Tangled earphone wires became history after Apple announced the AirPods. But that gave rise to a whole new nightmare! The fear of losing them altogether while out on a jog.
While I¡¯m not yet sold on the wireless earphones fad, headphone manufacturers are busy cutting the cord. Sigh.
Jabra is one of them and they¡¯ve recently unveiled Jabra Sport Elite which is a truly wireless, water and sweat resistant earphones designed for fitness enthusiasts along with a heart-rate sensor built right in. All that jazz is great, but what if my worst fears come true and I lose one of these?
One of the drawbacks of using a pair of truly wireless earbuds is the fear of them falling off anywhere and you not being able to find it, due to its un-tethered nature. And what¡¯s worse than losing a pair of wireless earbuds? Losing one that costs a good Rs 18,990!?
Yet, to test the grip I went on a job with the Jabra earphones nestled in my ear. While walking briskly at first, and then running rigorously through the jogging track, listening to David Guetta, and you know what? They didn¡¯t drop off! They remained quite cosily in my ears. However, the innards of my ear did get too hot after a while, so I had to take them out for my ears to breathe a little. But overall the Jabra Elite Sport stayed in my ear nicely.
After I conquered my fear of the buds dropping out, I never realised that the feeling of no cables dangling while working out, or even while commuting, would feel so liberating!
However, while listening to the music one day while commuting, I got drenched in the rain, with the earphones getting some of the water on them, too. That¡¯s when it hit me, these Bluetooth headphones would have tiny batteries and, what if getting wet could get me electrocuted?
I later realised that since the earbuds are IP67 water and sweat resistant, there was no chance for the device giving me a rude electric shock. Moreover, the earphones charged within a cute case, which looked like a box of mints, which also contains a built-in battery, so the moment you insert the earphones into the case, they start charging.
Wireless earphones are cool and all, but they come with the headache of another device that needs to be charged -- on top of your smartphone. Ugh!
Jabra promises a playback time of up to 4.5 hours on full charge, which in my test lasted a little over three hours. Moreover, the case can charge the earphones for two battery cycles, which is cool. Also, the charge case comes with fast charging capabilities, so a 15-minute charge can give you an hour of listening time, which isn¡¯t really bad.
The headphones never really died while listening, as whenever I took a break from listening, I inserted them back into the case, and they got juiced up. Moreover, with Bluetooth 4.1, it didn¡¯t majorly affect the battery life on my smartphone. So surprisingly the battery scenario on the Jabra Elite Sport wasn¡¯t disappointing at all.?
It¡¯s obvious that when you decide to invest Rs 18,990 in a pair of headphones, you expect them to sound like the best thing in the entire universe.
So how do they sound? In one word- Good. Do they sound like headphones worth Rs 19,000? Not exactly, but they don¡¯t sound real cheap either. They're marginally better than the Apple AirPods in terms of acoustics.
They¡¯re not very bass heavy, but they possess the necessary thump for your energetic fitness tracks. They do possess a slightly sharper sound with a decent amount of treble. Moreover, the ear tips you choose need to give you a tight and snug fit for you to enjoy the bass thump. However, you can tweak them a bit in the Jabra Sport app, to make it more bassy.?
They weren¡¯t the loudest earphones either, or very good at noise isolation. So while commuting I had to max out my volume levels for the Jabra Elite Sport to be decently audible.
While watching movies, it delivered a decent surround sound experience, and while listening to it while lying on the bed, the earphones did feel a tad bit uncomfortable.?
The buttons on the earphones were a whole different story. These were really hard to press and even while doing so, the buds used to enter the ear canal even deeper causing discomfort.
However, later I discovered a trick to prevent this discomfort, by using my thumb behind my ear to support the earbud, and pressing the button using the index finger. It wasn¡¯t the best solution, but it did make changing the volume and tracks a whole less painful.
The Jabra Elite Sport also did a decent job of tracking my heartbeat while out on a jog, and acting as a fitness wearable replacement. Meaning, if you decide to get the Jabra Elite Sport, don't think of buying a fitness band, as these earphones come with all the basic fitness measurement parameters and an iOS or Android app to help you track your movements.
After the week I spent with the Jabra Elite Sport, I was more than a bit torn in two. On one hand, I fell in love with the wireless freedom that these earphones gave me. And while I had my fears, these earphones help me overcome all of them with ease. Ultimately, it all comes down to the price, though. Are you okay shelling out Rs 18,990 for a pair of headphones? If money is not a constraint for you and you¡¯re looking for a good pair of wireless earphones with the additional features of a fitness wearable, The Jabra Elite Sport is one to set you free.