Danish brand Jabra needs no introduction in the personal audio segment. It’s even more popular when it comes to TWS earbuds, and gives a tough competition to the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and Sony in the premium segment. Jabra’s Elite series, in particular, is a name to reckon with, and continuing this much sought-after line-up, the company recently launched Jabra Elite 4 Active, yet another premium TWS offering with features such as Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), adjustable EQ and IP57-rated water resistance, to name a few. Priced at Rs 9,999, the Jabra Elite 4 Active comes in Black, Light Mint and Navy colour options. We had the latter for review, which we used for a couple of weeks, and here’s what we liked about this device, what we didn’t and why you should splurge this amount of money. Let’s take a look at these findings.
Design and Build
The Jabra Elite 4 Active gives you a premium touch and feel as soon as you take it in your hands. Starting with case, it’s made of a high-quality plastic and offers a decent flat-cylindrical design, which makes it easy to hold and carry in your pocket. There’s an LED just underneath the Jabra branding on the front of the charging case, which works as a battery life indicator, whereas on the back you get a USB-C port to charge the device.
In terms of earbuds, they have borrowed a design language from other Jabra TWS such as the premium Elite 7 Pro or the more affordable Elite 3. Although they offer a monotonous feel, the earbuds fit in ears of almost all shapes and sizes. The earbuds have got a matte and rubberised finish, which makes them feel tough. They sport a mesh grille that covers the mic on each earbud, which further helps in activating HearThrough mode and filtering out ambient noise when you are on a call using the mic. Defying today’s trend of touch controls, you get a multi-functional physical button on each housing, which helps you control your music playback, adjust the volume, accept, reject, and end calls, and summon your device’s voice assistant. Besides, you get a small LED indicator on each earbud which helps you know the battery status, as well as when they’re in pairing mode, or powering off.
Taken as a whole, the earphones offer a snug-fit design and stay perfectly in place, although the Jabra Elite 4 Active comes with two extra pairs of eartips made for different ear canal sizes. In addition, the earbuds come with IP57 dust- and water-resistance rating, which enables you to use them while exercising without having to worry about sweat or splashes of rains.
Also Read: Jabra Elite 3 Review: It does the job well with handy features
Features and Performance
It’s very easy to pair the Jabra Elite 4 Active with your smartphone via Bluetooth 5.2. It was a breeze with my iPhone 11. Besides, you may download the Jabra Sound+ app, where you’ll be able to select your EQ settings, adjust the HearThrough levels, and update the firmware when required. Inside the Jabra Elite 4 Active are 6mm drivers in each earbud, which deliver rich and punchy audio but not bass heavy. Even though the sound quality is satisfactory with excellent highs and lows, you have better options at this price range to go for. It was a wonderful experience while watching movies and listening to music. Thanks to the Qualcomm AptX HD codec, the details are super clear and adequate.
In terms of ANC which happens to be a prominent feature in premium segment devices, it works reasonably, keeping you unaware of your surroundings by isolating all the noise around you. Moreover, thanks to the Jabra Sound+ app, you’ll be able to set the level of noise isolation, and you can also adjust your preference whenever you would like. On the other hand, the HearThrough mode works pretty well, as turning on this feature instantaneously makes you aware of your surroundings and the audio comes through quite clearly via the microphone. It’s definitely an interesting feature that one should take into account while purchasing ANC earphones.
Talking about the call quality, it’s really impressive, thanks to the four built-in microphones used by the Jabra Elite 4 Active, as they are protected by a special mesh covering that helps in isolating noise. The sound went through perfectly clear at all times during my tests.
Battery
Battery-wise, it’s very remarkable. The company claims that the Elite 4 Active will last for up to 28 hours with the charging case, with seven hours of playback provided by the earbuds themselves. Standing tall to its claim, the all-new set of TWS earbuds will not let you down with ANC switched on.
Conclusion
The Jabra Elite 4 Active comes packed with a host of premium features like ANC, adjustable EQ, water and sweat resistance, powerful battery, and more. It offers a pretty clear and detailed sound quality but not bass-heavy. Although it misses out on wireless charging, it’s one of the best options to go for at the given price. It’s a complete package and you’ll not feel cheated.
Also Read: Truke Air Buds and Air Buds+ Review: More than enough features to die for in budget segment