Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2 vs Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3

Looking forward to the comparison between these and the Elite 10’s!

Could you test if the ANC sometimes amplifies certain sounds? I’ve read report that it does so with (for instance) grass trimmers etc. My Jabra Elite 7 also acts erattic with loud piercing sounds when ANC is on. Thx.

Wow…..just looking at the numbers while comparing the 7 Active to the 8 active, Jabra’s literally ONLY improvement is “our earbuds are tougher”. In fact, overall the numbers show the 8’s as being not improved at all.

Oct 19, 2023 11:01 AM By Irshprde24

4

Wow…..just looking at the numbers while comparing the 7 Active to the 8 active, Jabra’s literally ONLY improvement is “our earbuds are tougher”. In fact, overall the numbers show the 8’s as being not improved at all.

I have bought an Early Access to see this review because I have seen some not-too-reliable measurements on other sites. Rtings review is great as usual. Jabra is a disappointment in many aspects.

Their measurements and opinion about ANC is quite different, see here https://www.soundguys.com/jabra-elite-8-active-review-101055/

Quite surprised to see the Elite 7 Active outperform these in almost everything!

Oct 20, 2023 01:44 PM By Jonatan_84232

130

Their measurements and opinion about ANC is quite different, see here https://www.soundguys.com/jabra-elite-8-active-review-101055/

I don’t think their measurements are correct; there’s too much canceling in their measurements. The best of the Sony and Bose NC is on that level. I just checked their review about the Buds2 Pro, and they claim a 50dB cancellation at around 60 Hz, whereas the Rtings review is 35 dB. Cirnacle has some videos about this explaining why many reviews can’t be trusted. Also, measuring is very hard, so there are not even intentionally different results in many cases.

Oct 22, 2023 02:53 PM By Zxtadam

12

I don’t think their measurements are correct; there’s too much canceling in their measurements. The best of the Sony and Bose NC is on that level. I just checked their review about the Buds2 Pro, and they claim a 50dB cancellation at around 60 Hz, whereas the Rtings review is 35 dB. Cirnacle has some videos about this explaining why many reviews can’t be trusted. Also, measuring is very hard, so there are not even intentionally different results in many cases.

Also, we can still hope for a firmware update. I could imagine that the poorly polished software causes this weak cancellation.

Oct 20, 2023 11:37 AM By Zxtadam

12

I have bought an Early Access to see this review because I have seen some not-too-reliable measurements on other sites. Rtings review is great as usual. Jabra is a disappointment in many aspects.

Jabra has been terrible for the last few years. They don’t offer anything more than what even Chinese brands at the $50 range offer.

The fact is ANC + NC for voice is built in the Bluetooth SoC. They are not tunable very much, so essentially all brands that buy the same Bluetooth SoC would have similar performance. So why $250 for a product that has $2 chip inside?

At least Sony and Apple develop their own custom ANC chips, so they can demand a premium price while rest of the crowd don’t deserve their premium pricing.

Oct 20, 2023 01:44 PM By Jonatan_84232

130

Their measurements and opinion about ANC is quite different, see here https://www.soundguys.com/jabra-elite-8-active-review-101055/

Hi Jonatan_84232,

Thanks for sharing! We actually had the Soundguys review in mind while verifying our results before publishing. We always consider other reviews and user impressions when testing and validating results to have a better grasp of what to expect and to better explain our own results or validate them through comparison.

We’ll take a fresh look at the data and conclusions of both reviews and if we have any updates or more clear conclusions to draw will update our review accordingly!

Thanks, Matt

It seems that the Jabra Elite 8 Gen 1 and Gen 2 have no significant hardware updates, and both models even appear to use the same hardware, with improvements in the Gen 2 only being applied to the case and firmware. According to Jabra support, the improved firmware cannot and will not be applied to the Gen 1. Additionally, the LE update has been postponed to 2025, leading to concerns that Jabra is slowing down firmware support for the Gen 1. The performance differences measured by RTINGS seem to result from mere firmware updates, yet none of these improvements are being made available for the Gen 1, which seems problematic. I would like to hear your opinion on this matter.

Sep 23, 2024 01:42 AM By hydromel

3

It seems that the Jabra Elite 8 Gen 1 and Gen 2 have no significant hardware updates, and both models even appear to use the same hardware, with improvements in the Gen 2 only being applied to the case and firmware. According to Jabra support, the improved firmware cannot and will not be applied to the Gen 1. Additionally, the LE update has been postponed to 2025, leading to concerns that Jabra is slowing down firmware support for the Gen 1. The performance differences measured by RTINGS seem to result from mere firmware updates, yet none of these improvements are being made available for the Gen 1, which seems problematic. I would like to hear your opinion on this matter.

Hey there, Certainly, there are similarities in design between the Elite 8 Active and the Elite 8 Active Gen 2. Across the Jabra line, there are often minor differences between each model. Between models, Jabra reserves app features for different tiers, such as how in-depth the spatial surround sound is implemented. The upside of this is that inexpensive models don’t compromise on fits, for instance.

The most obvious difference is that the Elite 8 Active Gen 2, as you noted, is the ‘smart case’ that lets you connect to wired-only audio sources. That said, we don’t take apart our units, so I can’t say for certain what components have changed, and it’s possible that the firmware for the Gen 2 isn’t compatible with the first generation—I don’t know. Whatever the reason—firmware or otherwise—the improved noise cancelling on the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 is worth it for many.

Your concern about LE Audio support is fair, but just to clarify, the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 only have LE Audio support currently if you’re using the ‘smart case’ to connect to an audio source. So, it makes sense that the previous Elite 8 Active don’t currently support LE Audio at this point either, though a delay is annoying. That said, it’s a valid concern to wonder about what the continued app support will look like for the Jabra true wireless models.