Review of the Jabra Elite 3 headphones: nice in the middle of the road

There is a wide range completely wireless headphones from from super cheap to super premium. Plus, there’s this cute spot right in the middle that gives you some nice features but lets you manage the price. The Jabra Elite 3 headphones take up that space; these headphones have some neat features and nice sound to download. They do this by keeping enough trade-offs to keep the cost lower.

The build quality is nice, but the fit is good

You are not going to buy Jabra Elite 3 for the highest build quality. Where other headphones have a heavier and more refined look and feel, these headphones turn out a little cheaper. Even the Elite 4 Active, which are just a step above them, feel much more premium. The Elite 3 is made from the pretty standard semi-smooth plastic you’ll find in most mid-range headphones.

Although the build is not so premium, Jabra Elite 3, according to the company, is not allowed to rain; however, there is no official rating. These headphones have a unique Jabra design and fit excellent in my ears. They are designed to sit upright and hug the inner wall of the ears, making them very comfortable to use for a long time. Honestly, these are some of the most comfortable headphones I’ve used, and I sometimes forget to even wear them. Just know that they will start to slip when your ears start to sweat.

There are some neat features and good battery run

You control the headphones by pressing the buttons on the left or right cover. Each push of a button performs a different action, and this can be confusing at first. You press the left button once to activate HearThrough mode, and twice to activate the voice assistant. Meanwhile, you right-click once to play / pause, double-click to skip a track, and three times to restart a track. You also hold the buds to increase and decrease the volume.

Most premium headphones have the ability to stream audio through built-in microphones. The Jabra Elite 3 headphones can do that, and the feature is called HearThrough. They do a good job of passing audio, but I wish there was a chance to pause the media if you activate HearThrough mode. When you activate it, the media continues to play the surrounding audio. You can set Jabra Elite 3 to mute when HearThrough mode is activated, which helps, but I think it’s best to pause the media. When you get into a conversation, you don’t want to turn off the media and miss what’s playing. It would be better to pause in the media and continue where you left off.

As for the battery, the package says that one charge can work up to 7 hours. I was able to get about 6 hours and 25 minutes, which isn’t too bad considering the fact that I used HearThrough quite a bit. The charging case can add about three extra charges before connecting it.

The Jabra + app is pretty neat

In my opinion, the Jabra + program is definitely one of the best parts of the whole experience. It is a central hub that gives you information about your headphones and allows you to instantly control the sound. The home screen shows the battery percentage of both headphones separately, which is always helpful to know. There is also a permanent notification that shows the battery percentage for each headphone.

One feature in the app that I like is the “Find My Jabra” feature. It saves the location of your device every time your headphones are turned off. When you call a feature, it shows you the location on a map of that saved location so you can find them if you lose them. Also great is that your location is stored locally on your device and not sent to Jabra.

The only drawback of the application – it’s just iOS and Android devices. You need Jabra + to connect your device to headphones, and it’s only compatible with iOS and Android devices. It still gives you a lot of variety, but doesn’t take into account computer operating systems such as Windows, macOS and Chrome OS (while Chrome OS can use most Android apps, it can’t use the Jabra + app). I’ve found this to be a problem because I usually work while listening to music on my computer, and there are many others who do.

How is the sound quality?

So the Jabra Elite 3 has a unique design, a comfortable fit and a stellar app, but how about real sound quality? Really good! Using these headphones, I did not notice any problems with the overall audio quality. The sound comes out clear and distinct and it lowers you without choking your ears.

Much of the sound experience revolves around the equalizer and preset in the app. It has a five-band equalizer that allows you to fine-tune the sound to suit your interests. If you don’t want to mess with the equalizer, you can choose from six equalizer presets. These presets are designed to cover a wide range of listening scenarios from podcasts to music.

Overall the sound quality really stands out compared to other headphones in this price range. It is right behind the Elite 4 Active in terms of how open the sound is. Overall, listening to Jabra Elite 3, they do a great job of blocking ambient noise and providing full and sharp sound.

Concluding remarks

The Jabra Elite 3 headphones fit into a really good section of the wireless headphone market; available but with some premium features. First of all, they will appeal to people who are used to using cheaper headphones, but want to try what can offer more premium headphones without spending too much money. You don’t get certain benefits like active noise reduction, and the build quality isn’t that high yet, but the sound quality is really good and you have a really powerful Jabra + app; I highly recommend them.