What is Looria?Sign up

Wireless Earbuds

Apple AirPods Pro vs Jabra Elite 85t

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple AirPods Pro

163 reviews

View Product Details

Jabra Elite 85t

Jabra Elite 85t

157 reviews

View Product Details

Consumer Reports · Best Back-to-School Sales on Laptops, Headphones, and More

#2 most mentioned

Reddit · r/earbuds

RTINGS · The 7 Best Headphones

#29 most mentioned

Reddit · r/earbuds

Great sound quality with warm, rich sound

Active noise cancellation

Impressive battery life of up to 4.5 hours on a single charge

Easy to use and connect to devices

Lightweight and comfortable fit

Great sound quality

Comfortable fit

Effective ANC

Physical buttons instead of touch controls

Find My Jabra feature

Not suitable for everyone due to fit

Issues with connectivity reported by some users

Price may be too high for some budgets

Not the best choice if sound quality is the priority

Feedback from wind can be an issue

Hissing noises in left earbud reported by some users

Verdict

The Apple AirPods Pro are a great choice for those looking for a truly wireless earbud with active noise cancellation. They offer a warm, rich sound that is suitable for any genre of music and never harsh. The battery life is also impressive, lasting up to 4.5 hours on a single charge. However, some users have reported issues with connectivity and the fit may not be comfortable for everyone.

Verdict

The Jabra Elite 85t are a great pair of earbuds for those looking for physical buttons instead of touch controls. They provide good sound quality and comfort, and have an effective ANC that can handle most environments. However, some users have reported issues with feedback from wind and hissing noises in the left earbud. Additionally, they may not be the best choice if sound quality is the priority.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Battery Life

I really wanted to love these...

You can still hear some loud noises, but those are muted significantly. As for Transparency mode, it amplifies outside noise so you can be aware of your surroundings while listening to music. This was quite helpful while I was walking on the street and did not want to be completely isolated from the outside world. Overall I'd say these two features are a solid 10/10 Battery life: On paper Airpods pro have less battery life than Airpods 2 (4

Some good things, some not so much

App doesn’t consistently show the correct battery level when using one bud at a time. If I’m using the left ear bud, when battery level gets low, I get notification in my ear to “recharge now”, but app shows the bud is at 86%. I tried putting the left bud back in the case (the right one is already in there), then take the left bud back out again. The app still shows it at 86% and it still tells me to “recharge now”

Sound Quality

My in-store AirPods Pro Max Impressions

>The Apple AirPods Pro have a fairly neutral sound profile, suitable for a variety of audio content. While they struggle a bit more to produce thump and rumble, they lack less bass than the [Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless which have an open-back design

Positive

reddit.com/r/apple

Touch/swipe controls vs. Physical buttons on headphones?

After using them with extremely lackluster (and frustrating) results, I returned them and decided to spend some time researching the latest and greatest ear buds available in the market. This search showed me that almost every big brand, house hold name has opted for for touch capabilities for their latest earbuds over physical buttons. The only pair I could find that still use physical buttons were the Jabra Elite 85T, which don't sound nearly as good as the Bose (in my opinion) and have a huge issue with feedback from wind if you are outside.

Negative

reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice

Noise Cancellation

Good pair of bluetooth noise canceling earbuds?

If you’re using them with Apple products, it’s basically a no-brainer buy for the AirPods Pro. The ecosystem integration is absolutely awesome. The noise cancelling is fantastic, and transparency mode is super useful if you need to quickly hear voices or wear them while outside for awareness.

Positive

reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice

Close yet so far..

the ANC mode is incredible, you don’t feel or get the sense like you ears are in a vacuum like how the AirPods Pro’s or even the Bose and Sony make your ears feel. It does an excellent job balancing that out, but also is fantastic at blocking out noise. Even in my semi truck which is older, so it rattles and creaks etc, none of the noises could be heard

Fit

Good sound, poor fit.

The sound quality is good, The in ear fit is not good, I tried all 3 sizes of the supplied silicone ear tips and none fit properly. I tried the proper fit app on my iPhone and could not get an "Okay" on the app. I don't feel they fit securely enough, so I will only use them when I am seated. The Air Pods are not comfortable for any lengthy listening session

Great, with some quirks if your primary usage is for home office.

The lows are almost not present - this is the single biggest thing to baffle me after having read in many places that they have some "punch" to them. These buds have almost no low-end, regardless of how you configure the Jabra sound profile in the companion app, and regardless of any other EQ you can adjust from your phone (if that's the source of your music). Tl;dr - don't buy these if your primary use is going to be listening to music. They're probably good for something like podcasts if you're doing listening-only, primarily

Bluetooth Connectivity

Should I get the Sony WF-1000XM4?

Particularly if you're going to use it with an Apple device, consider the AirPods Pro. You'll find a bunch of comparisons online like this

Positive

reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice

Awesome Quality, But the Firmware Isn't There

Common fixes like turning on and off Bluetooth, unpairing the earbuds, and putting them into their case have no effect. The truly aggravating thing is that many of the troubleshooting suggestions I see involve pressing both buttons on the earbuds - but the left earbud is not connected, so it doesn't work! Each time I've eventually restored connection, but always just by messing around for ages and then finding they suddenly work again, so I don't have an effective workaround. It's quite frustrating, and given that I have similar problems with the 75ts I suspect that I didn't just get unlucky. It's a shame too because this is a very high-quality product with great sound for the price, and we badly need good alternatives to the Apples and Samsungs of the world

Comfort

Great airpod investment

So I decided to purchase the pros since they won’t slip as easily as the original AirPods (Let me start by saying they came pretty fast, and they were packaged safely!) I’d say this is a great investment, it’s very comfortable and from what I’ve gathered so far on these is you can answer your calls, skip and rewind back with your music as well, it’s very sound proof so if you’re one of those people who do best getting tasks done during work, school, or even at home without noise around you, these are the way to go. I hope this helped someone! :)

Buggy behavior harms what should be outstanding earbuds

Clarity with high-bitrate audio is outstanding, and I'd call their overall character "balanced." These don't punch hard on the low end, but they don't really need to for my taste. They provide a level of detail that my cheaper true wireless buds absolutely do not. -They're small and light, which makes them comfortable

Durability

Pi7 great sound everything else meeeh

I’ve used airpods pro for 6 months heavily, i’ve a/b tested noise cancelling on airpod pro with these...These are better beside a busy road or air con unit

Positive

reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice

Quick Appreciation Post, Thanks Jabra!

These headphones have been through with me a lot. i.e. transiting in wet weather, going to the gym 5 days a week, training in rain or shine for a marathon, and completing even completing a sweaty marathon in these earbuds

Positive

reddit.com/r/Jabra

Warranty

AirPods just died and with Spotify Hifi otw what cans should I invest in?

You should definitely take them to an Apple store, they will probably replace them for free even if they are out of warranty. Last month both of my AirPods Pro (bought on release date, so they were out of warranty) died and had terrible static in both ears. I made an appointment with the Apple store notifying them of the issue, and when I went they ran some tests and just replaced them afterwards at no cost. I’m pretty sure it is a fairly common issue, because they have a dedicated replacement program

Positive

reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice

Right earbud for 85t has stopped working

I have reached out to the customer service and initially they were quite helpful, but at the end it seems to be something inside of the Jabra right earbud stopped down. They suggested to complete Warranty request, which I did 2 weeks ago, and did another one 1 week ago. I have not received any reply from the warranty team since. It has been total of 3 weeks since my Jabra headphones stopped working

Negative

reddit.com/r/Jabra

Price Point

Apple-level quality at Apple-level price

I’m sorry. I can’t recommend this product. If Sony US team is reading this review and if Sony Japan is designing all the products, please tell the Japan team that you don’t need to make too many half-baked products. You just need to offer 3 tiers of products (aka “good”, “better” and “best”) and focus on making sure they are the best products at their price points

Good, but expensive.

I'm just not happy about the price point versus what you get. I would guess that Jabra is making at least $100 profit on each one they sell, probably a good bit more. I understand about the R&D that goes into the product, but given the volume of sales, they are making a killing. And yes, I contributed to their profits

QUICK QUESTION!

Got an opinion on a product you've used?
If so, we want to hear from you! Write an authentic longevity review about the product and share your experience with our community. You'll have the chance to win a $100 gift card.

You might also like

More Alternatives

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple AirPods Pro

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro

Bose Sport Open Earbuds

Bose Sport Open Earbuds

Beats Fit Pro

Beats Powerbeats Pro

Beats Powerbeats Pro

Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra Elite Active 75t

More Alternatives