Jabra Elite 8 Active - So Much Tougher Than Me

Of all the earbuds I've tried over the years, Jabra has been the brand to impress me the most consistently.  This is hardly surprising - I don't think I've ever used any Jabra product that has disappointed in terms of sound quality.

But Jabra earbuds always seem to fit better too.

Given how many of these damn things I stick in my ears every year, by now I'm pretty fussy. Yet time and again Jabra comes up with the goods - and this time is no different.

As the name indicates, Jabra's Active line has always been aimed at a pretty demanding segment of the market - these people might be commuters and office workers but they're also exercisers, climbers and shakers. I mean literal shakers - they do things that cause their heads to shake.

This means with the Elite 8 Active buds, Jabra has paid special attention to two important areas; a rock-solid fit and durability in extreme conditions.

As I've already gushed on, all Jabra earbuds seem to fit well - this is mostly due to their unique, almost corkscrew-like form-factor that worms its way into your ear canals both comfortably and securely.

Now Jabra has coated the Elite 8 Actives with its ShakeGrip technology. This means not just the gel tip but the whole earbud is slightly soft to the touch and stays even more firmly in place. It's really quite astounding how impossible these buds are to displace - you certainly can't shake them out.

I've said before, when it comes to premium earbuds like these, things like decent sound quality and respectable battery life should be a given. That means a really good fit can make all the difference. These are the most secure earbuds I've worn yet. So there you go.

Battery life is more than just respectable, by the way. Jabra promises up to 8 hours playback on a single charge and up to 32 when combined with the charging case. That's with ANC on. You might get a whopping 50 hours or more if you turn noise cancelling off. Pretty nuts.

While I haven't tested this in any scientific way, I've been using the Elite 8 Actives for about a week now and I've still only charged them once. I'm more than happy with that. Also happy they charge wirelessly, not just via USB-C.

It almost goes without saying these earbuds sound stellar; they are Jabras after all. But I must say even I was surprised by how much space, depth and dynamic range is created with Spatial Audio activated. Lady Gaga's "Applause" is such a fabulous example of super-clean audio production; it starts sparsely and quickly builds. When the bass kicks in I may have involuntarily muttered, "Oh yeah!" to myself. I didn't hear me, of course - the ANC is far too effective for that.

In fact, I've found the Jabra Elite 8 Actives have completely changed how I think some tracks sound. "This Love" by Maroon 5 has only ever struck me as a pleasant enough, well-produced, middle-of-the-road pop song. But on these earbuds - even with no EQ adjustment - suddenly there's a much more powerful kick to it; a whoomping bass punch that drives things along in a more visceral way, almost as it would sound standing by the speaker stacks at a live show. 

This is not to say I find the soundscape swamped by bass - quite the opposite. The 6mm drivers do a wonderful job of finding space for every instrument at every frequency. Christina Perri's "Human" is a cinematic affair, swinging between quiet vocals to sweeping strings and her trademark big-note belting. Talk about a music appreciation session.

As usual, the Jabra Sound+ app provides all the options and customisations you could hope for - from how you cycle through ANC and HearThrough modes to the way you answer phone calls. 

This all happens via the physical buttons on each bud. I really do think this is still my preferred control method for earbuds; there are never any accidental pushes with actual buttons. The same can't be said with touch-only operations.

Now back to the question of durability... The earbuds boast an IP68 rating against both water and dust while the charging case is IP54. This is still very unusual for earbuds and it means you can literally dunk them in up to 1.5 metres of water and they'll keep on ticking. Dust, dirt and mud have also meant the death of many a bud in the past but not with the Jabra Elite 8 Actives. Rinse them off, wipe them dry, pop them back in and away you go.

But that's not enough to back up Jabra's claim there's "Nothing Tougher." That's what the MIL-STD-810h military standard is for. This testing goes way past a bit of dust and water. We're talking extreme temperatures (both hot and cold), shock, jolt and vibration testing - even altitude.

While I don't often hang upside-down off cliff faces or shoot rapids in a raft or kayak, I do garden. And when I garden I like to listen to podcasts. However, in the past, once the digging's underway and the sweat starts pouring, it's not uncommon to lose a bud out of my ear as I do battle with my shrubs, seedlings and dead trees. This is a real hassle as not only am I usually wearing gloves or have dirty hands, but often the earbud will fall straight into the dirt, meaning a tricky clean-up operation if I want to get back to my podcast.

That simply isn't an issue using the Elite 8 Actives. For starters, they just don't fall out. And even if I somehow managed to knock one out with a stray branch or something (unlikely, given they hardly protrude from my ears at all) I can just run them under the tap and keep plugging away. I know that's hardly an extreme sports situation but still, you understand the benefits.

These earbuds offer all the premium features you'd expect in this price range, perhaps even superior sound and yes, I'm here to confirm they truly are military-grade. Yet again, Jabra impresses.

    

Click for more information and pricing on the Jabra Elite 8 Active.