Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 Review

The Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 buds offer an immersive sound stage, both with and without their active noise cancellation, an improvement from the previous version. While they may not sound as polished or refined as the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2, they still provide a delightful audio experience. The fit is as comfortable as ever, and with their dust and water resistance, these earbuds are our top pick for active use.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

Our panel of audio experts test sound quality using a carefully curated playlist that spans popular and prolific music genres, from classic rock to bass-driven hip-hop to country and today's top pop hits. These Jabra buds don't disappoint, impressing with their power, clear delivery, and silky smooth signature. While the previous version of the Jabra Elite 8 Active earbuds sounded best with their active noise cancellation (ANC) feature activated, the Gen 2 performs well even without ANC engaged.

“The sound profile is beautifully balanced,” remarked our audio expert. “The bass is emphasized slightly, creating a full, powerful sound, without feeling overblown.” The mids are clear and natural beneath vibrate highs. The resulting mix performs beautifully across genres, whether it's soulful Americana like “Godspeed, Los Angeles” by Hannah Bethal, classic rock like “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin, hip-hop like “Don't Forget” by Atmosphere, or funk like “Fool” by Jonny Kosmo.

The treble is truly lovely, sounding bright and present in the mix while showcasing these earbuds' clear, clean profile. Each instrument and vocal track is distinct, blending seamlessly to complement one another without crowding the mix.

Expert Panel Sound Quality Ratings

Product	Bass	Mid-Range	Treble
Best	8.7	9.0	8.7
Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2	8.0	8.0	7.2
Average	6.6	7	6.7
Worst	2.0	3.5	3.0

In vocal-driven tracks like “Sharpest Tool” by Sabrina Carpenter, her voice comes through clearly. The highs are vibrant and sparkly, though they occasionally miss the finest details. They can, however, sharpen at times. Take the live crowd's applause at the beginning of “My Neighbors Don't Like Me (Live)” by Jack Symes can sound piercing at high volumes. Once the song starts though, the mix comes back into balance, despite some slight pitchiness in the upper registers.

The mid tones are forward and exceptionally clear, delivering a neutral sound that feels true to the source. Instruments, especially strings, sound rich and full-bodied, creating a full, well-rounded sound. Vocals are vibrant and prominent, enhancing the experience without overpowering other elements. Gorgeous voices shine on soulful pop and funk tracks like "Goodbye So Long (feat. Mia Pfirrman) by Spring Gang and “Sure Don't Miss You” by The Dip.

These earbuds bring the party with fun, realistic bass tones that have just enough punch to boom without compromising quality or overpowering the mix. The precision and subtle emphasis in the lower register rivals the top performers in the test.

Take “Older” by BAYNK; the bass pulses beneath the vocals and synths, building a bounce at the 1:43 mark. In Monaleo's “Drunk Freestyle,” the bass hits hard right at the start (0:04), maintaining a tight, powerful presence throughout the song.

These earbuds retain excellent sound quality across volume levels, smoothly handling dynamic leaps. Even at high levels, the sound never distorts harshly. And they get loud. We never had a problem hearing them over the racket at the gym. While some details are less distinct at lower levels, you never lose the character of the song, including the bass line. The range is impressive, offering enough power and finesse to satisfy most listeners.

Soundstage

Compact in-ear speakers can struggle to capture the expansive sound and feel of live music. As technology improves, earbuds like the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 can fill the space around you. This ability to create the illusion that instruments surround you with proper resonance (think: concert hall, not closet) is known as their soundstage.

Soundstage Ratings

Product	Soundstage Rating
Best	10.0
Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2	8.0
Average	7.3
Worst	4.0

The Actives Gen 2 create an engaging soundstage, ranking among the best in the test. The vast, enveloping space they produce delivers a sense of depth and breadth while maintaining clarity and detail. The soundstage is bigger and better with the ANC engaged, but it performs well either way.

In the song, “Lights of New York” by Kate Toupin showcases the earbud's expansive sound. Near the 3:00 minute mark, you can hear the piano playing neatly over the driving percussion. Both sounds are centered and retain nuance in the vast resonant soundstage.

The level of detail is mesmerizing. When listening to “Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35: II Scherzo” written by Chopin and performed by Arthur Rubinstein, the masterful piano work pulls you into another dimension. But a tiny, clear cough at 1:38 and again (louder) at 1:41, bring an intimate, human element to the experience, placing you in the room with the musicians.

Frequency Response

After our extensive listening tests, we used our Brüel & Kjaer Type 5128 Head Simulator and SoundCheck software to chart the frequency response curve of the earbuds. We then compared this curve to our GearLab House Curve. This objective analysis complements our subjective evaluations, offering a more complete understanding of the earbuds' performance.

Notice in the chart above that the sound profile of the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 generally aligns with our house curve. There are a few discrepancies in the bass and mid-frequency ranges, but we don't hear any noticeable issues with the divergence. The treble range deviates more significantly, generally falling beneath our idealized curve with occasional, small peaks above it. Since sharpness in these frequencies is typically associated with a consistent treble boost, it makes sense that we don't encounter it often. Overall, these earbuds deliver excellent sound quality, though they aren't the top performers in our tests.

User Experience

The Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds stand out as some of the easiest to operate in our tests. They offer a secure and comfortable fit, an easy-to-navigate app packed with practical features, and a durable, rugged design. Their user-friendly nature lets you spend less time adjusting their placement and more time enjoying your music while working, mountain biking, or hiking.

Comfort

To test how comfortable these buds are, we enlisted more than a dozen testers to try them on for size. The feedback was unanimous — these are among the most pleasant earbuds we've tested. “Super comfy, I could wear these for hours,” emphasized our lead tester, Graham. Even our testers with sensitive ears found them cozy enough to wear for hours at a time. Each set includes three sizes of rounded silicone ear-tips, making them fairly customizable.

Our testers also appreciated the calm, smooth voice of the new voice assistant. Her voice is an improvement over the previous version, offering a softer, less intrusive tone compared to other test options with overly loud or demanding communication styles.

Stability

Their solid, comfortable fit also makes them impressively stable. The tacky, matte finish provides a firm grip for your fingers and your ears, and their lightweight design helps them disappear in your ear. While they aren't foolproof, we wore them hiking and single-pitch climbing without issue.

These earbuds feature an impressive IP68 rating, which means they're fully dustproof and can handle being submerged in water at depths of a meter or more. While we haven't tested them underwater, we never hesitate to use them during intense workouts or during short, light rain storms.

Customization

Customizing your experience with the Elite 8 Active earbuds is a breeze, thanks to Jabra's user-friendly app. Compatible with both Apple and Android devices, the earbuds are packed with features, including a handy tracking feature that shows the last known location of your earbuds if you misplace them. We've gotta admit, we've used that a few times.

From the app, you can tweak the sound profile with the equalization (EQ) feature, using presets or adjusting each frequency on your own. If you need to relax or focus, there's a library of soothing ambient sound options to choose from, including pink noise, a rainy day, and songbirds. If you're out and about and need to be aware of your surroundings, a “hear-through” mode lets external sounds filter into the earbuds, bypassing their natural noise-blocking effects. A “spatial audio” setting creates the illusion that the music is playing in front of you. While we don't mind it, it's not the most impressive surround sound experience we've tried.

One feature that these earbuds don't offer is an ear fit test, designed to ensure a proper seal to help you get the most out of your music. While it's nice to have, we don't find it necessary.

Connectivity

We found the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 incredibly easy to pair with our test phones, Apple and Android alike. Additionally, for every product, we analyze every 1-star Amazon user review, finding the percentage of negative feedback that references connectivity issues. So far, there's not enough data to give accurate feedback. We will keep an eye on this, and once there's a large enough statistical pool to read through, we'll relay the numbers and specific concerns.

That being said, if there are problems, another nice feature is that the case comes with a built-in headphone jack adapter. You can plug it into something like an airplane's audio port, and it will send the sound to your earbuds using Bluetooth, which we find quite convenient.

Noise Cancellation

Noise Cancellation is a wonderful tool to help you focus, relax on a noisy flight, or fully enjoy your music in a hectic environment.

Jabra really excited us when they started marketing second-generation improvements, including a substantial boost in active noise cancellation (ANC) capabilities. Historically, Jabra products tend to settle in the middle of the pack compared to other high performers, so seeing investment in one of their lower-performing test metrics turned our eyes. In our tests, the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds' ANC feature did experience a slight improvement overall over its predecessor. It's not as nearly a big jump in improvement compared to the Jabra 10 Elite Gen 2, but we'll take everything it gives. The most notable increases come in the treble range, letting us know that the fit wasn't the only benefit of these great ear tips. The mids actually worsened, but the bass range saw some differentiation. This is actually favorable since most of our outside world consists of low, rumbling motors and background chatter. Still, overall, we were expecting a bit more.

These earbuds strike a great balance between an immersive listening experience and awareness of your surroundings. Some background noses, like the faint crinkling of a bag of sea salt and vinegar chips, are still audible with the ANC activated, but it's muted and distant. This allows the music to take center stage without completely shutting out the world. At the same time, distractions like the clatter of kitchen chores or the ruckus at the gym fade away, allowing you to focus on your work or music.

To objectively test the noise cancellation capabilities of these earbuds, we used our Brüel and Kjaer 5128-B head and torso simulator and SoundCheck software to capture the sounds of a bustling café on three different occasions. First, we recorded the ambient noise without the earbuds. Next, we placed the earbuds on a head simulator for the second recording. Finally, we activated the active noise cancellation (ANC) feature for the third test. You can check out the audio comparison in the video below.

This passive noise isolation is more effective at blocking higher-pitched sounds. Longer, low-frequency sound waves can get around this physical defense, which is where active noise-canceling technology excels. Effective ANC is great at dampening low, consistent sounds, like the rumbling of an engine.

You'll notice that the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds do a solid job of blocking high-frequency tones even before the ANC is turned on. They also manage to block a fair bit of mid-range sounds, though the ANC handles those frequencies more effectively. The bass tones are also effectively quieted when the ANC is running. You can still hear some sounds break through, like the sound of plates crashing right at the end, but it's muted.

Then we charted Soundcheck's analysis above. They're able to block high-frequency noise, lowering the volume by as much as 30 to 45 decibels in the treble ranges. They also match some of the top options in our test in the upper-mid and lower-bass frequencies. The only area where they fall short is in the high-bass and lower-mid range, reducing noise by 10 to 20 decibels, whereas our top picks can dampen these frequencies by 20 to 40 decibels.

Battery Life

While the Elite 8 Active earbuds didn't meet Jabra's ambitious 14-hour battery claim, they still lasted an impressive 10 hours in our test. That's plenty to power through a workday, a workout, or most traveler's needs. We tested the battery at 75% volume without the ANC feature on, playing music until the earbuds powered down. Running ANC will run down your battery more quickly.

Only a few other options meet or exceed this run-time, and we really appreciate the extra hours of entertainment during our daily-use tests. We had to take fewer breaks to power up, allowing us to focus on our work and play for longer before interrupting the flow.

When fully powered, the case holds three more charges, letting you enjoy around 40 hours of music before you need to plug in. A quick 5 minutes in this case will buy you an extra hour of music or podcast time. They also have a wireless charging option.

Call Quality

The Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds make clear phone calls in mellow conditions and performed surprisingly well in our hardest test, calling on a subway platform, improving the performance of the originals by a significant margin. To evaluate this feature, we had a male and female tester read the same script, which we played through a speaker from the mouth of our Brüel & Kjaer Type 5128 Head Simulator while the earbuds were on. We either left the background noise silent, played a tape of an office setting, or blared the chaotic sounds of a subway platform. Here's what we found.

Call Quality Ratings

Product	Subway	Office	Baseline
Best	9.0	9.0	9.5
Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2	8.0	7.5	8.0
Average	6.7	7.8	8.3
Worst	2.0	5.0	7.0

In ideal settings, it may come as no surprise that the voice of both our male and female testers comes through clearly, with no audible distortion.

In the office setting, which you can play via the video below, these earbuds isolate both the man's and the woman's voice beautifully. They sound crisp and clear above the typing and rustling in the background. You can still hear the setting, but it fades firmly into the background.

When the grating sounds of the subway blare in the background, it gets a little harder to hear the call, but it's still understandable, as you can hear in the video below. The man's voice shifts in volume slightly, but the background noises fade impressively. The woman's voice suffers more. It's somewhat muffled throughout the call, and it's even worse toward the end. Still, we're impressed with their performance in this stress test. And it's a noticeable improvement over the previous version.

Should You Buy the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2?

These lightweight earbuds are our favorites for workouts, thanks to their combination of impressive sound quality, comfort, and in-ear security. If you lead an active lifestyle, you'll also appreciate their 10-hour run time (without ANC) and rugged, water and dust-resistant design. The intuitive app and solid call quality are great bonuses, too. While the active noise cancellation is solid though, it's not the best in the test. If you need help focusing at work or relaxing on a flight, these may not be your best bet. Other options have more impressive sound quality as well.

What Other Earbuds Should You Consider?

If you'd like durable earbuds with solid performance for less, the Jaybird Vista 2 buds sound nearly as good and cost quite a bit less. They're less comfortable to wear for extended periods, and their bulky design is best suited for larger ears. If you're less concerned with durability and maximizing battery life but would like improvements in every other category for nearly the same price, the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 has slightly better audio quality and noise cancellation and is more comfortable to boot. While the Gen 2 did improve upon its predecessor, it wasn't by much in our most important categories, so we recommend the Active 8 first generations as an alternative, especially if they're on sale. However, if call quality is important, you'll want to stick with its newest rendition.