Jabra has announced the latest model in its lineup of true wireless earbuds for working out ahead of CES 2022.
The Jabra Elite 4 Active come with all the features you’d want from a pair of running headphones, including active noise cancellation, an IP57 dust and water resistance rating, HearThrough technology so you can tap into your surroundings, and up to 28 hours of playback.
Inside each earbud is a 6mm driver, and access to an adjustable equalizer via the MySound app means you should be able to customize the sound of the Elite 4 Active to your exacting requirements.
That adjustable equalizer will be appreciated if the new buds sound anything like their pricier counterparts, the Jabra Elite 7 Active. We found that the bass and treble frequencies were too overpowering, which means you lose detail from the mid frequencies – and as this is where most vocal lines sit, that can really affect the audio performance.
Being able to adjust these frequencies in the app offered a decent remedy with the Elite 7 Active, though we found that the issue still persisted a little no matter how much we tinkered with the levels.
Specs that speak for themselves
Still, the sports-friendly features that come with the Elite 4 Active could be enough for us to overlook recessed mids. Their ergonomic design doesn’t involve any wingtips to hold the buds securely in place, but we didn’t find this to be an issue with the Elite 7 Active. In fact, we found them to be comfortable, secure, and extremely lightweight, which is exactly what you want from a pair of workout buds.
Another handy feature for fitness fanatics is the ability to use one earbud at a time with Mono Mode. As well as letting you keep an ear free for oncoming traffic or other runners, using one earbud should push the battery life even further if you’re running low.
With a total battery life of 28 hours with the charging case, the earbuds themselves offer seven hours of playback from a single charge – not the best battery life we’ve seen, but certainly not the worst.
While we’re yet to test the Jabra Elite 4 Active for ourselves just yet (stay tuned for our full review), they seem to sit somewhere between the slightly underwhelming Elite 3 and the more impressive Elite 7 Active.
That’s reflected in the price. Coming in at £119.99 (about £160 / AU$220), the Jabra Elite 4 Active are reasonably priced for the specs you’re getting – especially as they also come with extra quality of life features like built-in Alexa, Spotify Tap playback, and Google Fast Pair.
Will they be the most exciting earbuds to come out of CES 2022? Probably not. But the most well-specced for the price? Quite possibly.
