JabraBluetooth Headset, Titanium Black, One Size

So, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so sound is in the ear of the listener. Recoded music is at the mercy of the original producer and of the reproducing equipment (speakers, headphones etc.). Sometimes we like what we hear rather than hear what we like.I fancied a pair of good Bluetooth headphones and in response to so many accolades and five star reviews, I purchased from Amazon a pair Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones. They had what many would say was an excellent sound with good detail (when I could hear it) and a positive sound stage but unfortunately a tight rendition with over emphasised bass. I was listening to Sony engineer’s definition of what they thought I should be hearing rather than what I wanted to hear. No amount of equaliser adjustment could overcome the bass nor the tightness of sound. Maybe a good test is to listen to headphones whilst suffering from a hangover. As far as I am concerned, the Sonys would fail miserably. So under Amazon’s fabulous returns system, they went back. The latest Bose 700 headphones I believe have more treble emphasis but again, and I have not actually tried them, an engineered sound. Also, they are more expensive. Reading the frustrations of other reviewers, I was guided to the Jabra Elite 85H which I duly ordered from Amazon. I am glad that I did.The Jabra seem to lack some of the tight sound stage definition of the Sonys and also possibly lack the mid range quality (even to the point at high volume of bordering on slight distortion) but the sound is open, asking to be moulded to my preference rather than some engineer’s idea of what I should be hearing. They are very comfortable and so so easy to listen to for long periods. My preference is for clean detailed sound, fingers sliding along acoustic guitar strings and cymbals fading gradually into the distance. The Jabras give me this but seem equally happy with heavy metal, pounding drumming and even my wife’s prediliction for disco music. There are four equalised sound presets which can be moved through at the press of a button on one of the ear pads. Although Jabra has given each a name (as you press the button a voice tells you which one you are listening to) the equaliser for each can be vastly altered using the mobile phone app. If you feel that a particular track needs more bass to suit, then flick through the presets until you have the one that you have set to bass emphasis. Another pair of buttons can be used to move backwards and forwards through tracks and another to move to either noise cancellation, no noise cancellation and ‘sound through’. The latter amplifies external sound so if wearing the headphones which are over ear so to some extent are noise blocking without ANC being on, one can still hear external announcements. A further button connects to the various voice assistants. As yet, I have only used them once for making a mobile call but voice both ways was clear and worked fine. There have been occasional momentary Bluetooth drop outs but at this stage I have no idea of the cause and not really a problem.I understand that the Bluetooth is not up to latest spec meaning that the quality potential of the Bluetooth may be very slightly reduced. Impossible to comment on this as I have no means of comparing. Relevant voice assistant (e.g. Alexa) is accessible by the press of a button although have not had the need to use this yet. Battery life is superb. Not actually measured it but the phones were still fully charged after being used for a few hours followed by three weeks storage. The mobile app was easy to download and allows variations on the control of the headphones but once preferences have been set, is not really needed.Overall, I am well pleased with the Elite 85H headphones. Both with build and function quality, comfort, flexibility of sound adjustment and the noise that they make.

*This is an update from my initial review posted below*I managed to get another pair of these headphones at a highly discounted price through my mobile phone network provider, same colour and specifications, however I now have the latest firmware version installed and it has addressed all of the issues that I had originally mentioned in my review.Sound volume is now excellent as is the ambient mode and they have been hugely improved with one firmware update, so in the future there will be more updates and these will just get better and better.I communicated directly with Jabra support via email and explained my original issue that I was experiencing and I should have waited for the reply before returning the headphones as Jabra support was superb, quickly updating me with emails and keeping me informed of the upcoming firmware release.Jabra support has been superb and they clearly care about their customers, they have a very friendly and professional approach with regards to assisting you with advice and support.I had originally had a slight moan about the customer support side provided by Jabra and acknowledge that this was more down to me being impatient and not down to Jabra.So in summary, these get 5 stars and if I could give them 10 I would certainly do so.Excellent build quality accompanied by superior sound quality and backed up by impeccable customer service._____________ Original review __________Okay here's an honest review about these headphones.They are very nicely made, premium quality and look really nice, buttons to control ambient sound and other functions have a nice click rather than a touchpad, well it is kind of a touchpad with tactile buttons, so you won't accidentally hit the wrong one by mistake unlike some of the competition.Setup and is nice and simple, they are extremely comfortable, in fact, they are the most comfortable headphones I have ever used, so soft and great padding on the cups and the headband, they come with a USB type C charging port and supplied charging cable and charge very quickly indeed.They come in a really nice case and with a 3.5mm cable for connected use, so all in all a great package and for the build and quality these are competitively priced, actually, they are really exceptional value considering the functions that they offer, long battery life, bleeding edge noise cancellation, adaptive sound environment that configures itself when you move to a different area that may have extra noise, these are very advanced and clever headphones and there is nothing else that provides these amazing features.Unfortunately, I never got a chance to test out the call quality and performance but I am guessing it is probably top notch.Why only four stars? well these have an issue and that is the firmware is buggy and unstable causing the headphones to switch to the different environment when you are just sitting in the same place and have not even moved, there was no additional increase in background noise to trigger this, they just randomly decide to change and with each change there is a spoken notification telling you what mode it has switched over to. You can automatically change environment settings with a simple push of a button and cycle the modes that you desire, but to have them switching constantly whilst you are trying to listen to music or watch a movie is a real pain.Sound quality overall was very impressive, clear and precise soundstage with decent highs and lows as well as midrange, everything is well balanced but the volume is very low and even with my phone or computer set to maximum volume as well as the headphones it was mediocre at best.There is hardly any bass and when the headphones are at maximum volume and there is a little bass it is accompanied by a clicking sound.I decide to contact Jabra support and get some assistance with these issues, it took them a whole week to respond and it was almost an automated email asking me to check for firmware updates for both the headphone and the Jabra application on my phone.I had already updated the firmware as I was prompted to do so when I first connected the headphones via the Jabra application and the application on my phone was up to date, so I emailed support again and received exactly the same email with the same instructions.Summary, these are high-quality, absolutely packed full of innovation and technology and have enormous potential to be the best wireless headphones available, but buggy firmware and poor customer support I do not find acceptable.I own both the Jabra Elite and Evolve 65t's and cannot fault them as they are excellent so I trust and believe in Jabra products, however, I am saddened by my experience with these headphones but I truly believe that future firmware updates will fix the issues I have mentioned.So I have returned these for a refund as I am not a beta tester for Jabra and that is how I felt, so many manufacturers are pushing products out way too quickly without proper testing, but I will most definitely grab another pair of these in maybe 3-4 months once things have been fixed as my initial impression is that these will be fantastic.