Jabra Elite 75t Review

Truly Wireless Earbuds

The Jabra Elite 75t are the truly wireless earbuds that fit the gap in price between the Apple AirPods and the AIrpod Pros.   Depending on your needs, you may be in the market for one of these three earbuds.

For full disclosure, I received these for free to review for Amazon and I get paid if you click and buy from Amazon links. 

Sound Quality

If how earbuds sound is a major requirement, these are going to be one of the best options at this price point.  Some are reporting that they are bass heavy out of the box, which I think is a requirement for most on the go earbuds.  They are what people typically want for working out, running, etc because those activities lend themselves to music that has more beat than midrange.  

That being said, the great thing about these buds is the fact that you can tweak the EQ settings and probably get a sound that fits your needs for whatever type of music you listen to.   

The thing I really like about these earbuds is that after you tweak the EQ, you are not only rewarded with sound that fits your taste, but the out of the head sound is about the best I have heard from any in-ear headphones.

Battery Power

Despite the small design of these earbuds, they pack a lot of battery power.  You typically get around 7.5 hours and up to 28 with the carrying case.  Compared to AirPods (~5 hours and 24 hours with case), this is quite the achievement.  In other words, the 75ts are smaller and can get you almost a full 8 hour day of use.   

Design

I have never been a fan of that Q-Tip hanging from the ears look of the AirPods.   In my opinion, they are ugly to say the least.  Yes, I am getting more used to the look, but they don't have the sleek design of the 75ts.  

One advantage to the AirPods is how easy they are to pair.  They still have that advantage when you first pair them or jump from one device to another.  I have use AirPods and BeatsX that have the W1 chip and it is pretty nice.  

With the 75ts, you have to go into Bluetooth pairing mode the first time you use them, so you don't have that cool GIF of the box opening on the screen.  However, I tested them with my iPhone 7 Plus and once they were connected, they would automatically connect the next time when you put them in your ears.   I also tested connecting them to my Mac mini.  Since they can connect to two devices simultaneously, you can just pause the Mac's audio and hit play on the phone and they will jump over automatically.  Pause the audio on the phone and hit play on the Mac and they jump to the Mac automatically.   

They can pair to two devices simultaneously, but they can be setup on 8 devices for normal Bluetooth pairing.   All in all, they may not have the coolness factor of the W1/W2 chip, but they get the job done with very little effort.

Call Quality

I haven't tested the AirPods in a while, but I remember them being decent for phone calls.  The Jabra 75ts are fine, too.  I don't use them that way very often, but when I do, I haven't had any complaints on the other end.   If it was a critical call, I would probably go with a wired option anyway.

Controls

First off, you have control of everything from skipping songs to controlling volume (with the AirPods, you have to summon Siri to control volume):

Secondly, it works with Siri and Alexa.  You simply hit the right earbud control twice.  I was pleasantly surprised that this will even work with my Mac mini.   With Apple Music, I can just double click the bud and tell it want I want to hear.  Very nice feature for a third party product.  

Possible Downfalls?

If you need noise cancelling, these don't have the feature.  You may be better of with AirPods Pros.  That being said, they have something called hear through.   Since these fit in your ear canals rather than hanging outside your ears (they have different ear tips for those with large or small ear holes), they have a certain amount of outside noise blocking as it is.  However, the hear through settings will allow you to have a conversation while music is playing because it lets in more of the outside world.   It uses a small mic to pick up the sound, so for the best music sound quality, it is best to leave it off.  However, if you are hanging out with a friend with these on, you can hear them if they want to talk.   The interesting thing is that even though they don't have noise cancelling, the app has different "Soundscapes" you can play like Ocean Waves, that should be great for blocking out noisy environments.

Wrap Up

While I didn't discuss much about fit, these fit me right out of the box.  I almost forget when they are in because they are so comfy.  However, fit is so individualistic, it is impossible to say how they will fit from one person to the next.  

Personally, I prefer the design, battery life, and sound quality of these over the AirPods.  If I had to come up with one thing I don't like about them, it would be the fact that if you just want to listen to one while the other is charging, you can't do that with the right earbud.  You can take the left out and charge it and the right will still play, but the left won't play if you don't have the right one in. 

Outside of that, these are just about perfect.