Review: Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2

I’ve got a soft spot for Jabra earbuds. In the early days of fully wireless buds, Jabra’s nascent Elite line helped prove the concept. Like Apple’s first AirPods, Jabra earbuds worked at a time when most rivals struggled with the basics. But more recently, Jabra hasn’t quite kept up with the competition. While its workout buds still rank highly, the flagship Elite 10 have taken a backseat to options from Apple, Bose, Sony, and others.

It’s not that Jabra hasn’t continued to innovate. It’s just that other brands set a faster pace, offering more advanced features, better noise canceling, and in some cases, better sound quality for the money. Within that context, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Jabra’s parent company is throwing in the towel on consumer earbuds altogether. The new Elite 10 Gen 2 and Elite 8 Gen 2 ($230) will be Jabra’s last.

The company is going out with a relative bang. The Elite 10’s second coming offers more competitive noise canceling and a fun new feature that turns the charging case into a wireless transmitter from any 3.5-mm or USB-C audio output. The buds are still something of a tough sell at $280, especially considering you can’t count on any new features in the future. But with a comfy fit, strong performance, and some cool new tricks, the Elite 10 Gen 2 make a case (no pun intended) for your attention.

Fitting In

The new Elite 10’s core design hasn’t changed, and that’s a good thing. The earbuds have a premium feel, from the hardware’s grippy exterior to tactile buttons that make it simple to control playback commands in any scenario. Unlike plenty of rival noise cancelers, the Elite 10 Gen 2 have vigorous weather-proofing, with an IP57 rating that certifies their resistance to dust and the ability to be rinsed off or even dunked after a run or gym session.

Like the Elite 85t before them, the 10’s “semi-open” fit provides some relief from ear occlusion (that plugged-up feeling). The oval-shaped housings aim for ergonomics—Jabra claims it measured 64,000 ears to get it right—with equal parts comfort and stability. The buds aren’t quite as comfy as my favorite fit, the Technics EAH-AZ80 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), but I can wear them all day with only minor discomfort. Four sets of ear gels help you get the fit right.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

There aren’t many features that the Elite 10 Gen 2 don’t cover in some manner, all laid out in Jabra’s dependable (if somewhat overwhelming) Sound+ app (iOS, Android). You’ll find a multi-band EQ and presets for adjusting sound, a Find My Jabra feature, customizable controls, and auto-pairing options like Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, among several other options at your fingertips.

The earbuds are easy to pair to two devices by holding down the exterior buttons, letting you seamlessly swap between a phone and computer. That’s not always the case with new earbuds we test, but as I’ve come to expect, the Elite 10 Gen 2 work without fuss.

Like previous Jabra models, you can tailor your experience with options like turning on or off the auto-pause sensors, adjusting how much of your voice you hear in phone calls, and even adjusting the call EQ. Speaking of calling, the buds worked well indoors and out, with a wind buffer switch that lets you optimize them for inclement weather.

One spot where the earbuds come up a bit short is battery life. At just six hours per charge (27 with the wireless charging case) they’re below most rivals save the AirPods Pro Gen 2 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), which have advanced processing features like adaptive transparency mode to respond to your environment. You won’t get that in the Elite 10, nor will you get the same environmental adaption or speak-to-chat features found in Sony’s WF-1000XM5 (7/10, WIRED Recommends).

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Plug and Play

The Elite 10 Gen 2 also come up short against the best noise canceling headphones, even with cancellation that’s “up to 2x stronger” than the previous pair. Testing them in both my treated studio and out in the wild, the Elite 10 held up quite well for most scenarios, but were trounced by Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra, which seem to strangle environmental sounds with relentless malice. Each year, the noise-canceling wars push us closer to total silence, and Bose is the current leader.

They hold up much better against second-tier noise cancelers like last year’s AZ80, and handily beat top budget options like Anker’s Space A40 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). In practice, that equates to solid suppression of HVAC noises and robot vacuums, and even upper register sounds like lawnmowers or dogs barking—especially with music playing.

Transparency mode performance is similarly second-tier for their class. The world around you doesn’t sound as natural and clear as it does with the AirPods Pro, but it’s clear enough to stay safe in high-traffic areas and even carry on a conversation without trouble. Once again, the buds matched about evenly with the AZ80 here.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

That’s not the case when it comes to sound quality. As some of the best-sounding buds you can buy, the AZ80 offer better detail and instrumental definition to surface more subtle nuances across frequencies. The Elite 10 still sound very good, with a slick and bright midrange, clear treble, and refreshingly full bass that's firm and foundational, without getting in the way. Their tonal balance meant I never felt the need to adjust the EQ, and their open fit provides a similarly open and expansive soundstage.

Unlike the Technics, Jabra’s pair also offers spatial audio for more virtualization of 3D audio tracks and videos, if you’re into that. Maybe the coolest part about the spatial audio is it works with the Elite 10 Gen 2’s other most distinctive audio feature, the plug-in case for wireless transmission. After plugging in the case to the 3.5-mm output of my 2017 TCL 6-series TV, I enjoyed the spatial audio switch, which added a sense of depth and immersion to films like Ant-Man. The head tracking, which virtually anchors audio in place when you turn your head, also worked with TV audio.

One drawback there is that new TVs are increasingly dropping the 3.5-mm output, not to mention they usually allow you to connect wireless buds directly via Bluetooth. Using the new Bluetooth LE Audio format, the Jabra case transmits audio with very little latency, but whether it’s an advantage depends on your TV’s age. Another scenario where plug-ins might be an advantage is if you're a frequent flier on airlines that have the 3.5-mm plugin and are sick of using the additional Twelve South Bluetooth plug-in to watch Top Gun: Maverick in-flight.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

I found the most fun scenario for the plug-in case was listening to vinyl through the headphone output on my Naim amplifier. It was strangely satisfying hearing my Magical Mystery Tour record through wireless earbuds. Maybe most impressive is how seamlessly the earbuds swapped between the case and my phone. Again, with Jabra, everything just tends to work.

Whether the Elite 10 Gen 2 are compelling enough to support their nearly $300 price tag may depend on how much you’ll use such novelties, especially considering the road stops here. Jabra promises to support its last run of earbuds for their full two-year warranty, but the company is unlikely to add new tricks via firmware updates like you’d get from Apple, Samsung, Sony, and others.

It’s been a great run for Jabra’s Elite earbuds. From the brilliant Elite 65t to the latest generation, the brand has sustained uncommon consistency, with few stumbles along the way. But at this price, and for most people, it probably still makes sense to go with something like the AirPods Pro, Bose QC Ultra, or Technics EAH-AZ80. The Elite 10 Gen 2 deliver in most ways. While not spectacular at any one thing, they’re quite good at a lot of them, and their plug-in transmitter adds just enough to make them worth considering.