Jabra Elite 65t headset test

You remember Her ? For my part, this film by Spike Jonzes is remarkable because it is certainly one of the most accurate in its anticipation of new technologies. If Apple in 2016 marked the spirits by releasing the first “true wireless” earphones, it is really in 2018 that we will see the market being invaded by these small “earbuds” making us look more and more like Theodore Twombly.

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to test one of the market leaders, the Jabra Elite 65t.

The look of the Jabra Elite 65t

Let’s start with the style of these little earbuds. I’ll say it right off the bat, I’m deeply opposed to the “cotton bud” style of the Apple AirPods. So I tend to look for the exact opposite.

And these Jabras do the job perfectly ! Discreet, they are anything but ostentatious, which I really appreciate. Because, as we will see, they manage to sacrifice neither the comfort nor the ergonomics, which is quite a test of strength !

The charging case follows the same trend. Black, small, sober, it is simply engraved with the logo of the brand. It has in addition to this engraving only a led allowing to follow its load and a micro-usb port.

Simple, but effective.

The ergonomics of the Jabra 65t

As seen, these earbuds are discreet. They fully assume their role as in-ear monitors and therefore penetrate the ear canal sufficiently to isolate almost completely from external sounds. So much so that you can hear the sound of your footsteps while walking for example.

If some will find it off-putting, for others it’s a totally secondary concern when you’re used to the isolation of an in-ear earphone. Being part of the second team, I must admit that I find this very positive !

The format of the earphones is also like molded on the format of the conch of the ear, like some high-end in-ear monitors. So it’s not just the ear canal that’s blocked, but a good part of the ear’s concha. Depending on your ears, this may feel uncomfortable (although you get used to it). However, it allows a perfect holding of the earphones that it is very difficult to make fall involuntarily !

Despite their small size, the Jabra Elite 65t manage to have most of the necessary controls at your fingertips. On/off, volume control, next/previous songs, call answering, “HearThrough” mode to hear around you, invocation of Alexa / Google Now / Siri (at your convenience and according to your hardware) … in short, all the necessary controls are there and you can easily forget the phone at the bottom of a pocket or bag !

A small but important plus, the sound cuts off naturally when you remove one of the earphones (when a colleague comes to talk to you for example), and restarts as soon as you put it back on. Simple and efficient, this is typically the kind of simple things that will quickly become essential !

As for the battery, the headphones are advertised for 5 hours of use, plus two recharges via the case, for a total of 15 hours. Without having really tested it to the end, it is certain that for a daily subway trip of about 40 minutes, I never had to recharge the box during a whole week !

The application for smartphone

In the case of this test, only the iOS application was tested, but no doubt the functions are the same on Android. The Jabra Sound+ application allows you to follow the state of the battery of your earphones, but also to launch sound loops (rain, fire, pink sound), to review the features of your earphones, to update them, but also a very practical equalizer to adapt the sound to your wishes !

The sound of the Jabra 65t

And here is the most important ! Being quite demanding on the quality of the sound, I was a bit apprehensive about these headphones. However, the good insulation was already a plus.

Without equalizer, the sound was already good, with a tendency to slightly push the bass and with highs rather crystalline, almost aggressive.

By playing a little to attenuate the bass, boost a little the mediums and attenuate the high-mediums, I arrive at a more neutral sound without falling in the surgical, pleasant.

The spacialization is good, and we could have wished a little more dynamism on the membranes. But we quibble, at this price level, it is quite satisfactory ! As well on jazz as on electro or metal, the earphones go out with the honors !

On the video level, obviously we find this slight delay due to the Bluetooth. If Netflix corrects it, it is not the case of a YouTube, so beware to video lovers !

The telephony function

Although this is not my main use, I must say that these headphones did the job well. Taking calls is easy, the microphones are of good quality and the communication is good with my interlocutors !

In conclusion, these little earbuds are quite impressive for their price and will easily convince us to switch to True Wireless as they are so well designed and well balanced in terms of functionality ! All that’s missing is an artificial intelligence of the quality of Samantha in Her, and you’d think you were there !