Jabra today is officially shipping its latest pair of earbuds. The new Elite 4 were first announced toward the end of March and now are finally available for purchase. Arriving with a higher price tag and some added features compared to the previous versions, we’re taking a hands-on look at how these Jabra Elite 4 earbuds stack up.
Hands-on with Jabra’s new Elite 4 ANC earbuds
Jabra just announced the Elite 4 earbuds last month, outfitting the previous-generation Elite 3 form factor with some new tricks and a higher price tag. These fitness-ready earbuds arrive in the same form factor as before, with one of four different colors and some compact in-ear designs. I’ve been daily driving them for the past few weeks, and now with launch day today, I am ready to settle whether they’re worth a spring refresh for your kit.
As far as the major upgrades over its predecessor, the Jabra Elite 4 earbuds arrive with two notable new features. Active noise cancellation is a big draw for many listeners these days, and the brand’s latest buds are bringing that feature to one of its more entry-level offerings. And more importantly, for its actual implementation, Jabra is actually packing a lot of value into the $99.99 price point.
These aren’t going to be the best ANC earbuds on the market, but I have been surprised by how solid the experience is for casting out distracted or unwanted audio. The buds have particularly excelled at blocking out consistent audio, like the whirl of constant New York construction, keyboard clicks, and fans. But car horns and the like don’t fare quite as well.
The transparency mode, on the other hand, is not as good. It certainly accomplishes the mission of letting you hear the audio in a pinch without taking the earbuds themselves out – just don’t expect anything too fancy. I found the constant white noise that the earbuds make when in this mode to be a bit off-putting, but I have to say that the actual noise that gets passed through is reliable enough.
The other big new feature is multipoint audio pairing. Being able to connect to multiple devices at once and alternate between hearing your computer and smartphone is something that AirPods users really do take for granted. Jabra is delivering on that front with Bluetooth Multipoint support that lets you easily switch between whatever pair of devices your heart desires, be it your computer during the work day or your gaming console at night. That pairs quite well with the Google Fast pair support, which is going to make these a particularly notable option for Android users.
New features aside, I have been also enjoying just how the earbuds themselves sound. It’s obvious the question on everyone’s minds, and let’s not beat around the bush. The Jabra Elite 4 earbuds sound good – but not great. I’d say that they’re right in line with the $100 MSRP, and if you can get your expectations in line, you will be surprised by the performance.
Out of the box, the sound profile has solid tuning that makes the 6mm drivers sound the best out of all the optional presets you can adjust in the companion app. The highs are very distinct and stand out a bit more than you’d expect over the average bass performance. Rock songs sound great, especially anything that’s heavy with drums, and more techno tracks have their ways of shining through on the earbuds. But at the end of the day, the soundscape isn’t as expansive as with higher-end alternates. It leads to sound that isn’t quite as immersive as many would like but is still one that will let you rock out on the subway without a problem.
9to5Toys’ Take
At the $100 price tag, Jabra’s new Elite 4 earbuds definitely step up to a whole new class of competitors. Cracking triple digits in price puts them more in line with some of our favorite options from last year and definitely offers a more formidable battle compared to the $80 MSRP that the previous-generation Elite 3 arrived with.
On their own, Jabra’s latest are definitely a solid buy. I’ve been enjoying how they sound, the comfortable fit, and their overall performance. But as an iPhone user, I just can’t recommend these over some of the other options out there. Anker’s Soundcore lineup has quite a few offerings that have really spoken to me over the past few months, like the Liberty 4, which oftentimes go on sale at $100, or the even more affordable Space A40.
If you’re in the Android camp, these become a much more compelling release. The Google Fast Pair support is something you won’t find on just any pair of earbuds, and that combined with the rest of the feature set makes these even more worth the cash.
At the very least, the Jabra Elite 4 get a passing grade from me. At the $100 MSRP, you won’t be disappointed in the performance by any account. But your mileage will vary based on whether you’re an iPhone user or an Android enjoyer.
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