The Jabra Elite Sport 2 Years Later – Should You Buy in 2019? Review

Wireless earphones are the future. On AllForGreatness we are huge fans of wireless earphones and their potential. We’ve reviewed some great wireless earphones like the Sudio Niva, the Vasa Bla, and the Jabra elite sport. The functionality and features of the Jabra have stood out to us so far. We’ve taken the Jabra Elite Sport with us to over 20 countries, accidentally had them in the washing machine, exercised with them, and pretty much tested them out to its limits.

It’s now been 2 years since we’ve had these pair of earphones. If anyone is going to give a detailed honest review, it’s us. At the end of the day, the question we all ask ourselves before purchasing anything is whether it’s worth it and after 2 years with it… Let’s find out.

Design

The Jabra Elite Sport are minimal low profile earphones. When going for a walk or sitting at an airport most people wouldn’t tell that they’re earphones or you’re even wearing them unless they’re really close up, unlike the bright white apple AirPods that scream “look at me”. The dark subdued solid black or grey that these earphones come in are very muted which can make it easy to misplace. There have been times where I would lose them in the most obvious places but that dark color just seems to blend in anywhere, chameleon much? This minimal low profile style will certainly appeal to anyone who’s into that look. They are large earbuds in size. There’s a primary earbud that contains the heart rate sensor and multi-function controls to answer or reject calls/play or pause music, and a shortcut to the Jabra Sports Life app that can also be pressed during a workout for status updates. The secondary earbud contains controls for adjusting the volume and skipping tracks.

Comfort

Now, the design is responsible for how comfortable or uncomfortable they are, so let’s talk about that. The Jabra Elite Sport isn’t the most comfortable wireless earphone out there. Although Jabra makes a great effort in providing you with many different types and sizes of ear tips and wingtips some may have trouble with them still. For me, the smallest wingtip hurt my ears after a few hours of use while the others were too big. I opted to go without it.

Now that it was more comfortable without them, security was sacrificed, they would fall out more frequently as opposed to when I used the wingtips that hurt. Now, falling out only really happened when I was intensely exercising in them or if I didn’t put much effort into placing them in properly. Unlike earphones I’ve tested, these required more effort when putting them in to ensure they don’t fall out, whereas others just popped in more easily. For someone who goes for hours listening to music or watching a movie, the comfort factor can be a deal breaker.

Durability

How durable they are is also a factor of the design. And I can tell you these are the most durable earphones we’ve ever tested. It is highly resilient to dust and water with an IP67 rating. Under this rating, these earphones are capable of surviving contact with dust and full immersion of water at depths as low as one meter for about 30 minutes without getting damaged in any way.

This protection also applies to sweat from a workout which can easily be wiped off without any odor. There was a time I left my Jabras in my jacket pocket with the case, and I put them in the washing machine with no idea of them being inside. They survived, and the case survived too. We were surprised, and I was sort of surprised as to how the micro USB port on the case was able to be charged. Goes to show that you don’t have to worry about these if they accidentally end up in your washing machine.

Features

At the end of the day, it’s features that really matter. And it’s the features that these earphones have that make them stand out to us. Just like any other wireless earphone, you can listen to music, connect via Bluetooth to any device that supports it.

These earphones have features that allow them to work as a headset for taking calls and has a microphone. Unlike the Sudio Niva and other earphones on the market, both sides of these earbuds work when taking calls.

Battery Life

These earphones last for about 4.5 hours of play time, and 13 hours of standby time. Now that’s not the best battery life in the world and if you use the more advanced features it’ll affect the playtime. A charging case is included to help make things better. With the case, you can pop the earphones in and have them safely stored and charged. Unlike some wireless earbuds, we’ve tested the Jabra elite sports case doesn’t have some sort of magnet when popping them into the case which is something to note.

The case will provide another six hours of playback through two more charges it also charged through Micro USB. The earbuds automatically turn on and off as they’re taken out and returned to the case, which is a nice touch. There’s fast charging included too. Just 15 minutes of charge will get you another hour of playback.

Fancy Stuff

On the Jabra Elite Sport, there are two microphones attached to both buds. They are made for talking over the phone and analyzing audio. With the two microphones analyzing the audio, it results in the ability to remove background noise. This ensures that the person you’re talking to can hear you clearly. This feature can also be used to kill off background noise when listening to your own audio like music. It’s awesome for exercising and being in a loud area like an airport where you just want to listen to music and only music. But when it comes to walking in a busy area, you need to listen to your surroundings for safety. Jabra offers a feature called “hear through” which uses the microphones to allow audio from your surroundings in.

You can either configure this to pause your music and only let external noise in, or allow external noise in over your music. This is also a convenient means to have a conversation without having to remove the earbuds. There are also nifty features like tracking your heart rate with the in-ear heart monitor for exercising. And GPS in case you ever lose them somewhere.

How Do They Sound?

The sound quality is very average. They’re not the best sounding wireless earphones compared to others on the market. We’ve found that adjusting the EQ settings in the Jabra app helps make them sound much better and fuller. Also, the snugger they fit in your ear the better they sound, so it’s important you choose the right fitting accessory.

After 2 Years

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Pros

• Impressive durability
• Hear-through mode for awareness
• Media playback controls
• Great design
• health tracking

Cons

• Battery life could be better
• Average sound quality
• Uncomfortable after some time

Is the Jabra Elite Sport Worth It?

The Jabra elite sport launched with a hefty $250 price point. While prices of earphones vary it can be difficult to justify the price of one than the price of another. You can find the Jabra Elite Sport for much lower than it was when it first launched. While it may not have the best sound quality or battery life the features make up for it and make it worth the investment.