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Jabra Elite 85h HeadsetJabra is a well-known brand in the field of quality headsets for the office environment. But they are not as well known when it comes to HiFi and Sports headsets. It's a shame as they make some of the best products available. I'm reviewing their new Elite 85h Over-Ear bluetooth headset here, and I'm certainly not disappointed.
Jabra is part of the GN Group, founded 150 years ago. Today, we are the only ones that produce headset / speakerphones for leisure and professional use as well as hearing aids under the same roof. We therefore utilize our development / knowledge of sound and work with dedicated focus ̶ to make the sound in your life better.
We'll just start with a little introductory video.
The technical specifications. The technical specifications of this headset are VERY long. I have found a list here which can be viewed, if you want even more you can find it on the website I link to at the bottom of the article. Sound
Fit and comfort
Battery
Connections
General
The box and the contents. You receive the Jabra Elite 85h in a nice box with great pictures and features as well as specifications printed on the outside.
Inside the box we find the travel box with all the contents. So the headset and accessories are already well protected from damage during transport. There is a small start guide that on top of the box.
Let's look at the product. We jump right on to look at the product itself. The transport box is a nice hard box with leather on the outside.
If you open the box, it's all down here. There are headset, cables and aircraft adapter. You are pretty well covered for the whole trip, and ensured great sound even on the flight.
The audio cable is 120 cm long and the charging cable is 30 cm long. These are some quite appropriate lengths, as you only have to use the cables for either mobile or aircraft. There is no power supply included, but we also have plenty of them leftover so that we can use one of them in stock. The flight adapter is also super convenient as you cannot use wireless in aircrafts. However, many aircraft have the option of using ordinary headset wires, but here you are fully covered.
The headset itself is a beautiful and discreet headset with artificial leather and fabric on the large surfaces.
On the right ear cup, we find the microphone switch, audio jack, charger connector and the diode for charge and power status.
Outside on the ear cup, we find 3 buttons. The two small dots are volume up / down and pressing the middle you can pause the music and answer calls. I'll show you a little more about that later.
The left ear cup also has a button, it switches between hear-through, ANC and OFF (Active Noise Control)
The hole in the ear pads is 6 x 3.5 cm, which is just small enough for my ears. I would like to describe this headset as an intermediate between the over- and on-ear type. If you have small ears, they may well be in the holes, but I think most can not, especially adults.
Here is an explanation of, which buttons do what. There are quite a few different functions on the different buttons, which is just great.
Sound+ app. Jabra has created an app for the headset, where you can get all the information you could wish for. My moments allow you to set the equalizer and the strength of the hear-through power of the surroundings for each scene. The headset has 4 different scenes that you can switch between, and each scene has its own settings. You can make Jabra SmartSound switch between scenes automatically, based on the sound in the surroundings. You can get voice feedback on everything the headset does.
In the headset menu, you can get technical information about your headset, whether there are firmware updates, and setting the voice assistant you want to use. Yes, the headset is assistant compatible, so if you are used to using Google Assistant, or Alexa. Then you have the option to use it with this headset. Discover is a kind of news feed from Jabra where they can give you various information, guides and news.
Then there is the About menu where you can get all the information you need, about the headset, contact and warranty etc. It is the slightly more boring department. There is of course a good guide on all the buttons and features of the headset that you can just look through to get to know your product well.
The test. Then we have come to the test of the headset and I have to admit I am quite impressed. However, this is also my first ANC headset, so I don't have as much background knowledge of the technique and what it can do. That being said, of course, I have seen some videos about the headset and the technique, so I have a basic knowledge of this technique. First, I would like to explain a little about the sound and comfort before I get to the technical stuff. As this headset really has everything to offer when it comes to technology. The sound: The basic sound of the headset is really good. There are good details in the sound and the bottom of the bass is also really good. I definitely like it. You can fine tune with the built-in equalizer that is in the app, and of course it adds just a little extra if you were missing something. During my test period I have had a bit more depth in the bass, as I like heavy rhythms when listening to music, but this headset can easily be recommended for gaming as the details are really nice in the sound. The comfort: At first, I thought the cushion on the headband was a little hard, but I've gotten used to it and the comfort is generally really nice. The headset does not weigh too much, nor does it press too much on ears, considering I do wear glasses. The ears tend to get a little warm as the headset is closed completely tight with the leather cushions. The build quality: The build quality of the headset seems to be top notch. The ear pads can be changed when worn and there is fabric on the outside. It also gives an exclusive feel as you do not see fabric on headsets very often. Both the head band and joints seem sturdy, and the headset adjustment is also pretty tight so it doesn't move and you have to adjust all the time. The technicalities: This headset can remember up to 8 devices with which it is paired, which is super smart. Then you do not have to pair all the time if you switch between phone and computer and tablet. Not only that, the headset can be used by two devices at the same time. So you can have it connected to your phone while enjoying the music or anything else on your tablet or computer. It's pretty awesome. I've tried it between smartphone and computer and it works quite well.
The SmartSound technique: SmartSound is a technique built into the headset. It should actively change the different scenes / environments according to the sounds in your surroundings. Here is a little video about it. Of course I've tried the SmartSound feature and I don't quite think it works properly. For me, it changed all the time, and as a result, I quickly turned it off again. It is far easier to make the settings you like, and then just switch with the button on the side of the left ear cup. The On-Ear function: The headset has on-ear detection, so the headset knows whether you have it on or not. It's super handy when listening to music, because when the headset finds out you've taken it off, it pauses the music. It's just clever.
The ANC function: The ANC function is active noise reduction of the noise from the surroundings. It allows you to enjoy the music even more than if you had not. It actually works really well, though some people think it is not as good as other brands. For my part, I used the headset when I drove back and forth to work, and I didn't have to play very loud to be able to enjoy the music. It works pretty well in my opinion. Jabra has given the headset a hear-through feature. This is the first time I experience this kind of feature in a headset as I am used to either normal in-ear headsets, or gaming headsets, which should preferably shut out all the noise. Here, you actually allow to let in sound, which can be really smart in traffic. It works great, you can clearly sense the 6 microphones that record the sound around the headset. In fact, there is no big difference between having the headset on, or off, when this feature is enabled. It is cool. You can choose how strong the hear-through function should be.
The microphone: Then there is the sound from the microphone and how it records the voice with and without noise in the background. I made a little video showing how the noise reduction of the microphone works. I am pretty satisfied, it records some noise around you, but the voice is quite clear, so you can not complain when it's not a boom microphone.
What is my opinion of the Jabra Elite 85h. In my eyes, Jabra has made a super cool headset. The sound is great, and it is packed with features and functions. Some of them work better than others, but they are there after all. The rest is probably a matter of optimizing algorithms in the headset's firmware. I love that you can easily and effortlessly switch between the ANC and Hear-Through on the headset itself, and that you can switch between the different scenes as well. It provides a wealth of opportunities and makes it easy to switch between them. The sound in the headset is perfectly fine in my opinion. I pretty much had no need to adjust anything and the bit I wanted to adjust was for my own preference. The basic sound in the speakers is really good, both in terms of depth and in terms of treble and detail. The pricing. The headset usually costs around 1900 DKK, but at the time of writing Jabra runs deals on their website where you can buy it for 1500 DKK. It's a great price, you really get a lot of headset for the money. My final assessment. If you put it all together, price and quality and features fit together perfectly. It's the first headset I've tried, with the features this headset has. I am impressed, and would like to give that money for this headset if I was possibly commuting, or traveling around a lot. It makes me give this headset a great nice GOLD rating. Read more about Jabra Elite 85h here:
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