Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, the review

We were able to try out the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 and if you follow us regularly, you will surely already know them Jabra; the Danish manufacturer, active on the market for more than 40 years, has built a solid reputation in recent years as a producer of excellent quality earphones capable of competing with more well-known brands.

With the two lines Elite and Elite ActiveJabra has produced over time ever-improved versions of its devices (not always cheap, it must be said) which it has accompanied with a large catalogue that includes professional solutions, speakers, video cameras and more.

It is therefore surprising to discover how the second generation of Elite 10 And Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 It is intended to be the last for these products: Jabra has announced that it will no longer produce earbuds in the next future.

Aware of this swan song, let’s analyze sports earphones.

Unboxing by Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2

As mentioned, given the decision to abandon the consumer market, the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 These will be the last earphones we will see on the market. However, don’t worry: the quality is high as always and the manufacturer itself has guaranteed long-term support for a product that, at the cost of €229.00 (on the official website) is definitely not cheap and its buyers deserve due consideration.

The package containing the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, in a military olive green (which makes sense), is well made as usual for Jabra: on the outer box we find the classic photos and information about the product, which are also shown in the actual box made up of two cards to be opened like a book to reveal our Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 second generation.

In addition to the earphones, enclosed in their smart homewe find a cable with dual USB-C output and 3.5mm AUX jackand the inevitable set of Replacement rubbers in 2 different sizes. In the latter case, it must be said that an additional set of rubber tips of perhaps an intermediate size would have been appreciated, but we are talking about a minor shortcoming.

Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 : earphones and smart cases

Picking up the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, you immediately notice that the structure is completely similar to that of its predecessors: the external body of the headphones is made of silicone so as to guarantee the greatest possible comfort in terms of wearability, even for long periods. The shape is typical of other products Jabracalled Jabra ShakeGrip and is specifically designed to have maximum grip and prevent the earphones from falling out during the most extreme uses.

After all, it is a “rugged” product designed to be used during training, thanks also to the certifications IP68 And IP54 which protect the earphones from dust, sweat and even direct water. In fact, during my test, I used them during a very intense workout on a hot Sicilian afternoon and even brought them under the direct jet of an irrigation system, they didn’t crease and at the end of the workout they were as good as new.

As always, the outside of the earbuds features a clickable surface; a single press on the left earbud will activate the function. Adaptive Hybrid ANC or Natural HearThroughwhile with a click on the right it will be possible to activate the voice assistants and pause, restart, skip and more generally manage any audio tracks being played. However, these are customizable functions via app, so as to have the most genuine user experience possible.

The earphones Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 are compatible with Bluetooth 5.3so pairing them with our devices takes just a few moments; even less if we use a device Android since they support Google Fast Pair.

As for the performance of the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, the 6mm speakers perform their task perfectly, returning clear and crystalline audio, even in more complex atmospheric conditions. Worthy of note, on the positive side, are the features ANC And HearThrough which have been improved once again.

Adaptive noise cancellation means that the software integrated into the earphones recognizes the level of noise around us and effectively cancels most of it; similarly, with transparency mode we will be able to clearly hear the noises around us, without sacrificing multimedia listening through headphones.

Similarly, performance remains high even on the phone call front: the special windproof coating of the earphones, combined with the software already mentioned, manage to ensure that calls flow without too much hassle for us or for our interlocutor.

If we have to make any criticism, it concerns the codecs used by these earphones, limited to AAC and SBC; for goodness sake, they are even sufficient, however it is not clear why a high-end product does not also include other codecs that are now widely used such as ptX, LDAC or LHDC.

Also particular is the choice to use the technology for spatial audio Dolby Audio instead of the most widespread Dolby Atmos. Among other things, this feature is often kept disabled for music playback, so it is limited to viewing movies and other media.

The endurance performance is also very good: Jabra states that with a single charge it is possible to use the Elite Active 8 8 to 14 hours, depending on whether you use the ANC function. To this data we must add the charging via case which brings the overall duration to 32 hours with ANC active and even 56 hours without noise cancellation.

In fact, this is not just advertising data: in just over a week of average use, about 2-3 hours a day, I still haven’t managed to run out of battery. And I haven’t even had to recharge the case.

Another distinctive element of these Elite Active 8 of the second generation, is the smart case: of the same color and materials as the earphones, it appears quite robust and resistant to dust and water (even salt water). Said of the battery capacity, which allows numerous recharges, the main feature of the smart home it’s the technology THE: Indeed, Using the supplied USB-C cable we can connect the case to an external device like a TV, a Tapis Roulant or simply a PC, so that the headphones receive the sound without the need for pairing and significantly reducing latency times.

Jabra App

Even in this case, to make the best use of the headphones we can use the app Jabra Sound+available on Play Store And App Store. In a few moments we will be guided to pair the earphones, thus being able to access the app’s features. What interests us most is on the first page: here you can set the options, including the usual complete equalizerThe equalizer can be used both with presets and with manual settings.

Equalizers are a great tool to improve listening performance, depending on what we decide to play, whether it’s a podcast or a music compilation.

Through the app we can also customize the transparency mode through 5 intensity levels; a feature not available for the ANC.

The last interesting element of the app is the section Soundscape which, using noise cancellation, provides us with some noises to relax with.