The Jabra Elite 4 Active are the newest additions in the mid-range of Jabra’s in-ear wireless buds lineup. With a retail price of just over R2,000 – depending on where you shop – the Elite 4 Active is targeting those that want a decent set of buds without losing too many features or making their wallets cry.
Look and feel
These are Jabra’s latest buds for casual use or the fitness-focused crowd. They feature a now-familiar, comfortable bulbous design which means they sit snugly in the ear. These didn’t fall out once during our testing. They’re coated with a grippy texture to avoid fumbles and come with large, medium and small silicone tips that offer good passive isolation. You also get a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging the case. No wireless charging here – you’ll have to cough up a bit more for that feature.
Speaking of the case, the vertical clamshell-style design means it can stand on its own. The battery life of the Elite 4 Active is rather decent for the price point. You’ll get around seven hours of playback time. The case offers an additional 21 hours (for a total of 28) before you’ll need to plug ‘em in.
These boast an IP57 rating. This means they can technically survive in a metre of water for 30mins, so you don’t need to worry about sweating on them but we wouldn’t take them into the pool with you.
You also get active noise cancellation (ANC) and a hear-through mode. The ANC is decent but the hear-through could do with a tweak or two. The fact that you get either feature on earbuds for around R2k is impressive.
Music into your ears
The Jabra Elite 4 Active use custom 6mm drivers and, as we’ve come to expect from Jabra buds, the bass response is punchy. Once again, you’re able to slightly tweak your listening experience if you want more or less of anything with the 5-band equaliser in the Sound+ app, so that’s good.
You can’t tweak the soundstage that these buds produce, though and it comes out as rather narrow when compared to a more expensive earbud, like the Jabra Elite Active 75ts. But the sound you get is clear and will be plenty loud enough if that’s a concern people still have.
Jabra Elite 4 Active verdict
Jabra continues to impress with its hardware and the Elite 4 Active are no expectation. Sure you don’t get every feature under the sun but you do get most of the basics, executed well. If you’re looking for well-rounded in-ears that don’t skimp on features and also don’t hurt your wallet, you should seriously consider the Jabra Elite 4 Active.
