So these are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s… they're basically a refined version of the Jabra Elite 75T’s… and all around great pair of earbuds that actually got a surprise active noise cancelation upgrade a year after they came out. Now the Elite 7 Pro’s feature upgrades like wireless charging, more effective active noise cancelation and much better sound. So whether you’re thinking about picking these up or thinking about upgrading… let see what the Jabra Elite 7 pro’s are all about.
Now regarding pricing, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s have a retail price of $200… not bad given their feature set but they are a little more expensive than their predecessors the Jabra Elite 75T’s which used to retail for $180 when they first came out. Nonetheless the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s are a refined upgrade from the Jabra Elite 75T’s and they're a solid pick up. So if you want to pick these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about this case. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s have a decently small case for everyday carry earbuds. Its not super noticeable when its in your pocket and its easy enough handle. The lid on this case is very easy to open and close, this case has decently strong magnets in it which makes taking your earbuds out and putting them back in super easy, and this case has a slightly slate finish to it which makes gripping this case fairly easy. Overall, I have no complaints about this case. The only thing that I do have to point out is that this case is a little wider than the Jabra Elite 75T’s. But regarding thickens and hight… they're basically the same. So overall the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s have a decently small case for everyday carry… but technically I am going to have to say that this case is a little larger than the Elite 75T’s case. But I think the size difference is negligible. And when compared to other everyday carry earbuds out there… the Elite 7 Pro’s case is noticeably larger than your AirPods Pro’s case, AirPods 3 case, and especially entry level AirPods Pro. The Jabra’s case has a larger foot print, and its noticeably thicker as well. But when compared to other popular options… the Elite 7 Pro’s case is very similar to the Galaxy earbuds case and its very similar to the Sony WF-1000XM4’s case. And when compared to the Beats Studio Buds and Sennheiser CX plus case… the Elite 7 Pro’s case is noticeably smaller.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Elite 7 Pro’s have an advertised combined battery life of 30 hours and thats with their active noise cancelation turned on. Which is above average. The earbuds themselves can go for up to 8 hours… and the case can supply about 3 full charges. And if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancelation turned off… then you can always extend their battery life even more.
But in general, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s have an above average battery life. And when compared to other popular ANC earbuds… the Jabra Elite 75T’s, Jabra Elite 85T’s, AirPods Pro, Beats Fit Pro and Sony WF-1000XM4 all have a combined battery life of 24 hours with their ANC turned on. And then there are the Galaxy Buds Pro which have a combined battery life of 18 hours with their ANC turned on and the Beats studio buds have a combined battery life of 15 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on.So simply put, the Elite 7 Pro’s have really solid battery life.
And when it comes to charging these earbuds… the Elite 7 Pro’s charge via a Usb C port… and this case now has wireless charging. Which is something their predecessors didn’t have. Now personally I don’t really care for wireless charging on my earbuds… but this is now a rather standard feature that we expect to see on earbuds once we get to this price range.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. The sculpt of the Elite 7 Pro’s is a little simplified when compared to the sculpt of the Elite 75T’s. But nonetheless these earbuds fit basically the same. The elite 7 pro’s fit like a standard pair of in ear earbuds like lets say the Elite 75T’s, Elite 3’s, Galaxy Buds 2 or Sennheiser CX Plus. As in they go into your ear canal a decent amount. So they can feel a little more intrusive than your shallow fitting earbuds like lets say the Jabra Elite 85T’s, AirPods Pro, or Galaxy Buds Pro. Nonetheless you can definitely wear these earbuds for a good long while without much discomfort, and these earbuds offer a decent amount of lock down as well. However I really wouldn’t recommend these earbuds for working out, because they do like to wiggle out especially if you’re jogging. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s are best used as a pair of casual earbuds.
But now, lets talk about connectivity because there have been some major changes here. Now thankfully the Elite 7 Pro’s now each establish a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one. It doesn’t matter. And this is the connection set up that we expect to see on our earbud nowadays.
Where as with Jabra’s older earbuds like lets say with both the Elite 75T’s, and Elite 85T’s… they are still using a hero and sidekick set. So one earbud, the hero earbud, in this case the right earbud, actually establishes a connection with your phone. And then relays that connection to the other earbud. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you gotta use the correct earbud. In this case, the right earbud. The hero earbud. Now there’s nothing wrong with earbuds that are still using a hero and sidekick set up… but earbuds that are still using a hero and sidekick set up are either last gen or just cheaper.
However, the standout characteristic of Jabra’s earbuds that are still using a hero and sidekick set up is that they can be simultaneously connected to any 2 devices at the same time regardless of operating system. So you can easily hot swap between any to devices regardless of operating system. Which is great for power users who will might be using an android device and an iPad.
But unfortunately, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s can only be connected to one device at a time. Which is rather bitter sweet. However, jabra does promise that the Elite 7 Pro’s will get Bluetooth Multi Point connectivity in a firmware update in January 2022. Now given that Jabra managed to give their 75T’s active noise cancelation through a firmware update over a year after they were released… I do think Jabra will deliver.
But when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether your using an iPhone or an android device and when it comes to audio codecs, these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC. A rather basic stack. Unfortunately there is no APTX or LDAC here. But AAC works perfectly fine.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds because the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s sound very different from both the Jabra Elite 75T’s and Jabra Elite 85T’s. Now in general, I have always recommended Jabra’s earbuds to someone who like a more bass heavy EQ because Jabra’s earbuds have always had a slightly warmer wound signature to them. However, the Elite 7 Pro’s are shooting for a more neutral sound signature this time around. When compared to the Jabra Elite 85T’s… the Elite 7 Pro’s don’t sound as shallow. The mids and vocals on these earbuds are much more prominent. They’re very much the focal point here. But I also noticed that the treble on the Elite 7 Pro’s is much more precise and doesn’t get tinny like the treble that is found on the Elite 75T’s. Now these earbuds also have a good amount of bass to them, and they're definitely going to satiate most people… but these earbuds don’t have as much bass as the Elite 85T’s or Elite 75T’s. However, more importantly… the bass on these earbuds doesn’t roll off and mess with the rest of your music like the bass on these other earbuds does… especially on the 75T’s. Overall I would say that the Elite 7 Pro’s sound way better than the Elite 75T’s because their bass is cleaner and their treble doesn’t get tinny… and I would also say that the Elite 7 Pro’s sound better than the Elite 85T’s because they don’t sound as hollow. But overall I would no recommend the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s to someone who likes a more neutral or vocals focused EQ. Overall I would say the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s sound very similar to the Galaxy Buds 2 while in their dynamic EQ… however the Jabra’s bass does come in a little harder… but I do have to say that both the Galaxy Buds Pro and Beats Studio Buds sound better than the Jabra’s cause they have better instrument separation and much deeper resonating bass… And then there are the Sennheiser CX Plus which are the top dog right now when it comes to sound quality.
However, when it comes to controlling your media… in classic Jabra fashion the Elite 7 Pro’s are using physical buttons. And this could actually be a deciding factor for some people. Now through Jabra’s app you can customize the layout of you control buttons. But over all you can play and pause your music, you can skip through your music, and you can adjust the volume of your music by pressing and holding on either the left earbud or right earbud.
Now when it comes to voice assistants, obviously you can always activate your phone’s default voice assistant by pressing on the touch pad. And if you want you can have always listening Alexa if you’re an android user. But other than that you can not active your voice assistant with just your voice.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now in general Jabra does Active noise cancelation on their earbuds very well. And they even added pretty impressive active noise cancelation to the Jabra Elite 75T’s through a firmware update a year after they came out. Now the ANC on these earbuds is good… but don’t expect them to block out as much noise as a proper pair of over ear ANC headphones like either the Bose NC 700, Sony 1000XM4’s, and especially the AirPods Max.
Now when it comes to overall ranking the Sony WF-1000XM4’s block out the most amount of noise here. Albiet they do have a slight advantage because of their itchy foam ear tips. The Jabra Elite 85T’s also block out a ton of noise all while being more comfortable, so personally I do prefer them. Below them are the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I feel are neck and neck… below them are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, below them are the Beats Fit Pro, and below them are the Galaxy Buds Pro.
Now below the Galaxy Buds Pro are the jabra elite 75T’s, below them are the beats studio buds, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2, and below them are the Sennheiser CX plus. So overall I gotta say Jabra’s active noise cancelation ranks pretty well… And personally I really feel that if active noise cancelation is very important to you… then I still think that you should go with the Jabra Elite 85T’s.
Now even though the active noise cancelation on the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s is very good and it is an upgrade from the ANC found on the Jabra Elite 75T’s… personally this does lead me to speculate that we will might see the Jabra Elite 8 Pro’s in the future with even better active noise cancelation and a more comfortable shallow fit.
Now even though the Elite 7 Pro’s block out a decent amount of noise, without any cabin pressure and without changing how your music sounds… I do have to point out that there’s this very faint hissing sound in the background. Similar to how an old time radio is adjusting its frequency in lets say a fallout game. Its kind of like a SIVIVIVIV sound. And this is something that I just not heard on the Elite 75Ts or Elite 85T’s. But obviously you are not going to hear this is you have something playing.
But like I have mentioned in the past… I only use the active noise cancelation on my earbuds when I have to. And what’s really important to me is the quality their ambient mode. Now the Ambient mode on these earbuds is decent and you can adjust it to your liking… but it does sound very artificial. This ambient mode does like to amplify a lot of noise pollution… and it doesn’t sound as natural as the ambient mode found on the Jabra Elite 85T’s. Its usable, but not my favorite.
However, these earbuds do have an active ambient mode just like the Elite 85T’s. Meaning the they will automatically reduce their ambient mode if there’s a sudden loud noise. So lets say you’re walking out doors and a siren roll by, these earbuds will save your ears from getting blasted. Now an active ambient mode on earbuds is still fairly rare… but its defeneitly a feature that is nice to have. However, I do feel the active ambient mode on these earbuds is a little too linnet for my taste. The AirPods Pro do a much better job of actually protecting your hearing.
But overall, the ambient mode on the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s is usable… but I feel there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Specifically it could sound more natural. And they could do a better job of protecting your hearing.
And finally here’s the microphone test. And overall I feel the microphone both the Jabra Elite 75Ts and Jabra Elite 7 Pro is a real toss up.
While in a quite room these microphones are decent enough for phone call’s… but in classic jabra fashion… these microphone’s do sound a little shallow for my taste. And I can’t help but feel that the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s sound a little more shallow.
However, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s actually try to block out noise pollution unlike the Jabra elite 75T’s which just let in everything. Now when it comes to blocking out this road noise… you can definitely still hear it in the back ground… but it is reduced.
Where as with the Jabra Elite 75T’s they're just let in everything. But my voice is still very prominent.
And the same thing can be said about blocking out chatter. The Jabra Elite 75T’s are letting in everything… but my voice is still fairly prominent.
Where as with the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s… they are trying to block out this chatter… but there is still a lot of interfieance in the background. So overall, I would say the microphone on the Jabra Elite 7 Pro is fine for phone call’s… but I would try to mainly take phone calls with these earbuds while in a quite room.
So with all that being said, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s continue being a solid pair of ANC earbuds to consider. They now have wireless charging, Active noise cancelation that blocks out a little more noise than the Jabra Elite 75T’s, they sound much better as well and they have an above average battery life. However, personally I do wish the Ambient mode on these earbuds was better, and the microphone on these earbuds still has room for improvement. Now personally I am very happy to see that Jabra is now moving to a more modern connection set up on their earbuds… but I really hope that they deliver on their Bluetooth Multi Point connectivity firmware upgrade.