Whereas some of us are content material listening to regardless of the fitness center is taking part in throughout their exercises, I simply can’t do it — except any person is taking part in Wu-Tang. I’ve acquired to have the ability to change it as much as swimsuit the second — heavy lifting requires heavy steel. On cardio days, I prefer to match the BPM of the music to my coronary heart fee to provide me a little bit further increase, and on lively restoration days, I wish to take it down a notch and discover the circulate. A superb set of headphones is a must have for me, not simply within the fitness center however all through my day-to-day.
Enter the Jabra Elite 8 Lively ($199). These buds stood out for his or her top-tier sound high quality, the in-app sound and management customization, wonderful battery life, and no-nonsense controls. I examined the Jabra Elite 8 Actives in a wide range of conditions, from simple zone 2 conditioning classes to heavy lifting days, biking, operating, snowboarding, and even whereas writing this text. All through this spherical of testing, I discovered myself reaching for these headphones extra usually than another headphones.
Briefly: With class-leading sound high quality and battery life, the Jabra Elite 8 Lively earbuds merely blow different exercise headphones out of the water. The pass-through spatial audio mode is essential for protecting your wits about you in a busy fitness center, and the accompanying app permits for EQ modifications and even monitoring down misplaced buds. Should you’re severe about your exercise tunes, these are the headphones to get.
Take a look at GearJunkie’s Finest Exercise Headphones Purchaser’s Information to match the Jabra Elite 8 Lively headphones to the remainder of the workout-ready earbuds available on the market.
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Kind
In-ear fashion -
Battery
8 hours with ANC; as much as 32 hours with case -
Weight
10 g buds; 46 g with case -
Bluetooth model
5.3 -
Charging
As much as 3 hours -
Score
IP68 + MIL-STD-810h -
Microphones
Six
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Glorious Bluetooth connectivity -
Nice sound with deep tone -
Good battery life, prolonged with case -
Finest-in-class button controls -
Tremendous safe match
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The case is a little bit slippery -
Expensive
Jabra Elite 8 Lively: Evaluation
First Impressions
I obtained these headphones with out figuring out an excessive amount of about them. My present earbuds are the Google Pixel Professional, and till this spherical of testing, I had thought of the Pixel Buds to be the perfect headphones that I’ve personally used. Out of the field, the Jabra Elite 8 Lively headphones exude an air of high quality. Whereas the case is slippery, the buds themselves are coated with a grippy texture that makes dealing with them tremendous simple.
I arrange the Jabras and headed to the fitness center for my deadlift session of the week. I used to be instantly impressed with the sound high quality and person expertise throughout my session, and by the top, my beloved Pixel buds weren’t trying so sizzling. Round halfway by way of testing, I discovered myself grabbing the Jabra Elite 8 Lively each time I headed out the door. These items are killer fitness center buds.
Match, End, and Efficiency
The match and end of the Jabra Elite 8 are top-tier. These buds are each IP86 waterproof and dustproof, which makes sweating them out of your ears notably troublesome, and when you do occur to drop one, it gained’t choose up any nasty particulate off the fitness center flooring.
Like most different headphones lately, the Jabras embrace a number of silicone tricks to dial in the perfect match on your ears. That is particularly essential for folk within the out of doors health neighborhood, since dropping an earbud on a run or experience can put a damper in your session with quickness.
Throughout testing, I took them on a handful of runs across the native trails, introduced them alongside for our typical mountain bike experience, and even took them out to lap some groomers on the native ski resort. All through testing, the earbuds stayed firmly in place with little to no slippage, even throughout our high-output sweaty runs.
Sound High quality, Customization, and Person Expertise
The sound high quality, battery life, and ANC/spatial audio are all wonderful. Every bud lasts 8 hours between costs, and customers can count on as much as 32 hours between costs with the case. This got here out to roughly one 2-hour cost each week for our tester, making it the perfect at school for battery life.
So far as sound high quality, the preset is superb by itself, however when you obtain the Jabra Sound+ app, it is possible for you to to toggle between completely different EQ presets and/or modify the bass, mid-range, and treble. This lets customers fine-tune their sound in line with the style or in line with their listening wants.
The Sound+ app lets customers replace their firmware, change the fundamental capabilities of their buds, and even discover their buds in the event that they’ve set them down in a forgettable spot someplace. On their very own, the buds are wonderful, however the Sound+ app rounds out the expertise of the Jabra Elite 8s and makes for a whole suite of options.
I additionally discovered the spatial audio characteristic to be notably useful throughout testing — particularly when using my bike to the trailhead and lapping groomers on the resort. It’s additionally a terrific characteristic for growing situational consciousness when the fitness center is bustling.
And for these of you who must zen out and get some work down, the lively noise cancellation does a terrific job of making an auditory bubble that can assist you zone in and drown out undesirable background noise. You’ll additionally be capable to customise the quantity of noise pass-through within the Sound+ app.
Connectivity
The batteries had been absolutely charged straight out of the field, and pairing with Bluetooth took a minute or two, however the startup information included within the field made issues easy. As soon as paired, the buds robotically connect with your telephone when opening the case. That is true for one or each buds at a time, and when you do wish to pair the second bud, the pairing is seamless and works each time.
The claimed vary for these buds is 10 m or a little bit over 33 toes, however throughout testing, I strayed fairly removed from my telephone — as much as double the claimed vary with little to no downside. It’s price noting that we had a direct line of sight throughout that point, however I’m assured that customers can have little problem staying linked within the fitness center or studio.
Standout Options
Throughout my current testing of a handful of different exercise headphones, I had repeat points with undesirable pausing, skipping, and disconnecting with different buds that sport contact management. One of many issues that helps the Elite 8 Lively stand out is its lack of contact controls. Different headphones, just like the Beats Match Professional and the JBL Endurance TWS, have clunky touch-sensitive controls that detract from their efficiency.
Jabra determined one of the simplest ways to navigate these potential points was to cast off them altogether, and I had no points in any respect with unintentional pausing or skipping due to the extra conventional buttons, because of the old style analog management.
Customers are nonetheless capable of faucet to skip and pause songs or reply calls however must depress a bodily button on the bud to take action, making undesirable interruptions a nonissue throughout testing. You’ll additionally be capable to customise the format of your controls by way of the Sound+ app, an particularly helpful characteristic for lefties or of us who could not in any other case be capable to faucet one aspect or the opposite.
Room for Enchancment
Discovering one thing to nit-pick with these buds was, in a phrase, troublesome. I used to be extremely impressed by the design and efficiency of the Jabra Elite 8 lively. The one factor I may discover to be bothered about was the coating on the case, which is especially slippery and led to inadvertently flinging the case throughout the room in just a few situations.
These headphones carried out flawlessly all through our testing and simply beat out their rivals with their match, end, and performance. At $199, they’re spendy however comparably priced to different headphones available on the market, just like the Beats Match Professional, however beat them out with higher connectivity and ease of use, which is why they’re the highest canine in my ebook.
Jabra Elite 8 Lively: Conclusion
I used to be persistently impressed by the Jabra Elite 8 Lively headphones all through my testing. A lot in order that I ditched my earlier favourite buds in favor of those. The match and end are the perfect of any headphones that I’ve personally used.
The sound high quality and EQ customization present higher sound than any of the opposite buds on our best-of listing this yr, and the no-frills contact controls assist the Jabras keep away from tech bloat and stand out from their competitors.
The value tag of $199 is definitely steep, and those that perhaps aren’t fanatical about their exercise audio could also be higher served by a worth headphone just like the JBL Endurance Race TWS or Anker Soundcore Sport X10. Each of those headphones slide in lower than $100 cheaper than the Elite 8s, however the distinction is noticeable.
When mixed with the wonderful battery life and stable in-ear safety, it’s simple to see why these buds took residence our Better of 2024 award. If you’re searching for an uncompromising set of headphones to take you from the fitness center to the paths and anyplace in between, the Jabra Elite 8 Lively is your headphone.