The Jabra Elite 85h remains one of the best noise cancelling headphones for casual listeners, musicians, and those who are currently working remotely, something that has become much more common these days, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Our audio experts are fond of the Elite 85h’s bass-forward and dynamic soundstage, which is ideal for contemporary music genres such as alternative rock, EDM, and hip-hop. The model has also earned a spot on our best wireless headphones roundup. Jabra’s 40mm custom-engineered speakers do not skimp on the sonics, delivering emphatic lows that give life to even the stalest recordings. Audio can be personalized through the Jabra Sound+ app, which has a built-in EQ to tweak the different frequency levels manually. There is also a handful of presets to select from that are well-engineered and cater to different music genres. The level of sound these cans produce is up there with category leaders such as the Bose 700 and Sony WF-1000xM4. Those same sentiments are shared on the noise-canceling end, as Jabra’s 4-mic digital hybrid solution does a surprisingly good job of clearing out unwanted noise. Much of the fracas in your apartment (ex. bellowing pets, loud TVs) will be silenced, along with common distractions you’ll encounter outside (ex. chatty pedestrians at the coffee shop, train engines). Battery life may be the Elite 85h’s greatest feature, rated at 36 hours with ANC on, which is more than sufficient for avid audiophiles. By comparison, this is much higher than what the Bose 700 (20 hours) and Sony WF-1000xM4 (30 hours) offer. Quick charging is no joke either, generating 3.5 hours of playtime on a 15-minute charge; this is one of the most powerful quick-charging solutions we’ve seen. We can’t forget to speak on call quality as well, as Jabra’s unprecedented track record with calling headsets is exemplary in this model. The Elite 85h rewards you with loud and clean-sounding phone calls and video chats, with the mics picking up every spoken syllable and minimizing background noise.
