Headphones have come a long way in recent years, with manufacturers striving to offer the best audio quality, noisecanceling technology, and durability.
Among the more popular headphones on the market are the Jabra Elite 85h and the Sony WH-1000XM4. Both models have garnered good reviews and a dedicated following of headphone enthusiasts.
But which one is the best?
Image Credit: Jabra
Both the Jabra Elite 85h and the Sony WH-1000XM4 are over-ear headphones, providing excellent comfort and fit.
The WH-1000XM4 has an almost identical design to its predecessor, the WH1000XM3, with slightly slimmer pads for better ear room. Despite the earpads looking shallow, there is enough padding to provide excellent comfort, with great stability during movement. Sony’s headphones are also slightly lighter at 254g, making them more comfortable to wear for extended periods.
The Jabra Elite 85h, on the other hand, has extra padding compensating for their weight gain, making them more comfortable to wear for longer periods. The ear pads are much plusher, and they go around your ears, creating more skin contact than Sony's, which can make your ears sweat a bit earlier.
Nevertheless, Jabra’s are equally comfortable, with a generously padded headband that prevents unnecessary pressure on your head. Both headphones provide excellent comfort and fit, making them an excellent choice for extended listening sessions.
The Jabra Noise Cancelling Headphones (Elite 85h) offer good active noisecanceling performance, with much better passive performance. Jabra did a great job with their implementation of ANC inside the Elite 85h, providing noise reduction that does the job.
However, the WH-1000XM4 is still the superior choice. Sony's headphones do a much better job of eliminating people's chatter, an area where the Elite 85h struggles quite a bit.
Both headphones come with Bluetooth 5.0 support, providing a reliable connection on both sides. Sony's headphones also come with LDAC, a Hi-Fi equivalent for Bluetooth codecs, which Jabra's headphones lack.
You can also connect both headphones to two devices at the same time (multipoint). However, Sony disables the LDAC support when you enable the Multipoint toggle inside the mobile app.
When it comes to battery life, the Jabra Elite 85h is the winner, with a beefier battery life that can run for around 36 hours on a single charge, depending on the volume (with ANC). Sony headphones give you around 30 hours of playtime with simultaneously canceling out background noise.
However, Sony's headphones charge faster, providing another 5 hours of battery life in just 10 minutes, while Jabra Elite 85h needs a 15-minute charge to achieve the same playtime.
Both headphones provide a premiumfeeling experience, with mostly plastic construction. Sony's headphones feel soft to the touch and quite hard to break.
In terms of durability, the Jabra Elite 85h has an advantage over the Sony WH-1000XM4. The Jabra headphones are splashproof, which means they can handle a little bit of water exposure. On the other hand, the Sony headphones are not water-resistant.
When it comes to sound quality, both headphones have their own unique sound signatures. The Sony WH-1000XM4 has a warmer and more enjoyable sound quality with deeper bass, making it a great choice for genres like hip-hop, EDM, and pop.
In contrast, the Jabra Elite 85h has a brighter and more focused sound, with better treble detail. This makes it a great choice for genres like jazz and classical music.
Both the Sony WH1000XM4 and Jabra Elite 85h are great headphones with their own unique strengths.
The Sony headphones have a more wellrounded package, with better noisecancellation, more features, and warmer sound. And they are the undisputable leading headphone that set the industry abuzz with their amazing features.
However, the Jabra headphones are $100 cheaper, with better battery life, durability, and brighter sound.
Ultimately, the choice between the two headphones will come down to personal preference and which features are more important to the user.
Image Credit: Sony
