Google Pixel Buds Pro
With nice audio, strong ANC, and excellent battery life, the Pixel Buds Pro deliver a premium earbud experience in ways that Google’s past attempts could not. If you are an Android user with $200 to spend on earbuds, these are a great pick.
Jabra Elite 7 Pro
The Jabra Elite 7 Pro are light on the lobes and pleasant on the eardrums, but strongest when you’re making calls while on the run with crisp and clear delivery.
It seems like everybody out there is offering ‘pro’ products anymore — from phones to tablets to earbuds. TheGoogle Pixel Buds Proand theJabra Elite 7 Proare two of ourfavorite pairs of earbudsright now, and each offers a number of appropriatelyprofeatures, including clear audio, ANC, and long battery life. But which pair of pro buds is the right fit for you?
Price, availability, and specs
Both the Google Pixel Buds Pro and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro retail for $200. Each is available directly from its respective manufacturer, as well as from the usual third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. It’s not unusual to see the Pixel Buds Pro on sale for $150 or so, and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro, being a bit older, can frequently be had for about $120. Keep an eye out for deals.
Design & fit
Google’s Pixel Buds Pro and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro are both in-ear-style buds with no stems, but that’s about where the similarities end. Google’s earbuds are bulkier, with a rounded shape that might be a little less comfortable for people with smaller ears. By comparison, the Elite 7 Pro have a more tapered profile, with the parts that stick in your ears sporting a thinner, more ear-friendly shape. Each set of earbuds comes with multiple sizes of silicone ear tips to help you get a better fit, but if you tend to have a hard time with larger buds, the Jabras might work better for you.
The Jabra Elite 7 Pro are more water-resistant than the Pixel Buds Pro are, with an IP67 rating to the Google buds' IPX4. Those ratings mean both pairs of earbuds are safe to wear while working out — sweat won’t ruin them — but the Jabra Elite 7 Pro are more likely to survive a surprise rainstorm.
Control schemes differ, too. The Google Pixel Buds Pro have capacitive touch controls on each earbud so you can tap to control media playback and swipe to adjust volume. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro have physical buttons instead, so they’re easier to interact with if your hands are wet or you’re wearing gloves.
Sound & call quality
With sizable 11mm drivers, the Google Pixel Buds Pro offer strong audio quality with plenty of bass representation and a relatively wide soundstage. By comparison, the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s smaller 6mm drivers deliver sound that’s still high-quality without any heavy-handed compression, but low-end response isn’t as pronounced, and the soundstage feels a little smaller.
Both pairs of earbuds offer active noise cancelation. The Pixel Buds Pro’s ANC is about average for the price range these two pairs of earbuds are competing in: effective at muffling low-frequency noise and dampening other sound, but not quite competitive with over-ear ANC headphones or the top players in the earbud ANC space, like Bose or Sony. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s ANC isn’t as effective; in our review, we noted that the earbuds struggle to sufficiently quiet common noise like household fans or airplane cabin sound.
Jabra does have Google beat on audio in one area: the Elite 7 Pro are fantastic for phone calls, offering some of the clearest far-end call quality we’ve ever experienced in earbuds, even in relatively noisy environments. The Pixel Buds Pro are fine for calls, too, but if your top priority is call quality, you’ll be happier with the Jabra Elite 7 Pro.
Software & features
Google’s Pixel Buds Pro check all the nice-to-have feature boxes. They have ANC, of course, but also offer Fast Pair on Android, Bluetooth multipoint support, and hands-free Google Assistant access. You control the earbuds through the Pixel Buds app, which is pre-installed on Pixel phones and a separate download on other Android devices.
The Jabra Elite 7 Pro launched without Bluetooth multipoint, but later got support via a software update pushed through the Jabra Sound+ app. They don’t have Fast Pair, though, so pairing them with your phone involves a few extra steps compared to Google’s earbuds. They also don’t have hands-free virtual assistant access, but you’re able to assign either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa functionality to a double-press of one of the earbuds' buttons.
Battery life & charging
Both the Google Pixel Buds Pro and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro offer strong battery life. The Pixel earbuds can make it through about seven hours of audio playback with ANC active; the Elite 7 Pro do even better at eight hours or more with ANC. That puts Jabra’s Elite 7 Pro earbuds among the best you can get for battery life, while the Pixel Buds Pro are merely above average. Charging case battery life is decent, too, with the Pixel Buds Pro’s case holding two full additional charges, and Jabra’s storing just shy of three additional charges.
When it comes time to top up, each pair’s charging case can be recharged either over USB-C or wirelessly.
Which should you buy?
With robust audio quality, competent ANC, and convenient features like Fast Pair and hands-freeHey Googlerecognition, the Pixel Buds Pro are easy to recommend to most Android users looking to spend about $200 on a new pair of earbuds. They can’t match the call quality, battery life, or water resistance of the Jabra Elite 7 Pro, but unless any of those aspects arereallyimportant to you, the Pixel Buds Pro will likely provide an overall better experience.
But if any of the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s unique perks do speak to you — namely, if you make a lot of voice calls and you need to be sure you’re heard clearly — you won’t be disappointed going with Jabra. The Elite 7 Pro’s audio quality and ANC effectiveness can’t quite keep up with the PIxel Buds Pro’s, but Jabra’s earbuds are still serviceable in those areas while beating the Pixel Buds elsewhere.
