Review: Jabra Elite 5 ANC

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similar. Like other HP printers, the value is best when used with the Instant Ink cartridge subscription. The Envy Pro 6420 has lots of things to like including excellent print quality, two-sided printing and an automatic document feeder (ADF). However, there’s no screen but worse is that it struggles to cope with heavier weight paper if that’s something you plan to use.

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9. BEST BUDGET INK TANK

Epson EcoTank ET-1810

Price when reviewed: £189 Full review: fave.co/3hs8hOH

Those wanting an ink tank printer don’t have to spend as much as the EcoTank ET3850. The ET-1810 is a very affordable option and still offers you low-cost printing and it’s readily available at prices much lower than its retail price. It still offers excellent printing quality and could be used for sublimation too, although can’t be reverted back. There are a few things to bear in mind with this cheaper EcoTank model, though. It won’t print borderless, the black tank is no bigger than the others, the plastic build is basic and it doesn’t offer duplex printing either. If none of this matters to you then it makes for a good value option in the ink tank market.

10. BEST PORTABILITY Epson Workforce WF-110W

Price when reviewed: £219 Full review: fave.co/3hl93Nn

There’s a premium cost for the portable design but with almost

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all printers being bulky and heavy if you need one to travel around with you then the Workforce WF-110W is the best option.

It’s not particularly fast and replacement black ink is expensive but the quality is as good as a conventional rival. There’s also USB charging so you can even print when away from mains power.

Price: £119 from fave.co/3GcEh36

Owned since 2020 by GN Audio, a Danish audio company with a history dating back to the telegraph, Jabra has long enjoyed a strong reputation in the earbud and wireless headphone field. The manufacturer now sells six different pairs of true wireless earbuds at retail list prices ranging from £80 all the way up to £170.

The Jabra Elite 5 true wireless headphones sit squarely in the middle of the product range, and they’re well designed earbuds with an array of features that will appeal to casual listeners. Are there better-sounding ANC earbuds on the market? Sure (the second-gen AirPods Pro spring to mind), but few can match the Jabra 5’s balance of convenience, performance and price.

BATTERY LIFE

When you take the buds out of the case and put them in your ears, a musical tone tells you they’re active, and then a recorded human voice announces whether they’re connected. The faceplate of each earbud is a large, impossible-to-miss control button. The left earbud switches between active noise cancellation and transparency mode (or HearThrough, as Jabra calls it) and, again, an actual human voice announces which setting you’re using. The right earbud controls play and pause.

The beige gold Jabra Elite 5 earbuds that I tested needed a charge out of the box. A full charge takes about 3 hours, and the earbuds offer 7 hours playback, or up to 28 hours if you include charges from the case. The Jabra Elite 5 comes with a wide range of When opening the features, but spatial audio isn’t one of them. charging case lid, lights on each earbud reveal battery status with a green, yellow, or red light. A 10-minute fast charge in the case will deliver an hour of playback time if the case has at least a 30-percent charge left. The case itself is Qi charging padThe Jabra Elite 5 true wireless headphone comes with three sizes of ear tips and a charging cable.

compatible but can also be charged via the USB-C port on the back of the case using the included USB-C to USB-A cable.

IN THE BOX

In addition to the earbuds, case, and cable (you must supply your own power adapter), the Jabra Elite 5 comes with three pairs of the company’s Eargels tips in small, medium and large sizes.

BLUETOOTH

Each earbud for the Jabra Elite 5 true wireless headphone is labelled so you don’t put them in the wrong ears.

Each Elite 5 earbud has 6-mm drivers and supports Bluetooth 5.2, allowing for connection to two devices at the same time. The earbuds support the SBC, AAC and Qualcomm aptX codecs, allowing for higher-quality streaming from both Apple and Android devices.

Playback automatically pauses when you take out the left earbud, but not the right one. The music doesn’t automatically restart when you put the left earbud back in, either. That’s not how other earbuds with this feature work, but playback restarts with a tap of the right earbud.

You can use a single earbud at a time if you’re in a situation where you need to better hear your surroundings or if you’re just looking to keep the music going when you’re low on a battery charge.

The Jabra Elite 5 supports both Microsoft Swift Pair and Google Fast pair, but iOS users will have to open Bluetooth settings to make the first connection.

CONTROLS

The tactile experience of the physical button action with each faceplate is superior. In addition to the controls described above, pressing and

holding the right earbud will raise the volume, while pressing and holding the left earbud will lower it.

A double press of the right earbud will skip to the next track, while a triple press will restart the current track. Triple-press again to skip to the previous track. A double press of the left earbud will activate your device’s default voice assistant.

PHONE CALLS

The Jabra Elite 5 delivers excellent call quality with its 6-mic call technology, including dedicated microphones to reduce wind noise. Unlike most other ANC earbuds, Jabra’s call technology seems to be incompatible with noise cancellation. If you’re listening with ANC turned on and take a phone call, the noise cancellation turns off, returning only after you end the call and resume your music, podcast, or audiobook.

After using the earbuds for a few weeks, the lack of ANC during calls seemed like much less of an issue. Calls sound great, so that particular quirk isn’t such big a deal.

APP

Jabra’s Sound+ app for iOS and Android offers clear and intuitive control over the earbuds. You can go online to download the full device manual, but everything you’ll need to know is presented in the app.

The device home screen displays battery levels for each earbud and the case. In the Sound Modes control, you can adjust the level of ANC and HearThrough to your personal taste. There’s a music equalizer to customize the sound as well as six EQ presets, including Neutral, Speech, Bass boost, Treble boost, Smooth and Energize. If you create an EQ setting that you want to keep, you can save it and give it a name.

There is also a series of builtin soundscapes designed to mask the noise around you or provide a relaxing audio backdrop, including nature sounds plus pink or white noise. These background noises are electronically generated, and thus they’re not quite as pleasing as the real-life field recordings in an app like Environments. Still, Jabra’s artificial soundscapes are much better than what you’ll get from most bedside noise generators.

The Jabra Elite 5 is also compatible with Spotify Tap playback. If you’re a subscriber and enable the function in the Sound+ app settings, a double tap on the