Oppo Review - Jabra wireless earbuds 

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 07/29/2018 at 00:37 • Filed to: None

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We’re basically living in a sci-fi world from 20 years ago.

The first time I ever gave thought to the idea of *truly* wireless earbuds, I was in junior high. Si tting in detention for the fiftieth time after being caught listening to music in class, I envisioned something.... Different. Somethin g better. A way that no teacher would ever catch me again! Some sort of bean sized piece of plastic to fit in each ear— almost unnoticeable—that would wirelessly receive music and play it back.

See, b ack in the day everyone would snake the headphone c able underneath their shirt in an attempt to keep it under the radar. Put in one ear bud, turn your head to keep the earbud-laden side of your head out of the teacher’s line- of- sight and you were golden. Until said teacher noticed the kid in the back of the class making awkward movements in a painfully obvious ploy to hide some sweet tunes.

If you were lucky, you’d be forced to play whatever you were listening to for the whole class. I have fond memories of kids being caught listening to Beiber, Madonna, Slayer, Arch Enemy... Much laughter and/or nods of appreciation was to be had. If you were unlucky, you’d get your phone—er, I mean your Mp3 player—confiscated for a week. Somewhere in between that was where I always seemed to wind up—detention.

Now as time went on, we learned new ways to keep our musical addictions from the watchful eyes at the front of the class. Routing an earbud up through a hoody sleeve, we could casually rest our head on a hand—elbow on the desk— with an earbud slipped in and nobody the wiser. If a teacher got suspicious, with some practice you could get that bud out of your ear and popped back down into your sleeve all in one fluid motion. “headphones, Ms. Walker? What headphones?”

Of course they got wise to that too. So we had to come up with more and more ways to sneak in a quick song undisturbed, and the upper hand went back and forth between teacher and student every so often.

That was more than ten years ago.

The next time I thought about truly wireless headphones was a bit more recent. About five years ago, a h igh-school senior, I had just discovered kickstarter and every few days I’d scroll through the “tech”, “design”, and “fashion” sections looking at all of the potentially groundbreaking innovations people were trying to bring to fruition. I hid it behind a strong fitness persona at school, but my nerdiness ran deep and kickstarter was like water to a man dying of thirst. So many ideas! So much creativity, all in one place! I didn’t have much money at the time, but I always told myself that one day I’d invest in some of these futuristic gadgets.

Then one day I saw it. Wireless earbuds. In the “tech” section, halfway to their goal with weeks left, truly wireless earbuds. Now at this point in history, there were quite a few products that were marketed as wireless. However... They weren’t really wireless. While it’s true that these items did not have a wired connection to the media device, they still had a wire connecting each earbud, often with a bulky battery pack/b luetooth transmitter in the middle.

B ut on kickstarter—finally—I saw my wireless earbud dream. No wires at all, completely untethered left and right buds, each with it’s own Bluetooth receiver.

And then I saw the price. $300. For each side. $600 for the pair. The dream was crushed.

Shift to present day.

I have no idea if those kickstarter earbuds ever made it to production, but I’m sure glad I didn’t buy em. The technology just wasn’t there, and honestly it’s only in the last year that I would say we’ve gotten to the point where wireless earbuds are good enough and cheap enough to consider for the average person.

After a lot of research and some testing I picked up a pair of Jabra Elite 65t wireless earbuds. The apple buds were completely worthless outside of Apple’s closed ecosystem, and even if that hadn’t been the case... The Jabras still would have blown them away in all of the categories that are important to me. Bose has a competitor as well, but at the moment they are so far behind as to be barely worth a mention. There are a handful of other brands in the mid range tier ($100-$200), a slew of sub $100 options from Chinese brands you’ve never heard of and a surprising lack of any true high-end options.

But back to the Jabras.

Fit is excellent, and that’s coming from someone who hates earbuds that form a seal. I decided to try it and I’m glad I did. These are wearable for hours, and unlike Apple’s wireless option, the Jabras will stay in no matter what you do. They are securely locked in place. I’ve been using them at the gym, while skating, doing gymnastics... Yep. They’re not coming out unless you take them out.

Sound quality is significantly better than any other truly wireless option I’ve tested, which is all of the mainstream ones. Not as good as my old wired Bose sounds ports, but surprisingly close. I’d say they are compete with the midrange wired earbuds in sound quality. These are noise-canceling which took some getting used to, but you can adjust the level or even set the external mics to stay on and beam ambient sounds directly into your ears. It’s pretty crazy to think about, but works quite well at the expense of a slightly greater battery drain. Call quality is crystal clear. Quite a bit better than my phone actually. Reviews mention that Jabra was a Bluetooth headset company, but the generation that was into Bluetooth headsets was right before mine. Us millennials were the ones laughing at the dorks in business suits talking into a KitKat bar hanging out of their ear....

The earbuds will play music for about 5 hours straight, and the tiny case that holds the buds will supply a full charge to the buds two additional times before you have to recharge everything. This is the the one area where Apple wins. Despite sharing the same 5 hour run time, Apples earbud case will supply 4-5 full charges. Both options have quick charging, but it seems like Apple had a slight quicker quick charge.

Connectivity is great. We’re at Bluetooth 5.0 and after the initial pairing, whenever I turn the buds on they automatically pair with my phone. Dead simple. Power button on each bud and bam. Connected. Apparently Bluetooth 5.0 is good to 800 meters, which I have not tested and likely never will.

Left earbud has two buttons. Tap one button and the volume raises . Long press that button and you go to the next song. Tap the other button and the volume lowers. Long press that button and you go to the previous song. Right earbud has one button. Tap the button to play/stop music or a answer/end calls. Long press the button to bring up your assistant (Google now/Alexa/etc.). Super simple.

They’ve got a pretty good dust and water resistant r ating and seem to be pretty skookum. They look a hell of a lot better than the Apple earpods or most of the other competitors in-ear, and it sounds like their two year warranty is simple to cash in on if needed.

What I don’t like -

We’re more than halfway through 2018 and people are still putting out products without USB-C? Seriously?? Ugh...

While they’re comfortable, I still don’t like a full seal in my ear. That’s why I stuck with bose soundsports for so long. They were the only higher end earbud I could find that rested on the folds of your inner ear instead of sticking a spherical blog of rubber into your ear canal. Someday I might attempt getting the bose tips to fit on these, but that could be tricky.

Bose soundsports on right.

Honestly those are my only complaints at the moment.  Techgearlab and Tom's both have pretty good reviews up. Feel free to ask any questions!

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 01:23

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“... skookum...”

Are you aware that outside of those of us in the northwest, nobody knows what this means?

Although USB-C is great, the plugs are far bulkier than the absolutely ubiquitous micro -B that the Europeans have codified for phones. As a result , that interface is going to be with us a very long time if only for charging cables.

They look amazingly small compared to even the AirPods, which have a conspicuous portion that hangs out of the ear. I dig how these fit in the ear in a way I’ve always wanted a tiny earbud to fit in there. Then again, I would love to have considerable augmentation. Direct brain interfaces, for example.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 01:24

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This sounds a lot like me (except the strong fitness persona in highschool, #nerd4life).

I had one of those Bluetooth headphones with the battery pack in grade 9/10 (2007-2008) and thought it was the pinnacle of technology.

I recently bought jaybird wireless earbuds for the gym and marvel at where we are today enery time I use them.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2018 at 01:41

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In addition, there is also a Skookum Brewery up north that does fantastic work.

AestheticsInMotion > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2018 at 02:22

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Ah! That’s where you’re wrong! It’s in the lexicon of a pretty well known YouTuber

I’ll keep hoping. I thought I was done with the days of plugging a connector in, only to realize I have to flip it a d try again... What’s Apple using these days? Still on thunderbolt?

The Jabras are bigger than the airpods, but most of the bulk is hidden in your ear instead of dangling down. I like the idea of human augmentation until I start to think about what could go wrong

AestheticsInMotion > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 07/29/2018 at 02:28

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Electric cars in space, the e xtent of human knowledge in your pocket, and marble sized wireless receivers to playback tunes in the gym.

I wonder what the above sentance's equivalent will be a decade from now... 

For Sweden > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 02:31

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Shoving flammable lithium batteries in your ears to own your teachers

AestheticsInMotion > For Sweden 07/29/2018 at 02:55

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Sex, drugs, Bluetooth earbuds and rock n’ roll.

It's a glamorous life

Svend > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 03:03

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Lol. Rookie. We’d drink vodka in English class. We’d pass the vodka bottle under the table, and take turns asking the teacher a question to distract here so someone could have a swig from the bottle. We were 14 or 15 at the time. 

gettingoldercarguy > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 04:25

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These are what I use on my iem.

https://www.complyfoam.com

You get great ambient noise  reduction, pressure equalization and a snug fit that doesn’t weaken with sweat when active.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 08:06

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Bluetooth is nice in the car but I'm still not switching over for headphones. I already have a couple pairs of decent wired ones, I don't plan on switching until I have to. The battery life problem would be my biggest complaint. Unless it was 24hr plus for one charge, it would be a hassle. Having to charge them every 5 hours is a serious no no for long trips. Sure a backup wired pair would fill the gap but that is a crutch. 

Just Jeepin' > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 07/29/2018 at 10:04

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Nice thing about A pple’ s AirPods is that they effectively have an infinite battery life. Pop one out, drop it in the charger, keep listening to music via the other one.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2018 at 10:11

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Is skookum a pnw thing?

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 07/29/2018 at 11:50

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I suspect he’s from BC, which is the core region of Chinook Jargon today. Outside AK, BC, WA, and OR (particularly those from multi-generation families or that grew up in the region), it would be rare to encounter someone that knew even this common term.  I’d bet that 9/10 people that live/work in Seattle would have no clue what it meant without a google search, since everyone down there is from somewhere else and doesn’t care about anything local whatsoever.

Apple uses the Lightning connector, which is similar to USB-C in having no orientation and being very robust.

I have so many uses for it. It would allow for much faster typing and pointing than keyboards and mice, for example. It would also be cool to have a computer contract and release all my muscles while I’m in deep sleep, making use of those otherwise wasted hours of the day. It could do similar during waking hours for specific groups while sitting at a computer... I can envision so many uses of direct nervous system integration.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 07/29/2018 at 11:50

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Yes. Especially BC. People outside our region would have no clue what it means without a google search.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Svend 07/29/2018 at 11:57

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I somehow believe this.

Also reminds me of the English English professor that I sat next to on my first  flight to the UK. He talked my ear up and kept me up the whole flight so I arrived massively fatigued and unable to wrap my head around everything being exactly opposite to the US when it came to transportation.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 07/29/2018 at 12:22

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Haha.

I’ve been living the nerd life practically from birth.

I’m an older millennial, so I didn’t have a lot of these as options in school. I was also working in my industry back when most people used Bluetooth headsets. I had one of the very early Jabra headsets because it was relatively small, had great noise cancellation (this is how they became famous), sound quality , better looking , etc.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Just Jeepin' 07/29/2018 at 14:38

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Yeah but then you only have one ear playing music. No Bueno for pretty much anything as far as I'm concerned. Unless you have some Beatles in mono lol. 

Just Jeepin' > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 07/29/2018 at 16:39

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Well, they work for about 5 hours, then take 15 minutes to recharge for another 3. You’re welcome to choose a different product, but the battery life isn’t a good reason.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > AestheticsInMotion 07/31/2018 at 10:26

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We’re basically living in a sci-fi world fr om 20 years ago.

Every time I hook my gaming head set into the TV it blows my mind.  Lasers shoot sound into my ears!!!!!!  Well, maybe not lasers, but at least LED’s.  And LED’s are at least 10% as cool as lasers even though they require just as much quantum physics to work.