Audio

Good call and sound quality on these earbuds

Jabra's true wireless in-ear headphones - the Elite 75t - have excellent battery life to boot

Jabra's Elite 75t has great bass oomph, pleasing mids and detailed highs.
Jabra's Elite 75t has great bass oomph, pleasing mids and detailed highs.

The true wireless in-ear headphones bandwagon is getting crowded, with Jabra's new Elite 75t the latest to jump on.

Available in titanium black (version tested) and gold-beige, these headphones are among the sleekest you will find on the market.

A single circular button with the Jabra logo occupies the exterior of each earbud. This bulbous section extends into a short stem that leads to the ear tip, making it look streamlined when you are wearing the earbuds, with none of the unsightly bulge of the Sony WF-1000XM3 or the long stem of the Apple AirPods.

Even the colour-matched charging case, with a USB-C charging port at its rear, is minimalistic. The case's lid flips up easily and closes magnetically. However, it does not support wireless charging.

Three different-sized pairs of ear tips are included. Once I found the right pair, the earbuds fit snugly and stayed in even when I tried to dislodge them by swinging my head.

The earbuds are rated IP55 - good enough for jogging under a drizzle, but do not wear them in the shower or pool.

The earbuds also provide a great seal against ambient noise, but its lack of active noise cancellation (ANC) means its ability to block out outside noise is not as good as its ANC-equipped peers, such as the Apple AirPods Pro and the Sony WF-1000XM3.

Pairing is easy. Just take the earbuds out of their charging case and look for them in the Bluetooth settings of your mobile device or laptop. To pair them with another device, I find it is better to switch off the Bluetooth function of the first paired device. Then, press and hold the button of each earbud for three seconds.

The headphone controls are a tad confusing. For instance, pressing and holding the left earbud's button will lower the volume, but doing likewise with the right earbud's button will increase the volume instead.

You can use only the right earbud's button to activate the voice assistant (by pressing it twice).

I like that the Elite 75t is able to connect to two devices at the same time. I did so with my MacBook Pro and a Samsung Galaxy Note10+. This is great, as I can transcribe my interviews on the laptop and quickly switch to answering an incoming call.

  • FOR

    • Great sound quality

    • Good call quality

    • Can be paired with two devices at the same time

    • Its Sound+ app allows for customised equaliser settings

  • AGAINST

    • Lacks active noise cancellation

    • Charging case does not support wireless charging

    • Confusing button controls

  • TECH SPECS

    PRICE: $288

    CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth 5.0

    WEIGHT: 5.5g (earbud), 35g (charging case)

  • RATING

    FEATURES: 4/5

    DESIGN: 4/5

    PERFORMANCE: 4/5

    BATTERY LIFE: 5/5

    VALUE FOR MONEY: 4/5

    OVERALL: 4/5

However, only one device can be used at a time when two are connected. I have to pause one audio source - the interview recording on the laptop - before I can answer the call on the smartphone.

The call quality of the Elite 75t is superb. I can be heard loud and clear at the other end, whether I am in a noisy cafe or in the office.

Music sound quality is good too, with great bass oomph, pleasing mids and detailed highs. It does not lose details even with the volume cranked up.

Furthermore, I can customise the equaliser settings to my taste using the Sound+ app (Android and iOS), apart from using the various equaliser presets.

Battery life - rated at 7.5 hours of music playback on a full charge and a total of 28 hours with the charging case - is excellent. I found the rating to be spot on. There was about 50 per cent of battery left after four hours of continuous playback during my testing.

At $288, the Elite 75t offers great value for money with its overall performance. It is also cheaper than the AirPods Pro ($379) and the WF-1000XM3 ($349), but of course, the Elite 75t lacks ANC.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 12, 2020, with the headline Good call and sound quality on these earbuds. Subscribe