So this is the Jabra Elite 4. And you know what – these are a nice pair of earbuds from Jabra. They might not blow your mind, but sometimes earbuds don’t have to.

Price

We’re going to take a look at the biggest competitors across all brands, but first off, let’s talk about the Elite 4 in relation to another Jabra Product – the Elite 4 Active. The Elite 4 will set you back 99 Euros, while the Elite 4 Active, which was released a year ago, came with a heftier price tag of 120 Euros at launch. And they’re pretty much still selling at that list price. So, if you’re budget-conscious, the Elite 4 might already have an edge. But let’s not jump to conclusions just yet!

1. Jabra Elite 4: Buy now
2. Jabra Elite 4 Active: Buy now
3. Earfun Air Pro 3: Buy now
4. Samsung Galaxy Buds 2: Buy now
5. SoundCore Space A40: Buy now
6. JBL Live Pro 2: Buy now

Disclaimer: The links provided are affiliate links. We may receive a commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you. This helps support our work, and we appreciate your understanding.

Build

Both earbuds have a sleek design – and we really like that about the Jabra buds. The 4, however, is clearly shorter and narrower than the Elite 4 Active – and when it comes to case size – smaller is better. The buds themselves look identical, except for that grippy texture on the Active variant, which Jabra says stays in your ears better, but.. We don’t know about that. Maybe we should wait for the summer sweat.

And speaking of sweating – the Elite 4 takes a slight step down to IP55 compared to the Elite 4 Active which boasts an IP57 rating. So, if you’re planning on running through a torrential downpour, the Elite 4 Active might be your best bet, but in most cases – IP55 is already well above the norm here.

The smaller size of the case seems to have affected battery life. The Elite 4 offers a bordering-on-acceptable 5.5 hours from the buds and an additional 16.5 hours from the case. The Elite 4 Active, on the other hand, lasts 7 hours from the buds with an impressive 21 hours from the case. Would we choose the smaller size difference for the extra battery life? Yes – yes we would!

But this is where we would not choose the Elite 4 Active. Now in typical Jabra fashion – both earbuds come with physical buttons, but it seems that the Elite 4 takes the cake here. Its buttons are much easier to use than those on the Elite 4 Active. You get almost full media control, but strangely, you can’t go to the previous track – only restart the current one.

[Sound]

As for sound quality, both earbuds are on the flatter side. They sound identical and are pretty good but don’t quite reach that high-res goodness, as they only support the APTX Codec. However, you can use the Jabra Sound+ app to choose from presets or create a custom 5-band EQ to fine-tune your audio experience. Jabra’s buds have never disappointed in terms of sound – and the 4 pretty much stays on trend. Are these the best sounding earbuds out there? Well it depends on what you’re looking for. As we said – no high res codecs to be had here, but the tuning is really nice. In the treble region we sometimes found the sound a bit lacking, but that’s most likely the codec playing a role. What can we say – Jabra’s a no nonsense brand, and it doesn’t resort to marketing tricks – just well tuned earbuds.

During windy bike rides, both models piped in a lot of wind noise! That’s a bit disappointing. We’re not sure, but we think turning off both ANC and transparency might help with this. Their mics are quite good – just listen to the samples and decide for yourself.

–-mic samples–

So what did you think? Well for us, the microphones are very good, especially in quieter conditions. But if you’re in louder environments, folks on the other end of the call might be able to hear those loud noises as well. So that’s something to keep in mind.

But these are true vakman buds. Those buttons? They can do it all. You can answer calls, change volume, and mute the microphone directly from the buds, which is pretty convenient.

ANC and Transparency

The ANC on the Elite 4 Active seems marginally better, but unfortunately, its level isn’t customizable. Overall, we don’t necessarily rate Jabra the highest for noise cancelling. Although it’s still fine if you want to cut out a fair amount of background noise. The transparency is also quite usable, but what you hear is lesser than what you do with buds in your ears. In that case – we found ourselves, not having a more than 5-second conversation with the Jabra Elite 4’s transparency mode.

Connectivity

Probably the biggest feature that Jabra is adding to this low price point is multipoint. Staying connected to two devices simultaneously. And you know what? It worked in our short time testing. We could pause on one device and resume on the other – and you know what? It works quite reliably. So far. And hopefully it stays that way.

We did receive an update to these buds over the air, but for some reason kept getting an error when it came to installing it, which was quite annoying.

And you do get Google Fast Pair on board too. However you cannot pull connection from a previously paired device. Which means if you need to use a third device, you’re going to have to disconnect from one of the two devices you’re connected to.

Extras

That’s pretty much it – there are no other extras to be had here. No wireless charging, no in-ear sensor to automatically play or pause your music. So where does that leave us?

Alternatives

So which other buds would we consider at this price? Well there’s the 1More Aero – and the Elite 4 buds remind us a lot of those buds. But the Elite 4 sound a bit more neutral and use buttons instead of touch, are much more compact in the ear, have dust resistance, but are lighter on bass. Samsungs Buds Pro first gen or Buds 2 sound great, probably our favourites on this list, but feature wise, they just aren’t as rich and are more tied to Samsung devices. The SoundCore Space A40 are also an excellent choice on almost every front, but their sound left us wanting a little.

JBL Live Pro 2 is also a competitor here, with better ANC chops. Controls are better on Jabra and JBL settles for AAC – no high quality codecs.

But in our mind, the EarFun Air Pro 3 is the strongest contender. They’re actually cheaper, sound good, do better at ANC AND transparency. They have wireless charging, are comfortable, better battery life, a better codec… just so much more.

And in the Jabra family, we would choose the Elite 4 over the Elite 4 Active, just because the buttons are much better. If that weren’t the case, we’d have picked the Elite 4 Active.

Should you buy the Jabra Elite 4?

1. Jabra Elite 4: Buy now
2. Jabra Elite 4 Active: Buy now
3. Earfun Air Pro 3: Buy now
4. Samsung Galaxy Buds 2: Buy now
5. SoundCore Space A40: Buy now
6. JBL Live Pro 2: Buy now

Disclaimer: The links provided are affiliate links. We may receive a commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you. This helps support our work, and we appreciate your understanding.

Other things you might consider for your purchase decision are sustainability, which Jabra really is into – with its packaging as well as policies. And it’s a company that’s well-established with a decent customer serivce network.

So should you buy the Elite 4? Well – just like the Elite 5 we loved, these are very good all-round buds. They’re easy to carry around, can withstand the elements and sound good. What’s not to love?

You’ve been dabbling with Elitism and we’ve been DHRME. Namaste!