Jabra Elite 75t Review: Just How Much Is Improved From The 65t?

Written by Cheryl Tan

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The Jabra Elite 65t made waves when it came out in 2018 because of how good it sounded for a true wireless earphone, but it was plagued by connection issues. Since then, more brands have pushed out impressive TWS products and Jabra has finally responded to them by launching the Elite 75t.

First seen at IFA 2019, the Elite 75t is now available in Singapore, so we take a look at whether Jabra has improved their product enough to compete with the other offerings in the market.

First off, the design has been tweaked slightly, with the microphone stems now shorter and less protruding. The earbuds are also 20% smaller in size than the Elite 65t but still remain as securely in the ear. Jumping around with the earbuds or doing some light exercise didn’t cause them to loosen in the ear, and there’ll be an Active version coming in Q2 2020 which has a rubberised coating that will help the buds stay even more securely for people who sweat a lot.

The Elite 75t model has IP55 resistance, so if you’re looking for a true pair of exercise earbuds, you’ll probably want to wait for the Active version which will come with IP57.

Despite the smaller size, Jabra has managed to improve battery life, with the earbuds now lasting 7.5 hours per charge, with an additional 3 charges or so in the case for a total of 28 hours. Jabra’s estimate is relatively accurate; I got 7 hours out of the earbuds with music playing at 70% volume.

Fast charging is available and you’ll get 1h of playback time after charging for 15 minutes. Want to go wireless? Jabra has you covered. They’ll be launching wireless charging variants in Q2 2020 for both the Elite 75t and Elite Active 75t.

Passive noise isolation is quite good as well, with the earbuds providing a good seal in the ear. Once music is playing at a normal volume, it’s hard to hear people around talking. That’s also one of the reasons Jabra gave for not implementing ANC in the earphones. Combined with the other factors like improving battery life and keeping the price low, I’m on board with it.

There’s also a HearThrough feature, which is essentially similar to the AirPods Pro’s Transparency mode. It works for conversations that the wearer is taking part in, but if you’re looking to hear what someone else further away is saying, it’ll be hard. Voices aren’t quite as natural either, so Apple still has a leg up on that aspect.

So how does it sound? Honestly, not bad at all. The general sound signature is warm and lush, with a focus on bass that’s inherited from the Elite 65t. It’s definitely on the fun side, so people looking for a more neutral signature might not enjoy these as much.

This means it performs quite admirably with most pop songs however, injecting a nice musicality. EQ tweaks can be made with the Jabra app for those looking to customise the sound though. Soundstage is decently wide and there’s enough detail in the treble and mids.

My one gripe with the Elite 75t though is the connection. When it works, it’s fine. But I’ve experienced connection drops while going up escalators and even just when walking around in relatively uncrowded areas with my phone in my back pocket.

It’s always the left earbud dropping, while the right earbud works fine. Occasionally though, music completely cuts out and I have to hit the play/pause button multiple times for audio to continue playing through the earbuds. It’s disappointing, but resetting the earbuds to factory settings helped. Ear detection is excellent, I couldn’t trick the earbuds despite holding it in my hand and covering any ports.

All in all, the Jabra Elite 75t is definitely an improvement over the Elite 65t with better bass, a smaller footprint and improved battery life.