- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Test Results
- Compared To Others
- Deals
- Discussions
The Jabra Steel is a mono headset designed for taking phone calls in rough environments. It has a portable, stable design but it's not the most comfortable headset and its ear-hooks feel thin and easily breakable. While it has an excited, v-shaped sound profile, it's not meant for casual listening, especially as it seriously lacks low-bass. At the same time, this sound makes voices shrill and piercing on phone calls.
Our Verdict
The Jabra Steel is poor for mixed use as this headset is designed for taking phone calls. While portable and stable, it can be fatiguing on the inner ear to wear and it lacks any noise isolation, most likely by design, making it less than suitable for commuting or sports. It's not meant for listening to music though and its excited v-shaped sound profile isn't great for critical listening. Its sharp sound can also impact vocals. It's Bluetooth-only and isn't recommended for gaming as there's likely too much lag.
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Boom microphone comes with two windscreens.
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Microphone captures voices clearly.
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Bright, piercing sound profile negatively affects voices.
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Stiff ear-tips can be uncomfortable to wear.
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Microphone struggles to separate voices in loud environments.
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Poor companion app.
The Jabra Steel isn't recommended for neutral sound listening. This is a mono Bluetooth headset that's designed for making phone calls and not listening to music.
The Jabra Steel is disappointing for commuting. It doesn't block out almost any noise, and it can be fatiguing on the inner ear to wear. However, you can easily make calls on-the-go without worrying about your battery life as this headset goes into standby use when you're not on a call. It can also fit in most pockets when not in use.
The Jabra Steel is good for taking phone calls while out on a run. It's portable and stable, although the ear-hooks could come away from your ears if you shake your head too hard. It's not the most comfortable and its mono headset design barely blocks out any noise. However, this can be a good thing if you like to run outdoors and need to be more aware of your surroundings.
The Jabra Steel is disappointing for office use. It can be fatiguing on the inner ear during long calls and it doesn't isolate almost any background noise. However, it doesn't leak too much sound which is nice for those around you. This headset isn't designed for casual listening but if you're making calls at the office, its battery can easily get you through your work day as it has a standby mode to help you conserve battery life.
The Jabra Steel isn't recommended for wireless gaming. This headset is Bluetooth-only and isn't compatible with PS4 or Xbox One. While you can use it with any Bluetooth-enabled PC or mobile device, the latency will likely be too high for competitive gaming.
The Jabra Steel is a Bluetooth-only headset that can't be used wired.
The Jabra Steel is disappointing for phone calls. While its boom microphone has a decent recording quality, it struggles to separate voices from background noise, especially in loud environments. Unfortunately, this headset also has a sound profile that makes voices sharp and piercing, which won't be nice to hear if you make a lot of phone calls. On the upside, it doesn't reduce almost any background noise by design so you can still hear your voice.
- 5.4 Mixed Usage
- 4.5 Neutral Sound
- 5.2 Commute/Travel
- 7.6 Sports/Fitness
- 4.9 Office
- 4.3 Wireless Gaming
- 4.1 Wired Gaming
- 5.6 Phone Calls
- Updated May 20, 2020: Review published.
- Updated May 14, 2020: Early access published.
Test Results
The Jabra Steel, despite its name, is a mono headset made of black plastic. Its boom microphone has ridges on it to give it some textural detail while the yellow ear-tips add a splash of color. It also has a thin plastic ear-hook that you can add or take off for additional stability. If you want something with a more casual design for day-to-day use, check out the Mpow EM12 Wireless Earphone Bluetooth Headset.
The Jabra Steel isn't the most comfortable headset. While it's mostly made of plastic, the silicone ear-tips feel cheap and stiff, which can hurt the ear quite quickly. It does come with a couple of other ear-tips but they don't have different sizes. If you want a mono headset that's quite a bit more comfortable, check out the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset.
This headset has disappointing controls. It has two push buttons as well as voice control. The top button handles everything call-related such as answering, rejecting, redialing, and battery levels while the side button activates voice assistant and mutes/unmutes the microphone. There's also voice prompts for most of the controls.
The Jabra Steel is very portable. Although the boom microphone is a little bulky, you should still be able to fit this headset into most pockets.
Jabra Steel has a satisfactory build quality. It's mostly made of plastic, except the ear-tips which are made of silicone. The ear-hooks are really thin, though, and they feel like they can easily break or snap. This headset is rated IP54 for dust and water resistance and Jabra advertises this headset as resistant to dust, dirt, grime, and water but we don't currently test for this. The TaoTronics TT-BH041 Bluetooth Headset is a more premium-feeling alternative, though be aware of the fact that it's far bulkier due to its on-ear headband design.
This headset feels stable in the ear. It comes with two stability fins, one for each ear, which is nice if you're constantly walking about during your phone calls. lt also comes with ear-hooks, but they're very thin and can easily come off the ear with a shake. If you're looking for a more stable mono headset, check out the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset.
- Jabra Steel headset
- 1x regular sleeve
- 2x sleeves with stability fins
- 2x ear-hooks
- 2x microphone windscreens
- Micro-USB charging cable
- Manual
The Jabra Steel has an excited v-shaped sound profile. If you're talking on the phone, voices sound sharp and shrill while if you're listening to your favorite tunes, the overemphasized high-bass and low-mid create a cluttered, muddy sound. For a Bluetooth headset with a more balanced sound, check out the Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Headset.
The frequency response consistency of these headphones is very good. If you achieve a proper fit with the included tips, you should experience similar bass and treble response every time you use it.
The Jabra Steel has bad bass accuracy. The low-bass is almost completely underemphasized, resulting in a lack of thump and rumble while the underemphasized mid-bass also lacks body and punch. The high-bass, in comparison, is overemphasized and makes mixes muddy and boomy. While this sound isn't suited for music, most people won't notice the bass if you're listening to someone talk on the other line.
The mid-range accuracy of the Jabra Steel is disappointing. There's a lot of overemphasis in the low-mids which clutters the mix. There's also just a touch of overemphasis in the mid-mids that makes harmonics here sound boxy. However, the high-mid is where most vocal frequencies are found and it's also a touch more overemphasized, resulting in slightly honky or harsh speech.
The treble accuracy of this headset is poor. The low-treble, where vocals lay, is overemphasized and makes speech sound harsh and painful. The mid-treble is also overemphasized and makes sibilants such as S and T sounds sharp and piercing.
The peaks and dips performance of this headset is poor. There's a huge peak between the high-bass and low-mid, suggesting a very muddy sound that can further push vocals to the back of the mix. The sharp peak between the low and mid-treble also further sharpens voices, which can even be painful for the listener.
The Jabra Steel is a mono headset and has no stereo imaging.
Like with most in-ears, the passive soundstage of this headset is poor. This is because properly activating the resonances of the pinna (the outer ear) is one of the important factors in creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage. Since in-ears and earbuds completely bypass the pinna, their soundstage tends to be perceived as small and located inside the listener's head. That being said, it feels more open because its earbud tip doesn't create a 'plunger'-like seal.
This headset doesn't have any virtual soundstage features.
The weighted harmonic distortion of the Jabra Steel is disappointing. There's distortion present across the range which can affect phone calls. However, it likely won't be noticeable for most people.
Note: We were unable to reach 100dB volume while testing this headset. Therefore, the '100 dB' score was tested with the headset at max volume and the '90 dB' score was set 10dB lower.
These are the settings used to test this headset. Our results are only valid when listening using these settings.
The Jabra Steel doesn't isolate almost any noise and this is likely by design so that you can hear your own voice as you speak. At the same time, the earbud also doesn't go that deeply into the ear canal and doesn't create a 'plunger-like' seal that can block sound.
The leakage performance of this headset is excellent. There's very low leakage overall except for a bit of leakage in the treble range. If you're taking calls in an office setting, your audio shouldn't be noticeable to others around you unless you have your audio at a high volume.
This headset has a boom mic with an attachable windscreen.
The boom microphone has a decent recording quality. Voices sound clear and natural but are a bit thin. You should have no problem being understood by whoever is on the other end.
The noise handling performance of the microphone is only alright. Although the boom microphone sits close to your mouth, it has trouble separating your voice from background noise, especially in loud settings like a train station. If you want a Bluetooth headset with much better noise handling, check out the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset.
The Jabra Steel has a disappointing battery performance. While its 6.3-hour battery life seems mediocre for headphones, it should be more than enough for your workday. Unlike listening to music, it's likely that you'll take breaks between phone calls, and when you do, this headset goes into standby mode when not in use, helping save battery life.
This headset has a poor companion app. The Jabra Assist app allows you to change the settings for readout notifications such as when you get a text message but that's about it; it doesn't even display your battery level.
This headset has excellent Bluetooth connectivity. You can pair this headset with up to two different devices or connect it to an NFC-enabled device. It has high latency on PC, iOS, and Android while streaming YouTube videos. However, other apps seem to compensate for this differently, so your mileage may vary.
The Jabra Steel is a Bluetooth-only headset.
The Jabra Steel is a Bluetooth-only headset that can't be used wired. It comes with a micro-USB cable for charging.
The Jabra Steel is a Bluetooth-only headset and isn't compatible with PS4. It should work with any Bluetooth-enabled PC, however.
Compared To Other Headphones
The Jabra Steel is a mono headset designed for taking phone calls. While Jabra focuses on producing good microphones for taking calls, this headset and its boom microphone don't really stand out when compared to the brand's other headphones. It also has an excited, v-shaped sound profile that isn't very suited for voices. If you're looking for more, check out our recommendations for the best Bluetooth headsets for phone calls or if you're looking for something more sports-related, the best earbuds for running and working out.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth headset is a better mono headset for phone calls than the Jabra Steel. The Plantronics is more comfortable, has better controls, and has a more even sound profile that suits speech better. However, the Jabra's boom mic has a better recording quality.
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset is a slightly better headset for phone calls than the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset. The Talk 45 has a more stable in-ear fit. Its mid-range is also better-balanced, so voices are reproduced clearly and more accurately. That said, the Steel leaks a bit less noise, which some listeners may prefer.
The Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset is slightly better for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset. The Jabra leaks much less audio, has a significantly better recording quality, and does a better job at separating your voice from background noises. On the other hand, the Plantronics is more comfortable, has better controls, looks and feels more premium, has a better-balanced sound profile for phone calls, lasts longer off a single charge, and has a much better app with a ton of customization options.
The Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset is better for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Headset. The Jabra has a more stable fit and it leaks less noise. Its microphone also has a better recording quality and noise handling performance. However, the Plantronics has a better-balanced sound profile, so voices sound clearer and more natural.
The Jabra Elite 75t Truly Wireless are better overall headphones than the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset. The Elite 75t are more versatile for everyday use. They're comfortable, have a better-balanced sound profile suitable for music or calls, and their companion app even lets you customize their sound. Still, if you want to make a lot of phone calls, the Steel has a better overall performing microphone.
The BlueParrott B450-XT Bluetooth Headset is a better headset for making phone calls than the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset. The BlueParrott is more comfortable and has better controls. Its sound profile is better-balanced and its boom microphone does a significantly better job of recording voices, even in noisy environments. The BlueParrott has a longer continuous battery life too and you can still use it while it's charging. However, the Jabra is an earbud, which makes it much more portable than the on-ears BlueParrott.
The Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset is a better mono headset for phone calls than the TaoTronics TT-BH041 Bluetooth Headset. The Jabra is significantly more portable, has a higher-quality microphone, and supports multi-device pairing, which is useful for when you take calls on your phone and computer. However, the TaoTronics has a more comprehensive control scheme, feels sturdier, and lasts much longer off a single charge.
The Mpow EM12 Wireless Earphone Bluetooth Headset is a better mono headset than the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset. The Mpow is more comfortable, has easier-to-use controls, looks and feels better-built, and has a better-balanced sound profile. On the other hand, the Steel's battery life is much longer, and the headset is rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, though this isn't something we test for. The boom mic on the Jabra Steel also does a better job of separating your voice from background noise, making it better-suited for noisy environments.