CONCLUSION

   The ELITE 85h may not be the best looking pair of headphones in the market and they are somewhat bulky compared to what Jabra has gotten us used to over the years but after two weeks of testing we can verify that they do excel in terms of audio performance (not to mention build quality) with crystal clear mids and highs and sufficient bass levels (perhaps however just a tad less than what we were expecting – we are talking about a 40mm driver unit after all). Volume levels are also very good so don’t expect to use the ELITE 85h at maximum volume for long periods of time (for example my ears couldn’t take it). Unfortunately, although the ELITE 85h is equipped with state of the art technologies it doesn't support any of the high-quality wireless audio codecs available today (such as aptX, aptX HD and LDAC) so if you own a smartphone that supports one of these (or an audio player) you may want to look elsewhere. True like we already mentioned the ELITE 85h does extremely well in terms of audio performance so we suspect that most consumers out there will not have a problem with that (audiophiles excluded probably) but that only means it would be so much better with aptX HD or LDAC. Jabra’s digital hybrid audio noise cancelling technology was tested in 3 environments, on public transportations (bus/subway), a McDonalds and our lab while sitting right next to our rackmount server with impressive results (the same applies for the HearThrough feature as well). Of course, not having tested the SONY and BOSE equivalents means that we can’t really compare the ANC of the ELITE 85h to theirs but it worked almost flawlessly no matter the amount of ambient noise (do take into account that our sample was updated to the latest firmware version prior to testing). As for battery life during our tests we never surpassed 33 hours with ANC turned on (in their defence however we always used them at almost full volume) but considering that their competition offers up to 20 hours of battery life with ANC turned on this is a huge improvement.

    The ELITE 85h ANC Headphones were officially released by Jabra late last month and so availability is as expected not the best all over. Still it’s currently available at major retailers in both the USA and the EU for USD299/299Euros (if you like the Navy-Blue color as in our sample and you live in the EU then we recommend grabbing it from Amazon UK – limited offer of 256Euros). Of course, this is by no means an “affordable” ANC model but it still costs roughly USD50/50Euros less than its direct competition so that’s also something to consider. At the end of the day the ELITE 85h could had been better had Jabra used Hi-Res codecs (and that is pretty much it’s only drawback) and why not even an on/off power button for people who may not like it’s automatic on/off feature but it’s still without doubt one of the best ANC headphones money can buy at the time of this review and for that it certainly deserves our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality (IP52 Coated Stainless Steel Construction)
- Audio Reproduction (Accurate And Detailed Mids & Highs)
- Bluetooth v5.0
- Almost Flawless Smart Active Noise Cancellation
- 8 Available Microphones
- Volume Levels
- Smart Touch Controls
- Foldable/ Rotatable Earcups
- Massive Battery Life (Up To 41 Hours/ 36 Hours With ANC)
- Available Colors (Black/ Titanium Black/ Gold Beige/ Navy Blue)
- Sound+ App (Available Features Like SmartSound)

CONS

- Current Availability
- Price (For Some)
- Lack Of Support for Hi-Res Codecs