Expert review of the Jabra Elite Active 65t

Jabra understands how unboxing works. The earbuds are immediately visible when I open the package. I place them on my palm. They feel firm and light. This is Scandinavian minimalism that even Piet Mondrian can learn from. Then I open the box with accessories. Here I find the charging dock, a USB cable, extra sizes of earbuds (S, M, and L), and the manual. Without reading the manual, I put the buds in my ears. This goes smoothly.

With a completely wireless design, no wires will obstruct your freedom of movement. Moreover, you look as if you came straight from the future. I love it. You stream music via Bluetooth from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Because of this, you are forced to take your phone or sports watch with MP3 player with you when you go for a run. The model doesn't have the Bluetooth aptX profile with which you can stream music in CD quality.

Time to test the sound, so I play some jazz, top 40, classical music, and electronic music from the drivers. I am positively surprised. All genres sound great. I need to be very critical if I want to hear room for improvement. This has to do with the balance. But when I use the app with the equalizer to accentuate the mid tones, it sounds like I think it should sound. I like this feature. It's useful when sound is important to you.

The buds themselves have a battery life of 5 hours. Thanks to the charging dock, you have a kind of power bank with 10 extra listening hours in your pocket. I can view the exact status of the battery in the Sound+ app. I think this is an advantage, because sometimes I prefer not to be without music. The buds and the charging station also indicate the battery status using LED lights. This gives you an indication of the battery level. If you're not using the buds, they conveniently switch themselves off.

The buds must be comfortable when you listen to music or exercise all day. I put the buds in my ears so that the ear hook grips in my auricle. It takes some getting used to, but it's certainly not uncomfortable. I'm curious how sturdy they are, so I jump up and down head-banging like a pogostick. No problem. Later in the week I went for a run. I didn't experienced any problems here either. They also feel comfortable during a long listening session.

Time to test the Sound+ app. Here you'll find all data and settings. In addition to reading the battery status, you'll find the data measured by the activity tracker. I don't find this super special, because it only measures your steps and the duration of an activity. I expected more depth. You can also manage the equalizer, call settings, and determine to what extent the buds filter out ambient noise.

Because I live in the city, I use my bike a lot. On the way to my girlfriend I switch on the HearTrough function. I can hear the traffic better, making it safer for me to move from a to b. In between, I call to tell her that I'll arrive in 5 minutes. She indicates that my voice is audible. The Sidetone function lets me hear my own voice. I read in the manual that you can deactivate it via the app.