra blows them out of the water when it comes bass and the 85ts have a much richer and more exciting sound so if you want to buy the new 85ts they are currently discounted to just under 200 and at this price I would highly recommend purchasing them, this undercuts the current leaders of anc headphones by a margin and certainly surpasses them.

In terms of value for money, the elite 85ts are expensive, but with their extensive feature set and excellent overall performance, they are still easy to recommend. Alternatively, if you are not quick to get premium products and could save some money by purchasing either one. For the older 75t models, prices vary depending on whether you get the active or wireless charging version, but I think the original 75t offers the best value overall. This table here summarizes the main differences between the 75 and 85t, but noise cancellation and price is really the most important factor here. If you already own the 75ts my advice is don't upgrade and if you choose between the two they are closer in terms of features and performance than they first appear so the price will be great. important if you want a really good anc then that's the reason to buy the ts, if not save some money and get one of the 75t models.

As for the airpods pro, the only reason you could perhaps justify their price over the jabra earbuds is if you have multiple apples. devices and I plan to continually switch between them; Otherwise, the sound quality alone, even before looking at all the other features, makes the Jabra earbuds a much better choice. In the title of the video I asked if these are the best anc headphones yet and even though they may not be. take the crown for ANC performance, it's so close to the best that the rest of the features make them the best overall, the 85 strikes the best balance between size and comfort and audio and noise cancellation performance, so I think these are the new bee anc headphones, but let me know what you think about the new 85 ts.

If you have any questions about any of these headphones, leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to help you for now, though thanks so much for looking. and I'll see you all next time