Solid build or solid sound?

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  Jaybird Vista 2

  Rugged and sturdy

  $134 $150 Save $16

  A substantial upgrade over its predecessor, the Jaybird Vista 2 are a pair of sports earbuds packing a lot of advanced technologies. Their clear, balanced sound, capable ANC, and (above all) solid build quality, set them apart from other earbuds. With a small size and rugged look, they’re also a fashion statement.

  Pros

  • Military-grade build quality
  • Excellent audio reproduction
  • Comfy fit that doesn?t fatigue

  Cons

  • Lackluster ANC
  • No aptX support
  • Bluetooth 5.0 only

• 

  Jabra Elite 7 Active

  Great amp and ANC

  $105 $180 Save $75

  A fantastic product from a formidable brand, the Jabra Elite 7 Actives are a variation of their predecessor with all the bells and whistles. Useful for rough workouts, they bring the Jabra signature sound and excellent ANC. These buds match your stamina with their battery life and never fall out of your ears.

  Pros

  • Jabra signature sound
  • Awesome ear canal fit
  • Bluetooth 5.2

  Cons

  • Audio lacks originality
  • No aptX support
  • Expensive

When buying true wireless earbuds, it is always a game of balance between what you need and what you don’t need; your priorities and the compromises you can live with will shape your needs. Conversely, a product’s features and not-so-advertised pitfalls shape its brand. Keeping that in mind, today we are comparing two world-class sports earbuds.

The Jaybird Vista 2 and the Jabra Elite 7 Active are both excellent workout earbuds. They have many common comparable features, such as waterproof builds, ANC, good sound, good connectivity, and more. Both are built to withstand gym sweaters, rough usage, and outdoor scenarios. And both sound awesome! Choosing between them, therefore, is a confusing matter. Don’t worry; we’re here to help. While both of the above are great workout earbuds, there are a lot more of them in the market.

Price, availability, and specs

The Vista 2 and Elite 7 Actives are both quite common earbuds on the market, so you should not have any difficulty finding them. The Jaybird Vista 2 earbuds are available on Amazon and the Jaybird official website for $150, though are often on offer for a little less.

The Jabra Elite 7 Active earbuds are available at the Jabra official store, though are hard to find elsewhere. The original price was $180, but given that they’re an older model, they can generally be found on sale — at the time of writing, they’re down to just $105.

• 	Jaybird Vista 2	Jabra Elite 7 Active
  Battery Life	8 hours (24 with case)	8 hours (30 with case)
  Noise Cancellation	Yes	Yes
  Microphones	Yes	Yes, 6
  IP rating	IP68	IP57
  Supported codecs	SBC, AAC	SBC, AAC
  Charging	USB-C wired, Qi wireless	USB-C wired, Qi wireless
  Driver size	6mm	6mm
  Wired/wireless	Wireless	Wireless
  Dimensions and weight (earbuds)	15.7 x 16.2 x 20.3mm, 6.7g	19.5 x 16.3 x 18mm, 5.5g
  Dimensions and weight (case)	74.6 x 38.5 x 25mm, 42.8g	40.3 x 25.3 x 69.6mm, 44g

Design

Sports earbuds must be built very solidly because they are often subject to sweat, water, dust, dirt, and rough usage. If one drops accidentally drops from your ears in the gym, somebody might even tread on them. Naturally, you can’t compromise on a sturdy build for earbuds targeted toward fitness enthusiasts.

The Jaybird Vista 2 is a real champ in this matter. Built like a tank, these buds are IP68-grade waterproof, repelling most water splashes and able to survive water submersion for over an hour. Moreover, they boast MIL-STD 810G-grade protection from dust, dirt, frost, and shock. What all that means is that you might pass out in a hiking accident, but the buds probably won’t. The case, too, has some IP54-grade protection. And thanks to their cloth fabric finish, the Vista 2s feel much more rugged in hand, and you won’t be afraid to handle them with dirty fingers. Just don’t touch the ear tips.

The Jabra Elite 7 Active can’t brag as much, but they come close. The waterproofing is IP57-rated, so the buds are capable of surviving a meter of submersion in water for 30 minutes. This doesn’t apply to the case at all, though. Additionally, the Actives are very well-built, but their premium satiny finish and comfort will make you shy of using them with dirty hands. Though we daresay they can survive most of the hardcore exercises people go through these days.

The waterproofing ratings here only talk about ordinary water, not beer, hot coffee, or even seawater. Splash or dip at your own risk.

Although Jabra’s earbuds are slightly smaller, neither case creates too much bulge in your pockets. Colorwise, the Vista 2s are available only in black, but you can find the Actives in black, mint, and navy blue.

Fit and comfort

Both earbuds offer multiple ear tips to fit different-sized ear canals. Jabra also has a “ShakeGrip” technology in their material to help the buds remain tightly fit in your ear canal no matter how roughly you move your body. However, this solid in-canal grip has a significant downside: despite a vent, pressure will build within your ear canal.

While Jabra’s ShakeGrip tech sounds great on paper, we found that the rubber earbud wings on the Jaybirds actually give a stronger grip. Still, they aren’t very comfortable, and some ears may start feeling fatigued during extended wear. And due to the wings, it is extremely difficult to shake them out of your ears, even intentionally. However, we didn’t experience any pressure issues in the canal with the Vista 2s.

Controls

Jaybird has chosen to forego modern touch controls in favor of single buttons on each earbud. They have a spongy feel but click satisfactorily. The controls are easy to remember and easy to access while doing other things, meaning you won’t have any problems controlling them while working out. On top of that, these controls can be remapped using the Jaybird companion app.

With Jabra, the story is quite similar since they went with buttons too. But this brings new problems. The ShakeGrip tech already fills your ear canal, so with each button press, you’re only pushing them in further. That can become painful after a while. To some extent, Jabra does let you reassign commands of the button presses with their app.

Sound and call quality

Gone is the era when workout-centric earbuds focused on build quality rather than audio. Nowadays, sports earbuds sound just as good as they are built. The Jaybird Vista 2 and Jabra Elite 7 Active earbuds come with single 6mm milled drivers in each ear, unlike modern coaxial dual-driver setups (as in, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pros). As advertised, both speakers are advanced and can reproduce the 20Hz- to 20kHz human-audible band. However, glaring differences come in audio processing.

The Vista 2s sound well in their own way; the sound is rich and ornamented with sharp highs and tight low-ends. While they do not sound as good as the likes of Bose QuietComfort 2, they are pleasing enough to use every day.

Quizzically, relaxing music like slow jazz or blues sounds better in the Vista 2s than the kind of music you’d typically find in gyms. Does that mean these will be great for yoga or pilates? Please let us know in the comments if you practice with them.

The Elite 7 Actives are totally another story. Jabra brings their A-game here with earbuds that blast out the Jabra signature sound profile, which is appropriate for gym rats and dance junkies. Hip-hop, rock, EDM, and uptempo morning music all sound powerful and sharp with these buds. But the sound is so overprocessed that it would look like a supermodel on stage if it were human. The effect is… unoriginal… and purists will hate it. Though, we daresay that scarcely matters while the music is heard above your own wheezing breath.

When testing out the audio quality of these earbuds, make sure you have some high-quality tracks downloaded and ready to play locally. It’s unwise to judge them by low-quality sources like Spotify or YouTube.

Active Noise Cancelling (ANC)

The Vista 2s have an adjustable ANC that performs well to a certain degree. While it doesn’t block out gym or traffic noise entirely, it does help you immerse yourself in your music better. It dampens predictable noises satisfactorily but obviously can’t suppress sudden noises, like metal clangs in gyms.

Better is the SurroundSense tech, which is basically your ambient mode for these buds. It works the opposite way ANC does by amplifying your surroundings so that you are well aware of the happenings around you. This works very well with the Vista 2s while running or cycling in traffic.

The Jabra also brings ANC and clearly has a bigger gun in this round. While not as good as legends like Sony XM4s, the Jabra Active’s ANC is still excellent and will block out almost all predictable noises above 500 Hz. That still leaves lower-octave sounds, like airplane rumbles, to pass through — but you can overcharge the ANC through the Sound+ app to flatten these to about half. Though that would make the music sound weird as well.

The Elite 7 Actives also have their own ambient mode, dubbed HearThrough. This mode is supposed to function like the Jaybird’s ambient mode, but somehow it feels harsh to most ears. It is amplifiable by the app to some degree (if you want to hear like a dog, for some reason).

Calling

Call and meeting experience with the Jaybird Vista 2s is really good, so you can efficiently utilize these as your office buds. The four beamforming mics (outer ones covered with a WindDefense fabric) do well to cancel out background noise and channel your voice to the other side. Your voice will sound natural with only a bit of “processing.”

The Jabra Elite 7 Actives are a step better in this regard. They use four mics as well, protected by SAATI acoustic mesh, to filter out intrusive, unwanted noise. This, combined with internal processing, fabulously transmits a crystal-clear voice to the listener. We didn’t get much of that artificial audio reproduction feeling while listening to the recordings.

Software features and connectivity

As mentioned before, the SurroundSense technology is Jaybird’s way of seeing the ambient mode, and it works well with the Vista 2s. However, we must also mention that it is a tad bit too sensitive. For example, it will seriously pick up wind noise. Jabra’s Hearthrough tech is better in that regard. Although it is weaker, at least you won’t have that blowing-in-the-ear sensation.

Both earbuds come with companion apps on Android and Apple, both worthy companions. They let you locate your device if lost using Maps, update the firmware in the buds, use equalizer presets, and create your own sound profiles. In addition, Jabra’s Sound+ app comes with unique features like Soundscapes and video conference controls, which may be worth getting used to if your lifestyle supports it.

The Vista 2 buds have no built-in voice assistant sensing technology, which is a bit of a letdown at this price bracket. And the Actives only support Alexa watchword monitoring. In both buds, you will have to use the app and find a button command to other chosen assistants like Google, Siri, or Bixby.

Connectivity

The Jaybird Vista 2s connect to your phone or smartwatch through Bluetooth 5.0, while the Jabra Elite 7 Actives use Bluetooth 5.2. Neither show any noticeable drop-off nor disconnect problem. However, some users report that the Vista 2s are reluctant to change devices.

Neither of the earbuds support multipoint connectivity out of the box, but firmware updates fix it quickly. The Actives may even support the new LC3 codec with updates.

Battery life

With 33% more juice than their predecessor, the Jaybird Vista 2s come with a big 500mAh battery. It supplies three 8-hour charges to the buds (or 6-hour with ANC/Sourroundsense turned on). With ANC, an hour of playing will drop the battery by 15%, which can be topped up again by five minutes in the case.

Comparable are the Jabra Elite 7 Actives. They top up to an hour of playtime with a five-minute juicing, too, and they last around seven and a half hours with ANC turned to max. The whole case and buds take over two hours to charge completely, from 0 to 100%.

Both devices support traditional USB-C and Qi-based wireless charging.

Which earbuds should you buy?

If audio quality is not a big deal for you, but you want something bulletproof for your workout sessions, choose the Jaybird Vista 2 earbuds. Their incredible build quality and unshakable fit make them great aural companions to people who push themselves to the extreme in somewhat unhealthy scenarios. However, the lackluster ANC and rather unimpressive audio signature could deter some people who like those things. Just don’t try to wear them all day.

The primary purpose of a set of earbuds is to stream music from phone to ear, which the Jabra Elite 7 Actives do very well. With great consumer-pleasing sound and strong ANC, they will let you enjoy your music to the hilt in the gym. But treat them with respect because while these earbuds are sealed well, they deserve careful use. Dirt and dust won’t be very friendly to these buds. On another note, if you’re a purist about audio reproduction, you won’t like the overtly warm sound.