Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds

The Jabra Elite 7 Pro is a good set of earbuds that sits well in the ear, provides impressive sound quality, and offer battery life that's longer than any others we've seen so far. However, wind rush sounds aren't as muted as some rivals manage.

Jabra has been making increasingly impressive earbuds – I was particularly impressed by the Jabra Elite Active 75t earbuds last year – and these continue the trend.

The sound quality is very good, with clarity throughout the range. I used these to listen to a lot of music (off the bike) and spoken word (on it), and found no noticeable limitations in sound quality on either. They are not as bassy as some, such as the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EQ earphones, but around the same as AirPods Pro and the Beats Fit Pro. Essentially these are impressive, and only real audiophiles would be left needing anything more.

The Elite 7s feature a HearThrough mode and noise cancelling. The noise-cancelling is good, although not class-leading. I used these frequently in the office and on public transport and it successfully blocked out most background noise; certainly enough for me to be able to clearly hear calls or listen to podcasts without being distracted by anything else.

The HearThrough mode is also fairly good. Off the bike I can quite easily maintain conversations with the earbuds in, which is one of the key requirements of the feature. On the bike the HearThrough lets you sense enough of what's happening around you to feel safe whilst riding, and I could detect cars and other bikes passing me. You can also use just a single bud if you prefer.

However, on the bike the wind rush noise suppression isn't as good as others, with the Beats Fit Pro and AirPods Pro being the best in class, in my opinion. That being said, they are still better than many and more than capable. I could quite easily listen to podcasts or audiobooks whilst riding still.

The auto-pause feature means that, if you remove one (or both), you don't miss anything or waste battery.

Connections

Pairing these initially takes a few seconds, and once done they connected automatically (to either my laptop or phone) every time I put them in my ears. In hundreds of hours use I never had the connection drop.

You have a simple two-button setup – one on each bud – and each button allows three functions via multiple presses. There are some non-programmable functions that you cannot customise, for instance, when you hold down the right button it turns the volume up and when you hold down the left button it turns the volume down.

Jabra does a companion app for Android and iOS, which allows some customisation such as in which buttons you use to toggle modes or activate your assistant, and to change the sound through an equalizer. The app can send firmware updates to the earbuds too.

Poke 'em in, go!

For me, the most impressive element of these earbuds is the fit – they're the most secure I have found bar the Beats Fit Pro, but they have an additional ear hook. Among 'regular' earbuds, these are probably the best.

The app has an interesting feature called MyFit, which can help you select the right size of earbud to attach – it plays a funny sound and presumably uses the external mics to pick up leakage, and it actually works very well. At the very least it had my nerd brain getting very excited.

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The IP57 dust/waterproofing is impressive (it can handle actual immersion), and some incredibly sweaty rides, followed by some incredibly wet rides, caused no issues whatsoever.

Battery life

Jabra claims eight hours, which is broadly what I found when using them. I could wear them on my commute in, then for most of the day in the office and only need to put them back in the case to charge by mid-afternoon. They have a quick charge feature – five minutes will give you an hour of use – so if you find yourself on a very long ride and run out of juice, it's not the end of the world.

The case gives enough charging for up to 30 hours of earbud use, and consistent use over a few days worked out to me charging the case about once per week.

Charging can be achieved either wirelessly or via USB-C cable. Wireless charging times vary based on the quality and power of the charger you're using, but from a USB-C Cable using a USB-C plug (up to three times quicker than USB plugs), you can charge the case from empty in around two hours.

These times are all impressive compared to others in the same price band. The Beats Fit Pros give six hours per charge and 18 hours from the case, whilst the AirPods Pro last 4.5 hours and get 24 hours from the case. The Jabras even beat the more expensive Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EQs, which have a 6-7 hour charge in the buds and 20 hours in the case.

Value

At £199.99, these seem bang on for what you're getting, and the price compares well with rivals.

The direct competitors are undoubtedly the Apple AirPods Pro at £239, and the Beats Fit Pro at £199.99. The AirPods offer less battery life and a similar sound quality, but they work brilliantly across multiple Apple devices and the transparency modes are better for riding. Similarly, the Beats offer equal sound quality and less battery, but again with greater usability on Apple devices.

Overall

I was very impressed by these earbuds. The fit is unmatched for regular earbuds, the app is useful and battery life is very good compared to anything else we've tested so far. Usability is also very good, if not quite as smoothly integrated across Apple devices as official products inevitably are. If you don't care for Apple though (or ear hooks), these are great.

Verdict

Excellent secure fit and exceptional battery life, although not as good with wind noise as some out there