The Jabra Elite 8 Active are high-end sports earbuds. They're an updated version of the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless and have a similar soft silicone coating that helps keep them in place. They have a durable design and are rated IP68, making them dust-tight and resistant to water submersion, so they're a solid choice for running or working out. Like the Elite 7, they have an ANC feature and a companion app that lets you customize the sound and controls. This newer generation also adds a virtual surround sound feature.
Our Verdict
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are great for sports and fitness. They're intended for exercise and have a comfortable, stable fit, so they won't fall out when you're moving around. They're rated IP68, meaning they can withstand dusty trails or heavy rain when you're out on a run. Their controls are easy to use and allow you to change the track or adjust the volume without pulling out your phone. They don't have the best noise isolation performance, but their 'Hear-Through' mode lets you hear ambient sound when you want to stay aware of your surroundings.
- Very stable fit.
- IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
- Well-built and comfortable.
- Just okay noise isolation.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are decent for commuting and traveling. They're comfortable, well-built, and rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, so they can withstand drops and spills. They last over eight hours of continuous use with ANC on, so they can get you through a long flight or ride without recharging. However, the ANC doesn't do a good job of blocking out rumbling bus and plane engines.
- Well-built and comfortable.
- 8.75-hour continuous battery life.
- Just okay noise isolation.
Mic can sound a little distorted.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are decent for office use. They have a comfortable fit for long days at the office and last for more than eight hours off of a single charge, so you won't need to recharge halfway through the day. They also support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected with your phone and computer simultaneously. However, their ANC feature doesn't perform well. They do a good job with ambient chatter, but don't block as much bass-range noise, like traffic outside your window.
- Well-built and comfortable.
- 8.75-hour continuous battery life.
- Just okay noise isolation.
Mic can sound a little distorted.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are Bluetooth earbuds and can't connect with PlayStation or Xbox consoles. Their latency is high for PC gaming, too, so you'll notice a delay between your game audio and video.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are wireless-only headphones; you can't use them for wired gaming.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are decent for audio reproduction accuracy. They have a warm sound profile with a punchier bass than our target response, a balanced mid-range, and a treble that follows our target well. Their peaks and dips demonstrate an overall smooth sound. Plus, the stereo matching is overall very good, and these exhibit very low harmonic distortion. The group delay is decent, too.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active have alright noise isolation. Their ANC is okay and focuses mainly on environmental noise in the high bass and mid ranges, but it's not especially strong. The passive isolation in the treble range is more effective, but overall, the noise isolation won't fully block out your environment.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active have a satisfactory microphone performance. Your voice sounds bright and full-bodied, but a bit distorted and a little unnatural. Their noise handling is great, and they filter out most of the background noise, or at least prioritize your speech above the din.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active have great frequency response consistency. Once you find the right ear tip size, your audio sounds very similar across listening sessions.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Jan 27, 2026:
This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.0, which adds the following tests: Stereo Mismatch, Group Delay, Cumulative Spectral Decay, PRTF, Harmonic Distortion, and Electrical Aspects. We've added new performance usages and updated the text throughout the Sound tests and side-by-sides.
- Updated Dec 23, 2025: We've converted this review to Test Bench 2.0, which updates our sound tests and adds performance usages. You can read more about this in our changelog.
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Updated Jun 11, 2025:
The Stability box now mentions the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.
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Updated Jan 17, 2025:
Several Sound tests have been updated following Test Bench 1.8. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including to the usages and product comparisons to match these results.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Jabra Elite 8 Active come in five different colors: 'Black', 'Mint', 'Navy', 'Dark Gray', and 'Caramel'. We tested them in 'Navy'; you can see the label for the unit we tested here. We expect our results to be valid for the other color variants as well.
If you encounter another variant, let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are higher-end earbuds meant for sports and workouts. They're very well-built and have a high IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, like the Jaybird Vista 2 Truly Wireless, which is good if you need a pair of rugged earbuds for your trail runs or bike rides. They have a very stable fit despite not having any stability fins or ear hooks, which gives them a more casual look than sports buds like the Beats Powerbeats Pro Truly Wireless. Their ANC feature does an okay job of isolating you from the world, but if you want to block out distractions at the gym, the previous model of these earbuds, the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless, still offer a better performance.
If you're still looking for earbuds, check out our recommendations for the best wireless earbuds for running and working out, the best Jabra earbuds and headphones, and the best earbuds and in-ear headphones.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active and the Jabra Elite 10 are similar headphones with slightly different strengths. The Elite 8 Active are better for sports, thanks to their higher IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. While both are very stable in-ear, the Elite 8 Active have a silicone-like coating that's more grippy. However, if you're not looking for dedicated sports buds, the Elite 10 are the better option since they have a stronger noise isolation performance and support Dolby Atmos for virtual surround sound.
Jabra Elite 8 Active are better for sports than the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless. The 8 are sturdier, have a higher IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, and have a slightly bigger bud design that makes them more stable. However, the 7 have a better noise isolation performance, especially with bass-range noise like rumbling engines.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active and the Beats Fit Pro True Wireless are both sporty earbuds, but the Jabra are more well-rounded. The Jabra are more comfortable, better built, and have a longer continuous playback time. Their companion app also offers a graphic EQ if you want to adjust their sound to your liking, and they support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected to your PC and smartphone simultaneously. That said, the Beats have better noise cancelling.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active are better than the Jabra Elite Active 75t Truly Wireless. Both are meant for sports and workouts and have a similar design, but the 8 feature a more stable fit and a higher IP69 rating for dust and water resistance. Their battery life is longer, and you can customize the onboard controls. Both models also offer sound customization features in-app.
Test Results
The Jabra Elite 8 have a warm sound profile. Instruments and vocals are clear and detailed, and there's some extra emphasis across the bass range, which adds rumble, punch, and boom that you might appreciate for genres like EDM and hip-hop. Meanwhile, the top-end is a bit darker than our target in the low-treble, but upper treble frequencies remain bright and cut through. Overall, the frequency response is bassier than any of our target curves.
The bass is a little more pronounced with ANC off, as you can see in a comparison here. If you prefer a different sound, the companion app has a graphic EQ and EQ presets.
We had trouble getting the buds, which have shorter tips, to stay in place in our test rig's ears. The tips would slip out of place after a few minutes, so our results show that the sound varies based on the earbuds' fit and positioning. However, we didn't have the same issue subjectively, as they easily stayed in place in real ears. In reality, you'll get a consistent sound with each use as long as you can get a good, stable fit.
Their bass response complies with our target bass profile very well. The entire range is overemphasized, with a broad peak centered on the mid-bass that adds plenty of punch to kick drums. If you like to exercise to music with a strong bassline like Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna, these buds will ensure you feel plenty of rumble to keep you motivated.
They have fantastic mid-range compliance. The response is virtually flat, so instruments and vocals sound clear, present, and intense without unnatural honk or harshness.
These buds have fantastic compliance with our treble target. The low treble is slightly underemphasized, so instruments lack some detail, but overall, the low treble is still well-controlled. On the other hand, the mid-treble is a bit inconsistent, so sibilants like S and T sounds are rendered bright or a touch dull, depending on their pitch. However, overall, the treble's tuning is clear.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active control their sound profile very well. There are some peaks and dips, but most are tiny, apart from those in the treble range. A big peak and dip in the mid-treble renders sibilants like cymbals alternately dull and piercing.
These have good stereo mismatch. The drivers are well-matched in weighted amplitude and frequency response. There is a small and slightly audible phase shift in the midrange, if you listen to frequency sweeps, but it's not necessarily perceptible with real-world content. That said, our results are only valid for our unit, and your results may vary.
The group delay is decent and there are no audible issues with the bass through the treble.
These have impressive harmonic distortion performance. When each frequency is pushed to 94 dB/SPL and 104 dB/SPL, these maintain the integrity of your audio signal without audible impurities.
These earbuds support Dolby Spatial Audio, a feature that makes audio sound more 3D and immersive. You can turn on the feature in the companion app. This isn't the same as Dolby Atmos, and the headphones can't play surround sound content, unlike the Jabra Elite 10 True Wireless. On the other hand, you don't need any particular streaming service or specially recorded content to use the feature.
These are the settings used to test the Jabra Elite 8 Active. Our results are only valid when using these settings.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active have a roundish bud shape with angled silicone tips, similar to other Jabra earbuds like the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless. The buds have a somewhat rubbery covering and come in five solid colors: 'Black', 'Mint', 'Navy', 'Dark Gray', and 'Caramel'.
They have a comfortable fit for most people. They don't go far into your ear, which helps prevent the uncomfortable plunger-like feeling that some in-ears create. However, they aren't the sleekest buds and have a somewhat bulky, round body that might press against some people's ears. Unlike the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 True Wireless, these have circular ear tips, while the Gen 2 use oblong ear tips, which can feel more comfortable, depending on the shape and size of your ear canal.
The Jabra Elite 8 have simple, easy-to-use controls. There are physical buttons on both buds that provide clicky, tactile feedback, so you're less likely to accidentally register a command than with earbuds with touch-sensitive surfaces. You can remap most of the controls in the companion app. However, the button pushes can sound loud, and you might prefer the light tap controls that other earbuds have.
On the left earbud:
- Single press: Cycles between ANC on, ANC off, Hear-Through mode (which lets you hear ambient sound). Also answers a call and mutes/unmutes the mic during a call.
- Double press: Activates voice assistant and ends or rejects a call.
- Triple press: No function by default, but can be mapped in the companion app.
- Hold: Decreases volume.
On the right earbud:
- Single press: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers a call and mutes and unmutes the mic during a call.
- Double press: Skips to the next track and ends or rejects a call.
- Triple press: Restarts the track.
- Hold: Increases volume.
They're very portable, like most truly wireless earbuds. They're around the same size as the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless and easily fit into bags and most pockets.
They come with a small, sturdy case. The lid closes with a magnet that prevents accidental opening, and the inside of the case has magnets to keep the earbuds in place. The lid and hinges feel well-built. The case is rated IP54, so it's resistant to dust and splashes of water, but not totally dustproof or waterproof.
The Jabra Elite 8 are well-built. The earbuds are rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, which means they're fully dust-tight and waterproof. Otherwise, the earbuds are about as well-built as the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless. The buds are made of plastic and have a soft silicone coating called 'ShakeGrip' meant to help keep them from slipping around in your ears. The silicone ear tips feel strong, but like most silicone tips, they may tear if you're rough with them.
They have a very stable fit. They're covered in a non-slippery silicone coating that Jabra calls 'ShakeGrip,' and despite not having stability fins, they can stay in place during workouts even if you move your head around a lot. The buds are slightly bigger than the Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless, which also helps keep them snug in your ears. Although they're stable, if you prefer an extra safeguard to ensure your buds will stay in, consider the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, which have over-ear hooks.
- Jabra Elite 8 Active headphones
- 3x ear tips
- Charging case
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- Manuals
They have an alright noise isolation performance. Their ANC feature is 'Adaptive Hybrid ANC,' which automatically adjusts itself to the noise around you. This results in an uneven noise isolation performance, where they seem to adjust and cancel more noise than adjust again and cancel less. This is more noticeable during our tests than in real life, but in subjective tests, the earbuds did seem to amplify some higher-pitched sounds compared with their performance with ANC off, as reflected in the results. The results are the same with longer sweeps, although they did isolate against more bass-range noise in one longer test. You can see a comparison of longer sweeps (512K, 1M, and 2M).
The ANC doesn't do a good job of blocking out bass-range noise like rumbling engines. The buds do a better job of blocking out mid-range and high-pitched noise like voices and humming A/C units, but this partially comes down to their passive noise isolation performance since the buds manage to block out more of that type of noise with ANC off.
Similar to full-range isolation, these buds offer decent performance in common scenarios. They're able to block out some sounds like keyboard clattering at the office and the rumble of plane engines, though they aren't the most effective in this endeavor, as the Jabra Elite 10 True Wireless or the even more effective Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 True Wireless.
These buds feature a wind noise reduction feature to help reduce wind noise. This sound is produced when wind passes over the ANC's mics. The buds are also quite small, so the angle of wind makes a difference in the volume of noise. Keep in mind that using the wind reduction feature can also affect noise isolation.
They leak very little audio. Even if you're blasting your music, people sitting nearby in an office or living room won't hear it.
The mic has an adequate recording quality. It makes your voice sound open and full-bodied, so it's easy to understand but also somewhat unnatural and distorted.
The mic has a great noise-handling performance. Even in noisy places like a busy street or subway station, the mic manages to separate your voice from background sound. Your voice can sound a bit fuzzy, but ambient sound is mostly cut out, and people on the other end of the line will understand you clearly.
The Jabra Elite 8 have good battery performance. The manufacturer says they last up to eight hours with ANC on, and we measured just over that at 8.75 hours. However, battery life varies depending on use. The case also holds around three extra charges, and it has a fast charge feature that provides one hour of playback for five minutes of charging, according to the manufacturer. They have an auto-off timer to save power, and you can also use one earbud while the other charges in the case.
The Jabra Elite 8 Active have a great app. You can activate the ANC feature or 'Hear-Through' mode, which lets you hear your surroundings. There's a 5-band EQ and presets for sound customization, and you can also access the Dolby Spatial Sound feature. There are customization options for the controls, plus options for in-ear detection and activating 'Spotify Tap,' which lets you access that app directly with the onboard controls.
These are Bluetooth-only earbuds; you can't use them wired. If you want to connect devices via a 1/4" analog cable, it's worth checking out the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 instead, which feature a 'smart case' with a wired input.
They have very good Bluetooth connectivity. They support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected with a phone and computer simultaneously. They also support AAC and SBC codecs. On the downside, their latency is very high via SBC, so you'll notice lip sync issues if you're streaming video. Some apps and devices compensate for latency, though.
They're fully compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs but can't connect any other way.