All you need to know about the Jabra Elite 85t wireless earphones

The Elite 85t is your standard-form wireless earbuds, with its earless fitting snugly with the rest of it protruding out nicely, as long as you use the right fit (small, medium and large come in the package). They are bigger than the Elite 75t and a bit heavier, but you really won’t notice its heft once they’re on, and its solid design makes it a looker.

The sides of both buds can be pressed to perform the various functions you’d expect, from music, call and volume controls to summoning your phone’s AI assistant, which is also customisable within the Jabra+ app. Which is exactly where the beef is: it would have been better if touch controls were used as opposed to pressing it because some may be annoyed with the feeling of the buds being pushed in further.

Its charging case, meanwhile, is your typical flat-and-curved combo, which can stand either upright or otherwise. The USB-C port is right behind, while the Qi wireless charging point is below.

And as always, battery life of these types of gizmos will depend on active noise cancellation (ANC) use. With ANC off, it’s up to 31 hours (seven on the buds plus 24 on the case); if it’s on (the most likely scenario), it’ll be down to 25 hours (5.5 and 19.5). That said, the 85t is among the better ones when it comes to this criteria, ensuring you won’t have to stick ’em in the case that often. You also get an hour of life with a quick charge of 15 minutes.

Both buds and case have LED indicators that have five colours: Green (battery high), yellow (battery medium), red (battery low or firmware update error), purple (firmware update or resetting the buds) and blue(tooth). And by the way, it takes ages to update its firmware (exaggeration, but it’s like 10-plus or so).

SOUNDING OFF

See the title? Yeah, Jabra did tests on thousands of ears in order to flesh out the best sound quality. While setting up the 85t on the app, there is a hearing test that will configure the device to your personal use (you will have to provide your gender and year of birth, too).

Soundwise, you won’t have a problem with it. Tones — bass, most notably — are pumping hard and you can easily adjust them with the app’s equaliser, making use of presets or ones you’d configure and save. As for ANC and Jabra’s own HearThrough, there are five levels for each, ensuring use for any situation. You don’t get to do this on the buds themselves, but you can cycle through those two modes with some presses. ANC and HearThrough do their job well, particularly the former, which can rival some of the best out there.