Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Which wireless earbuds win?

Jabra Aristocracy Agile 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Which wireless earbuds win?

(Prototype credit: Jabra/Sony)

Comparison the Jabra Elite Active 75t and Sony WF-1000XM3 is no mere exercise: this is a contest to find out which are the best wireless earbuds overall. The Aristocracy Active 75t became 1 of our favorites as soon as it launched, and only got meliorate with the post-release addition of active noise cancellation (ANC). The Sony WF-1000XM3, meanwhile, has dropped to a similar price — and as well offers the pleasures of noise cancellation.

To find out which pair of ANC earbuds is better, this Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3 face-off will interruption down their individual qualities and determine which model is superior in each surface area. We know from our testing that both sets of buds are serious contenders, so it's time to meet how they fare head-to-head.

Check out more of the best Apple tree AirPods alternatives
Sony WF-1000XM4 vs. Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t: ANC earbuds compared
Beats Powerbeats Pro vs. Jabra Elite Agile 75t: Which wireless earbuds win?

Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Specs compared

	Jabra Elite Active 75t	Sony WF-1000XM3
Price	$149	$178
Wireless Charging Case	Optional	No
Fleck	Qualcomm QCC5126	Sony QN1e
Rated Battery Life	7.5 hours (28 hours from charging case)	8 hours (18 hours from charging instance)
Water-Resistant	IP57	No
Example Size	2.4 x one.4 x ane inches	3.two x 2.2 x i.three inches
Example Weight	1.2 ounces	2.8 ounces
Special Features	Active noise cancellation, transparency mode, companion app with customizable EQ, extra calling features, digital assistant back up (Google Assistant and Siri), adaptive listening features	Active racket cancellation, transparency mode, companion app with customizable EQ, DSEE HX upscales compressed digital music files, NFC connectivity, digital assistant support (Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri), impact controls

Jabra Elite Agile 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Toll

The Jabra Aristocracy Agile 75t launched at $199 and has since dropped to $149, even reaching $129 in certain sales. That makes it even cheaper than the Apple AirPods — which lacks racket cancellation or replaceable ear tips. This also makes Jabra's buds much more affordable than similarly-specced "premium" true wireless earbuds similar the AirPods Pro or Main & Dynamic MW08.

The Sony WF-1000XM3 has too benefitted from a big cost drib since launch, falling from $229 to $178. That's also cheaper than many of its racket-cancelling rivals, though as long as we're counting dollars, at that place'due south no escaping that the Aristocracy Active 75t is even more affordable. First blood goes to Jabra.

Winner: Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Design

While the WF-1000XM3 earbuds certainly look swish, with subtle copper accents and a distinct circular touch sensor, the Elite Active 75t takes this round too.

For starters, Jabra's buds are more compact, shrinking the Jabra Elite Agile 65t's design past nearly 22% while keeping the pleasant matte finish and more than rounded shape than the WF-1000XM3. The Elite Active 75t earbuds are also dust-resistant and waterproof to the IP57 standard, significant they can be fully submerged in water — never mind splashed with a bit of sweat — and emerge unscathed. The WF-1000XM3, by dissimilarity, doesn't even have IP-rated protection.

Winner: Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Condolement and fit

The Elite Active 75t too beats Sony'southward buds on comfort. This isn't a huge surprise, every bit the Elite Active 75t is designed to be a lot sportier than the WF-1000XM3; equally such, the Jabra buds were always likely to sit more snugly in the ear, to avoid falling out during strenuous exercise.

In fact, the Elite Agile 75t is one of the virtually securely-plumbing fixtures pairs of true wireless earbuds nosotros've e'er tested, which is a big reason it's currently at the tiptop of our best sport headphones list. Moreover, it's more than comfy plenty to wear for a couple of hours at a time.

The WF-1000XM3 unfortunately struggles hither. The big, outwards-pointing earbuds make for some uncomfortable weight distribution, and while you tin can swap out ear tips to discover a set that fits your ears — just as on the Elite Active 75t — the buds are however more than decumbent to working loose and, at worst, slipping out.

Winner: Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Controls and digital banana

Instead of touch sensors, like the Sony WF-1000XM3 has, the Jabra Elite Active 75t has a multifunctional button on either earbud. This definitely provides a greater bargain of tactile feedback compared to the WF-1000XM3'south sensors, and in our experience, the buttons always registered inputs correctly.

Y'all can customize certain inputs on the WF-1000XM3, simply its bear upon sensor isn't anywhere about equally reliable as Jabra'southward buttons. And y'all can't adjust the volume on the WF-1000XM3's sensors, either: you'll demand to use your source device's controls instead.

Sony claws some points back on digital banana support, Both sets of earbuds support Google Banana and Siri, and when using the former during testing, and there wasn't much difference in how each pair parsed or executed our voice commands. The WF-1000XM3, however, also offers Alexa equally a digital assistant option; the Elite Active 75t previously supported Amazon's assistant, just cut support due to an App Store certification issue.

Winner: Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra Elite Agile 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Active dissonance cancellation

We can't say we've ever heard of a headphones maker using firmware updates to add ANC to a pair of earbuds after launch, but the Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t is inappreciably worse for it. In fact, the noise cancellation event is very respectable, cut out the majority of ambient noise — even difficult-to-cancel sounds like spoken language.

Nonetheless, this is ane area in which the Sony WF-1000XM3 impresses even more. Powered past its HD Racket Canceling Processor QN1e, and employing both feed-forward and feed-back mics for maximum frequency coverage, the WF-1000XM3 is even better at silencing sounds than the much more expensive AirPods Pro.

Winner: Sony WH-1000XM3

Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Sound quality

Both pairs of earbuds exhibit stellar audio performance. The Elite Active 75t tin can capable reproduce sound from deep bass all the way upward to piercing treble, and the soundstage is considerably more counterbalanced than it was on the original Jabra Elite 75t. The simply problem with how the Aristocracy Active 75t sounds is that the volume can extend across what'due south comfortable, only you can keep this in check yourself.

The WF-1000XM3 has a somewhat more bass-frontwards contour, though nosotros wouldn't say this sounds worse. If anything it helps brand musical genres like electronica, trip the light fantastic toe, rap and rock even more exciting. Few wireless earbuds offer this amount of low-stop punch, and it never sounds muddy or unrefined either.

Winner: Describe

Jabra Elite Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: App and special features

Nosotros're big fans of the Jabra Sound+ app: information technology enhances the Aristocracy Active 75t with full EQ customization, as well equally a few sound profile presets you can try. The app also has a surprisingly compelling "Soundscapes" feature that plays soothing noises through the Elite Active 75t. Information technology's a scrap incongruous with the "Active" part simply hey, it's nice to heed to.

The WF-1000XM3's Sony Headphones app won't help you relax much, simply still offers a comparable range of EQ customization options, and will besides allow you fix Sony's 360 Reality Audio system. This analyses the shape of your ear to play uniform songs with a neat 3D result, though you'll demand to sign upwardly for a premium music streaming service to find songs that are appropriately mastered for it.

Both pairs besides complement their ANC with an ambience/transparency style, which lets outside sounds in rather than blocking them out. Overall we'd say the Elite Agile 75t's other large bonus feature, waterproofing, helps it border this round, but there'south very little in it.

Winner: Jabra Elite Agile 75t

Jabra Elite Agile 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Call quality

The Elite Active 75t is a usable if imperfect calling headset. While your vocalism will come through articulate on the other end of the line, the earbuds' microphones can also option upwardly a lot of ambience noise, like click-clacking keyboards. We plain besides sounded distant when making calls in crowded areas, an issue that thankfully doesn't announced in quieter settings.

Either fashion, the Elite Active 75t is better for calls than the WF-1000XM3. In addition to besides picking up lots of background racket, Sony'due south earbuds can make the wearer sound muffled, and sometimes cuts off spoken language entirely. Neither of these two pairs of buds will be joining the best headphones with a mic for voice and video calls anytime soon, but Jabra's try is clearly superior.

Winner: Jabra Aristocracy Agile 75t

Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Bombardment life

Whichever pair of earbuds wins on battery life largely depends on whether yous'd prefer longer uptime per unmarried charge, or more listening fourth dimension overall via the charge case. The WF-1000XM3 lasts an impressive eight hours without ANC (6 hours with information technology), compared to a maximum of vii hours on the Elite Active 75t; however, Jabra's charging case can provide up to 28 hours of additional charge, easily best Sony's xviii hours.

And then, if yous want to charge your earbuds less often, the WF-1000XM3 has the advantage. If you know y'all're going to be away from a power source for even longer, though, the Aristocracy Active 75t and its instance tin can keep yous going for longer overall.

Winner: Draw

Jabra Elite Agile 75t vs. Sony WF-1000XM3: Verdict

Our overall winner is the Jabra Elite Active 75t, which yous might have already guessed from a) it existence peak of our best wireless earbud rankings and b) the sheer number of rounds it won in this face-off.

	Jabra Aristocracy Active 75t	Sony WF-1000XM3
Design (15)	13	12
Comfort (10)	8	vi
Controls (5)	iii	3
Noise Cancellation (15)	11	14
Sound (20)	xviii	19
Special Features and Apps (10)	9	8
Telephone call Quality and Digital Banana (5)	3	3
Charging Case (x)	nine	7
Battery Life (10)	8	8
Total Score (100)	82	80

To the WF-1000XM3's credit, nosotros even so call back it's a great pair of ANC earbuds that's well worth the money, particularly if you just want a pair for casual use equally opposed to a pair of the best running headphones. In fact, we prefer the noise counterfoil on the WF-1000XM3, and don't forget that its batteries concluding longer on a per-charge basis.

Nevertheless, if yous only buy ane pair of wireless earbuds, make information technology the Jabra Elite Active 75t. Even with a sporty focus it's an outstanding balanced product, marrying high audio performance with constructive ANC, lasting condolement and plenty of features.

On a tight budget? Hither's the best cheap noise-cancelling headphones

James joined Tom's Guide in 2020, bringing years of experience in consumer tech and product testing. As Sound Editor, James covers headphones, speakers, soundbars and annihilation else that intentionally makes dissonance. A PC enthusiast, he too covers the occasional spot of computing and gaming news, usually relating to how hard it is to discover graphics carte du jour stock.