A new pair of true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) is coming to town: the Jabra Elite 85t. Needless to say, they’re succeeding the ever-popular Elite 75t, coming with a few big design changes here and there.
But as the question always is, are they worth the buy? After all, most would argue that there are tons of affordable options that can get the job done nowadays. On that note, we compare them to the Samsung Galaxy Buds to find out, which are considered to be premium Bluetooth headphones that won’t break the bank.
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Jabra Elite 85t vs Galaxy Buds Comparison Chart
| Model | Jabra Elite 85t | |
 |  | |
| Price | Check Price at Jabra.com | Check Price |
| Fit | Semi-open | In-ear |
| Active Noise Cancellation | Yes | No |
| Transparency Mode | Yes | Yes (Ambient sound) |
| Water Resistance | IPX4 | IPX2 |
| Battery Life | Up to 7 hours or 5.5 hours with ANC on | Up to 6 hours |
| Wireless Charging | Yes | Yes |
| Fast Charging | n/a | 15 minutes for 1.7 hours |
| Release Date | November 1, 2020 | 2019 |
| Colors | Titanium, Gold | Black, White, Yellow, Aura Glow Silver |
Design and Fit
Sound will leak through the Jabra Elite 85t’s semi-open fit, but not through the
Both earbuds follow the same iconic design cues of their respective brands. That basically means you’d know the Elite 85t are from Jabra and the Galaxy Buds are from Samsung just by looking at them. It goes without saying that’s either a good or bad thing depending on your preference.
However, the Jabra Elite 85t are taking a different route in terms of form factor. While their predecessor have an in-ear fit, these are semi-open. In other words, you won’t be inserting their tips into your ear canal, and you won’t be getting a tight seal. They have weaker noise isolation in that sense, but that’s where ANC comes in (more on that in a few).
Meanwhile, the
Sound Performance
Both have features to let you hear your surroundings.
Now the Jabra Elite 85t aren’t available yet at the time of writing, so their audio quality is still hard to tell. But from what we can gather, they’ll sound better than the previous iteration, thanks to their larger 12 mm drivers.
The Jabra Elite 85t have three microphones on each earbud. Crunching the numbers real quick, that’s six microphones in total, four of which are used for active noise cancellation. Called Advanced ANC, it’s a type of noise canceling made for earbuds that don’t create a secure, noise-isolating fit into ear canals. They also feature HearThrough, a transparency mode to let you hear your surroundings. You get to adjust this setting over 11 levels of sound, from complete transparency mode to complete ANC.
As mentioned earlier, the
Connectivity and Other Features
If history is anything to go by, the Jabra Elite 85t will have Bluetooth multipoint pairing.
One of the strong points of Jabra true wireless earbuds is multipoint pairing. The Elite 75t have it, and it’s not a stretch to believe that the Elite 85t will have it too. Speaking of, the new generation will likely have at least Bluetooth 5.0 as well.
In comparison, the
Both have auto-pause, but the Jabra Elite 85t do it better. To explain, you only have to remove one earbud for them to pause any playing content. On the other hand, you’ll have to take both of the
As expected, the two have water resistance too, but again, the Jabra Elite 85t have the upper hand. They have IPX4, which is a step down from the Elite 75t’s IP55, but despite that, they still beat the
Battery Life
With ANC off, the Jabra Elite 85t can last longer than the
Right off the bat, the Jabra Elite 85t can go up to 7 hours or 31 hours with the charging case with ANC off. They’re rated to last up to 5.5 hours or 25 hours with the case with ANC on. Last but not least, they also support wireless charging, and they’re compatible with any QI-certified charger.
On a single charge, the
Verdict
The Jabra Elite 85t have plenty of advantages over the
Without a doubt, the Jabra Elite 85t are the better earbuds of the two here. For starters, they have ANC and a higher IP rating, and they’ll likely have Bluetooth multipoint pairing to boot.
However, the Samsung Galaxy Buds are still worth considering, especially for Galaxy device owners. For one thing, they’re more affordable, and they deliver an A-OK performance for everyday listening. Moreover, they have certain features such as Scalable Codec.
FAQs
The Jabra Elite 85t are better than the
Yes. The Samsung Galaxy Buds are worth getting because of their low price point and decent performance, and they even have special features such as Scalable Codec for select Galaxy devices.
Jabra is expected to release the Elite 85t on Nov. 1.
Yes. The Jabra Elite 75t and Elite Active 75t are proof of that, two true wireless earbuds with good sound quality and features such as Bluetooth multipoint pairing.
Last update on 2020-10-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API