What you need to know
- Jabra Elite 75t updates Elite 65t with smaller, more comfortable design.
- Case is now magnetic and boasts USB-C charging.
- Coming in October for $199.
I've tested a lot of true wireless earbuds over the past year, and the Jabra Elite 65t's continue to be the ones I choose most often — even as competitors like the Jaybird Vista, Sony WF-1000XM3, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless, Samsung Galaxy Buds and others give them a run for their money.
For me, it's always been about the balance of comfort, sound quality and Bluetooth reliability, of which the 65t's score high in each category. Now, Jabra is updating the top-rated true wireless earbud for 2019, featuring a smaller, more comfortable design, an improved case with USB-C charging, and better battery life.
The Elite 75t's, which will be available in October for $199 USD, are 20% smaller than their predecessors. The company's senior vice president of marketing, Calum MacDougall, told me that the headphone team worked closely with Jabra's medical-grade audio products engineers to optimize the design of each earbud to fit in more ears comfortably. A 20% reduction in size would result in more people being able to wear them comfortably for longer periods, so design changes were made to achieve that target.
The Bluetooth antennas were miniaturized and made to use less energy; battery capacity was reduced; and there's now proprietary tech taken from the aforementioned medical-grade audio division to ensure the earbuds maintain a connection to the host device.
Impressively, though, Jabra managed to increase battery life on the Elite 75t's, jumping to 7.5 hours per charge versus 5.5 hours on the Elite 65t's. They use the same drivers, microphones and sensors as before, too, so good sound quality is guaranteed — though MacDougall says most people will find sound quality improved thanks to a better in-ear fit. Unfortunately, the earbuds also carry over the same disappointing codec specs: SBC and AAC only.
That increased comfort comes from a reduction in "nose" size, which allows each earbud to rest more comfortably in the ear — they're lighter, too, and protrude less, so they're unlikely to fall out, even during vigorous exercise.
Jabra also says care was taken to improve the case design, one of my least favorite aspects of the 65t. Now smaller and magnetic, the case holds three charges for a total uptime of 28 hours — better than most of the competition out there except for earbuds with massive cases like the Sony WF-1000XM3s — and fast charge via USB-C. The 75t's still have an IP55 rating for moderate water and dust resistance, along with physical buttons on each earbud for play/pause and volume control. And like the 65t's, there's support for Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri.
The Elite 75t's will be available in mid-October for around $199/199 EUR.
Jabra Elite 75t
The Jabra Elite 75t are an impressive-looking follow-up to one of the best-sounding true wireless earbuds on the market today.
