The Jabra Elite 25e Wireless are decent mixed usage headphones, with a bit too much bass for some. They have a decently comfortable around-the-neck earbud design and a good control scheme that provides a dedicated microphone button but has mediocre feedback. They're stable enough for running, sufficiently quiet to use at the office without distracting those around you, and fairly easy to carry around. Unfortunately, they don't isolate noise as well as the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless, and their build quality feels much cheaper and less durable overall.
Our Verdict
The Jabra Elite 25e are decent for mixed usage. They have a lightweight and decently flexible neckband design and comfortable earbuds that don't leak much. They're stable enough to run with and a suitable option for the office, although they don't do as well in loud environments like the more high-end, noise cancelling Jabra Elite 65e. Unfortunately, being Bluetooth-only headphones, they won't be the ideal option for gaming or home theater. They also have a mediocre sound quality that has a bit too much bass, and you can't EQ their sound profile since they don't support the Jabra Sound+ app.
- Comfortable earbud fit.
- Great battery performance.
- Low leakage.
- The neckband design won't be for everyone.
- Overly bass-heavy sound quality.
- Poor noise isolation.
The Jabra Elite 25e are mediocre-at-best for neutral listening. They have a dark and boomy sound profile overall and are okay for fans of heavy bass or when using them in loud environments where the bass can be somewhat drowned out by the ambient noise. However, they aren't the ideal choice for more neutral listeners and also have a relatively small soundstage due to their closed earbud design. They should be adequate sounding for most listeners if you're not too picky.
The Jabra Elite 25e are decent for commuting. They're comfortable, portable, and have a good control scheme. Unfortunately, they don't block a lot of noise with their earbud fit but barely leak, so you can increase the volume of your music to mask some of the ambient noise that will seep through.
These headphones are above-average for sports use. The Jabra Elite 25e are comfortable and stable enough to run with. They also have quite a bass-heavy sound that may get you pumped when you're at the gym and an above-average control scheme that's fairly easy to use. However, the neckband can sometimes get caught on items of clothing, which may pull the earbuds out of your ears.
The Jabra Elite 25e are above-average for office use. They have a sub-par noise isolation performance, so they won't be the ideal choice for particularly noisy offices. But on the upside, they barely leak, so you can turn your volume up to mask more noise without distracting those around you. You can also use them while they're charging, which is a bit more convenient for an office environment.
Changelog
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Aug 03, 2018: Review published.
- Updated Aug 01, 2018: Our testers have started testing this product.
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Compared To Other Headphones
The Jabra Elite 25e Wireless are decent mixed-usage earbuds. However, they're not as well-built and don't perform as well as the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless overall. They also don't actively cancel noise like the 65e, so they perform worse in loud environments.
Unfortunately, they look a bit cheap for their price range and don't have the most durable build quality, especially when compared to some of the headphones below. Make sure to check out our recommendations for the best budget earbuds, the best wireless earbuds under $100, and the best wireless headphones under $100.
The Jabra Elite 65e Wireless are a better overall headphone than the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless. The 65e have a better build quality that is more flexible and durable. The 65e also have a customizable sound, since they support the Sound+ app, and they're noise cancelling so they're a bit more suitable for the office and commuting. The 25e, on the other hand, have a longer battery life of 16hrs and they're a bit more lightweight.
The Samsung U Flex Wireless are a slightly better around-the-neck design than the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless. The Samsung has a better-built neckband that's flexible enough to fold and fit into your pockets. The Samsung also have a more stable and slightly better isolating in-ear fit. They have customizable sound and a wealth of features, but only if you're paired with a Samsung device. The Jabra, on the other hand, will be more comfortable for some thanks to their earbud fit. They also have a much longer battery life than the Samsung.
The JBL E25BT Wireless are slightly better headphones than the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless, but not by much. The JBL have a slightly more balanced sound than the Jabra. The JBL also isolate a bit more in noisy environments, making them a bit better-suited for the commute and travel. They're also more portable than the Jabra. On the upside, the Jabra have a longer 16hr battery life, a more comfortable earbud fit, and a better control scheme, with a dedicated mic button.
The Jabra Elite Active 65t Truly Wireless are better headphones overall than the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless. The Active 65t are compact truly wireless in-ear earbuds that you can easily carry around in your pockets. The Elite Active 65t also have a sweat-proof in-ear design that's better for sports, isolates more on noisy commutes, and has a customizable app with an EQ and limited health tracking. On the upside, the 25e have longer battery life and have an earbud fit that's more comfortable for most.
Test Results
The Jabra Elite 25e look and feel like a budget version of the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless. They're the lowest tier of the Elite E series, which shows in their build quality and cables. On the upside, they still look fairly decent for their price range. They have a sleek around-the-neck design with an earbud fit that doesn't have stability fins but feels dense and durable enough to last you a while. Overall, their understated design looks decent and will work for most.
The Jabra Elite 25e have a similar earbud design to the higher-end Jabra Elite 65e Wireless but don't come with any stability fins. On the upside, it doesn't change their comfort level by much, and since they don't go into your ear canal like typical in-ears, they will be a lot more comfortable for most listeners. The neckband is sufficiently lightweight to not be too noticeable once around your neck. Since it's not as flexible, it does feel a bit stiff at times. Overall, the whole design should be comfortable enough for most and more comfortable than conventional in-ear headphones.
The Jabra Elite 25e have a decent control scheme. They provide the basics: track-skipping, call/music, and volume controls. However, they also have a dedicated button to mute the mic, which is fairly rare on a Bluetooth headphone not meant for gaming. Unfortunately, the layout of the controls take a bit of time to get used to, and the feedback of the buttons is much worse than on the higher-end model. The buttons feel mushy and slightly difficult to press, which is disappointing, especially when compared to the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless.
The Jabra Elite 25e, like most in-ears and earbuds, are breathable headphones that won't make your ears sweat more than usual. They trap a negligible amount of heat within the notch of your ear due to their earbud tips, but it won't be a noticeable temperature difference, and your outer-ear will remain cool when working out. This makes them a good option for sports.
Similar to the Sony WI-C400 Wireless, the Jabra Elite 25e are decently portable and don't take too much space. You can easily carry them on your person thanks to the neckband design and magnetic earbuds that help with cable management. This makes them a bit less portable than the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless since you won't be able to fold and fit them into tighter spaces, although their total size is a bit more compact overall.
The build quality of the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless is decent but much less durable and doesn't look as premium as the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless. The neckband is decently thick and made from sturdy plastic. It also doesn't have a dedicated in-line mic for making calls, which makes the overall design feel a lot cheaper than the higher-end model of the lineup. The earbuds are also not as dense, but they do have magnetic backplates to help with cable management, which is nice. Overall, they're built decently well but feel slightly less durable than some of the cheaper neckband designs we've tested, like the Samsung U Flex Wireless.
The Jabra Elite 25e are decently stable headphones but don't come with additional stability fins. The neckband is also a bit stiffer, which pulls on the cable slightly more than the Jabra Elite 65e Wireless when working out. They will be stable enough for running and jogging, but they won't be the ideal choice for more demanding physical activities and sports.
The frequency response consistency is great. Assuming the user is able to achieve a proper fit and an air-tight seal using the assortment of tips that come with the headphones, they should be able to get consistent bass and treble delivery every time they use the headphones.
The bass accuracy of the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless is decent. The LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10hz, which is excellent. Also, the response throughout the range is flat and even, but it's consistently overemphasized by more than 5dB. This makes the bass of these headphones quite heavy and boomy and could drown out higher frequencies, which include the vocals and lead instruments.
The mid-range accuracy of the Jabra Elite 25e is good. Low-mid shows the continuation of the bass overemphasis and is over our neutral target by about 2dB. This thickens the vocals a little and makes the overall mix a bit cluttered. Conversely, mid-mid and high-mid are recessed by more than 2.5dB. This pushes vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix and gives more emphasis to the bass frequencies. This effect will be even more pronounced due to the heavy bass of these headphones.
The Jabra Elite 25e have sub-par treble accuracy. The response is even and relatively flat but consistently underemphasized by more than 4dB. This results in a treble that sounds veiled and lacks detail and brightness, especially since the bass of these headphones is quite pronounced.
The imaging performance of the Jabra Elite 25e Wireless is excellent. Their weighted group delay never crosses the audibility threshold, ensuring a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were exceptionally well-matched, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (instruments, voice, footsteps) in the stereo image.
Like most other in-ears, the soundstage of the Jabra Elite 25e is poor. This is because in-ears bypass the pinna (outer ear), and don't interact with it while activating the resonances of the pinna is one of the key factors in creating a speaker-like and out-of-head soundstage. Also, because of their closed-back design, their soundstage tends to be less open than that of open-back headphones.
They have a sub-par isolation performance. Due to the earbud design and lack of active noise cancelling (ANC) they provide very little isolation in the bass range. This means they will let in all the rumble of airplane and bus engines that occupy the bass range. However, in the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they achieve about 16dB of isolation, which is good. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they isolate by about 28dB, which is above-average.
The Jabra Elite 25e have a great leakage performance. The significant portion of the leakage is spread over a very narrow range in the treble, around 5kHz, making their leakage very thin sounding and mostly consist of S and T sounds. The overall level of leakage is also low. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage averages at 29dB SPL and peaks at 49dB SPL, which is just below the noise floor of most offices.
They have a mediocre microphone. In quiet environments, speech recorded or transmitted with this mic will sound thin, muffled, and lacking in detail. However, it'll be decently intelligible. In noisy situations, they're able to separate speech from background noise in moderately loud environments like a busy street but will struggle in louder places.
The recording quality of Jabra Elite 25e's microphone is sub-par. The LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 508Hz, indicating a speech that sounds noticeably thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 3.4kHz results in a recorded/transmitted speech that is muffled and lacks detail. However, it'll still be decently intelligible since speech comprehensibility is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-4kHz range.
The in-line microphone of the Jabra Elite 25e has an average-at-best noise handling performance. It achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 17dB in our SpNR test. This means they will be able to separate speech from ambient noise in moderately loud environments but will struggle in louder places and are therefore best suited for quiet situations.
The Jabra Elite 25e have decent battery life. They lasted 16 hours in our battery test which should be enough for most use cases. They also don't take too long to charge at 1.8 hours. They also provide audio when charging, which is fairly rare for neckband-style headphones and makes them a good option when you're close to a power source, like at home or the office. Unfortunately, they don't automatically turn off when connected to your Bluetooth device even when inactive but have a good standby time that will last up to 22 days but won't automatically shut down like some of the other headphones with an auto-off feature.
They don't support the Jabra Sound+ app.
The Jabra Elite 25e can't pair with multiple devices at once, and they're not Bluetooth 5.0 headphones. The main pairing and multi-function button is also a bit stiff which makes it difficult sometimes to pair but on the upside, you get vibration feedback from the neckband to let you know when you paired which is nice.
They have quite a bit of latency which is not ideal for watching movies and a lot of video content.
These are Bluetooth-only wireless earbuds with no wired option. If you want a similarly designed in-ear but wired, check out the Bose SoundTrue Ultra In-Ear.
The Jabra Elite 25e don't have a dock. If you want headphones that are versatile and have a dock, try the SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless 2017. However, they won't be as compact or as easy-to-carry around on your person.
