The best, all-rounder Jabra earbuds – Jabra Elite 5 Review

Jabra Elite 5 Review – I’ve used and review many Jabra Elite earbuds from the highest-end model to the most budget-friendly ones (make sure to check them all out while you’re here: Jabra Elite 85t review, Jabra Elite 7 Pro review, Jabra Elite 3 review)

And now, Jabra has released a new model in the family: the Jabra Elite 5. You can probably already guess from the branding that the Elite 5 sits somewhere in between the Elite 3 and Elite 7. But what are the differences and how good is the Elite 5?

Jabra Elite 5 Review – Packaging Contents

Just like any other Jabra Elite earbuds, the Elite 5 comes with a charging case and also different-sized earbuds (3 sets of EarGels) to fit your ears.

Jabra Elite 5 Review – Design and Features

Jabra Elite 5 is powered by the Qualcomm® QCC3050 Bluetooth SoC, 6mm speakers and 6 microphones, has IP55 rating, has ANC & HearThrough feature, and supports all Voice Assistants (Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant). For battery life, Jabra Elite 5 supports up to 9 hours of battery life without ANC or 7 hours with ANC. With the charging case, this goes up to 36 hours without ANC or 28 hours with ANC.

Fast charge is supported, so you can charge the earbuds for 10 minutes inside the charging case and this will give you about another 1 hour of music listening time. And the coolest of all, the Jabra Elite 5 charging case supports Qi wireless charging so you can just place the case on a Qi charging pad, no cable needed!

The earbuds support Mono mode too so if you really want to further prolong the battery life, you can just use one earbud in the ear and leave the other inside the charging case.

Here are some of the differences between the Jabra Elite 3, Elite 5, and Elite 7.

Jabra Elite 5 vs Jabra Elite 3

Jabra Elite 5 vs Jabra Elite 7 Pro

I think in summary, if you want an earphone that has ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), you don’t need to look at Jabra Elite 3 unless if you are only listening to music in a quiet or indoor environment. Going for the Elite 7 Pro might be more worthwhile if you want the fuller experience and if you are going to use the earbuds to make calls often.

The Jabra Elite 5 itself has a similar fit to the Elite 3 and 7 Pro, which is better for smaller ears in my opinion compared to the Jabra Elite 85t. It fits snuggly inside my ears and comfortable to wear while I listen to my favourite music.

Controls can be done through tapping either the left or right earbud that does different things. For example, pressing and holding the left earbud will lower the volume whereas the right earbud will raise it. Tapping once on the left earbud will cycle between ANC and HearThrough where as tapping on the right one will play/pause the music. You can also do multiple taps that do different actions. These can be changed via the Jabra Sound+ app along with other customisations like a customisable equaliser.

For music listening experience, the sound quality is very good. It has a clear treble, surprisingly-deep-enough Bass, wide soundstage, and I can actually notice a lot of little things in the songs that I’ve never paid attention before. But honestly, I’m surprised at the clarity and details coming from a supposedly budget-friendlier version of the Elite 7 Pro.

The ANC is not bad either though I haven’t tested the earphones inside a train but I recon it should do more than a decent job for cancelling engine noise.

The charging case is pretty compact and both (the earbuds and charging case) don’t feel bulky to hold and carry, which is nice.

Jabra Elite 5 Review Conclusion

Jabra Elite 5 is an excellent, all-rounder Jabra earbuds offering really good sound quality, a charging case that supports wireless charging, ANC and HearThrough. Music will also auto pause if you take one of the earbuds off the ear, but nothing fancy like putting it back on will auto-resume.

This is like Jabra’s best features being placed in a more affordable package. Jabra Elite 5 is available as of today for A$219 RRP.

Disclosure: Jabra Elite 5 review sample was supplied for reviewing