Over all I really like the new Jabra Elite 85T’s and its very easy for me to recommend
these earbuds to either an iPhone user or an android user. And I general I feel the
Jabra Elite 85T’s are a good middle child between the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum
2’s cause they have good convenience and good sound quality. So if you’re thinking
about picking the Jabra Elite 85T’s up lets see how they stake up against the AirPods
Pro and the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which are currently my two favorite earbuds.
Now first off lets talk about price. The Jabra’s retail for $230 undercutting both the AirPods
Pro which have a retail price of $250 and the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which retail
for $300 which can be a deciding factor for some people. Nonetheless if you want to pick
any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below and if you want to learn more about
any of these earbuds please watch their full reviews cause we’re only going over their
main differences. Now as with any pair of truly wireless
earbuds first lets address their carrying cases. Now right off the bat I do wanna say
that all of these earbuds have decently small carrying cases for today’s standards unlike
lets say the Bose QC earbuds who’s case is just way to big for everyday carry earbuds
these days all while only having a combined battery life of 18 hours. However with that
being said, the momentum 2’s do have the largest case here. Its the thickest case here
and it also has the largest foot print here. You can absolutely still daily carry these
earbuds with out any problems but you are going to notice the momentum 2’s case the
most here when its in your pocket than these other two earbuds. Where as with the AirPods
Pro these earbuds have the smallest and slimmest case here so its the least noticeable here
when its in your pocket. And then there’s Jabra’s case which is comparable to the
AirPods Pro case but it does have a slightly larger foot print and it is slightly thicker.
Overall all of these earbuds have decent cases but the AirPods Pro have the smallest case
here making them super convenient.
However one very important thing to keep in mind here is that the momentum 2’s are the
only earbuds here that don’t have wireless charging. Now personally for me wireless charging
isn’t a must have feature but I do want to point it out either for the people who
have already invest in a few wireless chargers or if they have a phone that supports powering
sharing.
Now when it comes to battery life… the AirPods Pro have a combined advertised battery life
of 24 hours with their Active noise cancelation turned on. Where as the jabra’s have an
advertised combined battery life of 25 hours with their active noise cancelation turned
on and the Sennheiser’s have an advertised combined battery life of 28 hours with their
active noise cancelation turned off. Now over all then it comes to battery life all of these
earbuds have decent battery lives for earbuds in 2020… but I do gotta admit the sennheiser’s
are starting to fall behind a little bit cause they do have the largest case but no wireless
charging.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Now all three of these earbuds are in ear
earbuds… but the momentum 2’s are the only earbud here that fit like your standard
pair of in ear ear buds. As in they actually go into your ear canals a decent amount. Where
as with both the AirPods Pro and Jabra’s… even though yeah they are in ear earbuds…
they don’t actually go into your ear canals all the much they only go in a little bit.
Now personally I do find both the AirPods Pro and 85T’s to be more comfortable than
your standard pair of in ear earbuds like either the momentum 2’s, 75T’s, or galaxy
buds plus… But I do find that the Jabra Elite 85T’s fit more comfortably and more
secularly than the AirPods Pro. Theres just something about the stiffer ear tips on the
85T’s that just make them feel more natural and stay in place better than the AirPods
Pro. So over all for me I do gotta say that the Jabra Elite 85T’s are the best fitting
earbuds here. The don’t go in super deep into your ear canals like the AirPods Pro
which I really like, but unlike the AirPods Pro the don’t wiggle out as much. And I
can actually wear these earbuds for long periods of time without any problem unlike lets say
the Momentum 2’s which I do gotta take out every so often cause they do get itchy after
while.
But now lets talk about bluetooth connectivity cause there’s a lot to cover here. Now the
AirPods Pro are the only earbuds here where each earbud actually establishes a connection
with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one
it doesn’t matter. And thanks to apple’s H1 chip you can easily hot swap between any
of your apple devices which could be great for any power user thats heavily integrated
into apple’s eco system.
Where as with both the Jabra’s and Sennheiser are using a hero and sidekick set up. So one
earbud, the hero earbud, this case the right earbud on both of these earbuds actually establishes
a connection with you phone and then relays that connection to the other earbud. So if
you just want to use one earbud at a time you gotta use the correct earbud or the right
earbud.
However with the jabra’s they can actually be connected to 2 devices at the same time
so you can easily hot swap from one device to another. So if you’re someone thats maybe
using an iPhone but you’re using a windows machine you can still switch from your phone
to you computer. So this is definitely one feature to keep in mind about the Jabra’s
cause not a lot of other earbud can do this.
But more importantly when it comes to performance all of these earbuds have zero latency across
the board when your watching movies or videos on you phone whether your using an iPhone
or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs both the AirPods Pro and Jabra’s
only have support for SBC and AAC where as the Momentum 2’s have support for SBC, AAC,
and APTX.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds. If sound quality is a
priority for you then the AirPods Pro are the last earbuds you wanna be looking at here.
Compared to these other earbuds the AirPods Pro sound very narrow, they put an emphasis
on the mids, and they bass does not resonate what so ever. Personally for me I never use
my AirPods Pro to listen to music. For me I only use AirPods Pro to watch videos or
listen to podcasts. But then there are the Jabra Elite 85T’s that sound much more open
than the AirPods Pro and they also have hard hitting bass that does resonate a little bit.
Now even though these earbuds do have a fully customizable EQ these ear buds are better
suited for people who like a warmer EQ cause even though they do sound more open than the
AirPods Pro they don’t sound as open as like lets say the Galaxy Buds Plus or the
Sennheiser CX 400BT’s. But then there are the Momentum 2’s. Now ive said it before
but these are my favorite sounding earbuds. They sound more open than the Jabra Elite
85T’s with deeper resonating bass… but they also do a better job of controlling their
bass then the 85T’s. With the 85T’s if there’s too much bass it can get a little
harder to hear the mids and vocals. Over all the 85T’s sound much better than the AirPods
Pro but if you are looking for the best sound quality I still say go with
the Momentum 2’s.
Now when it comes to media controls both the Jabra’s and Sennehsier’s allow you to
play or pause your music, skip a track, go back a track, cycle between active noise cancellation
and your ambient mode or even raise or lower your volume all straight from the earbuds
themselves. And personally I really like when you have all of this control straight from
the earbuds themselves. The only difference here is that the Jabra’s are using psychical
buttons where as the Sennheiser are using touch pads.
But then there are the AirPods Pro. Now personally im not the biggest fan of the media controls
on the AirPods Pro cause I feel pinching your earbuds feels very awkward. And having to
say Hey Siri raise or lower the volume feels very clunky cause it takes for ever. However
having always listing Siri is great for more complex tasks cause you can just be like hey
Siri call so and so or send so and so a text and boom its done.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these earbud. Now I do want to taper expectations
here. The active noise cancelation on these earbuds are not going to block out nearly
as much noise as a proper pair of over ear and headphones and the active noise cancellation
on these earbuds are going to predominately block out constant low frequency sounds like
either road noise or the hum of an AC unit.
Now with all that being said when it comes to ranking all of these earbuds block out
less noise than the Bose QC earbuds… but I do feel the Momentum 2’s and 85T’s are
neck and neck and they do block out more noise than both the AirPods Pro and Sony WF-1000XM3’s.
However when it comes to performance even though all of these earbuds have very little
cabin pressure which is good and they all do a good job of rejecting wind noise when
walking out doors… I do gotta point out that the Jabra’s sound very different with
their active noise cancelation turned on versus when its turned off. They get narrowed up
a little bit and their bass doesn't hit as hard. Where as with these other two earbuds
they don’t change how they sound.
Now personally I only use the active noise cancellation on any of my earbuds when I have
to and what’s really important to me is a decent ambient mode which is something all
three of these earbuds have. However like ive mentioned in the past, I feel the AirPods
Pro have the best ambient mode here cause it sounds the most natural and they also do
the best job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
Cause in situations where you’ll might be walking out doors and you get hit by a gust
of wind these earbuds might pick up some wind noise… the AirPods Pro will still manage
to reject that wind noise. So for me, someone who bassicly uses their ambient mode all the
time when they’re outside thats a pretty big deal.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now all three of these earbuds do have decent
microphones for phones calls but the Momentum 2’s do have the most amplification here.
Where as with the Jabra’s they don’t have as much amplification but you do want to take
phone calls with these earbud in a quiet room case these earbuds do like to pick up a lot
of ambient noise.
So if you are someone that is planning on taking lots and lots of phone calls with their
earbuds… I do feel the AirPods Pro are the best option here cause they don’t sound
as amplified as the Sennheiser’s… and they do a better job of focusing on your voice
than the Jabra’s.
But with all that being said… I really like all three of these earbuds but for different
reasons. For me I really like the AirPods Pro cause they offer the most convenience.
They have a tiny case that isn’t super noticeable when you’ve got it in your pocket, they
have the best ambient mode here, always listening Siri allows you to do complex tasks all with
just your voice, and if you’re heavily invested into apple’s eco system you can easily hot
swap from one device to another. But the AirPods Pro don’t sound the greatest and these earbuds
do like to wiggle out quite a bit. Personally I love using my AirPods Pro when im out doing
errands and I mostly use them to consume videos, podcasts, and take phone calls with. Then
there are the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I absolutely love to use to listen to music
with. They also have a good ambient mode and active noise cancellation and you can absolutely
daily drive them without any problems but they don’t offer as much convenience as
the AirPods Pro. But then there are the Jabra’s which are a good fusion between the AirPods
Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s. The Jabra’s have a smaller case than the Momentum 2’s
and they also offer wireless charging like the AirPods Pro. They sound better then AirPods
Pro but not as good as the Momentum 2’s. The Jabra’s have decent active noise cancellation
and a decent ambient mode… but I think their standout characteristic is going to be their
fit. Out of all three of these earbuds… I can’t get over how well the Jabra Elite
85T’s fit.