Jabra Elite 3 Review: Outstanding sound at just $119

Jabra has a range of new products soon to hit the market with this Christmas looking set to be a competitive one for those keen on headphones. And while we’ll look at their Elite 7 range soon, it’s the Elite 3 that are most fascinating to me – because of the price. $119 and that’s a big deal for Jabra.

The brand hasn’t played in this space before, but say they want to offer features and performance that simply isn’t available at this price point – and they have.

Normally when we talk about things at a “lower” price point – let’s be honest, and call it cheap, there are compromises you have to expect. But in all honesty, I think anyone buying these will only walk away thinking they were handed the wrong ones or there was a mistake at the checkout.

Here’s how I know that. Because for years we’ve tested Jabra earphones and year after year they are excellent, really great fit, finish, and most importantly sound quality.

A week or so ago, Jabra sent me their latest the Elite 3, without any information – ahead of an announcement today. So, I assumed this was a new naming convention to replace the Elite 75, 85 or others.

Put them in, they are light, they are comfortable and they’re pushing a solid 6-7 hours of battery life with ease – plus 20 or so more in the case.

I was told the new or updated Sound+ app wouldn’t work with these, so really could only judge them on that basic first impression.

Certainly not really up there with a $400 set of headphones, but boy these were impressive.

And then this morning, the App updated, and I found all the music preset options, the hear through ambient sound setting, and the one touch smart assistant or spotify setup. Loads of features.

I fell off my chair when I read the price. In fact, I had to double check with the Jabra team that it was accurate – $119.

These are in fact an entry-level headphone for Jabra. Their Elite 7 and Elite 7 Active headphones have a whole range of other features and quality to suit their $299 and $279 price-tags.

At $119, the Jabra Elite 3 headphones may well be the headphone deal of the year.

I can’t fault them, the feel great, the call quality is great with four microphones set there to help, and HD audio too.

There’s no wireless charging on the case, but who cares. They come in a range of colours but the Dark Grey suit just fine for me.

Honestly – wow. Impressive stuff. Hard pressed to sell you something more expensive if I worked in retail and was told you love music, need to make and take calls and don’t mind using when you’re out walking.

Introduce the need for Noise Cancelling and sure, we’ll talk about other options, but as far as the sub $200 price point goes, we’ve got ourselves a new leader.

The Jabra Elite 3 is available to pre-order now, with stock landing next week at major retailers.