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My Jabra Elite 85h over-ear headphones suffer from the same issue. These are Wirecutter's suggested Bluetooth headphones, which is why I bought them. I wonder i

My Jabra Elite 85h over-ear headphones suffer from the same issue. These are Wirecutter's suggested Bluetooth headphones, which is why I bought them. I wonder if they still would be if it was widely known that these headphones are not meant to be used with computers.

kurthr 4y ago
Yeah, this is sketchy behavior for a premium brand. They really seem to need you to run their mobile app. It's hard to tell from their advertising that it covers more than iPhones... although it does say it works with Google Assistant. The only info I found about supporting other laptops (it mentions phones, tablets, and mobile devices?) was in their help faqs: https://www.jabra.com/supportpages/jabra-elite-85t/100-99190000-02/faq/Can-I-connect-my-Jabra-Bluetooth-device-with-a-computer-or-softphone https://www.jabra.com/supportpages/jabra-elite-85t/100-99190... Which basically says it won't fully function... but it might work with MS teams? I wonder what data they're collecting with the mobile app, whether it's being monetized to support development, or simply that they don't care about a fairly common use case.
- tootie 4y ago
  That's different than OP was implying. They're saying that a lot of the playback and volume controls may not work as expected, not that you won't be able to hear and speak.
donmcronald 4y ago
> These are Wirecutter's suggested Bluetooth headphones I stopped trusting Wirecutter a long time ago when they "recommended" powerline adapters that sucked. After buying some and doing my own testing I realized the whole product category sucks unless you're super desperate with no other options. Of course instead of saying that Wirecutter happily gives the best piece of garbage 8 or 9 stars. That's the problem with affiliate marketing blogs like Wirecutter. They'll happily do relative rankings of pure crap if it means you'll buy something for them to get the affiliate revenue. We need a new generation of review sites and reviewers.
- Godel_unicode 4y ago
  Powerline networking is a great example of where review sites totally fall down; it's amazing in most cases, providing great bandwidth and very low jitter and packet loss. Then for no reason*, it will absolutely suck for some people. The only way to find these kinds of problems is to survey every situation and test each product in all of them, which is clearly impossible. People will hear this and go, "aha! Crowd sourcing!" The issue with that is that with modern technology the problem is overwhelmingly user error (or to be generous, perhaps UX). So you will spend essentially all your time chasing down people who don't know how to charge their product, or have their powerline adapter hooked up upstream of a UPS, etc Your wiring is to blame. Maybe some staple missed and nicked the wire, maybe you have something leaking EMI, maybe you just have dirty power.
  - donmcronald 4y ago
    IIRC their tests were over a short, direct run of wire. I tested them using different lengths of runs, across circuits, and in different houses. The Wirecutter test setup was the most ideal environment possible. It was as if a manufacturer dictated the setup. To their credit, I think they updated their test setup to be more realistic. > Your wiring is to blame. That’s quite the assessment for the info given. Lol.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      Dirty power and poor wiring are terrible for many things. It's not a surprise it might cause issues with this too.
    - mschuster91 4y ago
      > The Wirecutter test setup was the most ideal environment possible. It was as if a manufacturer dictated the setup. The thing with comparison tests is, you have to use a reliably reproduceable, documented testing environment. Everything else just ends up with nasty letters from lawyers complaining about the test being unfair or whatever. Your uncle's shoddy 1960s-era farmhouse wiring may be the ultimate stress test for a powerline adapter in real life, but no way you can use that house as any basis for a comparison test looking like resembling science...

kurthr 4y ago

Yeah, this is sketchy behavior for a premium brand. They really seem to need you to run their mobile app. It's hard to tell from their advertising that it covers more than iPhones... although it does say it works with Google Assistant. The only info I found about supporting other laptops (it mentions phones, tablets, and mobile devices?) was in their help faqs: https://www.jabra.com/supportpages/jabra-elite-85t/100-99190000-02/faq/Can-I-connect-my-Jabra-Bluetooth-device-with-a-computer-or-softphone https://www.jabra.com/supportpages/jabra-elite-85t/100-99190... Which basically says it won't fully function... but it might work with MS teams? I wonder what data they're collecting with the mobile app, whether it's being monetized to support development, or simply that they don't care about a fairly common use case.

tootie 4y ago
That's different than OP was implying. They're saying that a lot of the playback and volume controls may not work as expected, not that you won't be able to hear and speak.

donmcronald 4y ago

> These are Wirecutter's suggested Bluetooth headphones I stopped trusting Wirecutter a long time ago when they "recommended" powerline adapters that sucked. After buying some and doing my own testing I realized the whole product category sucks unless you're super desperate with no other options. Of course instead of saying that Wirecutter happily gives the best piece of garbage 8 or 9 stars. That's the problem with affiliate marketing blogs like Wirecutter. They'll happily do relative rankings of pure crap if it means you'll buy something for them to get the affiliate revenue. We need a new generation of review sites and reviewers.

Godel_unicode 4y ago
Powerline networking is a great example of where review sites totally fall down; it's amazing in most cases, providing great bandwidth and very low jitter and packet loss. Then for no reason*, it will absolutely suck for some people. The only way to find these kinds of problems is to survey every situation and test each product in all of them, which is clearly impossible. People will hear this and go, "aha! Crowd sourcing!" The issue with that is that with modern technology the problem is overwhelmingly user error (or to be generous, perhaps UX). So you will spend essentially all your time chasing down people who don't know how to charge their product, or have their powerline adapter hooked up upstream of a UPS, etc Your wiring is to blame. Maybe some staple missed and nicked the wire, maybe you have something leaking EMI, maybe you just have dirty power.
- donmcronald 4y ago
  IIRC their tests were over a short, direct run of wire. I tested them using different lengths of runs, across circuits, and in different houses. The Wirecutter test setup was the most ideal environment possible. It was as if a manufacturer dictated the setup. To their credit, I think they updated their test setup to be more realistic. > Your wiring is to blame. That’s quite the assessment for the info given. Lol.
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    Dirty power and poor wiring are terrible for many things. It's not a surprise it might cause issues with this too.
  - mschuster91 4y ago
    > The Wirecutter test setup was the most ideal environment possible. It was as if a manufacturer dictated the setup. The thing with comparison tests is, you have to use a reliably reproduceable, documented testing environment. Everything else just ends up with nasty letters from lawyers complaining about the test being unfair or whatever. Your uncle's shoddy 1960s-era farmhouse wiring may be the ultimate stress test for a powerline adapter in real life, but no way you can use that house as any basis for a comparison test looking like resembling science...