Review: Jabra Elite Active 75t

I like to use wireless buds as a headset when I am outdoors, commuting or traveling (hopefully looking at the future on this part). They have lots of benefits that make them ideal for me when I am going outside. But I also have requirements for them:

• They and their case can’t take too much space. They must fit to small pocket “jeans coin pocket” to be optimal.
• Long battery life with case re-charging them a few times. Quick recharge counted especially when traveling.
• Great audio for music or receiving calls
• Great microphones for calls, with surrounding noise cancellation
• Comfortable to wear for a long time (otherwise the long battery life wouldn’t make any sense)
• They don’t fall out accidentally when walking, jumping(rare but it happens) or bicycling for example
• I can use buds with my hat
• They are ok if it rains
• USB-C charging
• ANC would be good

My favorite buds for a long time were Samsung Galaxy Buds (first version). They didn’t meet all my requirements but they were very good on other fronts. The biggest flaw was the lack of great microphone since they don’t have any noise-cancellation nor double-mics. Practically I couldn’t use them for calls outside if there was any wind or background noise. And this summer I almost lost one bud when it fell of my ear when bicycling – I was able to recover it luckily.

So when I got my hands on Jabra Elite Active 75t:s I was really eager to test them out.

Comparing them with my specs these look great:

• ✅ Small case (smaller than with 65t) and buds lock into it with magnets.

• ✅ Long battery life (roughly 6-7 hours + 3 recharges via the case).
• ✅ USB-C charging
• ✅ Bluetooth 5.0 (better connectivity with modern mobiles devices). I had no issues with connectivity with my OnePlus 8 Pro.
• ✅ Fast charging of buds (60 minutes listening time when buds are 15 minutes in their case)
• ✅ Ear piece can be changed (small, medium, large) for best fit
• ✅ Music pauses when either of buds is removed from ear. The user experience is wonderful: take them off ear and put them to the case. And when you take them off the case and put them on the ear (=connected and ready).
• ✅ Great audio for music or receiving calls. I enjoy listening to music with these! They sound really really good. 😎👌
• ✅ 4 microphones for calls, with surrounding noise cancellation.
• ✅Comfortable to wear for a long time and I don’t have to fear them dropping out of ear.
• ✅ I can use buds with my hat
• ✅ Water / splash proof. If it rains these are ok with that. (IP57)
• ❌ ANC. However, they do sit very well in the ear and provide “passive ANC” due to their build. When music is on I don’t have to worry about most of noises around me. Car horn comes through but that may be a good thing..

So when looking at my specs they do seem to do the nice job. In fact they replaced old Samsung Galaxy buds as my primary buds and I am really happy with them.

The microphone surrounding noise cancellation seems to be targeted for more outdoors and indoor noises. Sharp noises come through, as well as sound of running water when tap is open – it is not too loud but it is clearly heard. Music from the background does get more reduction but it is still there. Of course one reason for this is that the mics are at ear and there isn’t any boom mic. The person speaking is heard loud and clear but surrounding noises are there. There is still room for improvement.

Another question is the operating temperature. Since I live in Finland the lowest temperature -5C is going to be tested during winter. In fact the temp will go below that. Since buds are in my ear and case in my pocket I don’t expect any issues but if these are sensitive to lower temps I will find that out during winter walks.

The other big question is going to be how well the battery will drop off capacity over months-years. I am still ok with 6 hours of operation but these buds are being constantly charged because they are in their case most of the time. Galaxy Buds did show some drop in capacity after a year.

These, as well as other Jabra headsets, almost require that you install Jabra Sound+ app to your phone to create personal settings and get updates. I found it a great way to personalize my Jabra devices to my needs.

The verdict is that these are, for me, the best earbuds I have every used and they work for my needs really well. There is some room for improvement but I can honestly say these would, as I am a Android device user, be my #1 choice for buds today.

You can also use these with Teams Desktop

.. if you pair them with a Jabra dongle. I didn’t do that but I did a bit of that testing with 65ts. For Teams meetings these could provide an easy to have almost invisible headset (yes it shows but not as bad as a true headset) with great lasting battery. 75ts can be connected to two devices at the same time.

However to keep these similar to Galaxy Buds and having the best user experience with mobile phone I decided, at least so far, to keep these connected to only my mobile phone. Especially since I do use over-the-ear other headsets I use when I am working at computer. I am currently testing Jabra Evolve2 85s (over the ear Teams Certified headset) and also Blue Microphones Yeti X on my desktop environment. I have hopes that Evolve2 85 would be the great companion headset for these 75ts when working on computer while Yeti X would be the great broadcasting mic for speaking and webinars.

Thank you Jabra for sending me Elite Active 75t:s for testing!