Quality noise cancellation has finally made its way to the world of true wireless earphones. Models from Apple and Bose have received high marks from us, with Jabra's $229.99 Elite 85t earphones now joining them. While they lack the seamless iOS integration of the $250 Apple AirPods Pro and aren't quite as effective in terms of noise cancellation as the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, the Elite 85t earphones carve out their own place in this top tier of true wireless options. Sonically, the in-ears deliver a strong audio experience with customizable EQ, while the ANC (active noise cancellation) is also fantastic, falling somewhere between the AirPods Pro and the Bose QC Earbuds.

Design

Available in black, the Elite 85t's design may not turn heads, but the focus here is on function. The earpieces are compact, and three pairs of oval silicone eartips offer a solid, secure fit, though not quite as secure as many sports-focused pairs we've tested.

The earphones have an IPX4 rating, meaning they can withstand a moderate spray of water from any direction—some sweat and very light rain shouldn't be an issue. The AirPods Pro and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are also IPX4. If you need a pair that's actually waterproof, consider the $170 JBL UA True Wireless Flash X, which lack ANC but have a rating of IPX7 and can therefore be submerged and withstand modest pressure from a faucet.

The earpieces use push-button controls that are easy to operate and harder to accidentally misfire than touch-sensitive panels. A single press on the left ear switches between ANC and HearThrough modes (in the app, you can also turn both off). A double tap skips forward a track, and a triple tap navigates backward a track. Pressing and holding the left ear's button lowers the volume. On the right earpiece, a single tap controls playback, a double tap summons either Google Assistant or Siri, and a press-and-hold raises the volume. When you have an incoming call, pushing either button once answers and twice hangs up. Pressing and holding the left ear when on a call will put the call on hold, and the same on the right ear ends the hold.

The flip-top charging case isn't quite as slim as the AirPods Pro case, but it's close. It has a black eggshell finish, an uncovered USB-C port on the rear panel for the included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable, and a status LED on the front panel. The case is also compatible with wireless Qi charging pads.

The Jabra Sound+ app for Android and iOS devices is key to enhancing your experience with the Elite 85t. You can adjust audio using a five-band EQ with presets, and a slider adjusts how much ANC you're getting—you can completely disable it, or turn it all the way to maximum. You can also select HearThrough mode (which lets you hear your surroundings), with a slider from ANC to ambient monitoring.

The app has built-in sound loops if you want to zone out or focus on a soothing sound like a waterfall or pink noise. A personal favorite of mine is the quite realistic "diving" loop, which recreates the sound of being underwater (minus the deep breathing). The app even allows you to adjust certain settings like sleep mode timing (or turning it off), how much of your own voice you hear on calls, and call EQ. There are various other features you can adjust, like automatically pausing audio when an earpiece is removed, or whether audio is muted when HearThrough is active. Finally, in the settings menu, you can assign various functions to the on-ear controls if you're not thrilled with the default settings.

Internally, 12mm drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0, and support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, but not AptX.

Jabra estimates battery life to be roughly 5.5 hours, with the charging case holding 19.5 hours. These are pretty typical numbers for true wireless in-ears, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of ANC use—with ANC always off, the battery life increases to 7 hours for the earphones and 31 hours in the case.

Performance

Using four of the six built-in MEMS mics, the Elite 85t earphones eliminate low-frequency rumble like you hear on a train or a plane quite well. The ANC seems to be even more effective for office or cafe noise—keyboard clicks are tamped down to a high degree, and ambient chatter is dialed back significantly.

Compared with the AirPods Pro, the ANC here is more effective in certain frequency ranges like keyboard presses and low-frequency rumble. Compared with the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, which successfully eliminate almost any hint of low-frequency rumble, Jabra still allows some through. This may be as much about the physical design of the earbuds as it is the ANC—the Bose earpieces are large, with eartips and fins that create a tight seal that blocks out plenty of ambient sound passively. The Elite 85t earpieces have a secure fit, but utilize only eartips, not fins. The earpieces stay in place just fine, but they block out less audio passively than the Bose model.

In the app, sliders control the level of ANC you can use, but there are also ANC presets, called Moments, intended for typical scenarios like commuting or when you need to focus. These presets will dial in specific ANC or ambient mode settings, or even sound loops you've selected. You can create your own Moment and save it, or use the presets.

The HearThrough mode is effective and easy to use. As mentioned, a slider controls how much of the outside world you hear. Unlike with the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, however, you're not blending ambient mode with ANC mode, you're choosing one or the other, and then choosing a level with the slider.

We tested audio performance with the app's EQ set to default, flat mode. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver powerful low-frequency response that will appeal to bass lovers—at top volumes, there's no distortion, and at more moderate volumes, the lows still pack a punch, but the high-mids and highs are also sculpted and balance things out.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Elite 85t's general sound signature. Here, the extent of boosting and sculpting across the frequency range is clearer—the drums sound heavier and bigger, almost thunderous, but not quite veering into unnatural territory. The tape hiss also takes a step forward, and Callahan's baritone vocals get plenty of low-mid presence as well as high-mid treble edge. In other words, this is a highly sculpted, balanced sound signature—if anything, the mids are dialed back while the lows and highs step forward (though the high-mids also get dialed up). It's a common sound signature, and while it's not accurate, the EQ allows for easy adjustment if you want to dial back the lows or highs (or boost them to even higher levels).

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, but we notice the background vinyl crackle and hiss stepping forward in the mix just as much. The drum loop also receives some extra bass heft, and the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto—but not as much deep bass push as we've heard from some in-ears that really dial it up to intense levels. The vocals on this track are delivered clearly, with a hint of added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound the least natural through the Elite 85t. The lower-register instrumentation receives some notable boosting—it doesn't sound bad, but it's far from accurate. The higher-register brass, strings, and vocals are a bit brighter than usual, as well. But all this means the drivers are capable of producing exaggerated lows and highs—you can adjust the EQ to far more accurate settings, and things will sound notably different. Simply decreasing the lowest EQ band slightly, as well as decreasing the highest EQ band a bit, delivers a far more accurate sound signature.

The six-MEMS mic array offers excellent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, and there was very little in the way of Bluetooth distortion. The mic's signal is relatively strong, and being able to hear yourself in the earpieces means you tend to speak in a more controlled tone, which in turn results in a clearer mic signal.

Conclusions

The $250 Apple AirPods Pro and $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds both deliver excellent ANC and user experiences, while the $170 JBL US True Wireless Flash X earphones lack ANC, but have a more gym-friendly build. Jabra's Elite 85t in-ears offer slightly better ANC than the AirPods Pro (but not quite as good as the Bose model), and an excellent app that allows for ANC, EQ, and on-ear controls. They also happen to sound quite good—even if the bass and treble are seriously sculpted, the EQ allows you to do some sonic sculpting of your own. That makes the Elite 85t a compelling alternative to the AirPods and QuietComfort Earbuds depending on what you're looking for.

Jabra Elite 85t Specs