Jabra Elite 10 Review

The Elite 10 deserve their status as Jabra's flagship earbuds. They are markedly improved on earlier versions, with enhanced sound quality and noise cancellation. The sound mix is perfectly balanced in factory settings, with rich, warm bass and crisp and clear treble. Combining that stellar sound quality with an insanely comfortable fit, these are secure enough to go from work to the trail or the gym, making them the earbuds we were looking for.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

The Elite 10 earbuds deliver stunning sound right out of the box with perfectly balanced frequencies producing a clear, rich, and smooth mix. Our panel of audio experts tested these buds with a wide variety of musical genres and styles and discovered that they offer a natural and organic sound across genres.

The bass and treble ranges have just enough emphasis to add drama without feeling artificial. In the “Rite of Spring” performed by the Berliner Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan, the earbuds adeptly handle the dynamic shifts in the treble range from 0:15 to 0:42, delivering a rich, lively sound without sacrificing detail.

Treble tones have a strong presence in the mix, and are crisp, clear, and smooth. They sparkle beautifully across genres, most notably in songs like Olafur Arnalds' “Raein” and “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran. Although we noticed sharpness or sibilance on occasion in some older or lower-quality recordings, it's rare.

The mid frequencies are equally impressive, with a warm low end rising to silky, lucid tones in the higher reaches. The rich and well-rounded combination enhances everything from Megan Thee Stallion's raucous rap to the atmospheric indie rock song “Elmira” by Pretty Jane & the Magazines.

The bass is forward, full, and defined without ever dominating the mix. While it's slightly less developed in the upper registers than earbuds with the highest bass scores, it offers well-proportioned punch and power. The low frequencies shine across all styles, from classical to EDM, and maintain clarity at any volume. Rap and hip-hop tracks like “Photograph” by J. Cole and “All We Got” by Dem Atlas feel particularly vibrant.

Soundstage

The soundstage of a pair of earbuds defines the illusion it creates of where the music is emanating from within a three-dimensional space around you. When we go to see a band or a DJ, we're used to the sound coming from in front of us. With earbuds, the music often seems to be internalized, like it's coming from inside your head. A wide, expansive soundstage is rare, but the Jabra Elite 10 buds manage to create one.

Though they don't have the top-tier noise cancellation that lets you ignore everything but the music, these earbuds still create a spacious audio environment. They create an immersive experience that draws you into your favorite music, allowing you to place specific instruments in space and time. This effect enhances a variety of genres, from indie rock tracks like “Skin” by Spacey Jane to soul R&B classics like “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding.

Despite its strengths, the Elite 10 earbuds can struggle with older or lower-quality recordings, which can lead to uneven sound levels and distorted treble tones. To objectively assess sound quality, we employed our Brüel & Kjaer Type 5128 Head Simulator and its accompanying SoundCheck software to map the frequency response through these earbuds and compare it with our ideal GearLab House Curve.

Although the curves are similar, the Elite 10 oscillates in the high bass, lower mids, and treble frequencies more than the House Curve. While we find that smoother curves often create more consistently pleasant soundscapes, this one works impressively.

User Experience

The well-engineered Elite 10 earbuds are a joy to use. Their intuitive app makes it easy to find and use every feature effectively. A supremely comfortable and secure fit makes the whole experience an absolute pleasure, which contributes significantly to their status as one of our favorite earbuds.

Comfort

To test comfort and stability, we had over a dozen testers try these on for size. Everyone found an ideal fit using one of the four silicone ear tips. Their oval shape is unique among the many rounded options in the test, and we found that they work well. We can wear these for hours at a time without developing pressure points.

Stability

That solid, comfy fit also holds the Jabra 10 earbuds in place, even during active pursuits. They held up impressively during vigorous stability tests, including headstands and headbanging. After that, we excitedly wore them on runs and at the gym. We even wore them mountain biking, and they breathed well enough to keep our ears from feeling gross and sweaty.

The Elite 10 buds also have a solid water resistance rating, with an ingress protection (IP) rating of 57. That means they are protected from dust and should withstand immersion in up to a meter of water. That's more than enough to deal with sweating through a workout or rolling down a dusty trail.

Customization

Despite the many virtues of these excellent earbuds, this is where they really shine. The Jabra app is so user-friendly that it tempts us to choose these earbuds over options that sound better. (That and their mindblowing comfort.) It's also filled with useful features, including customizable EQ settings and options to control the active noise cancellation and passthrough mode, which lets ambient sounds through when needed.

One standout feature is a personalized hearing test that tailors the sound mix to your auditory profile, enhancing your listening experience. The only notable omission is an ear fit test, which is common in other models. It ensures the earbuds are properly seated in your ears to optimize sound quality and noise cancellation.

Connectivity

Our testers specifically cited the Jabra Elite 10s as one of the pairs of earbuds that they didn't have any trouble with when it came to pairing and maintaining a connection with their device. Despite this, we still collected a count of all 1-star Amazon user reviews reporting some sort of connectivity issue and used that to find a ratio relative to the total number of reviews. The Elite 10s have an issue rate that is slightly higher than average for the group.

Noise Cancellation

Many earbuds struggle to offer solid noise cancellation. While the Elite 10 buds don't blow us away in this category, they do a better job than most, falling solidly into the second tier of the test. They manage to soften the chaos of the world, but they don't create a cocoon of near silence like the top options in the test. Once you experience that level of noise control over your surroundings, it's difficult to settle for less.

All earbuds provide some level of passive noise isolation by physically blocking soundwaves from reaching your eardrums. This works best for high-frequency sounds, and the Elite 10 buds do a great job of it.

To objectively test the ANC and noise isolation of the Elite 10 earbuds, we recruited the Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B and SoundCheck to measure how much they could quiet the sounds of a noisy cafe. You can listen to the entire process in the video below.

As you can hear, merely placing the earbuds in the ear blocks an impressive amount of ambient sound. If you check the output chart below, this result is represented by the noise isolation line. It shows that the earbuds keep around 40 decibels of the highest frequencies from reaching your ears and quiet some in the mid and higher treble ranges.

Activating the ANC diminishes the ambient noise further, especially in the lower frequencies, where it reduces noise by an additional 10 to 29 decibels. Its strongest performance is in the highest treble range until it reaches over 10,000 Hz, which it (and most other ANC earbuds) experiences a steep drop. All told, this is a pretty good result. Though, the best options in our ANC testing are much better.

Battery Life

The Elite 10 have a solid battery life, a bit better than average for the test. Jabra advertises an 8-hour runtime, and that's exactly what we found in our test. It's worth noting that many factors affect how long your battery will last, such as volume level and whether active noise cancellation (ANC) is enabled. To run our test, we set the volume at 75% and let them play till they died.

While a few models in our comparison offer slightly better battery life, and others significantly outperform the Elite 10, an 8-hour battery capacity generally meets our needs. That's especially true if you have good charging habits. It helps that the case holds three additional charges, which gives you about 32 hours of runtime before you need an outlet. If you're in a hurry, 5 minutes of charge time will grant you an extra hour of entertainment.

Call Quality

When making phone calls, the ability of earbuds to isolate your voice from background noise is crucial. The Elite 10 do a fair job. While there are better options, we found that chatting with friends in a reasonably calm environment sounds loud and clear.

Again, the Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head and SoundCheck helped us with this test. We recorded a male and female voice and echoed them back through the speaker to see how well the Elite 10 could capture and transmit the voices under different noise conditions.

The subway is the ultimate phone call stress test, and here, the Elite 10 struggles. While the male voice remains just audible if you concentrate, the female voice is largely lost. This performance highlights the limits of these earbuds in noisy conditions, though clear calls in a subway are a near-impossible feat for most earbuds.

When we played typical office noises in the background, the phone call remained mostly smooth and clear. In the audio clip above, you can hear the male voice cutting out for a moment at the beginning of the call. Otherwise, there is some light audible typing beneath the recordings. The female voice is perfectly articulated.

In the quiet room setting, both voices sound marvelously clear and crisp, and we can easily understand every word.

Should You Buy the Jabra Elite 10?

The Jabra Elite 10 is easily one of our top choices in the test. Many of our audio experts prefer this model over others with higher scores, drawn by its exceptional comfort, user-friendly app, and reliable performance across the board. If you need top-notch noise canceling for travel or work, or you need to make phone calls in noisy settings, these may not be the perfect pair. Otherwise, if you value comfort and ease nearly as much as audio quality, this is our top pick for you.

What Other Earbuds Should You Consider?

These earbuds are expensive. For just a bit more money, you could get the Bose QuietComfort II, which offers better noise cancellation and voice isolation for phone calls. They also sound nearly as good as the Elite 10, though they aren't as comfortable or secure. The Apple AirPods Pro 2 excels at making phone calls and offers superior ANC, but falls short in sound quality. For a bit more money you could get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, earning you outstanding sound quality and stunningly immersive ANC. But again, they aren't as incredibly comfy and stable as the Elite 10. If comfort is your main priority, the Jabra Elite 8 Active earbuds feel just as good and sound almost as great for less.