The Jabra Elite 4 Active BT/ANC earphone with an IP57 rating and generous 2-year warranty is a standout for those who like to work up a sweat. At $179, they won’t damage your hip pocket, and most importantly, it sounds great too.

Jabra has always been a favourite at CyberShack. You can count on great sound, long life (quality) and a high level of user satisfaction.

These are mid-range, sitting below the Jabra Elite 7 Pro (review) and the Active version and above the Jabra Elite 3 earphones (review). You may want to look at the Jabra range because at present (9 May 2022), the Elite 7 Active (usually $279) is on discount at $179 – the same price.

Although in some ways, the Elite 4 Active may be more appealing as it supports the Qualcomm aptX codec and uses Qualcomm’s Hybrid ANC. Sound signature-wise, it uses the same 6m driver and can access Jabra’s excellent App and EQ.

It is part of the GN Group, established over 150 years ago. It is the only company sharing advanced audio tech to create consumer headphones, professional headsets, and hearing aids. The single-minded purpose – is to make your life sound better.

It is not necessarily a brand you consider against Samsung, Sennheiser, Apple Airpods, Bose, or Sony. But if you don’t, you will miss some class-leading features, great neutral sound signature, and effective ANC (where applicable). They’s fighting words – be warned, it is your peril if you don’t include them.

The key difference to the similarly styled Jabra Elite 7 Pro and Active is full adaptive noise cancelling versus the Elite 4 Active Qualcomm’s hybrid approach. But for 99% of us, full ANC is unnecessary.

It is a closed-back design that, while it lessens the sound stage width, helps noise cancellation via sound isolation.

The sound stage is in your head (typical of all closed-back) with good separation between left and right. But one thing to note about neutral signatures – they neither add nor subtract from the sound, so if you feed it garbage MP3s, you get garbage sound unless you play with the pre-sets or EQ.

The App EQ works very well with a neutral signature – while you can’t increase the native signature, you can tailor it to a clear vocal or several other pre-sets.

You can read more How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key)

We can only be subjective, but it is most effective with low-mid to mid – it won’t drown out heavy bass rumble. That is where the Elite Pro 7 comes into its own with adaptive noise cancellation across a wider range, including crying babies and errant, annoying loud children.

Even though it has a Qualcomm aptX codec, its latency is a little too high for gaming. You need earphones that use the aptX LL (low latency) codec for this.

The Elite 4 Active is quite good – not excellent – at hands-free in the office, gym, or outdoors. Callers commented on the natural voice. One mic per bud beam forms, and the other feeds in background noise for software reduction. Wind noise is an issue.

We test for eight hours of continuous use and during daily walks and exercise. These are comfortable, and while they don’t have stabiliser fins, they won’t easily pop out.

They require a firm fit, and some may find that a little hot.

Jabra’s 7-hour claim (and a further 21 in the case) is accurate and reduces to about 5.8 hours with ANC on it. Charge times are correct.

The Elite 4 Active reflects the capabilities of an entry-level Qualcomm Bluetooth True Wireless chip.

Where it leads is the App, as well as excellent sound isolation. Music quality is on a par with Sony WF-SP800N sports or BlueAnt Pump Air 2 and a lot better than the Pod styles that litter this price bracket.

Hell, the entire range is IP57, so they are all good. We love the quality and the App.

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