Jabra Elite 5 Review: A Solid All-Rounder, but Does It Stand Out?
Danish audio specialist Jabra has consistently impressed in the competitive true wireless earphone market, delivering reliable performance and a focus on clear, high-quality voice communication. Their latest offering, the Jabra Elite 5, targets the popular mid-range segment, boasting a compelling feature set including active noise cancellation (ANC), Qualcomm aptX support, and compatibility with the excellent Jabra Sound+ app. But with tough competition from brands like OnePlus and Oppo, is the Jabra Elite 5 a compelling choice for audiophiles and everyday users alike?
Design and Features: Familiar Yet Refined
Jabra’s newer Elite series earphones have taken a different approach to design compared to earlier models like the Jabra Elite 85t. This new philosophy sees multiple products with varying features positioned across different price points. The Jabra Elite 5 sits comfortably within the mid-range, offering a step up from the Jabra Elite 3 and incorporating features such as active noise cancellation, hear-through mode, multi-point Bluetooth connectivity, an enhanced microphone system, Google Fast Pair, and native support for Google Assistant and Alexa.
Aesthetically, the Jabra Elite 5 shares a resemblance with its predecessors, the Elite 3 and the higher-end Elite 7 Pro. The in-canal fit provides effective passive noise isolation, complementing the active noise cancellation technology. The prominent Jabra logo adorns the outer sides of the lightweight and comfortable earpieces. The headphones are available in two stylish colors – black and gold-beige, adding a touch of sophistication.
The package includes three pairs of silicone ear tips in different sizes, a charging cable, and the earpieces boast an IP55 rating, making them resistant to dust and water exposure – ideal for workouts or outdoor use. Each earpiece is equipped with a proximity sensor for the auto play-pause functionality and six microphones, working in tandem to power the ANC and facilitate crystal-clear voice calls.
Instead of adopting the touch-sensitive controls favored by many competitors, the Jabra Elite 5 opts for physical buttons, offering a more tactile and reliable control experience. These buttons are conveniently placed, ensuring they don’t compromise the secure fit or noise isolation. They can be customized through the Jabra Sound+ app, providing personalized control over audio and call settings.
The charging case is sleek and compact, prioritizing battery life without sacrificing portability. It features a USB Type-C port for wired charging and, more importantly, supports Qi wireless charging for a convenient charging solution. Each earpiece weighs 5g, while the charging case tips the scales at 40g, making them comfortable and easy to carry.
App and Specifications: A User-Friendly Customization Hub
Similar to other Jabra true wireless headsets, the Elite 5 relies on the Jabra Sound+ app (available on iOS and Android) for controlling and customizing the earphones’ functions. The app provides an extensive range of options, allowing you to adjust the intensity of ANC and hear-through modes, fine-tune the equalizer manually or through presets, activate "soundscapes" (ambient sounds for focus and relaxation), and more.
The app’s intuitive interface and comprehensive customization options make it one of the best true wireless earphone companion apps available. Other key functions include firmware updates, voice assistant selection (native Google Assistant, Alexa, or the smartphone’s default assistant), and Spotify Tap for quickly launching Spotify through the headset controls.
The Jabra Elite 5 features 6mm dynamic drivers with a frequency response range of 20-20,000Hz. Bluetooth 5.2 ensures a stable connection, with support for the usual SBC and AAC codecs, as well as the high-quality Qualcomm aptX codec for improved audio quality when paired with Android devices.
Performance and Battery Life: A Mixed Bag of Strengths and Weaknesses
While there are excellent true wireless headsets in the upper-mid-range segment, many are limited by their reliance on specific ecosystems. The Jabra Elite 5, however, prioritizes device agnostic functionality, a key strength that Jabra has consistently emphasized.
The aptX support does provide a slight edge in sound quality when paired with an Android device compared to iOS devices. However, the differences are subtle, as the well-tuned hardware and competent drivers deliver a satisfying audio experience regardless of the source device.
The Jabra Elite 5 offers a distinct sonic signature compared to other headsets in this price range. It avoids the aggressive sound profile prevalent in some competitors like the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 but boasts a noticeable level of sharpness, delivering a different kind of attack and detail retrieval.
Listening to tracks like "Bijlee Bijlee" by Harrdy Sandhu, the Elite 5 delivers pleasantly striking vocals and strong highs that punch through, particularly noticeable due to the slightly reduced lows. This results in a fast-paced and cohesive sound, capable of handling complex tracks with varying tempos and diverse elements.
The Elite 5’s unique signature shines with mid-tempo tracks focusing on vocals. However, tracks like "So Am I" by Ty Dolla Sign, Damian Marley, and Skrillex reveal a weakness in the low-end, with the rumbling bass feeling somewhat anemic compared to the prominent melody and reggae vocals.
This reveals a key point: the Jabra Elite 5 is not for hardcore bass enthusiasts or those who primarily listen to bass-heavy genres like electronic music. On the other hand, slower, more melodic tracks benefit significantly from the Elite 5’s tonality and detail levels.
While not as flexible as the dual-driver Oppo Enco X2 in terms of detail retrieval, the Jabra Elite 5 compensates with greater tonal certainty and sharpness.
The Jabra Elite 5’s active noise cancellation performance is less than ideal, especially considering the mid-range price point. While the app offers several levels of ANC customization with audible differences in intensity, even the highest level doesn’t deliver a satisfactory reduction in ambient noise.
Droning outdoor sounds, such as construction equipment, remain overly noticeable, while even relatively quiet indoor settings still sound too loud. While the ANC helps make music, dialogue, and voices on calls easier to hear, it falls short of what’s expected, highlighting a need for Jabra to improve the ANC capabilities of its non-flagship models.
As expected from Jabra, the Elite 5 excels in voice call quality. Benefitting from the six microphones in each earpiece, coupled with ANC and environmental noise cancelling algorithms, the earphones deliver crystal-clear calls. Your voice is clearly audible on the other end, and the well-balanced mids allow for clear and understandable conversations.
Battery life on the Jabra Elite 5 is very impressive for a true wireless headset in this price range. With ANC enabled and moderate volume levels, the earphones lasted slightly over six hours. This is complemented by the charging case, providing three full additional charges, resulting in a total run time of approximately 25 hours per charge cycle. Disabling ANC grants an additional hour of listening time on the earpieces.
Verdict: A Solid Performer, But Not Without Limitations
The Jabra Elite 5 stands out from the competition in the mid-range segment, presenting a unique sound profile and solid overall performance. As with other Jabra headsets, it performs admirably on calls and excels with music and dialogue-based content. The earphones also offer a generally positive experience across various source devices, though there’s a slight sound quality advantage when paired with Android devices. Additionally, the battery life is respectable. However, despite ticking these essential boxes, the Jabra Elite 5 struggles to differentiate itself from other compelling options in the market.
For users who frequently rely on their earphones for calls and prefer slower, detail-oriented music, the Jabra Elite 5 could be a suitable choice. However, keep in mind that the ANC performance is not as strong as it should be.
Ultimately, if seeking a broader range of sound preferences, the Oppo Enco X2 or the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 might be worth considering, especially if your smartphone supports the LHDC codec. Despite its strengths, the Jabra Elite 5 faces tough competition in a crowded market, leaving it as a solid, but not necessarily standout choice.
