Jabra Elite Sport Review, In-Depth

August 22, 2017 4:16 pm

Jabra, the reigning king of premium headsets has applied their impressive communications technology to truly wireless earbuds in the wake of the wireless revolution. Get all the details in our Jabra Elite Sport review.

Jabra Elite Sport In-Depth Review

The Elite Sport is an impressive earbud blowing most of its competitors out of the water, literally, with water proof resistancy, HearThrough capability, heart rate monitoring, and fitness tracking all at your fingertips.

Build & Fit

The Elite Sport is able to do so, first off, with a well-crafted design. The earbud housings are ergonomically-shaped to nestle themselves inside the conch of your ear. The fit is nice and snug for me since I have tiny ears. But I could see these feeling a tad large for anyone with ears smaller than mine. The buds are comprised of a hard grade durable material that is fit to bar sweat from damaging the inner workings of the housings. The buds are also fit with silicone sleeves with a winged tip to secure the piece in your ear. This facilitates a close fit against your ear for better sound isolation and heart rate tracking. The box includes both foam and silicone ear tips, in addition to silicone ear hooks, in sizes small through large.

The face of the buds are fit with buttons to control the volume, answer calls, and switch back and forth between tracks. I did The latter can be turned on and off by double clicking on the top button on the right housing. The buds are fashioned to provide an air tight seal that provides a pretty good degree of passive noise cancellation. So much so, the Elite Sport possesses HearThrough capability which slightly amplifies the noise from your surroundings and keeps you more aware of your environment.

My only real vice regarding the build is the way in which the buttons were fashioned. The controls are actual buttons that need to be pushed in order to be used which applies a bit of pressure on your cartilage and subsequently a slight ache if you’ve been wearing the buds for awhile. This may not be the case for larger ears, but it was for my tiny little ones. Touch sensors would be a better alternative.

Features & Performance

The Elite Sport earbuds were designed to be used as part of an active lifestyle. For that reason, they are sweat resistant with an IP rating of IP67. This means the earbuds’ enclosures can withstand exposure to dust as well as immersion in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. Yes, a quick dip in the pool is totally possible. However, I don’t recommend any longer than that based off of the official IP rating. To note, Jabra includes a 3-year limited warranty for damage caused by sweat.

Elite Sports are also characterized by a heart rate sensor that can be used in conjunction with the Jabra Sport Life mobile app. Uses can enter their stats (height, weight, age, etc) which is taken into account as the app monitors your health and progress while working out. The app allows for some flexibility, but tracking works best with their presets. Sports buffs who use RunKeeper, Map My Fitness, Endomondo, Runtastic or Strava of the following apps will be happy to know Jabra Elite Sport can work with either.

While the buds yield about 4.5 hours of battery life, the portable charging case includes 2 full charges supplying a total of 13.5 hours. If you’re in a rush you can plug the buds in for 20 minutes which yields yet another hour.

Sound

One of the most important features when it comes to TWS earbuds is the quality of connection since it affects sound. I can confidently say that Jabra Elite Sport is true to any Jabra headset that’s come before it in sustaining a quality connection that doesn’t waver, unlike it’s competition. But then again, we should only expect the best from a communications company known for their wireless and corded headsets. That being said, the audio is honestly better than I expected from a set of TWS earbuds. Once you achieve a solid seal with these buds the audio does not disappoint. Across the board, the audio sounds full. I was especially pleasantly surprised by the bass line which had a great del of depth. Clarity is great, but not the best. I mean these are TRULY wireless earbuds.

The Elite Sport earbuds were formerly priced at $249.99, but are now listed at $199.99 – cheaper than Nuheara, but more expensive than AirPods. I’m not sure if this price is final, but it definitely makes them a pair worth purchasing taking into account they retain a solid connection, provide a good seal, HearThrough technology, and a heart rate sensor. Grab Jabra Elite Sport at Jabra.com.