Jabra Elite 10 Dolby Atmos True Wireless Earbuds

Key Features of Jabra Elite 10 Dolby Atmos True Wireless Earbuds

The Jabra Elite 10 Dolby Atmos True Wireless Earbuds are a premium audio product known for their comfort, sound quality, and unique features. Here are some of their key characteristics:

1. Design and Build Quality: The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds have an egg-like shape, contoured undersides, and are wrapped in soft silicone, offering a comfortable fit and impressive build quality. They come in several colors: Titanium Black, Cocoa, Matte Black, Gloss Black, and Cream​​. The charging case is similar to Apple’s AirPods Pro case but is slightly larger, with rounded corners for easy handling​​.
2. Waterproof and Dustproof: These earbuds are rated IP57, meaning they are both waterproof and dustproof, making them suitable for use in various conditions. However, it’s important to note that the charging case does not share this protection​​.
3. Sound Quality: The Jabra Elite 10 is equipped with 10mm drivers, delivering a sound profile with full and resonant bass, clear mids, and detailed highs. They are described as providing the best sound quality among Jabra’s earbuds to date​​.
4. Dolby Atmos and Head Tracking: A standout feature of the Elite 10 is the Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head-tracking. This technology provides an immersive audio experience by keeping some sound elements anchored in space, while others move with your head movements. However, the spatial audio effect may vary, with some users finding it less impressive than expected​​.
5. Comfort and Fit: The Jabra Elite 10 comes with four sizes of oval eartips, designed for a more comfortable and secure fit. However, their larger size may pose a fit challenge for those with smaller ears​​.
6. Control and Connectivity: These earbuds feature physical buttons for control, which are appreciated for their precision and ease of use, especially in cold weather where touch controls can be less reliable. They support Bluetooth Multipoint, allowing them to connect to two devices simultaneously. Pairing is easy with both iOS and Android devices​​.
7. Noise Cancellation and HearThrough: The Jabra Elite 10 offers effective noise cancellation and a HearThrough feature for transparency, allowing outside sound in when needed. However, the noise cancellation is not necessarily twice as effective as other models, despite marketing claims​​.
8. Battery Life: The battery life is comparable to previous Jabra models, with up to eight hours of playtime with ANC off (36 hours with the charging case) and six hours with ANC on (27 hours total). They also support fast charging​​.
9. Call Quality: While the Jabra Elite 10 has good call quality, it doesn’t quite match the clarity and consistency of the Elite 7 Pro, with some background noise still noticeable during calls​​.
10. Price and Value: Priced at $249, the Jabra Elite 10 is Jabra’s most expensive earbud model to date, comparable to the Apple AirPods Pro​​. They offer a comprehensive set of features but may not represent the same value as Jabra’s previous flagship models​​.

In summary, the Jabra Elite 10 Dolby Atmos True Wireless Earbuds are a high-quality audio device with distinctive features like Dolby Atmos spatial audio, effective noise cancellation, and waterproofing. While they excel in sound quality and comfort, their spatial audio and call quality might not meet everyone’s expectations. They are positioned as a premium product in Jabra’s lineup, comparable in price to leading competitors.

Specification

Performance

1. Comfort and Fit: The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds are designed for comfort, with their new shape and oval eartips that nestle well into the outer ear. This design is helpful in mitigating the occlusion effect often experienced with in-ear headphones. However, their larger size might not fit well for those with smaller ears, and the shorter tower of the eartips may result in a less secure fit for all ear sizes​​.
2. Controls and Features: Jabra’s use of physical buttons for controls on the Jabra Elite 10 is highly efficient, offering precision and the ability to use them with gloves on. They also feature in-ear detection for automatic pausing of media playback or accepting phone calls when an earbud is placed in the ear. The Jabra Sound+ app provides additional control over features like active noise cancellation (ANC), HearThrough, and the equalizer​​​​.
3. Connectivity: The Elite 10 earbuds support Google Fast Pair, making them easy to pair with Android devices. They also work well with Windows PCs via Microsoft’s Swift Pair. The earbuds can remember up to ten devices and connect to two simultaneously, thanks to Bluetooth Multipoint support. The earbuds also have a mono mode where only one earbud can be used while the other remains in the case​​​​.
4. Sound Quality: The Elite 10 is praised for its sound quality, offering a lively sound stage with clear and transparent sound. However, some users may find the low frequencies lacking in power, especially for genres like rock music and action-heavy films. The Dolby Atmos feature provides an enhanced audio presentation, though its effectiveness varies and is subject to personal preference​​​​.
5. Noise Cancellation and Transparency: The ANC on the Elite 10 is effective in reducing noise in various conditions, but it may not be as powerful as some other models. The vented design of the earbuds allows more external sound to enter, affecting the ANC’s efficiency. The HearThrough feature is useful for allowing ambient sound in, but it may produce static noise in very quiet environments​​​​.
6. Call Quality: While the Elite 10 has good call quality, it doesn’t match the clarity and consistency of the Elite 7 Pro. The earbuds are not highly effective at suppressing background noise, making ambient sounds noticeable during calls. However, they still offer useful features like adjustable side-tone and one-click mic muting​​.
7. Battery Life: The battery life of the Elite 10 is commendable, with more than ten hours of usage possible with noise cancellation enabled at a moderate volume level. The battery life may decrease in louder environments where the ANC needs to work harder. The earbuds support wireless charging, adding to their convenience​​​​.
8. Overall Verdict: The Jabra Elite 10 earbuds are considered a high-quality pair of premium in-ear headphones with few flaws. They offer an impressive set of features, including Dolby Atmos and effective ANC. They are also waterproof, enhancing their versatility. However, they lack high-resolution audio codecs, which are expected to be supported in future updates​​.

In summary, the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds excel in comfort, sound quality, and feature set, making them a solid choice for day-to-day usage. Their ergonomic design, effective noise cancellation, and rich sound experience stand out, though they have some limitations in terms of fit for smaller ears and call quality compared to their predecessors.

Pros

1. Comfort: The earbuds are known for their comfortable fit, with an ergonomic design and oval eartips that fit well in most ears​​​​​​.
2. Sound Quality: They offer excellent sound quality, with dynamic and present bass, and a precise midrange. The inclusion of Dolby Atmos and head tracking enhances the audio experience for movies, series, and games​​​​.
3. Waterproof and Dustproof: With an IP57 rating, the earbuds are both waterproof and dustproof, adding to their durability and versatility​​.
4. Battery Life: The Elite 10 offers competitive battery life, with up to 6 hours of listening with ANC enabled, and a total of 27 hours with the charging case​​​​.
5. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): The earbuds feature effective ANC and a transparency mode, which is faithful and efficient​​.
6. Bluetooth Multipoint: They support Bluetooth Multipoint, allowing connection to two devices simultaneously​​.

Cons

1. Call Quality: The call quality is considered mediocre, not matching the clarity and consistency of other Jabra models like the Elite 7 Pro​​​​.
2. Spatial Audio: The spatial audio feature, while present, does not significantly impress and has limited utility due to under-exploitation and compatibility issues with media​​.
3. Lack of High-Quality Codec Support at Launch: At launch, the earbuds do not support high-quality codecs, which can impact sound quality for more discerning listeners​​.
4. ANC Performance: While the ANC is effective, it is not on the same level as some high-end rivals, such as those from Bose and Sony​​.
5. High-Frequency Sibilance: Some users have reported issues with high-frequency sibilance, which can affect the listening experience​​.
6. No Manual Adjustment of Noise Reduction Intensity: There is no option to manually adjust the intensity of the noise reduction, limiting customization for users​​.

In summary, the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds offer a comfortable fit, excellent sound quality, and good battery life, making them suitable for everyday use and various activities. However, they fall short in areas like call quality and ANC performance compared to some competitors, and lack support for high-quality codecs at launch. The effectiveness of their spatial audio feature is also a matter of personal preference and media compatibility.

Conclusion

The Jabra Elite 10 Dolby Atmos True Wireless Earbuds are a product of Jabra’s long-standing expertise in the audio industry. They mark the company’s first foray into the true-wireless stereo (TWS) class with features like 3D sound with Dolby head tracking and an IP57 waterproof rating. Jabra’s Advanced Active Noise Cancelling technology is touted to be twice as effective as conventional systems, aiming to provide a superior listening experience​​.

In terms of design, the Elite 10 earbuds and charging case are made of premium plastic and come in multiple colors. The earbuds are held securely in the case by magnets and support wireless charging. The earbuds’ unique triangular-shaped sound bores with rounded corners, distinct from most in-ear headphones, necessitate the use of Jabra-specific EarGels, which are available for purchase directly from the company​​.

Feature-wise, the Elite 10 supports Google Fast Pair for easy setup on Android devices and Microsoft’s Swift Pair for Windows PCs. They offer Bluetooth Multipoint, allowing them to connect to two devices simultaneously. The Jabra Sound+ app is central to managing features like ANC, HearThrough, and the equalizer. Additionally, the earbuds have in-ear detection, pausing media playback automatically when removed from the ears and can accept phone calls when one earbud is put on​​.

The sound quality of the Elite 10 is impressive, with a clear and transparent sound stage. The low frequencies, however, might lack power for certain genres like rock music and action-heavy films. The Dolby Atmos feature enhances audio presentation, although its effectiveness can vary based on personal preference. The earbuds’ microphones deliver natural voice quality during calls but are less effective at suppressing ambient noise. The ANC is more effective when not on calls, while the HearThrough function introduces static noise in quiet environments​​.

Battery performance of the Elite 10 is noteworthy, with the earbuds lasting more than ten hours on a single charge, even with ANC enabled and volume adjusted to 65 dB(A). The charging case, equipped with a 680 mAh battery, supports wireless charging, but battery life may decrease in environments requiring more active noise cancellation​​.

Overall, the Jabra Elite 10 earbuds deliver an almost complete set of features, with high-res audio codecs being the only significant omission. However, support for LC3plus is expected to be added in future updates​​.

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