An Elite Headphone with Outstanding Comfort – Jabra Elite 85h Review

Recently I had the chance to use the Jabra Elite 85h on a trip to Dublin and here are my thoughts.

It was a surprise when the courier genie knocked on my door with a substantially large package that I didn’t expect. Ripping the package revealed, to my surprise, Jabra’s iconic yellow box and long behold I was presented with their latest over ear wireless headphones, the Jabra Elite 85h.

First impressions

The unboxing came with sliding off three box layers, lots of paper. The last box content included a handy instructions card on how to sync the headphones with the phone, and smooth oval shaped navy-blue leather carry case. Unzipping the case revealed the headphones along with a 3.5mm jack to jack cable, the shortest charging cable I’ve ever seen, and a super high-quality airplane dual jack converter. It’s always pleasant when there are few nifty unexpected little extras, like protective cases for some of the phones I get.

Feel & Design

You’ll quickly notice when you take out the neatly compacted elegantly designed headphones is the texture finish. The cushioned part headband that sits on your head is made from soft leather along with the ear pads the surround your ears. While the top arch of the headband has a mesh cloth feel fabric, which also covers the outside of the ear cups. It’s nice to the touch but couldn’t help thinking how dirty it can get.

The ear pads are very cushiony to the touch. Looking inside the earcups you will notice a bevel angle, sliding inwards when placed right, for better ear comfort with very soft high quality spongy interior padding.

Where you will truly notice the high-end design is the tempered metal alloy hinges between the headband and cups. There was no expense spared on the superior quality of the hinges for a sturdy and elegant finish. There is a very low chance they would ever break on usual misuses, like being knocked off your head.

Comfort

The first thing I did was put it on my head and that’s when I realised the true quality of these headphones. The comfort was unbelievable, completely engulfed my ears into the padding, sucking my earlobes in giving complete cosy feeling and warmth.

Once you place the headphones on a soft lady’s voice indicates the battery level and if a device is connected or not.

Sound & Performance

On to the serious part of the review. First, rest assured I won’t get all nerdy about audio codecs how many hertz the speaker bandwidth, only how it fared in real life scenarios.

As I mentioned earlier, I took these big boys on a trip to try them out like any user would. Leaving my trusty Jabra 65t earphones home I embarked on a very long journey to Dublin, from Kerry (3 days Airbnb stay I might add).

First thing you’ll notice is the crisp clear vocals and beat that comes out, very articulate with minimal outside noise disruption, and that is without the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) being on. This is mainly for the full encapsulation of the ears that even included the earlobes, which crazy as it sounds makes a difference!

Listening to multiple soundtracks, I did notice small differences in bass quality, for example EDM music blasted through brilliantly but the bass was a bit weaker than you might get with other brands. Maybe it’s a good thing not to blow your eardrums off.

The treble on the other hand was perfect, vocal music was outstanding feeling the sound waves bouncing around then flowing seamlessly into your ears. On the occasional reggaeton listening spree I noticed somewhat better bass well equalised with the treble.

Please note I was listening with the default equaliser. I haven’t played around with equaliser function on the phone app yet.

The App

At last an app that is useful. Unlike other brands’ apps the Jabra managed to develop one that can work with almost all the Sound devises they sell. Once you pair the headphones the app automatically recognized the model and displayed the latest preset functions, battery life and sound modes.

Jabra’s SmartSound

SmartSound is basically an AI (Artificial Intelligence) noise recognition function that noticed where you are from the noise and turns the ANC on or off when needed. I found it a bit annoying when it kept switching unpredictably flooding in outside noise, which gave me a fright few times not realising few people behind me. Personally, I feel it still is at an early stage of development and I have it off.

Battery

One number, 36. Yes, this headphone boasts a monstrous 36 hours battery life with ANC on! Massive big YEPEE!!

To buy or not to buy – Price

At the time of this article the Elite 85h is priced €313 in Jabra’s main website. Amazon has it priced at €250, both excluding delivery fees.

Fit for travel?

One of the biggest challenges when travelling is bag capacity. The 85h’s carry case is considered one of the most compact in its range, yet for a minimalist packer like myself it still felt a bit big taking up valuable space in my backpack. That said it isn’t a big issue if you are travelling locally, or more precisely by car or train. Air travel is where you obviously feel the difference.

Another good news is that the Elite 85h uses USB-C for charging. You only need one cable, if you are using newer Android phones of course.

Final thoughts

If you are adamant on buying an over-ear headphone that has most of the latest features out there, an amazing battery life, and at very competitive price then the Jabra Elite 85h is a massive contender.

A brand like Jabra is certainly underrated compared to others when it comes to headphones. I would seriously consider it as powerful sound devise. It also comes with 2 years warranty against water splashes and dust.

Overall Rating: 8/10

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Happy buying!

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