Jabra is brand many people will know due to their success with their Jabra Elite 65t. In fact, the Jabra Elite 65t was my first pair of true wireless earbuds. So when the updated model, the Jabra Elite 75t was released, I knew I had to try them out.
Jabra is very confident about their product life, this is seen by their 2-year warranty given for the purchase of the Jabra Elite 75t, provided you register your purchase via the Jabra Sound+ app. The Jabra Elite 75t retails at S$288.
Unboxing
The Jabra Elite 75t comes in twos colors for now – black, and titanium. The unit I have is the titanium model. Unboxing the Jabra Elite 75t, you get the following:
- Jabra Elite 75t earbuds
- Charging case
- Ear tips x3 (S, M, L)
- USB-C cable
- Quick start guide
Tech specs
- Bluetooth version: 5.0
- Multi-Connect: Connect up to two devices (can pair up to 8 devices)
- Codecs: SBC, AAC
- Charging time: 140 minutes (Quick charge 15 minutes for 1 hour playtime)
- Music playtime: 7.5 hours per full charge (28 hours in charging case)
- IP55 waterproof rating
- Weight: 5.5g (each earbud), 35g (charging case)
Build quality and features
There are quite a few things that has changed from the Jabra Elite 65t, and an obvious one is the size. The charging case looks identical but it way smaller, and the earbuds are now held in place by magnets in the case. The case has the same matte and smooth plastic material. The compact case is really great because it can fit into your jeans pocket without considerable bulge. The case is just ever so slightly thicker than the Jaybird Vista, but shorter in length.
Shorter in length vs Jaybird Vista But just slightly thicker vs Jaybird Vista
As for the Jabra Elite 75t earbuds, they are also completely re-designed and are now much smaller compared the 65t, which is a welcome change. The mic stem is now less obvious, which is seamlessly fitted in a teardrop design. The earbuds are also very lightweight at just 5.5g. The Jabra Elite 75t is made from plastic with a nice brushed metal finish if you have the Titanium model.
The Jabra Elite 75t is dust and water protected with an IP55 rating, which means it can take on low pressure water jet sprays. This means you can feel confident wearing these out in the rain. Best part? Jabra provides you with 2-year warranty against dust and water damage which is twice as long than most brands.
As for controls, the Jabra Elite 75t uses buttons. The buttons are tactile and do not need much pressure to react to a click. The two buttons on the earbuds can handle volume and changing tracks as shown below. Triggering the voice assistant requires a double-click on the right earbud.
Sound+ App
The Jabra Elite 75t has a companion app called the Jabra Sound+. It allows you to change certain settings such as toggling auto play/pause, setting sleep timer, adjusting intensity of HearThrough, and change your EQ settings. The EQ settings changes effects are not intense as the Jaybird Vista, they are significant and you can definitely tell the difference between different presets.
HearThrough
HearThrough allows outside sound to come in while listening to your music. It’s great if you want to use it in the office and don’t want to ‘ignore’ your colleagues calling you, or letting the outside environment in while running for safety. The HearThrough is much improved from the 65t, it sounds more natural and well-balanced in terms of volume. I find putting HearThrough on the lowest setting to be the most natural. Putting the scale all the way to the right amplifies a lot of the high frequencies and white noise, but seem to get enhanced hearing of the external environment.
Auto Play/Pause
Another nifty feature is the Auto-play/pause feature which pauses the music when you remove any earbud from your ears, and resumes playback when you put the earbud back in your ear. If you do not want this feature, you can simply disable it in the Sound+ app.
Multi-Connect
Jabra stands out from the rest of the competition by offering Multi-Connect which allows the Jabra Elite 75t to be connected to 2 devices at the same time.
Let’s say you have the Jabra Elite 75t connected to both your iPhone and iPad. You are playing Spotify on your iPhone, while scrolling for YouTube videos on your iPad. If you want to watch the YouTube video on your iPad, simply pause the music on your iPhone, then play the video on YouTube from your iPad, the audio connection will be transferred from your iPhone to your iPad. It’s pretty neat and convenient to have if your work with multiple devices.
The Jabra Elite 75t can remember up to 8 devices so switching between devices is seamless as well.
Battery life
Battery life gets an improvement from the Elite 65t. You now get 7.5 hours per full charge, and another 28 hours in the charging case. The 7.5 hours playtime is above average, and the 28 hours from the case is really impressive considering how small the case is.
A nice feature that Jabra Elite 75t has is the quick charge feature, where you can get an hour of playtime from just 15 minutes of charging. The battery life of the case cannot be told from the LED indicators on the case.
The Jabra Elite 75t charges via USB-C which is a must for all true wireless earbuds in 2020.
Fit
Having a small design, the Jabra Elite 75t don’t stick out past my ears, unlike the Elite 65t. The shape of the Jabra Elite 75t is very similar to the Creative Outlier Air, with contoured ergonomic shape to conform well to your ear’s grooves.
The fit of the Jabra Elite 75t is really good, very comfortable and secure. It ranks as high as the Creative Outlier Air and Sudio Fem due to its ergonomic design. The earbuds sit snuggly on the grooves of your ears while the flat ear tips provide an excellent seal. The Jabra Elite comes with 3 pairs of ear tips (S, M, L). Passive noise isolation is pretty good due to the seal created.
Pairing and connectivity
Pairing the Jabra Elite 75t to your phone is fairly easy. You remove the both earbuds and the name ‘Jabra Elite 75t’ should appear in your Bluetooth settings. The earbuds are seen as one unit in your Bluetooth settings.
Having Bluetooth 5.0, the connection was really stable and I barely experienced any audio dropouts. And if you want to use just one earbud, you have to use the right side only.
Sound quality
Unlike the Jabra Elite 65t where treble was the main focus and didn’t offer much bass support, the Jabra Elite 75t turns up the bass. The bass is definitely boosted especially on the sub-bass frequencies. You will be able to feel the reverbs on resonating deep booms.
As for midrange, they feel a slightly recessed compared to other frequencies, sitting back a little when songs that have consistent bass booms start to take over. However, on songs where bass is not so prominent, the midrange comes back to provide good clarity. Treble quality has always been Jabra’s strong suit and the Jabra Elite 75t is no different. Treble is clear and bright, which sparkling details on the high ends without sounding harsh.
Overall, the sound quality of the Jabra Elite 75t is an improvement over the old 65t. Even though bass is boosted which can overemphasise the low ends and cloud the midrange, this can easily be remedied by adjusting the EQ using the Sound+ app. The preset that I use to get a well-balanced sound is as follows:
Soundstage is something you cannot really alter with the EQ, and the soundstage for the Jabra Elite 75t is just average, not as wide as some of the other true wireless earbuds I have tested.
Audio-Video sync & Microphone quality
Audio video sync has zero lag while watching from the YouTube app tested on my iPhone 11.
The Jabra Elite 75t uses a 4-microphone call technology to filter out the disruptive noise outside, while accurately picking up your voice. From my tests, when you pick up a call, the HearThrough feature turns on automatically (which is a feature on the app called SideTone) so that you can get a sense of how loud you are talking – pretty nice feature. The isolation of my voice is done quite well, removing most of the background noise, though at times my voice sounds a little choppy.
Conclusion
The Jabra Elite 75t brings about many improvements over its predecessor. The smaller size of the charging case makes it a joy to carry it around. The fit of the Jabra Elite 75t is also much better and provides a really good seal. Battery life has also been improved significantly as well. Those who prefer a dynamic and energetic sound signature will like the default sound quality of the Jabra Elite 75t.
If you are worried about the default excessive sub-bass tuning, you can easily adjust the sound signature using the Sound+ app to fit your preference. At the S$288 price point, Jabra knows it has to throw in special features such as audio transparency and auto play/pause. The IP55 water-proof rating makes the Jabra Elite 75t a versatile pair of earbuds for any use case.
Where to buy
The Jabra Elite 75t retails for S$288. If you have been following my blog, you’ll know that my favourite place to snag great prices on tech products is at Qoo10 due to the ability to stack multiple coupons and the regular issuance of coupons.
You can buy the Jabra Elite 75t from reputable stores as follows: