The Jabra Talk 45 is a mono Bluetooth headset designed for phone calls. Its Voice Control feature is compatible with Siri and Google Assistant, and you can even use the Jabra Assist companion app to have the headset read out your text messages and calendar events for a hands-free experience, though we don't test for this. Its boom microphone makes your voice sound clear and understandable, though also a bit thin, to whoever's on the other end of the line. However, its microphone struggles to separate your voice from background noises in noisier settings. Overall, this headset isn't very versatile and isn't really designed for listening to music, so it's best-suited for taking phone calls.
Our Verdict
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth headset is sub-par for mixed usage. It's designed for taking phone calls, so it doesn't have a very neutral sound profile for music. It also doesn't isolate a lot of background noise, likely by design, so it isn't ideal to use while commuting or working in a noisy office. That said, its mono design is very portable, and it has a very stable in-ear fit.
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Stable in-ear fit.
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No sound customization features.
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Terrible noise isolation performance.
The Jabra Talk 45 is inadequate for neutral sound. This mono headset is designed for taking phone calls, not listening to music. It has a bright sound profile, and it's lacking a lot of low and mid-bass, so it struggles to reproduce the thump and punch in your favorite songs. Its mid-range is neutral and balanced, so voices and lead instruments are clear and present.
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Balanced mid-range.
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Lacking a lot of bass.
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No sound customization features.
The Jabra Talk 45 is disappointing for commute and travel. This headset isn't very comfortable, and it doesn't block out a lot of background noise, so you may struggle to hear over the sounds of bus or plane engines. That said, its mono design is very portable, and its continuous battery life should last through your daily commute. There's even a standby mode to help conserve its battery.
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Portable design.
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Not the most comfortable.
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Terrible noise isolation performance.
The Jabra Talk 45 is good for taking phone calls while out on a run because it's small and stable. Thanks to its ear-hook design, this headset has a very stable fit, so it likely won't fall out of your ear while you're running. Its mono design is very portable, making it easy to bring on-the-go. Unfortunately, its silicone ear-tips aren't the most comfortable and may start to hurt your ear during your workout.
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Stable in-ear fit.
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Portable design.
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Not the most comfortable.
The Jabra Talk 45 is disappointing for office use. As it's designed for phone calls, its over seven-hour continuous battery life should be enough for your work day. It doesn't leak a lot of noise, so it shouldn't bother the people around you. While its design lets you hear your voice while you take calls, it doesn't isolate a lot of background noise. Unfortunately, this headset doesn't have the most comfortable fit.
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Doesn't leak a lot of noise.
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Not the most comfortable.
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Terrible noise isolation performance.
The Jabra Talk 45 is a Bluetooth-only headset that isn't compatible with Xbox One or PC. It's compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs, but its latency is too high to be suitable for wireless gaming.
The Jabra Talk 45 is a truly wireless headset that can't be used with a wired connection, so it isn't suitable for wired gaming.
The Jabra Talk 45 is middling for taking phone calls in a noisy environment due to its mono design, but it has a decent recording quality for on-the-go phone calls. Its boom microphone reproduces your voice clearly, though it may sound a bit thin or unnatural. Also, its standby mode helps you conserve the headset's battery when not in use. However, it doesn't reduce a lot of background noise by design so you can hear your voice during your calls, so it's best-suited for quieter settings.
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Fair microphone recording quality.
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Not the most comfortable.
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Struggles to separate voices in noisier environments.
- 5.7 Mixed Usage
- 5.6 Neutral Sound
- 5.4 Commute/Travel
- 7.8 Sports/Fitness
- 5.0 Office
- 4.7 Wireless Gaming
- 4.5 Wired Gaming
- 5.7 Phone Calls
- Updated Sep 28, 2020: Review published.
- Updated Sep 17, 2020: Early access published.
- Updated Sep 09, 2020: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Sep 09, 2020: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Sep 01, 2020: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth is available in two different color variants: Black and Silver. We tested the Silver variant, but we expect the Black variant to perform similarly. You can see the label for the model we tested here.
Compared To Other Headphones
The Jabra Talk 45 is a mono Bluetooth headset designed for taking hands-free phone calls while you're on the go. It has a built-in Voice Control feature that's compatible with Siri and Google Assistant, and its companion app has a feature that lets the headset read out your texts and emails. Its boom microphone doesn't have the best performance, especially in noisier environments, and this headset isn't very versatile. If you're looking for other headphones, check out our recommendations for the best Bluetooth headsets for phone calls, the best wireless Bluetooth headphones, and the best earphones with a mic.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset is better for phone calls than the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset. The Plantronics is more comfortable, better-built, and it has more controls, including a volume control. Its boom microphone performs much better in noisier environments. That said, the Jabra's microphone has a better recording quality.
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset is better for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset. The Plantronics is more comfortable, better-built, and it has more controls. However, it leaks a lot more noise than the Jabra. The Jabra's boom microphone also has a better recording quality and noise handling performance, so it makes your voice clearer to whoever's on the other end of the line.
The Jabra Elite 65e Wireless are better headphones for phone calls than the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset. The Elite 65e are more comfortable, better-built, and more versatile overall thanks to their neutral sound profile and many customization features. They also isolate more background noise, and their microphone has a better recording quality and noise handling performance. That said, the Talk 45's mono headset design is more portable, and it has a more stable in-ear fit.
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset is better for taking phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Headset. The Jabra has a more stable fit and it leaks less noise. Also, its boom microphone has a better recording quality, so your voice sounds more natural. That said, the Plantronics has a better-balanced treble range, so voices and sibilants sound more detailed.
The Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset and the Mpow Pro Trucker Bluetooth Headset are both solid options for taking phone calls. The Jabra's mono in-ear design is smaller, more portable, and more stable, and it also comes with an app that's well-suited to professionals on the go. However, the Mpow is better-built, more comfortable, and has a longer continuous battery life. Also, its microphone has a better recording quality and noise handling performance.
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.
Test Results
The Jabra Talk 45 is a mono Bluetooth headset. There's a clear plastic ear-hook that helps secure it to your ear and a thin boom microphone. The neon orange ear-tips add a splash of color to the silver and black design. You can also get it in an all-black color variant if you prefer.
The Jabra Talk 45 is mediocre for comfort. While it's mostly made of plastic, the silicone ear-tips feel a bit cheap and can hurt the ear after wearing them for a short amount of time.
The Jabra Talk 45 has sub-par controls. There are two buttons, as well as voice control. The large button controls everything call-related, such as answering, rejecting, and redialing, and it also controls pairing mode and tells you the battery level. The side button lets you activate the voice assistant and mute/unmute the microphone. There are voice prompts for most of the controls.
This headset is very portable. It's small and compact, and it's very lightweight, so it can easily be worn on your ear when you're on-the-go.
This headset doesn't come with a carrying case or pouch.
The Jabra Talk 45 has a fair build quality. Like the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset, it's mostly made of plastic, and the ear-tips are made of silicone. However, this overall earpiece feels thinner than the Steel, so it seems a bit more fragile. The thin ear-hooks also seem like they could easily break or snap. For a headset with a better build quality, check out the Mpow Pro Trucker Bluetooth Headset.
This headset is very stable in the ear. Thanks to the ear-hooks, which are a bit thicker than the one on the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset, it stays in place even when you move your head quickly.
- Jabra Talk 45 headset
- Manuals
- Car adapter
- 2x ear-hooks
- 3x ear-tips
- Micro-USB charging cable
The Jabra Talk 45 has a very bright sound profile. It lacks a lot of bass but it performs well with voices and speech. Voices are mostly present and clear, though some may sound a bit dull and unclear.
This headset has a great frequency response consistency. With a good seal and a proper fit, you should experience a similar bass and treble response every time you use it.
This headset has terrible bass accuracy. It's designed for phone calls, so you may not notice the lack of bass. There's almost no low or mid-bass, so you don't feel the deep thump and punch in music. High-bass is also underemphasized, so instruments don't sound very warm or full.
This headset has amazing mid accuracy. The entire range is balanced and neutral, so voices sound clear, full, and present.
This headset has acceptable treble accuracy. Low-treble is underemphasized, which may hurt the comprehensibility of voices. Mid-treble is also slightly underemphasized, so some voices may sound dull or lispy.
This headset has mediocre peaks and dips performance. Due to the dip in the low-bass, it struggles to reproduce the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music genres. The peak in the high-bass and low-mid adds a boomy, muddy quality to the mix. The dip in the low-treble hurts the comprehensibility of some vocals, while the peak in the mid-treble makes those same vocals a bit piercing or painful.
The Jabra Talk 45 is a mono headset, so there's no stereo imaging.
Like with most in-ears, the passive soundstage is bad. Due to the design, it doesn't interact with the pinna, or the outer ear, which is one of the key factors for creating an out-of-head, speaker-like soundstage. Instead, its soundstage is perceived as small and located inside the listener's head.
This headset doesn't have any virtual soundstage features.
The Jabra Talk 45 has a decent weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's some distortion present, but it likely won't be noticeable for most people.
These are the settings we used to test this headset. Our results are only valid with these settings.
This headset has a terrible noise isolation performance. It doesn't isolate any noise in the bass and mid-range, so you can hear bus and plane engines and background voices. It performs a bit better in the treble range, but you still hear sharper sounds like AC units. However, this performance is expected, as it's a mono earpiece.
This headset has a very good leakage performance. It doesn't leak a lot of noise, except in the treble range. That said, your audio shouldn't be too noticeable to the people around you unless you're listening at a high volume.
The Jabra Talk 45 has a boom microphone and can be worn on either ear.
The boom microphone has an adequate recording quality. Voices sound clear and understandable, but a bit muffled and unnatural. You should have no problem being understood by whoever is on the other end of the line.
The noise handling performance of the microphone is passable. The boom mic sits close to your mouth, but it still has a bit of trouble separating your voice from background noises, especially in noisier environments like a busy train station.
This headset has a passable battery performance. While it's advertised as having a six-hour continuous battery life, we tested it at over seven hours, which should be enough to get you through your day. It also goes into standby mode when it's not in use, which helps to conserve battery life.
Jabra Assist is a disappointing companion app for music, as it doesn't have a lot of music or sound customization controls. However, this headset isn't intended for listening to music, and its app has a lot of features geared towards professionals, which is convenient. You can activate and adjust a feature that lets it read out your text messages, emails, social media notifications, or calendar events, so you don't have to pick up your phone to read them.
The Jabra Talk 45 supports Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC pairing. You can also pair this headset with up to two different devices, so you can easily switch between your phone and your PC. It has a bit of latency on PC and iOS, though it performs a bit better with Android devices. That said, it's not ideal for taking video calls, although some apps compensate for this, so your experience may vary.
The Jabra Talk 45 is a Bluetooth-only headset.
This Bluetooth-only headset can't be used wired. It comes with a micro-USB cable for charging, and a car adapter.
The Jabra Talk 45 is a Bluetooth-only headset that isn't compatible with the PS4. That said, it should work with any Bluetooth-enabled PC.