With the Jabra Elite Active 75t, this time we’re reviewing a pair of TWS earbuds that are more on the premium side because of its price. I’m all in when it comes to any tech products that removes a physical cable for it to work, e.g. wireless earbuds, mouse, keyboard, and the list goes on.
A great pair of TWS earbuds doesn’t just have to be wireless. It has to be comfortable to wear, and most important of all, it has to have great sound. Anything else is just a bonus. So with Jabra’s asking price of RM999 for the Elite Active 75t, is it really worth it? Spoiler alert, the answer is yes.
Jabra Elite Active 75t – Specifications
What’s In The Box
Usually we don’t say much about a TWS earbuds’ packaging, because there’s nothing much to talk about. They’re just a square box with the earbuds placed within the charging case, there’s a microUSB cable, and that’s about it.
But with the Jabra Elite Active 75t, the packaging invites you to an elevated unboxing experience. The box is slightly larger, about the size of a Blu-ray movie boxset. You’ll first be greeted with the earbuds themselves, before revealing the charging case and additional accessories under a small “welcome” cutout pamphlet. You can just feel the sincerity they put into designing the package.
- Jabra Elite Active 75t
- Charging Case
- USB Type-C Cable (Matching color at that)
- Additional Eartips (Size S, M, L)
- Quick Start Guide
Design
The Jabra Elite Active 75t has a low-profile design, paired with great metallic colours to choose from. It uses a mix of plastic and hypoallergenic rubber so that the earbuds won’t irritate your the skin on your ear when it’s being worn.
On the sides, you’ll find the physical buttons. Yes, these are physical buttons and not touch buttons, which can get a little wonky at times. And right below it, there’s the cutouts for the microphones.On the bottom, there lies the magnetic charging points for charging in the charging case.
The Elite Active 75t is also IP57 rated, which is a slight improvement from the Elite 75t that is only IP55 rated. This gives it a stronger resistance to dust and water protection.
The charging case is just the right size, as it isn’t too big or too small. It feels nice in the hands, and it can easily fit into any pocket or bag. Best part is, the bottom is flat so it can stand on its own. Small feature, but really useful.
The charging case has a magnetic closure to ensure the earbuds are well kept within the case. And on the back, there’s a USB Type-C port that supports fast charge. The model we have doesn’t have wireless charging, but there is actually a variant of the Jabra Elite Active 75t that does have the feature. It’s priced the same, but only available in the Navy colour.
Comfort
The Jabra Elite Active 75t earbuds feel really nice to hold, but they can be a little hard to take out from the case. That just shows how strong the magnets are in keeping them in the case. The earbuds fit extremely well, that I didn’t even have to change the eartips. However, everyone’s earsize is different, so if you feel it’s a little loose for you, Jabra included additional eartip sizes for you to swap with.
The Elite Active 75t also stays in place, regardless if i’m bobbing my head, headbanging, running, or doing somersaults. After hours of music listening trying to burn in the speakers, I felt no fatigue at all, and there are no soreness whatsoever around my ear.
User Experience
Above I mentioned that the Elite Active 75t has an IP57 rating. I brought it with me to the showers, washed my hair while having them on, changing songs with the physical button, and the earbuds came out like a champion. I was really impressed with how well it worked.
The Jabra Elite Active 75t does not have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) built in, but the Passive Noise Cancellation still does an amazing job at cancelling out noise from your personal concert experience. My wife was drying her hair with the noisiest hair dryer ever, and I could only hear a slight buzz standing 1m away from her.
But, if you were to go out and about with the Elite Active 75t, you need to be aware of your surroundings. That’s where the Hear Through feature comes in. With Hear Through on, the microphone can pick up sounds from your surrounding so you’re aware of the things happening around you. You could listen for oncoming cars, someone calling your name at Starbucks, and etc. If you see someone talking to you, you can just touch the physical buttons, and boom, the Elite Active 75t puts the person’s voice right into your ear, even if you are at a distance from the person. I am also happy to report that the Bluetooth coverage area of 10m is accurate on the Elite Active 75t.
Now about that physical button, I love it. I’d always thought touch gestures were the way to go with TWS earbuds. Boy was I wrong when I tried these Jabras. Not only can they be customised to whatever (preset) commands you want, they perform really well without fail. You can hear every click, and it gives you the reassurance that you’ve pressed on something and the command will be carried out.
The earbuds also have these really nice in-ear voice prompts. Voiced by a female, she has better pronunciations and overall message delivery.
Jabra Sound+ App
The Jabra Elite Active 75t doesn’t have Google Fast Pair, so you’d still have to connect it the traditional way through your smartphone’s Bluetooth settings page.
Here, I could clearly see the battery levels of the earbuds and the charging case. I could save preset settings to different profiles called “Moments”. There are three of them – My Moment, Commute, and Focus.
Once you’ve paired the earbuds with the Jabra Sound+ app, everything else was just smooth sailing from there. The “MySound” feature prompted me to customise the earbuds’ sound to my ear’s music listening style. It would play through different tones at different levels and you have to touch the screen when (or if) you hear it. Once that was done, I was brought in to the main menu.
My Moment can be your general go-to settings, Commute can be on the Neutral music profile with HearThrough turned on at a low level, whereas Focus can be on Bass Boost with HearThrough turned off.
For the equaliser, there are six preset profiles for you to choose from:
- Neutral
- Speech
- Bass Boost
- Treble Boost
- Smooth
- Energize
If you want to feel every punch from the bass drops, go with Bass Boost. If you’re listening to acoustics, you could go with Neutral or Smooth. Watching vlogs, you could go with Speech. But if you want the best of both worlds, you can use Energize as it has the best balance of bass and treble.
You can also customize your own EQ settings, with the app’s five band tuner.
Under the Headset tab, you can fully adjust what the physical buttons will do for media, incoming calls, and ongoing calls. These actions listed can be applied to any single, double, or three presses:
Media Controls Incoming Calls Ongoing Calls Single / Double / Triple Press Play/Pause
Next Track
Restart Track
Voice Assistant
HearThroughReject An Incoming Call
Accept An Incoming Mall
Mute/Unmute Microphone
Sidetone On/OffEnd Ongoing Call
Hold Ongoing Call
Mute/Unmute Microphone
Sidetone On/OffHold Left – Decrease Volume
Right – Increase VolumeLeft – Decrease Volume
Right – Increase VolumeLeft – Decrease Volume
Right – Increase Volume
For volume increase, you know how when you try to increase volume, the input gets delayed and you end up getting a volume shock? Yeah, this doesn’thappen on the Jabra Elite Active 75t. The volume increases in steps, so you’ll know when you should stop holding the button.
You can also change whether HearThrough will continue playing music or mute audio when the mode is turned on. As for calls, you can even adjust how loud you want to hear yourself. There’s even a setting for you to increase the treble or bass of the caller.
If you don’t like the in-ear voice prompts, you can always switch to just use tone navigation instead of speech.
Of course, the Sound+ app is also where you can perform OTA updates and register your newly purchased Elite Active 75t.
Audio
Sampling Song List
- Hardwell Feat. Cascada – Everytime We Touch (Remix)
- Mura Masa – Lotus Eater
- Billie Eilish Feat. Blackbear – Ocean Eyes (Remix)
- Beauz – Count The Hours (Extended Mix)
- Joyner Lucas Feat. Logic – ISIS
- Lisa – Gurenge (The First Take)
- Lisa – Gurenge
First off, I have to say the Jabra Elite Active 75t’s 6mm drivers perform remarkably well. The bass on this is absolutely superb. When I’m listening to my favourite EDM songs, I’m not just listening to the bass drop, nor am I feeling the bass. Instead, I’m brought to the damn bloody rave itself. Every beat just sounds so satisfying when it comes through the earbuds.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the treble. At high volume, it tends to get a little sharp.
When you’re listening to acoustics, the sound is very bright with clear vocals. Every instrument can be heard clearly in the back, giving the music more depth and exceptional soundstage.
When it comes to rock songs, the sound is managed really well, and the individual instruments don’t drown each other out.
Call Quality
When it comes to call quality, it’s one of the best I’ve heard on a pair of TWS earbuds. The MEMS mic array provides crystal clear sound with some minimal bass. I could clearly hear the receiver , and vice versa. The caller even described the call as “ultra HD voice”.
I tried recording the call, and when I listened to it, the microphone proved it did an excellent job at picking up my voice while eliminating all other surrounding noise.
Recording voice with my phone’s Recorder app, there was little to no delay, as well as no distortion throughout the recording.
Battery Life
According to Jabra, the earbuds are capable of 7.5 hours of music listening on a single charge. During our test, the Jabra Elite Active 75t lasted for 7 hours before needing a rest in the charging case. This is probably due to me constantly staying on the “Bass Boost” profile at high volumes.
The charging case can provide up to a total of 28 hours of music listening. That’s about four charge cycles before needing a recharge with the USB Type-C cable. That’s fairly impressive considering the sound and features you’re getting.
What’s impressive is the charging case’s smart battery management system. I left the earbuds in the case for about 5 days, and the battery levels remain unchanged.
Conclusion
For the price of RM999, it is a little pricey but you’d be getting the best sound experience and convenience you can ever ask for from a pair of TWS earbuds. The Jabra Elite Active 75t packs a powerful punch when it comes to audio, full app customisation, and the additional features just make the overall experience even more wholesome.
On top of the IP57 dust and water protection, Jabra is also giving a 2-year warranty to further show how much the company believes in the Elite Active 75t.
