Back in the early 2000’s Bluetooth was the huge new thing to replace infrared as the wireless connection protocol. At that time one of the first wireless headsets I bought was a Jabra BT200. It was a huge, heavy device resembling a hearing aid. Despite its weight, the headset was well balanced and worked very well. So recently I was intrigued to see Jabra is still around and offers earbuds.
The Case
The Jabra Elite Active 75t come with a nice compact case. Jabra did a nice job keeping the case flat so it fits into the pocket without bulging them too much. The hinge of the case feels very solid and the earbuds are held in the case securely by magnets. Even if the case is held upside down, the magnets hold the earbuds securely inside the case.
The case has a USB-C port for charging and no buttons. The case holds 3 additional charges for the earbuds in just 35 g (1.23 oz). In contrast to other earbud cases, the Jabra Elite Active 75t case does not have any buttons. To pair the earbuds, the buttons on the earbuds are used.
The Buds
Each Jabra Elite Active 75t earbud weighs 5.5g (0.19 oz). Each earbud is compact and sits nearly completely inside the ear. The silicone tips sit securely in the ear canal while the shape of the earbud secures it safely in the ear.
Each earbud has a mechanical push-button which is easy enough to press without pushing the earbud into the ear too much but still provides good tactile feedback. The mechanical button avoids accidental triggering, like you might get with a touch-sensitive button.
Compared to many other earbuds, the case does not have a pairing button. Instead the pairing mode is triggered by pressing the button on both earbuds at the same time and holding them for 3 seconds.
Features
The Jabra Elite Active 75t earbud are IP57 rated. This even allows the earbuds to be a few centimetres submerged in water.
The Jabra Elite Active 75t have a total of 4 microphones, which they use to provide active noise cancellation (ANC) and a hear-through mode. Even without ANC, the earbuds provide a strong noise isolation which removes a lot of noise already without the need to enable ANC. On the other hand, the strong noise isolation makes it hard to follow a conversion without activating the hear through mode.
Technically a mono mode is also supported but only with the right earbud. The left earbud can not be used in mono mode. This is due to Jabra’s implementation of the wireless connection. Only the right earbud is connects via Bluetooth 5.0 while the left earbud is connected using NFMI to the right earbud.
Jabra uses NXP’s NFMI which stands for Near Field Magnetic Induction. The advantage seems to be a low power connection between the earbuds without interfering with the Bluetooth signal or interference of the head between the earbuds. Read more about it at Near Field Magnetic Induction (NFMI): Dreams of Wireless Hearables.
With more and more devices, it is nice to see the Jabra Elite Active 75t support multi-connect. It allows two devices to be connected at the same time to the earbuds. Switching between the two devices is done automatically based on which device is sending audio to the earbuds.
Companion App
In regards to flexibility and controls, the Jabra Elite Active 75t are very flexible and allow configuration using the “Jabra Sound+” smartphone app. Button controls can be configured for different situations like media playback and phone calls. Each earbud can be configured separately with single / double and triple press actions.
The Jabra Sound+ app is available for Android and iOS. Surprisingly every single-press, double-press and triple-press action can be configured individually for the left and right earbud for the different situations. The possible actions include the following.
* Play/pause music
* Next track
* Previous track
* Voice assistant
* Mode switching (ANC, HearThrough)
For call control the following actions are also configurable.
* Answer/end call
* Reject call
* Hold/resume call
* Mute/unmute
* Sidetone on/off
The only non-configurable action is the volume-up / volume-down function. These actions are fixed to the long press of the left and right buttons.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and HearThrough can be adjusted in strength as well as the Sidetone during phone calls.
Overall it is impressive to see a companion app to offer this flexibility in configuring so many aspects of the earbuds.
Issues and Shortcomings
Magnetic Interference
I like to use those magnetic charging cables. Most of them use a magnetic adapter that you plug into the device. Sadly the magnetic adapter interfered with the, apparently, magnetic detection in the case.
The result is a case that does not charge the earbuds as the magnets in the adapter interfere with the case. It seems very strange that a little magnet at the USB-C charging port causes the earbuds to remain uncharged even when placed in the case for hours.
Unsynchronized Mode Switching
While testing the earbuds, the switching between modes caused a strange acoustic situation. As multiple tests showed, switching between modes happens first on the right (master) earbud followed by the left earbud with a short delay. The delay in switching modes is sadly very noticeable.
Jabra suggested that the earbuds might have a defect, sadly I could not verify this during my test.
Switching between devices
When the earbuds switch between two connected devices, lose connection or connect to a device, the ANC or HearThrough mode switches off for a short time. This situation, combined with the unsynchronized switching of modes, makes this doubly annoying.
Earbud auto-pause
The auto pause function is supposed to switch off media playback when the earbuds are removed from the ear. Sadly, my experience with this went like the following.
With both earbuds in, media playback pauses when one earbud is removed. Removing the second earbud resulted nearly every time in a situation where the media playback started again. In some cases after removing both earbuds one after the other, the media playback toggles in random intervals – play, pause, play, pause…
No HearThrough in mono mode
Sadly the earbuds only support mono mode with the right earbud. Additionally, the HearThrough mode is not available in mono mode. With the strong noise isolation, it would have been a great idea to allow or even enable the HearThrough in mono mode.
HearThrough mode not natural
Even with the HearThrough mode enabled, the outside noise doesn’t sound natural. The HearThrough mode makes it much easier to understand the surrounding sounds, but sadly provides something far away from a natural sound.
Limitation during call
During phone calls, the HearThrough mode is disabled. As soon as a call is accepted, no matter which mode is active, it is automatically disabled. This could cause important sounds to be missed during a call on the street. Not to mention having a call in mono mode with the strong passive noise isolation on the right side only.
Summary and Opinion
The Jabra Elite Active 75t deliver on the promise of small light earbuds with good battery life and secure fit. I never had any issue with the earbuds falling our of my ears or them feeling loose.
Configuring the controls and features of the earbuds offer a flexibility that leaves no wish unfulfilled.
With the HearThrough, the surrounding sounds are not as clear and natural as you might expect. That means, I always preferred taking the earbuds out in a conversation or in situation where listening to my surroundings was important.
The most irritating anomaly is the unsynchronised switching of modes. It caused a strange feeling in my ears during the switching for a second or two.
Disclaimer
The above review of the Jabra Elite Active 75t represents my personal experience. Jabra did not influence or pay for this review in any form.
Read more of my posts on my blog at https://blog.tinned-software.net/.
