Jabra Elite 8 Active review - Rugged in-ears with a full sound

The Jabra Elite 8 Active is made of plastic. The earbuds are covered with a liquid silicone rubber compound designed to enhance their durability and to provide a more secure fit, a feature Jabra calls ShakeGrip technology. Once positioned into your ear canals, the earbuds are absolutely secure; vigorous jumping and head movements will not dislodge them.

Boasting an IP68 rating, these in-ears are both dust- and waterproof. Even the charging case has IP54 certification, meaning it at least offers some protection against dust and splashing water. Moreover, Jabra claims that the Elite 8 Active has successfully passed nine tests based on the MIL-STD-810H standard. For instance, the earbuds have been independently verified to withstand loose load vibrations, temperature changes and shocks, high humidity (humid heat), salt mist and drops, and have also undergone a highly accelerated corrosion test.

The Jabra Elite 8 Active has impressive build quality. The earbuds are held securely in the charging case by magnets. The case's lid likewise closes magnetically and stays shut even when shaken forcefully. However, the case of our blue review unit is very susceptible to fingerprints.

The Jabra Elite 8 Active is equipped with compact 6 mm drivers. Despite delivering a pleasing sound for a pair of TWS headphones, they are very heavy on the highs. In comparison with the Elite 10, which features larger drivers, the lower frequencies are less prominent. One notable positive is the low noise floor, which contributes to a clear sound output. Even though the Elite 8 Active is slightly lacking in oomph during action films and rock music, the earbuds still manage to deliver a great audio experience.

You can use either one or both earbuds for phone calls. In quiet settings, voice captured by the earbuds has a natural quality. However, the microphones struggle to handle loud ambient noises. Wind noise reduction works fairly well on the Elite 8 Active. Whilst it has a noticeable impact on HearThrough and the ANC, this is a trade-off that we’ll gladly accept for outdoor use. In our testing, the person on the other end was always clearly audible, but the clarity of our voice took a hit in very windy conditions. We also found that we had to slow down significantly during a bike ride in order to remain audible. Although not flawless, the wind noise reduction is noticeably more effective than that on competing headphones. 

Like with the Elite 10, the HearThrough feature also works well on this device, but it is accompanied by a hissing sound that is noticeable in very quiet environments. However, this noise disappears entirely when the background is busier. The adaptive hybrid ANC too is highly reliable and can completely filter out many intrusive noises. 

At the moment, the Elite 8 Active only supports standard Bluetooth audio codecs. Nevertheless, there are plans to add LC3 and LC3plus in future, though the timeframe hasn’t been specified. Jabra also hasn’t mentioned anything about Auracast support.

THD (Total Harmonic Distortion): Harmonic distortion quantifies the distortion caused by non-linear components (harmonic content) in relation to the original signal. THD specifically refers to the fundamental component. It's important to note that while the term "distortion factor" is often used interchangeably, it actually refers to the overall signal, not just the fundamental component.
THD+N (Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise):  This value is comparable to THD, but in addition to measuring the interference power of harmonics, it also takes into account the impact of noise as an effective value. For the measurement, a low harmonic sinusoidal signal (typically at 1 kHz and > 0 dB) is played back through the headphones under test. This signal is then recorded by a linear measuring microphone (placed at a measuring distance of approximately 0.40 inches) in an artificial head

Both THD and THD+N values are expressed as percentages. The lower the value, the higher the fidelity of the signal.

Jabra hasn’t disclosed any detailed technical specifications about the performance of the lithium-ion batteries in the device, other than stating that they can provide up to eight hours of use. In our battery test, the Elite 8 Active even managed to last more than ten hours with volume set to 65 dB(A) and the ANC enabled. That said, using the earbuds outdoors may shorten battery life since higher volume levels are typically required.

The charging case is able to fully recharge the batteries three times.

The Elite 8 Active has an RRP of around €200 (US$200). At the time of writing, US-based readers can get it from Jabra's website at a much lower price of US$149 after applying a coupon code, whereas those in Germany have the option to buy it from Amazon for €154.

The prices listed are subject to change.