With the new Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds, I seem to have found near-ideal audio with active noise cancellation (ANC) for both music and phone calls. The compact earbuds offer surprisingly expansive sound and are incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
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Jabra Elite 7 Pro review
Of the various earbuds I’ve tried lately — and it’s not as if I’ve tried everything, of course — the Jabra Elite 7 Pros offer the best sound, easiest control and most comfortable fit. They appear to be worthy successors to Jabra’s highly regarded Elite 75t earbuds.
And at $199, they’re not cheap. But it’s surely a tempting price point for anyone considering AirPods 3, at $179, or a more “premium” product like AirPods Pro or Sony WF-100XM4, which tend to run anywhere from $50 to $150 more than the Jabra 7s.
Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds: Compare and contrast
On that note, it’s not too surprising the Jabra Elite 7 Pro buds outdid some other recent earbuds I’ve tried. They all come in at lower price points. And they’re all quite good for what they cost. But none quite compare to the Jabra earbuds for sound clarity, all-around comfort, ease of use as well as customization options after setup.
For the record, those recent comparison points are the hi-res-capable Edifier Neobuds Pro ($129), the all-around solid Earfun Air Pro 2 ($79.99), the affordable non-ANC Tozo 12 wireless earbuds ($39) and the Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd wired earphones ($69). All devices were paired with an iPhone 13 Pro for stored music, Amazon Music and voice calls.
And you can find at least one review out there claiming the Jabra Elite 7 Pros flat out beat AirPods Pro in several ways. Lacking a pair of AirPods Pro, I can’t agree or disagree with that opinion. But its existence doesn’t surprise me, given how good the Jabra Elite 7s are.
Great fit and excellent control
Right out of the box, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro buds offer you some customization. They come with small, medium and large replacement silicone eartips. Other earbuds may offer more options, like the Edifier Neobuds, but the large Jabra tips suited my ears perfectly.
The snug-fitting tips combined with the buds’ compact size and shape made them rest easily and securely in the ear. Other earbuds seem to get a little loose and need to be pushed in a bit — not these, or at least not for me.
And when you need to touch your earbuds to adjust the fit, you might accidently pause play or trigger some other control, which can be annoying. I find that to be the case with the Tozo 12 earbuds. They would pause when I nudged them and then not play when I tapped, so out would come the phone. But that has yet to happen with the Jabra Elite 7s.
Part of the reason you don’t accidently trigger a function with the Jabras owes to their simple and effective design. You know when you’re activating the earpiece button because it moves a little when pressed. Depending on what you want to do, you distinctly click once, twice or three times, and each bud serves different functions for music and phone calls.
Then you pop the buds into the compact, magnetized charging case (USB-A to USB-C) and they’re good to go for next time.
Great sound starts with a personalized setup
The Jabra set-up is a little more complex than it is with many earbuds, but that’s a good thing. That’s because these earbuds suit themselves to your hearing levels.
Once you download the Jabra Sound+ app, setting up the buds feels a bit like a visit to the ear doctor. One bud at a time, the system will test which high and low frequencies you can hear. Instead of raising your hand so the ear doctor can see, you press a button in the app. The full cycle takes a few minutes.
That attention to detail seems to come through in the earbuds’ overall sound quality. They seem loud and clear across the spectrum — clean and crisp highs, satisfyingly full lows and a solid midrange.
The app does a lot
In addition to helping you personalize the earbuds’ sound output to your hearing levels, the Jabra Sound+ does a fair amount. This is most welcome, considering that many earbuds don’t even have an app.
Using Jabra Sound+, you can easily select the ANC level if you don’t want to use the physical buttons on the earpieces. You can choose from Active Noise Cancellation, HearThrough or Off.
The sound quality does not seem to vary much with the different ANC settings. With some other earbuds, it can. In a recent test, another pair sounded its best with ANC maxed out but run-of-the-mill otherwise.
The app also features a music equalizer so you can tweak your bass, midrange and treble. Or you can use music presets for different sound quality — neutral, speech, bass boost, treble boost, smooth and “energize.” You can also create custom presets for both music and call audio.
The Soundscapes section of the app’s interface creates for sound-masking and relaxation. You can create variations on white noise as well as several different sounds of nature (waves, rain, birds, etc.).
And of course the app will tell you your charge levels for each earbud and the charging case.
Feature set
- Microphones: Two MEMS mics plus a bone conduction sensor in each earbud
- Speaker size: 6mm driver
- Dust and water resistance: IP57 rating (effectively waterproof and dustproof)
- Supported audio codecs: AAC and SBC
- Battery life: Up to eight hours of play plus 22 hours of battery life from the charging case. Five minutes of charging provides up to one hour of battery life.
- Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2
- Weight: 5.4 grams per earbud
- App support: Jabra Sound+
You’re not likely to do much better than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro ANC earbuds for sound quality, ease of use, customization and comfort. They’re well worth $199 — and maybe more.
Where to buy: Amazon and other retailers
Jabra provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out other in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
