Jabra Elite 8 Active vs Jabra Elite 7 Pro

With an identical starting price, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro and Jabra Elite 8 Active make for a particularly interesting comparison. The Jabra Elite 8 Active is clearly marketed towards athletes, whereas the Jabra Elite 7 Pro targets professionals who take frequent calls on the go. Both sets of earbuds excel in a variety of ways, so we compared the Jabra Elite 8 Active vs Jabra Elite 7 Pro to find out which should be your next set of wireless earbuds.

Editor’s note: this article was published on October 25, 2023, and is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What’s it like to use the Jabra Elite 8 Active compared to the Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

The Jabra Elite 8 Active and Elite 7 Pro earbuds share the same shape and fit, but with a different finish. While the Elite 7 Pro earbuds have a smooth plastic interior with a shiny metallic exterior, the Elite 8 Active features ShakeGrip, a rubberized coating to lock the earbuds in place. Both sets of earbuds insert deep into the ear canal, so as long as one of the included ear tip sizes fits, you won’t have problems with either set of earbuds falling out of your ears.

While the Jabra Elite 8 Active are marketed as the more durable earbuds, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro are no slouch in this regard either. You get IP68 water and dust resistance with the Jabra Elite 8 Active, and IP57 water and dust resistance with the Jabra Elite 7 Pro. In practice, this means you can use either earbuds at the gym, on the trails, or in the rain – though the Elite 8 Active will hold up slightly better against the extreme elements.

How do you control the Jabra Elite 8 Active and Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

Both the Jabra Elite 8 Active and Jabra Elite 7 Pro have physical buttons on the exterior of the earbuds. These buttons require a firm press that shoves the earbuds deeper into your ear canal, so use the onboard playback controls at your own risk. Both sets of earbuds have sensors to automatically pause your music when you remove the earbuds, and play when you place the earbuds back in your ears. The earbuds share the same default controls but keep in mind you can fully customize these controls from within the Jabra Sound+ companion app.

Jabra Elite 8 Active and Jabra Elite 7 Pro default controls

Should you use the Jabra Sound+ app for the Jabra Elite 8 Active and Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

The Jabra Elite Active 8 and Elite 7 Pro both utilize the Jabra Sound+ app. The app is essential to unlocking the full capabilities of Jabra earbuds, so make sure you download it for either the Elite 8 Active or Elite 7 Pro. Within the app, you can customize the sound of the earbuds, alter the active noise canceling, change the controls, find your lost earbuds, and more. There are no notable differences in the app experience for the Elite 7 Pro compared to the Elite 8 Active.

How do the Jabra Elite 8 Active and Jabra Elite 7 Pro connect?

Once you update the firmware of the earbuds, you shouldn’t have problems connecting either the Jabra Elite 7 Pro or Elite 8 Active to your device. The Elite 8 Active utilizes the more advanced Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support, whereas the Elite 7 Pro has Bluetooth 5.2. Both earbuds support AAC and SBC codecs, and both have Bluetooth multipoint support to connect to multiple devices at the same time.

Is battery life better on the Jabra Elite 8 Active or Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

Battery life is very similar on the Jabra Elite 8 Active and Elite 7 Pro. In our testing, the Elite 8 Active earbuds lasted 9 hours and 28 minutes on a single charge, while the Elite 7 Pro earbuds lasted 8 hours and 48 minutes.

The charging case for either set of earbuds provides a few additional charges to the earbuds and charges with USB-C or Qi wireless charging. There are LEDs on both the earbuds and charging case for the Elite 8 Active and Elite 7 Pro to alert you of the charging status. With fast charging, placing the earbuds in their respective charging case will provide 60 minutes of playback from only 5 minutes of charging.

Do the Jabra Elite 8 Active or Jabra Elite 7 Pro block noise better?

The Jabra Elite 8 Active blocks out more environmental noise than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro. As you can see in the chart above, the Jabra Elite 8 Active excels at blocking low-frequency noise around 100Hz.

The Jabra Elite 8 Active utilizes what the company calls “Adaptive Hybrid ANC”, whereas the Elite 7 Pro has “Adjustable ANC”. In addition to blocking out more low-frequency noise, the more advanced Adaptive Hybrid ANC automatically adjusts the strength of the noise attenuation based on the level of environmental noise around you. If you find yourself frequently in noisy environments or just want to block out all distractions, you’ll enjoy the better noise canceling properties of the Elite 8 Active. That said, as long as you get a good fit with the earbuds, passive isolation will block out a significant portion of noise when using either set of earbuds.

Do the Jabra Elite 8 Active sound better than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

Out of the box, the Jabra Elite 8 Active emphasizes low frequencies more than the Jabara Elite 7 Pro. It isn’t uncommon for workout earbuds to provide a bit more bass to power you through your workouts. On the other hand, the default frequency response of the Jabra Elite 7 Pro emphasizes high frequencies. Both sets of earbuds have less emphasis on mid-range frequencies than our SoundGuys headphone preference curve. If you don’t like the way either set of earbuds sounds out of the box, you can easily customize them using the equalizer in the Jabra Sound+ app.

Only the Jabra Elite 8 Active has native Dolby Atmos support for spatial audio. If you like the feeling of your music coming from all around you, you can enable this feature in the Jabra Sound+ app.

Do the Jabra Elite 8 Active or Jabra Elite 7 Pro have a better microphone?

Despite Jabra marketing the Elite 7 Pro as having the company’s most advanced call technology, we didn’t observe any obvious advantage over the Elite 8 Active in our microphone tests. In fact, when listening to the simulated street or office conditions demos below, we found the Elite 8 Active did a considerably better job of canceling out background noise compared to the Elite 7 Pro. Take a listen for yourself, but to our ears, this category is a clear win for the Elite 8 Active.

Jabra Elite 8 Active microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Jabra Elite 7 Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Jabra Elite 8 Active microphone demo (Street conditions):

Jabra Elite 7 Pro microphone demo (Street conditions):

Jabra Elite 8 Active microphone demo (Office conditions):

Jabra Elite 7 Pro microphone demo (Office conditions):

Jabra Elite 8 Active microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Jabra Elite 7 Pro microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Jabra Elite 8 Active vs Jabra Elite 7 Pro: Price and availability

Both the Jabra Elite 7 Pro and Jabra Elite 8 Active have a starting price of $199.99. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro is two years older than the Elite 8 Active which comes with benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, you’re more likely to find the Elite 7 Pro at a significant discount. We’ve frequently seen these earbuds on sale for as low as $100. However, as the product becomes obsolete, you will have a harder time finding inventory of the Elite 7 Pro at your preferred retailers.

Should you get the Jabra Elite 8 Active or Jabra Elite 7 Pro?

At the same price, the Jabra Elite 8 Active is the clear winner. You get better durability, the latest and greatest in Bluetooth tech, a default sound that will likely appeal to more people, improved noise canceling, a better microphone, and support for Dolby Atmos spatial audio. Forget athletes, the Jabra Elite 8 Active is a great set of earbuds for anyone.

The only saving grace for the Jabra Elite 7 Pro is that since it is an older product, you are more likely to find it on sale for an affordable price. If you see these earbuds on sale for half the price of the Jabra Elite 8 Active, they may be worth buying, as these are still very good earbuds that provide a lot of the same functionality as the Elite 8 Active. Before making your decision though, make sure to check out our full breakdown of the best wireless earbuds on the market.

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