Jabra’s Elite earphones give you a direct line to Alexa while you’re on the go

By Simon Cohen January 29, 2018

Jabra Elite 45e

Listening to your tunes while on the go is great, but we’re increasingly becoming accustomed to being listened to — usually by a voice assistant. So it makes sense that Jabra has moved to include voice assistant compatibility in its expanded Elite line of wireless earphones.

The company has announced three new models: The $170 Jabra Elite 65t, the $190 Jabra Elite Active 65t, and the $100 Jabra Elite 45e. The “t” designation indicates a “true wireless” model, i.e. no cords at all, while the “e” designation stands for “earbud,” even though that description would seem applicable to all three models.

The Elite range are designed to give you easy access to Alexa‘s on-the-go capabilities, but they’ll work with “all major voice services,” according to a company press release, including Google Assistant and Siri. They’re also intended to be used with the Jabra Sound+ app (iOS/Android), which lets you customize the way the earphones sound.

Jabra is backing the Elite lineup with a two-year warranty against water and dust ingress, while the Elite Active 65t gets additional coverage for sweat ingress. At only $10 more that Apple’s AirPods, the Elite 65t might be just the ticket for those who want a fully wireless experience but don’t want to be tied to Siri, while the Elite Active 65t makes for an interesting option for fitness-tracking buffs, thanks to its built-in accelerometer.

We came away from our time with the company’s Elite Sport earbuds very impressed, so we’re excited to see how Jabra has moved things forward with these new Elite products. The Elite 65t will be up for sale sometime in the first quarter of 2018, while the Elite Active 65t and Elite 45e won’t hit shelves until April.

As usual, pricing doesn’t get discussed at CES, but pre-order pages at Best Buy give us some hints, with the Elite 65t coming in at $170,the Elite Active 65t at $190, and the 45e coming it at about $100.

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Contributing Editor, A/V

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