Customer Ratings & Reviews

I recently had the pleasure of trying out the new Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless Hybrid Active Noise Canceling In-ear Headphones - Titanium Black, and I must say, I'm genuinely impressed. Right out of the box, the Elite 5’s caught my attention was the size of the charging case. Way too often other companies make their case a tad bulky, which is not always ideal for just throwing them in your pocket, so kudos to Jabra for making a slim carrying case. The earbuds are lightweight and ergonomically designed, ensuring a comfortable fit even during extended wear. With multiple ear tip sizes included, finding the perfect fit was super easy for me, and I never felt any discomfort for prolonged use. I do recommend testing several ear tips, so you can get that perfect fit and seal for taking advantage of the ANC. The stock ear tips were too small for my ears, which caused background sound to bleed in and ANC didn't sound great, but when I put on the bigger ear tips the seal was much better and did not experience any sound bleed. When it comes to sound quality, the Jabra Elite 5 truly delivers. The audio is clear, balanced, and detailed, offering an immersive listening experience across various genres of music. The bass isn't the best but you will never really get strong punchy Bass with earbuds, and the mids and highs are well-defined, creating a good sound profile. One of the standout features of these earbuds is the ANC (active noise cancellation) technology. It basically minimizes and blocks out background noise, allowing you to enjoy your music, podcasts, videos or calls without distractions. This feature is a must have and in my opinion you shouldn't buy earbuds that don't have ANC. The best way to truly take advantage of ANC is when flying and having the ability to block out all the background noise on a plane. It also comes with in ear detection where if you take the earbud out, it will pause whatever you are listening to. And it allows you to listen with just one earbud in, which is nice for an office environment. Battery life is another aspect where the Elite 5 excels. The earbuds offer up to 7 hours of playback on a single charge, and the charging case provides an additional 24 hours, ensuring that you will not run out of juice when you’re on the go. Quick charging support is also a welcome addition, allowing for rapid charging when needed, along with wireless charging. In terms of connectivity, the earbuds utilize Bluetooth 5.2 technology, providing a stable and seamless connection with my devices. Pairing was straightforward and hassle-free, and I haven't encountered any dropouts or connectivity issues during my usage. Pairing is super easy, just download the The Jabra Sound+ app from your app store and follow the step-by-step guide to pair them to your smart device.With in the app you can further enhance the listening experience with the wide range of customization options and features. From adjusting the EQ settings to activating the HearThrough mode, which lets you hear ambient sounds without removing the earbuds. The app provides added flexibility and control over your listening experience. However, the Jabra Elite 5 is not without its minor drawbacks. The physical touch buttons on the earbuds can be a little cumbersome because you are having to click a button which pushes the earbuds into your ear a little bit, causing you to have to readjust the earbud in your ear. Then there's no way to control volume straight from the earbuds, where a touch sensitive swipe up or down on the earbud would have been a nice addition, but I realize for the size and the price point of these earbuds it might have been hard to implement. Overall, the Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless Hybrid Active Noise Canceling In-ear Headphones offer fantastic value for money. With their impressive sound quality, active noise cancellation, long battery life, and user-friendly features, they have quickly become my go-to daily drivers for my audio entertainment and communication. If you're on a budget you can’t go wrong in picking up these earbuds.

The Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless earbuds are some of the most comfortable earbuds I have tried on. While they may not have the best sound or features that are available on the market, the Jabra Elite 5 has some neat features that give them an edge over similar competitors in this price range. This is my review of the Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless earbuds. *TLDR at the bottom ========== IN THE BOX/FIRST IMPRESSIONS/COMFORT: Inside the box, you get the Jabra Elite 5 earbuds with a solid matte color case, extra ear tips, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and some documentation. The case is on the smaller end and should fit inside most pockets. Although, I would’ve liked some sort of grip (maybe grooves) on the outside of the case as it tends to be slick. On the inside of the case, it feels like it is made with some type of rubber which feels nice. The earbuds feel solid all around. Both earbuds have buttons on the side for media controls. In terms of comfort, these are seriously up there with some of the more premium earbuds I have used. I have used these at work, home, and in the gym and have never once experienced discomfort. Even when pressing the media buttons on the side, it doesn’t feel like you're forcing them into your ears. ========== SOUND QUALITY Outside the box, the sound is good. These do not have the best sound all around, but the sound is worthy enough to satisfy most people’s ears. When it comes to music, lows are lacking, mids are good, and highs tend to be louder. Jabra’s Sound + app does offer some EQ settings and after playing around with them for some time, it did slightly increase sound quality. Movies and podcasts sound good overall. When it comes to calls, they sound great. Calls are clear and I did not run into any issues while on them. I did not have someone ask me to repeat myself on any of the calls I was on, which is a great sign that the microphone on these works perfectly. ========== FEATURES The Jabra Elite 5 has some neat features that can enhance your audio experience. These have Active Noise Cancelling which does tune out a good portion of outside sound, but they do lack the level of ANC that some other competitors have. At work when I use these mostly, some sound (e.g. keyboard) still manages to get through even with ANC on the highest level. Transparency mode or what Jabra calls HearThrough mode works okay. One should be able to hold a conversation in HearThrough mode and hear most things but there certainly can be improvements that can be made. One area these do well in is battery life. I have charged these once since I received them a couple of days ago. The case provides an additional 21 hours which by the way, does have wireless and fast charging. Do you need to be connected to multiple devices? Well, here is the good news, these support multipoint connections with up to 2 devices at one time. One hiccup I did find is that the pairing feature is slightly slower than some others I have used while using the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Jabra offers the Sound + app which I highly recommend. The app allows one to play around with some features that enhance the media you are listening to, change sound modes, install firmware updates, customize controls, and more. There is an option to even play some background white noise like rain, a ventilation fan, ocean waves, and a waterfall. I especially love this feature since I usually have chill music, or some white noise playing in the background while working. ========== POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS: These are a solid pair of earbuds with plenty of premium features, but the following is a list of some potential improvements that can be made to make these an excellent pair of earbuds: - The media button controls are fine but replacing these with haptic feedback controls will certainly elevate the user experience as it makes it easier to use especially when both hands are full, and you only have your shoulders to pause your music for example - ANC can be improved as well, at work I can still hear the sound of my keyboard which is not the case with other brands of headphones I have used before - Sound can be more balanced, especially the lows and highs - The case can be improved too, I already mentioned how slick it is, but I also think that the case can benefit from a button that lets you know the case’s battery life ========== CONCLUSION/TLDR: Overall, these are a solid pair of earbuds. The sound is good but not great outside the box. The sound can slightly be improved with the EQ settings within Jabra’s Sound + app. Calls sound amazing and comfort is on par with some of the more premium earbuds. Battery life is also one of the strengths of the Jabra Elite 5’s. If you are searching for a good pair of earbuds that aren’t too expensive, have decent ANC, and are comfortable, I highly recommend you give these a shot!

Unfortunately, there was nothing about these guys that blew me away. But I think if you are looking for a solid mid-tier earbuds these are a solid pick. As the saying goes, these are a jack of all trades, but master of none. With the exception of maybe the microphone quality. BUILD QUALITY/COMFORT: Is solid. Earbuds are rather small. But other Jabra’s are smaller. The case is rather large. But is skinny. Making it easy to fit in a pocket. The earbuds themselves are comfortable. Comes with small, medium, large gel tips. Which are very soft. IP55 rating. Earbuds fit in magnetically. Won’t come out easily even with the lid open. But are easy to grab when you do open the case. Along with easy to put away. Opening/closing the latch is satisfying. It also, is magnetic. Overall, no complaints here. Solid across the board. ANC/HEARTHROUGH: I would say is slightly about average. They says they have Hybrid ANC. Which I took to be like Apple’s Adaptive ANC. Which I don’t think it is, or if it is, is not nearly at the same level. Same with the transparency mode. Which I thought did an above average job as well. Where I can easily hear what others are saying. But my own voice comes out like I have earbuds in. Found they reduced the noise but I still could usually hear what was going on around me. SOUND QUALITY: Again, I felt these did a solid job in this category. Music sounded good. It is treble focused, with alright mids, and bass is a bit anemic but present. To the point they do sound fatiguing. They do offer EQ, but I found adjusting the EQ to not do a whole lot to the overall sound. I was able to differentiate the different aspects of songs (such as singers and instruments) but found myself zoning out more than enjoying the music which then made me mostly just hear the main lead singer and musical notes. Voices for audiobooks and videos sounded great. I noticed a very slight amount of latency if I was being very picky and looking for it. But otherwise wouldn’t. And tend to be quite sensitive to that anyways. MICROPHONE QUALITY: This I was impressed with and would say is the best feature. My voice came through very clear. With good timbre and bass. Where I’d be happy to listen to someone talking on this. However, it does better in a quiet environment. If you are in a loud environment all of that still comes through. But it does a good job at quickly reducing that sound, to keep your voice front and center. But you can still hear everything else going on but it isn’t overbearing as the speaker is still easily heard. Of the plethora of wireless earbuds I’ve tried. Including the Apple Airpods Pro 2 these were a good deal better. Where I would actually recommend them for phone call use. But again, if you have a lot of background that still comes through and is not silent. CONTROLS: I think are solid. Right earbud is play/pause with single tap, skip song with double tap, go back with triple tap. Left earbud single tap is ANC/hearthrough, double tap is voice assistant. Single press either during a call to answer, or double press to reject. Last, during a call single press mutes/unmutes and double press ends the call. When you remove an earbud the music or whatever it is your listening to is supposed to pause and then resume when you put it back in your ear. I found this worked like 50% of the time for me. BATTERY LIFE: Seems solid. I’ve only had them for about a week. And the case is down to 30% charge. That’s with wearing them to and from work along with during 60 – 120 minute workouts. So a lot of use. They quick charge an hour of playback in 10 minutes. Which I used when I first got them and felt like that was a bit modest of them and I got more playback from them. Also, easy to charge. Supports Qi along with USB-C. Light on the front will say red for low charge, yellow for moderate, and green for full. Earbuds themselves last a long time. Could probably wear them for about 5 – 6 hours before they would die. Depending on ANC, hearthrough, and volume. OTHER: They connect quickly to my devices. Also, can be connected to two devices at a time. CONCLUSION: Overall, these are a solid pair of wireless earbuds. I don’t have any real complaints. But don’t have any real kudos either. Outside of the microphone quality. Jabra continues to impress me with just solid all-around earbuds for a good price. But aren’t busting down doors making them a must have.

The Jabra Elite 5 are a pair of solid wireless earbuds that offer a lot of bang for the buck. While some of the features may not be groundbreaking, they certainly hold their own for the price point. So, let’s go over some of the features and see what these earbuds have to offer. Unboxing and Setup: In the box you will find the following items: • Charging case + Earbuds • USB -to- USB-C charging cable • 4 – Replacement Ear tips The earbuds were easy to set up. My phone was able to pick the once I removed the protective stickers from the charging ports on the buds and placed them back in the charging case. You can set up the buds from your phone’s menu, but to take full advantage of Jabra Elite 5 you can download the Jabra Sound+ application. Using the application, you can personalize these earbuds to your liking. You can perform software updates, personalize ANC and sound modes, choose your equalizer preset, and setup the buttons options. Hybrid ANC: The Jabra Elite 5 feature hybrid ANC, which combines both feed-forward and feedback technologies to effectively block out unwanted noise, meaning the external microphones capture ambient noise, while the internal microphones capture the sound that reaches the ear and can cancel out unwanted noise. The combined approach allows Jabra 5 Elite to cancel out a wide range of ambient noise. I used these bud on my morning commute to work and they performed incredibly well. Even at home while writing this review, I had my ear buds in and had some music playing with the ANC turned on and I could not hear my wife calling me over to help her out, almost got me in trouble good. Comfort and Fit: The Elite 5 are designed to be comfortable for extended wear. They are small and lightweight, and they come with a variety of ear tips in different sizes to allow for that perfect fit. A snug fit will create a good seal in your ear canal, which helps to isolate you from outside noise and prevent sound leakage from the earbuds themselves. This is essential for getting the most out of the Elite 5's noise-canceling features and enjoying your audio content without any outside distractions. Exceptional Sound Quality: Keeping the price point in mind, the Elite 5 offers exceptional sound quality. Whether you’re listening to music, podcasts, or taking calls, the audio experience is satisfying. With support for SBC, AAC, and aptX Bluetooth codecs, you’ll enjoy clear and balanced sound and with the Jabra Sound+ you will be able to add your own personal touch to your choice of music Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Smooth and even Energize with high bass, low mids and high treble. Along with your music, Jabra is known for its excellent microphone technology. With 6 microphones built-in, the call quality was exceptional. Mediocre Battery Life: The battery life on these buds is average, you will get about 7 hours of usage on a single charge with the ANC turned on and the charging case offers an additional 21 hours of charging. The case does offer wireless charging and you also can get an hour of usage from 10 minutes of charging. Multipoint Connection: This is a great option to have with Jabra Elite 5. This technology allows you to connect your earbuds to multiple devices so you can switch devices without having to swap out your earbuds. I have personally tested these out on my android and IOS phone and it worked flawlessly. PROS: SOUND QUALITY HYBRID ANC COMFORTABLE FOR EXTENDED WEAR DUST AND WATERPROOF CONS: BATTERY LIFE Overall, the Jabra Elite 5 are a great option for anyone looking for a well-rounded pair of earbuds that offer excellent call quality, comfortable fit and effective noise cancellation. Whether you’re commuting, working out, or simply enjoying your favorite tunes, the Elite 5 won’t disappoint. I would recommend that you give them a shot.

No bulk and fit nicely in ear. The buttons are manual buttons and not touch activated - this allows for better control and no accidental bumps. Use mostly while watching TV in the evening - sound depth is great!

They’re really good and comfortable, perfect for the gym but I wish they were on the louder side. Bass and clarity is there not too overwhelming.

I bought these buds to replace a set of Jabra buds that were lost. This model is an upgrade and works fine. The only con is that the buds are somewhat larger.

This is a pretty good pair of multipoint earbuds. I've been keeping them paired to both my phone and my laptop, and I've overall had a good experience. Regarding the problems I've had with this headset, I've found that sometimes the left and right earbuds won't sync up properly. They can be off, by just a fraction of a second. I know that one of the computers I used them on had an improperly-installed wireless antenna, so that could be relevant, but I did want to mention it. I also think it worth noting that since the software to control the earbuds is only on Android and iOS, you can't really do things like adjusting the equalizer or ANC from your computer, which is *slightly* annoying. Those two issues aside, I've had a pretty great experience with these. The battery life is pretty decent, and will get me through at least four hours. The microphone array appears to be pretty great - I've been on quite a few calls on both Facebook Messenger and Discord, on both phone and computer, and the people I've been calling have reported that the sound quality from my end is good. Nobody's complained about that. The earbuds fit comfortably, and I was able to find a good set of tips in the package to fit my ears. They also don't make my ears itch, which is great. The sound quality is also pretty nice. On calls, I can hear everyone's voices okay (or at least, no worse than ever, depending on whether I'm calling that one friend who really needs a new mic), and when I'm listening to music the quality is pretty decent. They do not suffer from the "Oops, All Mids!" problem, and have pretty okay top end and bass considering that they're earbuds. The case is nice - I like that it works with wireless charging and USB-C, no micro USB connectors here. It's also easy to clean. Overall, I have to say I rather like them. They could probably use a firmware update or something to patch that issue with the desynced audio, but considering that I was using weird hardware and the desync is by less than a quarter of a second I'm willing to overlook that, particularly since everything else seems to be good. I would definitely recommend these.

Pro: Even audio Battery life Wireless charging Con: Middling noise canceling Hear Through is hissy and unnatural These earbuds are small and comfortable to wear. The buds go a little bit deeper in the ears but don't cause any discomfort. It fits snuggly in ear, and actually takes a bit of effort to take them out. They have standard two buttons layout, with the right controlling the media and the left for noise canceling. It comes with three rubber tip sizes. They have good audio, but the noise canceling is lacking. Audio Quality Overall audio sounds good and neutral. The high, mids, and low sounded even, and doesn’t really emphasize any one over the other. There’s not much bass to them, but it sounded good enough to be able to hear different instruments clearly and vocals are clear. Within the app, the EQ can be adjusted, but the differences are minimal. Noise Canceling ANC is just okay. Even with the customized noise canceling, it’s about the same as wearing earplugs in terms of noise reduction and it reduces some low hums. Engine sounds get reduced by about 50-75%, while voices get muffled. It’s okay for low noise environments like a small workplace or walking in a neighborhood. Through the app, the noise canceling level can be tailored and balanced between your ears, which can help improve the noise canceling. Hear Through mode has a good amount of hiss to it and sounded like there’s a bit of digital processing or distortion to it. Battery Life Battery life is pretty good. On each charge, it can last about 6 hours with noise canceling on and the case can add up to another 20+ hours. The charging case can be charged with a USB-C or wirelessly.

I've been rigorously testing out the Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless in-Ear Bluetooth Earbuds for the past few days, and I must admit, they've truly surpassed my expectations across the board. Having previously owned the Jabra Elite 7 Pro, I find that this model closely matches most of its features. Whether it's enjoying my favorite music or podcasts, or staying connected during online meetings, these earbuds have proven themselves to be reliable companions. What's Included: In the box, you'll find the Jabra Elite 5 true wireless buds nestled in a charging case, along with three sets of silicone ear gels (S, M, L), a USB-C Cable, and an Instruction Manual. Setup/Connection: Utilizing Bluetooth 5.2 technology, these earbuds effortlessly connect to iOS devices, especially tailored for Made for iPhone compatibility. I paired them with my iPhone 14 Pro Max without any hassle. To kick things off, simply download the Jabra Sound+ app, which seamlessly searches for nearby devices to pair with. Additionally, these earbuds support mono mode, allowing you to use a single earbud independently for extended battery life or for handling phone calls. Features: The Elite 5 earbuds come packed with a range of intelligent features. Hybrid ANC enables you to block out ambient noise, while HearThrough technology keeps you aware of your surroundings. With 6-mic call technology, wind noise reduction ensures crystal-clear calls even in blustery conditions. Personalized sound is another highlight, due to the 6mm speakers and customizable equalizer settings. Their IP55 rating ensures durability, providing protection against dust and water. Moreover, the battery life is commendable, offering up to 7 hours of playtime with ANC activated, and extending to 28 hours with the charging case. Comparing them to my existing Jabra Elite 7 Pro, the features closely align, except for some differences in the charging case design. Sound: The sound quality is genuinely outstanding, with impressive bass and exceptional clarity. Whether I'm fully immersed in music or taking calls, the Elite 5 earbuds provide an unmatched audio. Controls: Navigating through music, calls, and other activities is intuitive with the physical buttons, offering easy access to various functions. Further customization options within the Sound+ app allow you to tailor the controls according to your preferences. Fit/Comfort: Featuring a snug fit, these earbuds are enhanced by interchangeable ear tips, ensuring both comfort and security. Even my spouse, who frequently faces challenges with earbud fit, found them comfortable thanks to their compact design. Overall, the Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless earbuds offer a blend of build quality, performance, and comfort. Whether it's immersive music playback or clear calls, they deliver consistently. They're a welcome addition to the Jabra lineup, providing a balance of comfort and sound quality that's hard to surpass.

I am always looking for the next great wireless in-ear headphones option so I was excited to give the Jabra Elite 5 True Wireless Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling headphones a try. Typically for me the first thing I am checking for is in-ear comfort which is sometimes a much harder find than expected. When I first looked at these I anticipated being disappointed became often this particular design just doesn’t feel comfortable for me in most cases (I have only found 2 exceptions to this in the past). Looks can be deceiving though as this fit me quite comfortably and did not have the bulky feel an assumed at fort glance. Although I didn’t need to switch the tips it was nice to see that like most options Jabra includes 3 different sizes options to swap out if necessary. While it’s still not what I would call the most comfortable of all in-ear options I have owned I can definitely use these during a workout or for extended wear without wanting to take them out after just an hour or so. Setup a pairing was a breeze for every device I connected to which is always plus. The Sound+ app gives some customization options and works well but isn’t something I would likely need to use often. The noise-canceling options seem to be on par with most other noise canceling brands I own and was more than adequate. Using ANC still allow for great battery life (a little under 7 hour from my testing) so I can confidentially use these in various situations without worrying if the battery will last throughout my activity. Sound wise these definitely fit my expectations having great overall sound. Sound quality with various music genres as well as on phone calls is excellent. Bass is nice and punchy without any odd distortion and clarity is excellent. Of course you have to keep your expectations based on in-ear performance versus trying to compare to your favorite over the ear option that will always win out but as long as you are realistic on that front I believe these headphones will fit the needs of most users. Phone calls were crisp and clear on my end and those that I spoke with weren’t aware that I was using them to complete our call. I did not test this out in a notoriously noisier environment like driving in my car or in a windy/exceptionally noisy place but those are not environments I would normally utilize something like this. Overall, I would definitely recommend these to anyone wanting a nice quality option at a bit more of a wallet friendly price. While I wouldn’t designate them as top of the line material these are definitely a solid midrange option that I believe most users would enjoy.

These earbuds provide great sound quality and a comfortable and secure fit at a very decent price. In terms of comfort, these are extremely comfortable with a small earbud that sits nicely inside the ear with no pressure at all, at least in my ears. I’ve been able to listen with these for hours on end with no ear fatigue. I’m a huge fan of how these fit. They also include multiple sizes of eartips to customize the fit to your liking. I’ve always liked the sound quality from Jabra earbuds and these don’t disappoint providing very decent sound quality for the money with a balanced, crisp, and very clean sound profile. They have a customizable EQ where you can manually adjust the sound profile to your liking. They also have presets to enhance voices, bass, as well as treble. I tend to like their “Energize” preset which elevates both bass and treble while lowering the mid range. These earbuds also can get quite loud and they still sound quite good at higher volumes. Some earbuds can have distortion at higher volumes but these stay clean throughout where the low end doesn’t sound muddled. Great for all of us who like to listen at higher volumes. Noise cancellation is decent - seems to do a good job in most environments eliminating voices, white noise, as well as traffic. It doesn’t do well with louder sounds though. The “Hearthrough” transparency mode…while it works, it also sounds a bit fake and synthetic. They allow you to adjust the level of transparency which I very much appreciate but don’t find it to sound natural. Each earbud has a button on the outside where you can play, pause, skip tracks, and answer/decline calls. The amount of pressure is just right on the buttons where with each press, it doesn’t feel like you’re pushing the earbud further into your ear but not too soft where you experience accidental presses. The placement is also ideal where you can find the button easily. When it comes to using these for sports, these were secure enough for me for running and the gym but they can shift with more jarring activities. They also don’t have the highest water resistance rating so that’s something to be aware of if you’re a heavy sweater. They’re “active” series of earbuds may be a better option if you do a lot of sports. There’s no shortage of earbuds to choose from these days but these earbuds strike a nice balance in terms of features, quality, and price.

Out of the box these earbuds are very stylish looking, they come with 3 different sized ear plugs (gels) (Large, Medium, Small), as well as a charging case and usb cable. In the manual it says you can also buy a wireless charging pad for them as well, which i will most likely be picking up at some point in the future. Pros The phone app to setup everything is pretty nice, and offers quite a bit of features. The Hybrid ANC (active Noise Cancellation) technology is actually pretty good, while activated i could barely hear anything outside of what i was listening to (its not 100% silent, but during somethings I would listen to, it was a close 98% noise cancellation). The buds have the ability to connect/sync with Google Asistant or Amazons' Alexa which is pretty convenient, especially with my ecosystem currently in the home. Spotify tap is a nice feature as well (allowing for a custom EQ, and song control [resume, play recommended song]) The unit boasts; up to 7 hours of battery life + 28 hours with the case, as well as 1 hour of playback per 10 minutes of charge, which is nice if i just want to grab and go. Includes a 2 year warranty The Audio quality is also very good, the bass in some songs was hitting like it should and everything sounded very nice. Cons The only thing i disliked about these earbuds, When you pull out the right earbud while listening to music, it causes the music to stop/pause. (i believe there is a metal sensor in the earbuds that can detect if they are in or not) when the music stopped I thought i could just tap the left ear bud to get the music going again as i would with the right earbud, but thats not how the buttons are setup (instead i had to press play again on my phone), The right earbud is the "only" controller for music, So keep that in mind if you remove one of the earbuds while listening to music take out the left one... Overall these earbuds are very nice, the sound is good, and feels immersive... I also really like the ANC features with the ability to turn it on and off at the press of a button. The fit and overall comfort of these buds feel pretty good as well. I would definitely recommend these buds to anyone looking to try something different.

Everything I’m saying here is accurate as of the writing of this review. Given the earbuds have a firmware update functionality, I’d fully expect to see some of these things changed over time. When I acquired these headphones, the first thought I had was “how well would they work in an office environment?” From my experience, the answer is “just okay.” Audio quality is good, call quality is great, and fit is just fine. They do require a small bit of configuration out of the box, but nothing that should be too difficult for anyone who has a modern cell phone. What did Jabra do well with these headphones? To their credit, they are relatively comfortable to wear. I do find the tips a tad bit too big for my liking (small is too small and medium is slightly too big), but the way the buds nestle into your ears is very nice. The audio quality is good enough for a pair of earbuds. Hearthrough is the voice passthrough tech that Jabra provides with these buds. It is a cool technology and I do see the benefit to it – from being able to talk to a colleague without missing a beat or to being able to go get coffee without taking them out. It is neat as sometimes I think I can hear _better_ with hearthrough than I can with my own ears. I’ve not had much of a chance to use it in my day-to-day, but I have used similar features before and they’re always great. What could be done better? When I compare them to an older pair of wireless Sony earbuds that I have, I find the bass response to be a tad bit lacking. It’s there, but unless you play with the equalizer in their app a bit, it feels a bit flat. The adaptive noise cancelling (ANC) algorithm is also a bit of a letdown on these. I’ve tried it in multiple environments with multiple different noises – an office that was empty, an office that was filled and bustling with activity, pink noise in a quiet environment, white noise in a quiet environment, and just being outdoors. The only one that ANC worked well with was white noise. Jabra picked the ideal noise to filter out given white noise is like an aircraft in flight, but the other environments, I sometimes struggled to find a difference between ANC and having no noise cancelling applied. At times, ANC was actually worse than having no cancellation and amplified noises like typing or clicking a mouse. Phone call quality is good; according to the person I called I sounded loud and clear. And the person I was talking to sounded clear during the entire discussion. One thing I will note as configured, the headset picks up calls with a setting called “sidetone” which lets you hear your own voice. It really sounds like Hearthrough is activated and is annoying. Thankfully it can be disabled in the Sound+ app. Speaking of the Sound+ app, the one killer feature I would mention is that it comes with soundscapes with environments like rain, white noise, or crowds. It is very neat and possibly one of the things I like most about the app.

The Jabra Elite 5s are a decent mid-level set of earbuds with good fit and sound but middling ANC performance. The buds come in the usual type of rechargeable wireless earbud case, with a USB-C port for charging as well as support for wireless charging on a Qi-compatible charging pad. I have not had them long enough to evaluate how long they hold a charge, but it looks like the charging case holds enough charge to recharge the buds 4-5 times when they are inserted. The Elite 5s have quite a different shape from my older Elite 75t earbuds and fit in my ear even better than the earlier models. They are very comfortable to wear and seem secure from the chance of falling out in normal usage. I also have a set of Google Buds Pro that always feel like I could lose one at any time; these definitely do not have that problem. I tend to use my wireless earbuds mostly to listen to podcasts when going for walks or working out at the gym, with just occasional use to play music. For this they work very well. I am also glad that Jabra continues to use tactile buttons for controlling them that “click” when pressed. Some new products use tough-sensitive controls, which are very annoying since doing something like trying to adjust the position of a bud always ends up setting off a control function that I’m not looking for. Kudos to Jabra for sticking with real buttons! The functions of the buttons is the same as I’ve had on other Jabra products and the available smartphone app lets to customize the controls to some extent. Performance on phone calls was good and the callers didn’t seem to notice that I was answering them using earbuds, indicating good noise reduction on my end. The disappointment with this product is that I didn’t find the ANC to be very effective – more like “noise reduction” than “cancellation”, and I don’t think that it’s any better than the older Elite 75t product. To be fair, I might have been comparing it to the more expensive Google Buds Pro that are like a “cone of silence” by comparison, or maybe it just wasn’t working for me. Switching to hear-through definitely increased the noise level as expected, but ANC only dimmed it a bit.

I'm not a fan of in the ear headphones but needed to try them out to see if my opinion changed. Sadly it hasn't, but I wont let my bias affect the genuine impression of the review or the value of the product. The Jabra headphones have supreme sound quality and with the help of the companion app can be customized to your level of comfort. Phone calls are a bit spotty, even though my voice travels quite clear through the headphones, so does the wind. In extreme cases, the background noise would peak out my voice and no sound would come through according to the caller. I on the other hand can hear the caller clearly. Speaking of Hear-Through, the buttons on the headphones are customizable to complete functions like Noise Cancelling, Hear-Through and the media functions when listening to music. The Hear-Through feature is awesome, I can hear my surroundings in any mode. However if whatever I'm listening to is too loud, it drowns out the noise anyway. I haven't found the right ear size for me yet, they keep popping out of my ear. Maybe I'm not inserting them the right way, but whatever the reason, I'm scared to use these outside the house with risk of loss or damage. These are sturdy headphones.

These buds seem like a step back from some of the better performing models. While they are still very good ear buds, they don't match the performance in sound quality or noise cancelling of other Jabra models. The one area where they seem to have improved is in fit and comfort. While the overall profile of the buds doesn't seem to have changed much, they do fit more securely in my ears and are less likely to be knocked loose with an accidental brush. They do work well at connecting to multiple devices at once. I tested these with connections to my phone and the streaming device for my tv. I could even leave my phone in another room and remain connected to it while I listened to content on the tv in my home gym. It was a bit ambiguous which device was being controlled by the ear bud buttons until I established which one I wanted to listen to. With both devices paused, pressing the play button on the buds started the music on my phone when I wanted to listen to the tv. But if the tv was already playing, then the buds would default to controlling the active device. The buds will automatically pause playback when one is removed from your ear, but unlike other models, playback does not automatically resume when you put the bud back in. You have to actively restart playback. So overall, really good design, but there are models with better sound quality and noise cancelling if that's primarily what you're after.