JABRA ELITE 10 GEN 2

Design & Construction

With the competition getting intense in recent years, Jabra is calling it quits in the noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds market. This is the last and final version of the Jabra Elite 10 and they are leaving with a bang. Let dive in, the Gen 2 shares exactly the same case and buds dimensions as the Gen 1, aside from an additional button added to the case on the new generation. As usual, the Elite 10 fit is compact and secure with a fully rubberised grippy material wrapping the earbuds back, colpilemented by the glossy button pad on the buds' face. The trusty physical old-school buttons functions well without actually jamming the earbuds into your ears when you press them. Now for the controls, a single press on the right earbud will play/pause your music, a double press will skip forward, and a triple press will skip backward; holding it down will increase the volume. Moving to the left earbud, a single press will enable Active Noise Cancellation, HearThrough or Passive Noise Isolation while a double press will bring up Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri. Meanwhile, holding it down will decrease the volume. For calls, there is yet another set of controls that does the same command on either earbud. A single press will pick up the call and a double press will end the call. When you are in a call, a single press will mute/unmute the microphone. Similarly, the volume can be increased by holding down the right earbud and decreased when holding down the left earbud. If you need to pair a second device, you can hold down both earbuds for 3 seconds to enable Bluetooth pairing. Moving onto the case, the tried and true top-opening earbuds case remains in force. Against its competitors, the case is slimmer and definitely as small and compact as the Apple AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Marshall Motif ANC 2. Like all true wireless earbuds, the earbuds dock in fairly easily and will not fall out when the case is flipped since there are magnets inside to keep them secure. There is a USB-C port at the bottom of the case with an LED indicator in front to notify you of the case charge when closed. It takes about 3 hours to charge both the case and the earbuds from a dead battery. However, if you are in a rush, there is always quick charge which will allow for 1 hour of playback with a 5 minutes charge. Now, the newest feature here is definitely the world's first LE Audio smart case that basically acts as a transmitter for wireless audio streaming in places where Bluetooth is not permitted, such as in airplanes or gaming with Switch devices. This has been possible with the special cable in the package that features a 3.5mm end to USB-C cable. To use, simply connect the USB-C end of the cable to the case and the other to your source before pressing the button on the case once to easily enable audio streaming. The button will also act as a play/pause button when connected. Both earbuds bear the Jabra logo and have subtle LED indicators that will only light up when necessary such as in situations like recharging or pairing them. In normal usage of music playback or calls, they never light up to attract unwanted attention. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone EarGels to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the Elite 10 isn't a sports earbud, it boasts an IP57 dust and water resistance for those intense workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind. The earbuds and case also do a great job at resisting fingerprints smudges. 

​

Sound Quality

To start things off, the Elite 10 Gen 2 has the best sound signature of any Jabra earbuds of all time, Thanks to Jabra's newest development of 10mm drivers with a semi-open design, the output is well-defined, light and airy with deep, punchy bass. It never managed to distort at loud volume and never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level. It hits doesn't hit as deep as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 but it definitely as strong as the Sony WF-1000XM5. The highs sound bright, light on the ears and filled with plenty of details. The mids do sound extremely crisp. The soundstage is wider than the Sony WF-1000XM5 and comparable to the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4. The instrument separation is excellent and distinct left and right channels could be heard. If you are not so much of an EDM or Hip-Hop fan, I am glad to report that the Elite 10 Gen 2 works perfectly with all other genres ranging from Pop to Jazz after you fiddle with the customisable sound settings in the Jabra Sound+ App available for download from the App & Play Store. In the app, you will first see Sound Modes which allow you to quickly change the Noise Cancellation settings from ANC, HearThrough or turn off all settings for passive noise isolation. However, this time the ANC cannot also be personalised to your liking from strong to weak ANC. The ANC performance of the Elite 10 Gen 2 has doubled since the last generation and is on par with the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 and the Sony WF-1000XM5. HearThrough is Jabra's version of Transparency Mode to allow you to hear your ambient surrounding sounds so you can always hear the next train announcement or traffic noise to stay safe. There is a slider that allows the control of how much noise to let in. If you prefer the faster way of removing one earbud to hear someone, the earbuds will automatically pause your music, and that you may turn off if you don't want it enabled. Next, you will find the Dolby Spatial Audio For Media switch where you can enable or disable the setting. Personally, I found that the Spatial Audio improved significantly compared to Gen 1 with wider soundstage and stereo imaging, giving it a theatre-like surround. Head-tracking does work flawlessly with movie content that is recorded in new Dolby Atmos surround sound. This time, I would say it gives the AirPods Pro (2nd Gen)'s Spatial Audio capabilities a run for their money while adding more bass to the mix, There is also Stereo Spatialiser that boosts non Dolby Atmos content for a wider soundstage and I have to say I am impressed with both the Dolby Atmos as well as Stereo Spatialiser integration. For more basic folks, the Sound Equaliser is still present for you to customise your very own or choose from the presets. There are presets like Neutral, Speech, Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Smooth, and Energise. Different presets do work well with different music genres and I personally prefer the Energise preset. Just below the Sound Equaliser, there are Soundscapes. Basically what these white noises do is to help mask sounds for you to focus. And I have to say, it is pretty cool. They help you focus and concentrate on tasks when you get a little tired from listening to music. There is an entire list of sounds to choose from and my personal favourite has got to be cavern. Lastly, at the bottom, you can edit the position of your widgets to remove or re-arrange your most-used settings. Moving on, you can also update the earbuds firmware, change your voice assistant, customise your MyControls individual earbuds playback and calls commands, register your earbuds for warranty or change the language of the voice guidance. There is now a Wind Noise Reduction mode that can be enabled when outdoors, however it does sacrifices a some ANC or HearThrough performance to keep wind noise from affecting the listening experience. There is the option to switch between Spotify Tap or Voice Assistant options upon a double press on the left earbud, but do note you can only enable one choice at any one time. If you ever lose your earbuds, you can always use the Find My Jabra feature to trace it back. In other settings, you can also see your earbuds technical information or contact support straight from the app itself. Lastly, the most wow-ed feature of Jabra products is the call quality. In calls, the Elite 10 uses 6 MEMS mics to keep its call quality on par with the superior Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen). You can also enable SideTone which basically feeds the earbuds with your own voice when you talk to another party over the call. In the settings, you can enable auto-accept calls using in-ear detection, auto-pause music when you remove the earbuds from your ear as well as various call enhancement settings such as auto-answer calls, auto-mute microphones, mute reminder and call quality equaliser. There is anlso sleep mode that helps conserve battery by putting the earbuds to sleep ranging from 15 mins to 2 hours or Off.

​

Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the relatively new Bluetooth Version 5.3 together with LC3, AAC and SBC codecs. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 6 hours per use with ANC and HearThrough and up to 8 hours without both; together with the charging case, you are able to achieve up to a maximum of 27 hours with ANC and HearThrough and 36 hours without them both. The package also comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging and the earbuds are Qi wireless charging capable. Either earbuds allow for one-sided listening with perfect connectivity to the app as the app was able to detect my earbuds all the time. Additionally, multipoint is supported so you can connect two devices at once to take calls and listen to music simultaneously. The earbuds also support Google’s Fast Pair feature that enable effortless Bluetooth pairing with your Android devices. These are further enhanced with Swift Pair on a Windows laptop, desktop PC or tablet as pop-up pairing guidance will appear on compatible devices when pairing mode is selected. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission.

​

PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Ergonomic Fit

• Low Profile

• Customisable Sound Signature

• Dolby Atmos with Head Tracking Capabilities

• Stereo Spatialiser

• Customisable Call Quality Settings

• Excellent Call Quality

• HearThrough

• SideTone

• Tactile Button Controls For Music Play & Calls

• Find My Jabra Tracking

• Bluetooth 5.3

• LC3 Audio Codec

• Smart Case

• Quick USB-C Charging

• Qi Wireless Charging

• Long Battery Life

• IP57 Dust & Waterproof 

• Multi-Device Bluetooth Pairing

• A Range of Colours

​

CONS​​​​

• No AptX Codec Support

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Jabra Elite Active 10 Gen 2 has a lot to offer on in terms of features and functions. The top features why it is so sought-after in a saturated market of true wireless earbuds has got to be its Dolby Atmos integration, clear call quality, strong noise-cancelling as well as the smart case capabilities. It is indeed a seamless and hassle-free experience that Jabra has nailed after going through so many iterations of earbuds. The Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 is definitely the way to go if you need a complete package with an attractive price tag to match.