Jabra today launched the latest member of its flagship Elite line of true wireless earbuds, the step-up Elite 4. Picking up where the popular Jabra Elite 3 left off, the $100 earbuds aren’t a huge departure, but add some key new features, such as active noise cancellation (ANC), Bluetooth multipoint connectivity, and Swift Pair linking with Windows PCs.
Jabra’s Elite line of true wireless earbuds are top performers for the brand (and some of the best earbuds around, period), with several models of them landing on our top earbud lists over the years, including the stellar Elite 7 Pro and the Elite 85t. Sitting at the more affordable end of Jabra’s lineup, 2021’s Elite 3s were a great-sounding pair of super-comfortable earbuds with easy-to-use physical controls on each bud, and a wide range of customizable features through the Jabra Sound+ app.
Two years on, Jabra is delivering an upgrade over the Elite 3s by adding ANC to the proceedings, a big win for the budget-wise earbuds. Additionally, the Bluetooth multipoint connectivity that can be found on some of Jabra’s higher-end earbuds is present in the Elite 4, too, allowing users to connect two devices to the earbuds at the same time. Why is this cool? Because with it, you can be paired to, say, a smartphone and your laptop at the same time, allowing you to seamlessly switch back and forth between listening to music or watching a movie on your computer and answering an incoming call on your phone.
Jabra has also beefed up the Elite’s 4’s “swift” pairing capabilities, adding Microsoft Swift Pair, which allows the earbuds to quickly connect to Windows 10 (and up) PCs. Swift Pair joins Google’s Fast Pair tech that was available in the Elite 3s, which allows Android (6.0 and higher) users to do the same thing — connect faster and more easily to the earbuds.
And while that’s it for the new features added to the Elite 4, if Jabra’s latest earbuds are anything like their predecessor (and spec-wise, they are), they should deliver a well-balanced sound with good separation between the mid and high frequencies, as well as excellent bass response. And it’s all customizable with Jabra’s Sound+ app. The Elite 4 also maintains the 3’s ability for you to use a single bud on its own while charging the other.
Another returning feature on the Elite 4 is Spotify Tap, which allows listeners to quickly launch Spotify with a tap of a button on the earbuds. You can use the feature to pick up where you left off after pausing, too. Unfortunately, though, this feature is still exclusive to Android users.
A little disappointing is that the battery life of the Elite 4 is identical to that of the Elite 3 without ANC at 7 hours of playtime and 28 hours total. With ANC on, the Elite 4’s batter gets 5.5 hours of playtime and up to 22 hours total with the charging case. Some additional playtime would be nice for the new model. The Elite 4 also still sports an IP55 rating, which offers protection from light rain and sweat.
“The modern earbud user is looking for tech that’s ready for work and play at their fingertips, while not compromising on key features,” said Calum MacDougall, senior vice president at Jabra. “The Elite 4 offers a solution to this and is the perfect well-rounded design to help users to concentrate, connect and call without distractions.”
The Jabra Elite 4 are available now online at Jabra’s website and at selected retailers for $100. They come in four colors, dark gray, navy, lilac, and light beige.
[5:26 p.m.] Simon Cohen
Editor’s note: a previous version of this article said the Jabra Elite 3 have ANC. This has been corrected.
