Jabra has a large selection of true wireless earbuds, including the Elite 7 Pro, Elite 7 Active, Elite 4 Active, as well as Elite 3. Jabra announced the Elite 5 model, and I’ve been using them for the past few weeks. To be sure, determining which Jabra Elite earbud is excellent for you can be difficult, but I would start with the price because they all perform admirably. The Elite 5 starts at a price that is $50 lower than the Elite 7 Pro. However, Jabra has a “limited launch offer” for $20 off, which keeps them at the same price for the time being.
After determining your maximum price range for a set, investigate some of the functions and features. The Elite 5 has a slightly shorter battery lifespan and a slightly lower level of water resistance than the Elite 7 Pro. The Elite 5 has ANC and a wireless charging case in comparison to the Elite 3, so there are some differences between the models.
Hardware
The retail package contains the two wireless earbuds, a charging case with an integrated battery, a short USB-A to USB-C cable, as well as three sizes of silicone gel earbud tips. You can charge the earbuds case with any USB-C cable, which is convenient if you have a lot of USB-C mobile tech. It also supports Qi wireless charging, so you can place it on a charging pad and charge it wirelessly.
Magnets help to keep the earbuds secure in the case while also assisting in aligning the earbuds in the compartment. The magnets in the case are especially strong and assist you in quickly and easily aligning and positioning the earbuds, almost pulling the earbuds away from the case. The earbuds compartment lid is also magnetised, so it snaps shut securely and prevents the earbuds from falling out.
The case and earbuds are light yellow/tan in colour, with gold on the two large outer buttons on every earbud. When dropped, earbuds with some colour are much easier to find. Each earbud has three microphones with wind noise suppression technology to help improve call quality. I’ve been very pleased with the Elite 5’s call quality, and it’s nice to know that the person on the other side of the line can hear you clearly in most situations.
Battery Life
While not the longest battery life in the Jabra true wireless earbud lineup, seven hours of battery life with an additional 21 hours provided by the charging case is more than enough to get me through any situation. The earbuds also support in-ear detection, so removing an earbud will muffle calls and pause music. You can also enable auto-answering of calls, so that when one or both earbuds are inserted, the call will be answered.
A large physical button is located on the outside of the Elite 5, and it works flawlessly. I’m not a fan of companies that use a stem pinch or tap for audio controls, so I appreciate the Elite 5 earbuds’ simple and effective button solution. Play/pause, next track, restart track, answer/reject calls, mute, sound mode toggle, and voice assistant are all available as button controls. There are no volume control button options.
Smartphone Software
All of your Jabra headsets are managed using the Jabra Sound Plus app. After pairing the Jabra Elite 5 and removing them from the charging case, the app’s full functionality will be available. Near the top of the display is the battery status, percentage, and graphical icon for every earbud (they can both be used independently) as well as the charging case.
Below this are three sound mode options, including ANC, HearThrough, and off. For ANC, a slider bar appears, but more on that later. Below the sound mode options is a section for the music equaliser, which includes six preset options as well as the ability to create your own custom preset.
Finally, there’s the Soundscape section, where you can choose from a variety of natural sounds, background noise, as well as a comfortable ambience to listen to while you try to relax. With a tap of the Edit Widgets button just at bottom of the display, these four widgets can also be reordered or toggled on/off.
Additional Settings
To access additional Elite 5 settings, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner. This section displays firmware updates, headset settings, customization settings, the voice assistant, and Spotify. Tap, locate my Jabra, rate your Jabra Elite 5, register your Jabra Elite 5, and access the online user manual. On the Elite 5, you can use a voice assistant (Google Assistant, Samsung Bixby, Amazon Alexa, or Siri). A press and hold on the right earbud activates your chosen voice assistant, which cannot be changed.
There are three options in the headset settings: audio experience, call experience, as well as headset configuration. Auto-pause and HearThrough settings are among the audio experience options. Auto-answer, auto-mute, and Sidetone settings for active calls are all available in call experiences. Headset configuration options include sound modes to switch between and wearing detection options.
Personalising the ANC, selecting button controls, and selecting your language are all options in the personalization section of the settings. I found the ANC personalization to be underwhelming, and it is clear that the noise suppression slider bars have no effect on audio performance unless you are in an environment with noticeable background noise. As I slid the slider bars around on an aeroplane, I noticed a very slight difference in ANC. However, in a quiet room, I couldn’t tell the difference as I moved the slider, and I have excellent hearing.
