Jabra’s new $200 wireless earbuds use bone conduction for better-than-AirPods call quality

Jabra is back with a roundup of true wireless earbuds that even Samsung, Google, Apple, OnePlus, and others will want to take notice of. The company, which helped popularize the category with the incredibly popular Elite 65t and Elite 75t models in 2018 and 2019, respectively, has seen the market saturate with budget, no-name products sold directly to consumers from Amazon, while the premium tier is being filled by recognizable brands, most of which have their own hardware ecosystems. Jabra stumbled a little with the oversized and overpriced Elite 85t last year and is looking to make up for lost market share with a hattrick.

At the cheap end of the spectrum are the Elite 3s, which cost $79 and share many characteristics with the Elite 75t, including a stout, low-profile design, excellent passive isolation, and 6mm drivers that push just the right amount of bass. Jabra says that these are among the best-sounding earbuds under $100 and boast the clearest microphones for phone calls at that price range, features that are typically not huge prioritizes in the budget segment. I’ve had a pair of Elite 3s for a couple of days and, aside from the lack of ANC, they perform almost identically to the Elite 75t, though with thinner, cheaper-feeling plastic.

Source: Jabra

The Elte 7 Pro and 7 Active, however, are more interesting. Jabra’s consumer arm works in tandem with its parent company, GN Group, to produce earbuds that prioritize microphone quality, with the Elite 7 Pro offering “ultimate cal quality” through a new microphone array the company calls its MultiSensor Voice technology. In addition to four microphones, the Elite 7 Pro use a bone conduction sensor to measure the vibrations generated by one’s jawbone, combining to produce a digital voice reproduction that’s reportedly better than any of its peers.

A cutting-edge voice pick-up (VPU) sensor in both earbuds makes Jabra MultiSensor Voice so effective. The intelligent algorithms constantly analyze the types of noise picked up by the built-in microphones; for example, when detecting wind noise they automatically activate the VPU sensor. Bone conduction technology is used to transmit voice via the vibrations in the jawbone, and the intelligent algorithm then uses the best combination of the bone conduction sensor and microphones to transmit the best call clarity.

The Elite 7 Pro are 16% smaller than the already-small Elite 75t, and come with multi-level ANC, nine hours of battery life per earbud, fast charging, Spotify integration, and support for Google Assistant, Alexa and, on the iPhone, Siri.

The Elite 7 Active trade the MultiSensor Voice feature for something called “ShakeGrip,” which reportedly keeps the buds in-ear during intense workouts.

While you’ll have to wait until October 1 for the Elite 7 Pro and 7 Active, which cost $199 and $179, respectively, the Elite 3 are on sale starting September 1 for $79.