Jabra Elite 5 could be the BEST Jabra Earbuds! 😲 Review
Previously we looked at how the Jabra Elite 5’s call quality compares to other Jabra earbuds. In this article, we will get a more complete picture and discuss about its sound quality, noise cancelling, and why it could possibly be the most popular Jabra earbuds.
Sound Quality
What really stands out about the Elite 5’s sound quality is how much lighter in the bass it is compared to the other Jabra earbuds. The more bass-heavy, warm sounding ones are the Elite 3 and Elite 7 Active, whereas the ones with a more crisp, V-shaped tuning with tight bass, are the Elite 4 Active and Elite 7 Pro. This means if you’re a bass-head using the Elite 5, you won’t get as much bass extension or gravity in the lower mids. You can listen to the comparison of the Elite 5 sound quality with the other Jabra earbuds, from the Elite 3 all the way to the Elite 7 Pro, at this link.
The above frequency sweep shows that there’s a dip under 500 Hz and it’s got less gain under 250 Hz where the bass is. However, the Elite 5 is great if your preference leans a little cleaner in terms of track separation, and if you want less cross contamination from the bass leaking into the vocals for a crisper, less bloated sound. If you have a specific sound preference that is not the default tuning, you can tune these earbuds to your liking with the Jabra Sound+ App. There are presets you can choose from, or a graphic EQ for more granular tuning. And with the more expensive Elite 7 series, there is also MySound Calibration which is a more precise, automatic method of squeezing more detail from the earbuds.
If you want to compare the Elite 5’s sound quality to other earbuds that are not Jabras, you can do that at your own pace on loudnwireless.com’s sound samples page here.
Noise Cancelling
The Elite 5 hybrid noise cancelling system seems to be a little more effective at cancelling lower frequencies than the more expensive Elite 7 series such that there is a very obvious change when the active cancelling kicks in. So you may not hear as much rumbling on a train compared to the rest of the Jabras, but not by a whole lot, if I’m to be honest. Check out the video here to listen to the comparison test.
Conclusion
It’s not very clear which niche the Elite 5 is supposed to occupy, because there really isn’t much of a difference in terms of features compared to the other Elite models. I was told by a Jabra rep that one of the biggest reasons the Elite 7 series is more expensive is the bone conduction sensors inside the earbuds delivers better call quality. However, if you listen to my call quality comparison above, that is not necessarily the case, cause in some way, I actually do prefer the Elite 5’s mic pickup, especially in quiet environments. Its active noise cancelling is also comparable, if not a little better than the Elite 7 series. It has wireless charging too which the 7 series have, but not the Elite 4 Active or the cheaper Elite 3. And the Eilte 5 supports aptX, while the Elite 7 Series don’t, though this does not appear to have a heavy impact based on what we’ve heard with its sound quality.
Reasons why you may want to get the Elite 5 instead of the cheaper Elite models include the fact that it’s got multipoint pairing. Multipoint pairing supports connection of up to two devices at the same time. And it does have wireless charging which the Elite 7 series have, but not the Elite 4 Active or the Elite 3. So there are some compelling reasons to just go for the middle child for maximum satisfaction.
But from a sound quality perspective, it is my opinion that more of you will prefer the other Jabras. They’ve got the more popular tuning - more bass, heavier mids, crispy treble, Mysound calibration with the top shelf 7 series. So if we take a step back, the Elite 5 could potentially be either the most popular Jabra earbuds, the definitive Elite, or the middle child that nobody cares about. If you would like to check out the latest prices of the Jabra family, you may check through the affiliate links in the description below.
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Jabra Elite 7 Pro - https://amzn.to/3FgjSIb
Jabra Elite 7 Active - https://amzn.to/31Tdas6
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