Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 Wireless Earbuds with Dolby Atmos Spatial Sound – Advanced Noise Cancelling, All Day Comfort for Work and Fitness, in-Ear Bluetooth Headphones with Smart Case – Denim

Decent Overall Use Earbuds
As a proud owner of the previous flagship Elite 85t, I was a bit worried that the Elite 10 Gen 2 was more overrated than it should be.After receiving the Elite 10 Gen 2, though there was some parts that I think I need a bit more time to get used to but all in all, it’s an improvement over the Elite 85t.Tonewise I really can’t say which is better, the 85t’s 12mm driver packed more punch on the bass and is more lively while the Elite 10 Gen 2 is more sophisticated and delicate.Both have it’s strong suits and as a headphone enthusiast, I do think the Elite 10 Gen 2 is an interesting and decent pair of earbuds to play with.

Best
These are the best ear buds made to date and I’ve tried every top ear bud that exists. I live in buds

Good, but way overpriced
I have a bunch of different wireless earbuds. Before I got these Jabras, my Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2 were my go-tos. I’ll use those as a reference for this review, since those are what I had grown used to. Note that the Galaxy Buds are several years older and about a third of the price of the Jabras.When first using the Jabras, there was a small, but noticeable step up in sound quality.s. Bass was not quite as powerful as in the Galaxy Buds, but it was clearer. Most notably, the highs and mids were more distinguished, and individual instruments seemed to stand out more when listening to music. The difference wasn’t drastic, however.The active noise cancelling on the Jabras was significantly better than the Galaxy Buds, but interestingly, the hear-through mode was worse. The call and microphone quality on the Jabras is good. I’ve used these on meetings without any complaints. I do find myself turning the volume up a slight bit more on the Jabras than on other earbuds.My favorite thing about the Jabras are the physical buttons on each bud. These are way easier to activate than capacitive buttons. I don’t have to worry about making several attempts to pause or skip a song. The buttons are just the right amount of clicky and pressure-sensitive. Another highlight is the automatic pause feature. If I take one earbud out during listening, the audio pauses and then automatically resumes once I put the earbud back in.The fit of these buds is mediocre, unfortunately. For my ear type, the Galaxy Buds just stay put much better. I find myself having to adjust the Jabras every 15 minutes or so when just sitting still. The package does include other ear tip sizes, but those didn’t help. It’s not a huge deal, and it’s quite possible my ears are just unique in that respect.All in all, I like these ear buds. At $400, however, I could never justify the cost.

Very good bud the best I’ve had so far

This is a fairly decent pair of earbuds from Jabra that requires no introduction and it has most of the features that are commonly available amongst earbuds at this price range and that’s exactly what I expect these earbuds to be especially ones from Jabra and they do deliver, for the most part. However, do keep in mind that Jabra has announced the discontinuation of its Elite line of earbuds several months ago so support (and everything that comes with it) is uncertain at the moment although they do mention support will continue for several years; however, the validity of that statement remains to be seen.≡ PairingTo start with, unlike most others it will NOT immediately pair with your phone/devices (assuming it’s been paired previously) as soon as the lid is open without even taking the earbuds out which I find annoying but it appears to be the trend nowadays (and I digress). Likewise, it will automatically disconnect the connection as soon as they are resituated back into the case and that’s EXACTLY what I like ’em to be.≡ Fit and tactile controlPhysically they are slightly larger than anticipated but are still reasonably sized (i.e. average) by today’s standard given their style of being stemless and they are actually pretty COMFORTABLE for me. In fact, it’s amongst some of the most comfortable that I’ve tried recently which is a bit of surprise since I’ve never found Elite 4 or 5 to have comparable comfort as these.The tactile/clicky control is one of the best features for me personally because I’m generally NOT a big fan of touch controls since they are just too temperamental for my taste. These tactile buttons work GREAT; they’re easy to work with and are quite responsive with, well, tactile feedback which is something touch control REALLY needs to have.≡ VolumeThe volume can be adjusted by holding either earbud (right = up) and volume adjustment is a requirement for me and it would’ve been somewhat of a deal breaker if it’s not available (but perhaps not for everyone). The case has a single multi-color LED indicator and that’s it; I feel that there really should be more to at least provide a clearer indication to the battery capacity or digital display to precisely show exactly the amount of capacity remained in the case. A single LED is just, well, inadequate at this point in time. Given the price tag of these earbuds, I can’t imagine it’d be that difficult to have a case capable of digital displays especially when $30 budget earbuds can (but I digress).≡ CaseOne of the things that the case can do that few others can (if memory serves, LG or Sony can do it too) is that it can also act as a BT transmitter so that it can turn existing devices without BT capabilities, such as an old TV into a wireless device by connecting the case to the TV via standard 3.5mm plug. You can then listen to the sound from the TV directly on these earbuds because the case takes the sound from 3.5mm port (via USB-C/C+3.5mm cable) and wirelessly transmits to the earbuds via LE protocols. Pretty cool!As such, this can also be used, say on an airplane without requiring additional hardware (e.g. BT transmitter with in-flight adapter) to enjoy music or watching movies during long flights. The ability to use my earbuds instead of those crappy wired head phones provided by the airline during a flight is one of the best things since sliced bread (ok, maybe not but you get my point).≡ SoundThe sound quality in general is fairly good and noticeably better than most others (including ‘some’ premium budget ones at this price range) but that’s really what I’d expect of these earbuds anyway and I’ll be rather disappointed otherwise. The sound crisp and clear for the highs/mids and the bass is rich and deep as well (and not overly boomy unlike a few others).Though, I’ve found that it’s NOT as crisp for highs as it is rich for the bass (i.e. highs/mids COULD be better) given the circumstances, and this is somewhat similar to other Elite lines that I’ve experienced in the past as well. I feel that it’s as though these are optimized towards lower frequency ranges; however, this can easily be adjusted via the accompanying App (if you care to use it).Note that I’m not particularly thrilled about the app due to privacy concerns; however, chances are you might feel differently; however, just keep in mind that certain features, such as spatial audio with head tracking etc requires the app to function. EQ settings and customized buttons also require the app (as they all do from other brands as well).I should also mention that the max volume for these is significantly lower than most others (premium or budget earbuds) that I’ve come across; they are adequate for my needs and they’re not by any means insufficient although these might not be enough for those who prefer higher volume levels.≡ MicsThe mics (6) work surprisingly and exceptionally well in voice calls (via cellular network and not data); thanks to its 3x mic (per earbud, 6x mics in total) in conjunction with advanced ANC (whatever advanced means) that seem to have worked much better than expected. In comparison to other Elite line of products (Elite 5 or Elite 5 Active) that I’ve come across, these seem to be able to cancel noise at much greater frequency ranges as opposed just the higher frequencies that I found in previous models.Sadly, it does NOT support low latency codecs such as aptX or aptX-LL which significantly reduces delays when watching movies or video clips etc. I’m surprised that ONLY AAC is supported by these (and LC3 but that’s a different topic altogether) without any of the low latency codecs. This is truly disappointing in my mind especially when older models such as Elite 4 does have it.≡ ANC, hear-through, and other featuresIt’s not exactly clear to me what advanced ANC really is but (again) they do seem to work exceptionally well at noise cancellation and it’d also appear that the ANC for these work even better than hybrid ANC which is amongst some of the better ones (as I later realized after numerous comparisons/tests).Btw, hybrid ANC is a combination of feedforward and feedback ANC that works at different entry/exit points utilizing different and multiple mics to achieve their combined goal. I won’t go into too much details (there aren’t that much anyway) for hybrid ANC but will just very briefly describe ’em so you’d get a sense of what they are and why they are superior than ordinary ANC. The fact that these are even better than hybrid ANC really makes me wondering about how it works.Simply put, feedforward ANC uses an exterior mic that picks up (mostly, i.e. howling sounds from winds) higher frequency noises and cancels it (by inverting the waveforms) before it reaches wearer’s ears. At the same time, feedback ANC uses an ‘interior’ mic that’s close to the driver that produces the sound so it can hear what the wearer will hear and the sound is processed on the spot. Feedback ANC is usually (but not always) good at filtering out low(er) frequency noise. As such, hybrid ANC can filter out more noise (higher and lower frequency) than either one separately (feedforward or feedback) on its own.What usually works in conjunction with ANC is the hear0through feature or Natural HearThrough as it’s called (or pass-through from other vendors) which can be activated and toggled between it and ANC with a single click at the left (and only left; single click at the right is for pause/resume and it does nothing when noting is being played). Hear-through works fairly well for me in most cases and perhaps a bit too well since I can’t clearly hear my own voice.In addition to ordinary wired charging via USB-C, these also support wireless charging (Qi compatible) which I do appreciate and prefer although it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker if it doesn’t; it’s just that I do prefer the convenience when I’m on the go and it’s just that much simpler with a Qi power bank without having to deal with wires.Multi-point is also supported which is great and it’s certainly welcoming feature but it’s not always practical or useful for me depending upon the circumstances (i.e. you really wanna be sure which device you are connecting to and who you’re talking to) and whatnot but I rather having it and not needing than the other way around. Btw, it claims to support up to 10 devices but that’s not tested so I’ll just have to take their words for it.Unfortunately, the battery life does leave something to be desired. A single earbud lasted about 5.3 hours (just shy of) for music play with ANC ON and about 4.1 hours (slightly less) combined for phone calls (combination of ordinary cellular network and over the internet). This is definitely less than most others especially taking into account the price tag although it’s not the worst (e.g. I could get more than 5.75 hours of phone calls with Tribit FlyBuds C1 which is ¼ the price of these). Given the circumstance, I’d say the battery life is perhaps one of its weakest points even when ANC is off.≡ ValueAll things considered, these are fairly decent earbuds with pretty decent sound quality (what I’d expect from Jabra) across most frequencies and its advanced ANC is particularly effective in comparison to previous models. The quality for voice calls is surprisingly good so is the overall comfort and fit, which could’ve contributed to the sound quality as well btw.They are somewhat reasonably priced at $300 for what they provide and their overall build quality, features, usability, comfort/fit, and overall performance. Though, its true future remains unknown at this point since the Elite line of products are to be discontinued by the end of this year and although they claim support will continue for several years, your guess is as good as mine on whether that’ll hold and if history is any lesson, I probably wouldn’t bet on it so take what you will from that. I imagine it will be a crazy run for these as the end draws near with heavy discounts toward the end of the year and the holiday seasons.

I first tried these for listening to podcasts while doing housework. The latency is very low and the sound quality for voice is excellent.I was concerned about putting the volume on my phone up to 100%, which seemed to be necessary for comfortable listening, but it seems that setting is not to loud on these earbuds, particularly for voice alone. When I switched over to music, it was too loud and I asked Siri to turn it down, twice, which resulted in a very comfortable level.I turned on the spatial sound and head tracking, which works amazingly well. The centre of the audio stays put at some distance directly in front of you, and when you turn your head, the sound changes as you would expect at a live venue. The source of the sound seems to be very stable when you are sitting. So far as I could tell, there was no annoying “drift” of the origin.The only problem with spatial sound and head tracking is that you can’t really use it while walking around and changing direction because it appears to pick a new origin for the sound when you stop for a while. It’s kind of weird to find the speaker or the band in a new direction when you move to to the den from the living room. Also, and I’m not sure if this is real or not, but when I bent over to grab something, it seemed that I heard the drums better.In any case, the spatial sound and head tracking is spectacularly well implemented and works pretty close to perfectly. It’s great when you are sitting, which is what it appears to be designed for.The noise cancelling also works well, but not as well as with over-the-ear headphones. This is no surprise. I expect that it is very difficult to do noise cancelling when the ear bud-style physical arrangement prohibits sound isolation between the inside and the outside. This is probably why so few ear buds have this feature. I think Jabra has done it very well, given the limitations.The sound quality is great. Yes, I messed around with the equalizer settings in the app, and some of these were better for one type of listening or another. This is to be expected. No single EQ setting can work for all types of listening. This is why Jabra makes it easy to create personal presets and switch between the standards and personal presets.The physical fit is very comfortable, even for long listening. The ear buds stay put during activity, but they also don’t feel uncomfortable after a few hours of wearing them. They come with extra ear tips, but I haven’t tried then as it has not seemed necessary to change out the ones they came with.I tried the “Hear Through” feature a few times, and it works as advertised. The main use of this feature for me would be bicycle riding or maybe walking on a city street where it can help to hear what is around you. It’s nice that you can toggle between ANC and Hear Through with a single click of the left button. The control interface in general is easy to understand and well set up. I have not done a single accidental press so far, which is the main issue I have with some other headphone interfaces.I think really good engineering justifies a higher price, particularly when it is well done and leading-edge. These are very leading edge.