Jabra has announced its latest entry-level true wireless earbuds in the form of the Elite 4. Despite undercutting many of its rivals in the already crowded wireless earbuds market, the Elite 4 includes many features that we expect to see on the higher-end models. Not to be confused with the existing Jabra Elite 4 Active, the Elite 4 will succeed the Elite 3 in Jabra’s current earbud lineup.
Jabra has outfitted the Elite 4 with its fine-tuned 6mm speakers, which the company says provide “powerful sound”. These appear to be the same drivers as the previous generation Elite 3, which is a good thing as we praised the expressive and detailed sound in our four-star review. However, there’s a big new feature here that wasn’t present in the predecessors. The Elite 4 include active noise cancellation (ANC), which is both a step up over the last-gen buds and a rarity at this price point.
Another debut feature for these buds is support for the Qualcomm aptX codec. When connected to supported devices (most likely an Android phone), the Elite 4 can utilise this higher resolution codec for improved audio quality over Bluetooth. Speaking of Bluetooth, the Elite 4 has one final trick up its sleeve in the form of Bluetooth Multipoint, for seamlessly switching between two sources that are connected to the earbuds at the same time. This is a feature that the flagship Sony WF-1000XM4 only received in a firmware update at the start of this month. Alongside Multipoint, these buds feature Google Fast Pair and Windows Swift Pair, meaning you can hook these buds up to your Android phone or PC in a breeze.
The Jabra Elite 4 looks talented in the hardware department too, with an IP55 rating to protect against dust and water - meaning your buds won’t get wrecked in the rain. These buds also feature a four-microphone array for enhanced call quality according to Jabra. However, the previous iteration of earbuds also seems to include the same number of mics, so this looks like a feature that is carried over from the Elite 3.
Battery life also looks promising, with Jabra quoting 22 hours ANC on/28 hours ANC off total battery life with the included charging case. You should get around five and a half hours out of the buds themselves before they need to get juiced up, which is a little lacklustre when compared to the Sony WF-C500’s ten hours. However those buds don’t support ANC, so that’s the apparent trade-off. The case charges via USB-C only, meaning there’s no wireless charging to be found here, but that feels excusable considering the price.
Ok, we’ve hinted that these earbuds are cheap, but how cheap exactly? They retail for just £99.99 / $99.99 / AU$139 and considering the feature set, it seems like a pretty great deal. The Elite 4 are available now in Dark Grey, Lilac, Navy and Light Beige.
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