Jabra Elite 10 Earbuds Review: The Jabra Flagship Continues to Improve on Comfort and Features

Jabra Elite 10 Earbuds Review

I have heard several times about the 62,000 ears models at Jabra’s GN HQ in Denmark. Somewhere in that mix they clearly had a pair of ears similar enough to mine. They also found some universal truths, like earbud tips don’t need to be, or rather should not be, domed circles. With the $249.99 Jabra Elite 10 earbuds, one of the penultimate headphone companies created one of the most comfortable earbud designs. They also sound pretty good.

What we like

Pros

• Very comfortable
• 10mm speakers with outstanding sound
• Support for Dolby Atmos Head Tracking
• 6-mics for excellent call quality
• Bluetooth® 5.3 Multipoint
• Good battery life and Wireless Charging
• Very good Active Noise Canceling (ANC)
• Waterproof and dust resistant (IP57)
• Good build quality
• Physical buttons

Modeling 62,000 ears is enough data for machine learning to determine optimal fit options. I’m not sure they used machine learning, but whatever learning they did, it worked. The patent pending silicon EarGels snuggle into my ear and keep the 0.8in x 0.7in x 1.1in Elite 10s firmly ensconced in the listening position. I can wear them for hours without an issue.

The 10mm drivers produce outstanding sound. Some reviews suggest that audiophiles won’t like the sound produced by the Jabra Elite 10s. Audiophiles are not Jabra’s target market. They certainly don’t attempt to make inferior audio, but all earbuds face limitations compared to their over-the-ear cousins that sport more room for electronics and better driver sizes and materials. For most people, the Jabra Elite 10s will produce enough subtlety across frequencies to create a wonderfully immersive listening experience.

I have been listening to several Apple Spatial (Dolby Atmos) tracks, and they are wonderfully rich, to the point when closing my eyes I easily imagine a concert stage. Moving my head creates a sense of place that headphones without head tracking cannot replicate.

Allow me a bit of a detour on Dolby Head Tracking. It can be wild. I was listening to my Dodgers facing the Phillies on ESPN as I edited this post. The general experience with the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds was that of listening to a transistor radio at a live baseball game. I did that many times as a child.

Unlike a baseball stadium, listening to a broadcast with earbuds, I did not need to worry if some guy from a tier above spilled a beer over the wall ruining my afternoon (though I did receive free t-shirts from a ball club after one such a drenching). ESPN isn’t broadcasting crisp audio for music, they are broadcasting a baseball game, and hearing it through the Elite 10s was close to being there.

Now, Rascal Flatts is playing “Life is a Highway.” The sound swirls as I move my head. Rather than disorienting, the swirl orients. It can be off-putting at first, but then I remembered that my ears are directional, imitating that reality is Dolby Head Tracking’s purpose. When we move our heads, our ears receive sounds from different places. When sound designers apply spatial audio, they place sounds in particular locations within the sound stage. Spatial audio on speaker-based sound systems is built for actual ears. Move your head and it points your ears to a different point in a room where a sound was placed.

Earbuds are different. Ears don’t move against the soundstage when the soundstage is shoved up into the ear canal. Dolby Head Tracking simulates the movement of a head through space, moving the sound within the produced audio in real-time. Spatial audio with this level of refinement requires massive on-device processing and pre-processed sources.

Intimate tunes like Billie Elish’s “LUNCH” or classic rockers like Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” come across with excellent fidelity, and when listened to with head tracking turned on, a new level of musical adventure ensues. Dolby Atmos with Dolby Head Tracking reinvented “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney & Wings. Just listen to it with these buds on. The tight intro and melodic backend renew, at least in my belief, that this is McCartney showing John Lennon he can write for both sides of the Lennon/McCartney collaboration. Why $249.99? The well-implemented Dolby suite is a big part of that answer.

Jabra, though, is a sound company through their hearing aid products—a sound company more concerned with voice than with music. The six MEMS microphones distributed through the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds capture clear and accurate audio calls. Noise cancellation algorithms keep background noise and wind out of the mix.

With Bluetooth® 5.3, Jabra embraces the latest in wireless technology, though they don’t include any of the HD codecs that have become increasingly popular, but they prove hard to realize given the need for source music and devices to complete the HD ecosystem. Jabra sticks to older standards with ACC and SBC.

Bluetooth® 5.3 with multipoint also makes the Elite 10s ideal work and leisure earbuds, as they connect to a computer, a phone or a tablet and easily switch between calls and music. The earbuds pair with up to 10 devices, with two being active simultaneously. The Elite 10s also include Fast Pair (Android) and Swift Pair (Windows). Spotify users will find Tap support. Apple users get clickable access to Siri, while Android users can invoke Google Assistant.

The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds deliver 6 hours (8 hours without ANC) of uninterrupted sound with a case that pumps up capacity to 21 hours (or 27 hours with just ANC, up to 36 hours with ANC off). Dolby Head Tracking reduces play time to 4 hours, which means even cross-country flights can be a stretch. Wireless charging (and USB-C wired charging) keep the case topped off, though the earbuds will need a break to get their juice back to max.

Fast charging, 5 minutes for an hour of listening, makes that break short. Single earbuds can be used for calls, with one charging while the other is in use—though personally, I’d rather live in a spatial audio world than one filled with endless one-bud audio and video calls. Auto-off power saving kicks in after 15 minutes without a connection or 30 minutes without activity while connected.

Speaking of noise-canceling, it’s very good but not stellar. The somewhat open design means some outside sound will seep in. I have used them on planes and will do so again. They don’t live up to over-the-ear ANC headphones, but they get the job done adequately, though this feature shows up on both the pros and cons list because there are examples of better ANC in similar devices that should give Jabra a story goal to hit during some future agile engineering sprint.

For those walking or talking, HearThrough™ does the opposite of ANC, letting the outside world in on purpose for politeness or safety.

Jabra intends for the Elite 10s to perform in the gym as well as the office (or perhaps archeological dig) with an IP57 rating that reflects excellent dust and water resistance.

Everything about the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds feels solid. At this price, the build quality should be superior, and it appears to be. One of the choices that plays into build quality and the overall user experience comes from the bud’s physical buttons. Unlike many earbuds, on-device control isn’t embedded in touch controls with too many options to remember. The Jabra Elite 10s require a reassuring click to stop a song or answer a phone call or one of a few limited, user-configurable options. Options are implemented by earbud (L/R) and by type of use (listening to music or managing calls).

The Jabra Elite 10s incorporate the company’s environmental commitment with recyclable packaging.

The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds come in a variety of colors. We evaluated the cocoa version. They also come in cream and three versions of black.

What could be improved

Cons

• The case doesn’t stand up
• Noise-canceling could be better
• Price

It may just be me, but I’m not a fan of the Jabra Elite 10’s lay-on-your-back (or front) case design. Unlike the JBL Tour Pro 2s, which are unsteady when standing, the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds can’t stand at all, and they don’t sport a cool LED display to make an excuse for their awkward stance. That said, the 1in x 1.8in x 2.6in case design does fit well in the seldom-used watch pocket on jeans.

While noise-canceling is good, it doesn’t tune out the world completely. The slightly open design contributes to that, but the ANC sometimes struggles to mask noise. With all of the other superior features, I’d like to see top-notch ANC that challenges Bose. Jabra clearly recognizes this issue as their slightly more expensive Gen 2 version of the Elite 10s promise 2-times the noise cancelation.

I list the $249.99 price as a “con” because it will keep these earbuds out of the reach of many buyers. I know brand and build contribute to the price, as does the company’s size which contributes overhead, but buyers will ask if they are that much better than the 1More Evo earbuds that can run around $90 at a discount. The answer is yes and no.

If a particular feature isn’t important, say IP rating or Dolby Atmos or Dolby Head Tracking, then the 1More Evo earbuds, for example, may work well enough. They sound great and have good ANC. The number of superior features, however, quickly gets to a point where lesser earbuds are no longer competitive. So, while the price point damages access and reach, it does reflect a reasonable value for the quality of sound, build and other features found in the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds.

It’s hard to think about cons. There is little consensus among reviewers save for ANC improvements, but even then, it’s a suggestion to move to best-in-class rather than to fix something that’s broken.

Jabra Elite 10 Earbuds: The bottom line

The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds represent a pinnacle of design and functionality in the earbud market. With their exceptional comfort, impressive sound quality, and advanced features like Dolby Atmos, Dolby Head Tracking and robust multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, they offer a rich and immersive listening experience. While the noise-canceling could be improved, and the $249.99 price tag might be steep for some, the overall value in terms of build quality, sound performance, and feature set makes them a worthwhile investment for those seeking a premium true wireless earbud audio experience.

Jabra provided the Elite 10 Earbuds for review. Images courtesy of Jabra unless otherwise noted.

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