Wireless headphones should be comfortable, work for a long time, play music well, transmit high-quality voice during telephone conversations, and also dampen unpleasant extraneous noise. The new Jabra Elite 4 Active earphones feature all this and more. As the name suggests, it is tailored for sports activities, but will be of interest not only to athletes and fitness maniacs, but simply to those who want practical and not very expensive TWS headphones for every day.

Housing and case

Small headphones just sit in their places – everyone evaluates the landing in their own way, but I liked everything here. They do not press, there is no discomfort in the ears after the whole day of use. Included with the headphones we get nozzles of three sizes, the standard fit well for me: the headphones sat tight and without discomfort.

The case is rubberized, pleasant to the touch, while with IP57 protection, so the headphones are not afraid of dust and splashes. In the pool, of course, you don’t need to swim with them, but lying on a sun lounger and reading a book by the water is welcome. You can also take a shower with headphones, but be careful not to direct a powerful jet of water at them.

The headphones pleased with the presence of physical keys – the control is as reliable and clear as possible, excluding accidental operation. Moreover, the buttons are hidden and invisible: you need to press the headphone case to feel a clear response. I am not a fan of gesture control, so I dedicate words of gratitude to those who nevertheless decided to keep practical keys. But it should be noted that the buttons are tight and it may take some time to get used to them.

Buttons help you switch tracks, pause music, accept and reject calls – all standard features.

The matte plastic case without the auto-finishing mechanism is quite simple. If you check it for strength, then under the pressure of the palm of your hand, the lid may creak plaintively – but it is unlikely that you will engage in such torture every day. The headphones in the case are tightly fixed with magnets, they will not fall out if you accidentally open the lid.

Sound and noise reduction

Pleasant sounding headphones, I listened to them paired with a Google Pixel 5a using the Spotify app with maximum quality settings. I note that the headphones have aptX support, but AAC does not.

First of all, I went to look for playlists with something suitable for training – after all, headphones with a sporty character. Pop-electronic compositions sound energetic, vocals sound muffled, and on tracks with an abundance of bass there is not enough volume – I would add pressure, but an equalizer can help out here. But the bass is even and does not spoil the overall picture, so while jogging you will hear a whole musical picture, albeit not with the widest stage.

I tried to listen to rock – the vocals sound muffled, and some songs are lost. Moreover, if you walk with headphones for a couple of days, you get used to their sound and react more calmly to the sound of the headphones. According to my feelings, they tried to maintain a balance and not turn the tuned sound into the realm of bass.

In the process of use, I found a flaw: when you take out an earpiece or headphones, music playback does not pause automatically. You have to manually pause the track on the phone screen or using the physical button on the headphone case.

Noise reduction is decent: I listened to music in the office at half the maximum volume and did not hear what the guys were talking about at a distance of four to five meters. But here the merit is not only the active noise reduction system, but also well-chosen interchangeable nozzles. On the street or in the subway, of course, the “gags” do not dampen all sounds, but by the standards of headphones of this format, the result is decent and they help get rid of the surrounding hum.

Connection quality

In short, everything is fine, I did not feel any malfunctions during the week of using the headphones. I listened to the headphones paired with the Google Pixel 5a, in theory, the connection to the smartphone via Google Fast Pair should have automatically started. You just open the lid and an animation with headphones appears – but it didn’t work for me, I connected them through the usual Bluetooth menu with a search for a new device.

I note that there is no mode for simultaneous connection of headphones to two devices, they keep in touch with only one source.

As for the headset mode, the voice quality in the room is very good, outdoors it all depends on the situation. If you talk somewhere in a quiet place, there will be no problems, but if you have a dialogue next to a busy road, and even in the city center, it’s easier to switch to a smartphone microphone.

Appendix

The Jabra Sound+ software can be used to update the firmware of your headphones. It is better to update the software immediately so that the active noise reduction setting works.

The application also helps to reassign the action for a physical button: by double-clicking, you can launch a Spotify playlist or Alexa or Google voice assistant. You can also find the headphones through the application if you have lost them.

autonomy

For Jabra Elite 4 Active, up to 7 hours of operation on a single charge and up to 21 hours of life are claimed, subject to additional recharging from the complete case. If you turn off noise reduction, then at an average volume level you can get up to 8.5 hours of work.

In practice, autonomy is decent, the head from listening to music gets tired faster than the headphones are discharged. I got about six hours of work on a single charge at a volume of about 60% of the maximum. You can track the charge level of the headphones in the application, but statistics on the case are not displayed there – it remains to evaluate its energy reserve from memory. This is strange, or maybe they just decided not to add an extra feature, avoiding competition with more expensive models.

There is a quick charge function: after 10 minutes in the case, the headphones will work for an hour playing music. The case can only be charged via the USB Type-C port, the cable is included.

Conclusion

Jabra Elite 4 Active are sold for 9990 rubles. Headphones, in addition to high-quality sound, are distinguished by effective noise reduction, decent autonomy and a convenient application. In addition, they also have a high level of protection against water. So it’s time to get ready for spring training, listen to good music and do your best.