There are so many true wireless earbuds in the market now that Jabra has done the smart thing by coming up with a new Elite line-up that aligns better with the current scenario. From their new series, we take a look at the Elite 3, the most affordable from the company.

The Elite 3 earbuds stick to the Jabra look. Their case looks standard and unremarkable but is really compact and pocketable.

The buds too follow the usual clumpy shape that Jabra’s earbuds do and have a quality I like to call ‘roll-a-bility’ by which I mean if they rest in your palm and something tilts, they go rolling or tumbling off quite uncontrollably.

They look as if they’re just not the shape to get into your ears but in fact fit in quite well and stay wedged in firmly with the silicon tips making for a nice seal. There are three sizes of ear-tips included in case you need to change.

Perfect isolation: The buds are quite comfortable and easy to wear as long as you remember to give a little gentle twist to lock them in.

Interestingly, there’s no active noise cancellation on this set but it is almost not needed. The seal is so thorough that I found myself missing outside sounds as I used them while moving about. For instance, I had left a water tap running and only later realised I hadn’t turned it off because I didn’t hear the sound of the water.

The noise isolation is good enough to actually require a hear-through mode which these buds have. You can trigger that off with a button on the left bud or with the Jabra app on your device.

So, while a lot of reviews are listing lack of ANC as a negative because inexpensive true wireless buds now come with it, I think the isolation works good enough. I ended up having to keep the transparency mode on as there were really too many things I was missing out on hearing, including the doorbell.

Extremely touch-sensitive: The single button making up the back of the earbuds is the ‘clicks’ type and really nice compared with the extremely touch-sensitive ones used by others.

For one thing accidental touches are fewer and for another you avoid that awful thump you often get by tapping touch controls.

The app doesn’t offer much for these buds, but mostly lets you set a few EQ levels and turn hear-through on or off. You could do without the app but it’s what lets you update firmware and also set Alexa instead of your onboard if you like. The buds, if you fit them in properly, stay in without a fuss or shifting around, letting you workout or rush about without the fear of them falling out.

The buds are IP55 rated so a bit of rain and dust won’t hurt.

Good sound output: The Elite 3 earbuds sound pretty good. They support the SBC codec and also aptX. They use the Bluetooth 5.2 standard.

Generally, the sound output is likeable with a good bass but I would personally have preferred the soundstage to be more open and clear. I sometimes feel as if the music is restricted to close around me and not airy enough. These things are subjective, of course, so your view may vary. Some others have said they would actually like the sound to be less loud so perhaps it’s the review unit that seemed to lack it a little.

I also would have liked some more volume both with music and calls. The microphone also needed to be a bit better.

The battery gives you up to 7 hours with the buds and 28 hours when you recharge with the case twice. It does support fast charging but not wireless. These buds also don’t have multi-point pairing, which may be something a segment of users will miss.

The Elite 3 have an MRP of ₹6,999 and have a lot of good competition, so some research is warranted before buying. They’re good for the price, but perhaps not the very best.

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