Audio

Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds: Light, sleek and fuss-free

The Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds marries excellent sound quality with convenient fit and solid battery life

The Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds provide clear and powerful music playback, with no distortion at safe listening volumes.
The Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds provide clear and powerful music playback, with no distortion at safe listening volumes.

Jabra might not make the prettiest audio products on the market, but it is well-known for good all-round sound quality.

Its latest true wireless earbuds, the Elite 65t, have the same competent Jabra sound quality and marry that with a convenient fit and solid battery life for one of the best of their kind in the market.

At $268, the Elite 65t is a touch more expensive than the $238 Apple AirPods, but the price difference comes through in better sound quality, fit and build quality.

Music playback is clear and powerful, with no distortion at safe listening volumes.

The Elite 65t is tailored with a flat, safe but detailed sound signature. Unlike some, it does not opt for a bass-heavy signature to mask lower audio quality.

Pair the earbuds with Jabra's Sound+ app and you can tweak its equaliser settings into your preferred sound profile.

  • TECH SPECS

    PRICE: $268

    CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth 5.0

    WEIGHT: 6.8g (right earbud), 5.8g (left earbud)

    FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz - 20kHz

  • RATING

    FEATURES: 4/5

    DESIGN: 3/5

    PERFORMANCE: 5/5

    BATTERY LIFE: 4/5

    VALUE FOR MONEY: 5/5

    OVERALL: 4/5

With their balanced sound signature, the earbuds work great with a wide variety of music, from pop tunes such as Camila Cabello's Havana and Maroon 5's Girls Like You, to harder rock music like Guns N' Roses' Welcome To The Jungle.

One issue I faced with the earbuds is how prone they are to the occasional disconnect. I noticed the frequency of disconnections increase after taking a call, particularly on the left earbud, forcing me to restart and reconnect the earbuds before they work again.

On the plus side, the earbuds are extremely light and comfortable. They are smaller and sleeker than Jabra's sports earbuds and do away with additional things like earbud flaps to hold them more securely in the ear.

So you would not want to be exercising or doing any vigorous activity with them on.

And using the proper eartip size is crucial - when I use tips just one size smaller, my right earbud slips neatly out of my ear while I am typing away at work. A proper fit keeps them snug for long periods of listening without much fatigue.

The earbuds do not provide exceptional isolation and so you will be able to make out outside sound.

The earbuds fit in a small, light carrying case the size of a small mint box, which also doubles as a charging case that gives an additional 10 hours of battery life.

The Elite 65t comes with four microphones on each earbud to better pick up speech while making calls. They work incredibly well - I come through loud and clear while talking to another person through the earbuds even when I am standing next to a busy road.

• Verdict: Jabra's third-generation wireless earbuds show the fruits of the company's focus on its wireless products. These fuss-free, easy-to-use earbuds have good build and sound quality.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 27, 2018, with the headline Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds: Light, sleek and fuss-free. Subscribe