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Jabra denies support for Elite 85t Bluetooth earbuds on computers

266 points by wawawiwa ↗ HN
I purchased Jabra 85t bluetooth earbuds a 2 months ago. After updating Macos to Monterey, the mic drops after a random amount of time on Google Hangout and sometimes Slack, in the span of 20 minutes.

This is not an isolated case, users have been complaining about it. For instance on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jabra/comments/qjwxdu/muting_during_slackzoom_calls_on_mac_elite_85t/

On this post, official Jabra Support declares: "We do not support the use of the Jabra Elite 85t on computers" I also reached out to their support per email, and after a few back and forth and reaching their Lead, the answer is the same. They won't provide a refund nor solutions.

This limitation isn't advertised on the official Amazon offer nor on their official website. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jabra-Wireless-Bluetooth-Earbuds-Titanium/dp/B08HR78C46/ Official website: https://www.jabra.com/bluetooth-headsets/jabra-elite-85t

In the absence of advertised limitation, shouldn't the mic work (without dropping) with every device supporting the adequate BT profiles? How is a user supposed to know they don't support computers?

220 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 246 ms ] thread
Hakashiro
This is a blatant abuse and they should be sued and shut down. This is beyond unacceptable. There is no reason to do this kind of thing.
ip26
So if you sell a bluetooth device, it is legally required to work properly with every other bluetooth device on earth? I don’t see how that will fly.

The obvious reason for doing this kind of thing is their target market & 99.9% of sales are to people using them with phones, so Jabra has no business reason to spend money providing customer support for PC interoperability.

AshamedCaptain
> So if you sell a bluetooth device, it is legally required to work properly with every other bluetooth device on earth?

It actually is. If you use either the Bluetooth patents or trademarks (e.g. logos and names), not only you must pass a certification that ensures this, you must also "maintain a level of quality that meets or exceeds industry standards", and this evidently doesn't.

HKH2
Well, I've never got any non-Apple phones/computers to work with Apple phones/computers using Bluetooth.
dijit
Extremely bold claim there.

I definitely use my macbook with non-apple hardware. From headphones to laptops to android phones.

My first Macbook used to pair with a Nokia E72 to get internet via the GSM modem, I used it every day on the train.

Two weeks ago I connected an old Oneplus One via bluetooth to my macbook (2020 mbp) to get some old photos from its internal memory.

What doesn't work?

EDIT: actually, I'm not sure I ever connected a laptop to a macbook, but I have a linux laptop so I can try it if you want.

HKH2
I couldn't get file transfers to work. It was a while ago so there might have been a Bluetooth version mismatch or something. I didn't bother troubleshooting it much because WiFi is more convenient for me anyway. I'll give it another try.
dwighttk
How many have you tried?

I’ve never had any non-Apple phones/computers not work with Apple phones/computers using Bluetooth.

HKH2
Two or three. I couldn't get file transfers to work. It was a little while ago.
dwighttk
Gotcha. I’ve not tried that many either, and occasionally it took some wrangling, but it’s always worked. (Also I may be forgetting a time when I tried but succeeded using something besides Bluetooth)
smoldesu
Quick aside: there are a lot of wireless headsets that simply suck on MacOS. I have a pair of Sony XM4s that I can run with 990kbps audio on Linux that are stuck at 330kbps, barely connect half the time and auto-open Apple Music every time they connect for some godawful reason. I think Apple's desktop audio experience is getting really so-so. Pretty much their only advantage is CoreAudio at this point, and even that's shaky when you compare it with the likes of PipeWire...
lupire
Does the Bluetooth trademark owner have a place to report violations of the spec? It's their brand to protect, not yours.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
regularfry
Consumers can pursue false advertising claims in addition to whatever goes on between the Bluetooth org and their licensees.
Ekaros
Then again from their marketing perspective properly supporting computers on all devices would likely be smart. It is not like they don't have the expertise with their other product lines. This sort of stuff eventually reflects badly on those too.
aksss
You want to “shut down” Jabra because a product they released doesn’t have perfect Bluetooth compatibility? Seems harsh. Thank God you’re not in charge of these things.
Retric
Not supporting is one thing, false advertising and failing to provide a refund is another.
vorpalhex
This is a lesson in not buying from sketchy companies unfortunately.

They don't, as far as I am seeing, advertise PC compatibility. So you are out of luck there.

Return them if you can and buy something better.

scrose
They also don’t advertise supporting phones…
thriftwy
Jabra is an old, well-known brand.
Nullabillity
Well-known to be the bane of meetings in offices everywhere.

Why anyone would buy their garbage is beyond me, not that that excuses how they treat their marks^Wcustomers.

tootie
We exclusively used Jabra speakerphones at my last few offices and I have a few at home. They work very well and I've never seen them have a single problem.
Godel_unicode
Same. They also regularly win recommendations from a variety of review sites.
Ekaros
Now question really should be all they better or worse than the alternatives? Haven't used their product overly much, but never truly had issues.
bastardoperator
It's a brand I would expect my 70 year old mom to buy because she remembers it from 15 years ago.
millzlane
I wouldn't call it sketchy. It says right on the product page what connectivity the device supports. https://www.jabra.com/bluetooth-headsets/jabra-elite-85t##10...

They don't attempt to mislead at all.

Beltalowda
> It says right on the product page what connectivity the device supports.

I don't really see anything there beyond "bluetooth support", and it seems to me that expecting very common systems such as macOS and Windows would work is pretty reasonable.

donalhunt
There are two "Connectivity" sections. :/

It mentions in the second one that it's for mobile devices.

Beltalowda
It just says "devices". Turns out there's a second section on that chaotic page which mentions "mobile". I did check this before, and it's not mentioned anywhere else, including in the datasheet and specifications PDFs. It's only in one of the "connectivity" section with a vague unclear ambiguous singular "mobile device" mention, which contradicts other parts of the same site.

I don't think they're trying to fool customers on purpose, but it's extremely unclear what exactly you're buying and many sections would lead you to believe that it will work on any Bluetooth-capable device, just like pretty much all Bluetooth devices do. I think this is basically false advertising due to incompetence.

unixhero
The thing is, Jabra or GM NetCom are bot sketchy vo.paniea. GM NetCom is a global leader in hearing aids.
krick
Sketchy? Jabra is arguably the industry leader in hands-free audio, producing this stuff since 1983. It was the brand you buy to use with your phone when driving a car before "true-wireless headphones" was even a thing.
AshamedCaptain
I'd hope they lose the Bluetooth label and certification for this kind of crap, but we know nothing will happen.
x0x0
Come on; bluetooth is in year ~20 of public alpha test. No certification would mean a thing besides, "Bluetooth: it could work!"
hyperdimension
That's a pretty good slogan. I vote for a duel between Bluetooth and USB-C marketers as to who can use it.

EDIT: the idea of tunneling USB-C ports over Bluetooth (like the wireless USB standard that I never quite saw take off) just occurred to me while writing this comment. What fresh hell.

g051051
You'd have to prove that they're the ones with the faulty Bluetooth implementation, not the PC hardware, drivers, or OS.
AshamedCaptain
Not when they're the ones claiming they don't want to interoperate with stuff that does have Bluetooth certification (e.g. Apple hardware).
g051051
They have said they don't want to interoperate. They said they won't certify against whatever random hardware and software a person has in their PC.
g051051
Typo: "They haven't said they...". I noticed too late to edit!
x0x0
I bet your credit card or merchant will provide a refund.

Which is too bad because the only thing I don't like about my Jabra 65t s after probably 1k hours of use is they don't get quiet enough, but :shrug:.

JadeNB
> I bet your credit card or merchant will provide a refund.

After 2 months? I guess it depends on the merchant, but I think my credit card requires that I dispute a charge within 30 days.

samanbb
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
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/100-99190...

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
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
> 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
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
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
Dirty power and poor wiring are terrible for many things. It's not a surprise it might cause issues with this too.
mschuster91
> 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...

Godel_unicode
I have several college friends who made serious money during COVID "fixing people's Zoom dropouts" by installing MoCA adapters. They installed them for hundreds of people during the last two years, and some of those installs had issues. They ended up getting testing gear to look into the issues and be able to give people a definitive answer for why. Every single time, it came down to something wrong with the wiring. Maybe you're special, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
aaaaaaaaaaab
What does it even mean they don’t support “computers”? Bluetooth doesn’t distinguish between computers and mobile phones.
avihaybar
Had the same issue with my 75t Elite on OSX with Slack Huddles. It seems like the root cause was the "Enable automatic gain control", or something along those lines.

It was super annoying, as they kept muting me mid-sentence, but since turning this option I haven't faced this issue anymore.

wawawiwa
(OP) That's what on the Reddit post indeed, but unfortunately this option isn't available everywhere, and it doesn't always work :/
unixhero
I bought them and then stopped using them. They're junk. Why? There's always something, some reason why they're not ready to go when I need them such as when someone calls. .
jahewson
Website says requires Bluetooth 5.1 but macOS only supports Bluetooth 5, right?
AshamedCaptain
And yet I'm quit sure this is just yet another Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP device, rather than something running LE Audio which would require BT 5.0.
exikyut
So then install Android-x86 on your laptop. Use it for a bit, verify the mic fails.

Call them up and tell them that you're performing a hardware compatibility evaluation to the same standard of due-diligence that would be used ahead-of-time in any competent enterprise-scale hardware accessory rollout - and that a prerequisite step in this process is to validate candidate accessories on Android in unusual environments, to exhaustively verify interoperability considering the known variability of the Bluetooth landscape (on both sides of any given connection).

"But that's a computer."

"Yes, running Android, an OS explicitly supported by logos on your packaging, specific instructions in the user manual and support in the official app."

"Using this hardware on a computer is not supported."

"Your official product communications clearly convey that you unilaterally support Android regardless of device type. The type of Android device I am using here is an x86 laptop, precisely to facilitate wide-range compatibility testing, and to catch potential compatibility issues early on. I'm interested in using this hardware, but after only 20 minutes of testing I've found I experience dropouts while using the officially supported app and running on an officially supported operating system."

I would be very interested to know how the conversation would continue...

Sadly this would be one of those Weird Thing In Instruction Manual-generating events ("why does this say it's not compatible with Android on PC???") but it might work.

(And if the person on the other end of the phone is mostly listening for keywords and they actually think you might be doing some sort of enterprise rollout (*cough* and want to buy a lot more hardware *cough*)... they might suddenly be very interested...)

evan_
This fails at the “call them up” step. Nobody you get on the phone is going to understand or care about any of this.
exikyut
They might, best-case-scenario, just be listening for keywords, and actually think I want to do a rollout. It's kind of sad one has to think this way, and I wouldn't push things to the point of actively deceiving, but what if something like the above worked?

I admittedly don't care about any of it either. My goal would be to introduce chinks in the armor in the arguments presented and try and carry that as far as possible in the hope a solution presents itself. The idea in the GP popped into my head as one entirely-throwaway potential solution to that bigger-picture problem. It's quite possible a different approach may work better.

sudosysgen
You don't tell them it's Android-x86 until you get escalated, I suppose.
Bud
At which point they'd say "Android-x86 is not Android" and hang up.
aaaaaaaaata
Ironically, AOSP has an x86 build target.
pjerem
You can be as right as you want once they hang up.
janoc
And there were actual phones shipping Android on Atom (i.e. x86) CPUs.
regularfry
Here's the thing: what does "it might work" result in? 'Cos I can't see a version of this that ends up with you having a pair of working Jabra 85 earbuds.
rattray
I think the only thing they'll find interesting would be a letter from a lawyer
quantumsequoia
OP said the mic stopped working properly after a macos update. So the mic will probably work using Android-x86
mywacaday
Thanks for sharing this, I have the 75t which I use for mobile and work. I love them and would rbuy again in a heartbeat but this kind of nonsense is unacceptable.
bitL
My Jabra Evolve2 65 started dropping mic under Windows randomly as well... Maybe it's the same chip and the same problem as in 85t?
woodson
Do you use the included usb dongle?
bitL
No, didn't even notice there was one.
swores
I've just initiated a within-30-days return for a full refund of my new Jabra Evolve2 75 headset. It comes with a USB dongle so they definitely won't be claiming it doesn't support PC use, but I don't trust a company that makes such scammy claims and I've tweeted them to say just that.

Ah well, I thought I was enjoying my third Jabra product and it turns out I won't touch them with a barge pole again, unless and until they publicly retract and apologise for this behaviour.

Anyone have recommendations for a good on-ear headset for (mostly) work calls?

theptip
Bose QC 35 headphones work reasonably well, good noise cancelling, good enough mic for calls. I hear the Sony NC headsets getting better reviews in the last couple years on at least their NC functionality.
gomox
Headsets without a boom microphone only work in the quietest of environments, the Bose is not really a suitable replacement for the Jabra model mentioned above.
Closi
I’ve found the mics in QC35 don’t work in an office btw (and I have to be careful at home) - they sometimes pick up people talking quietly at the other side of the room and amplify them because it thinks you are just speaking quietly in my experience (when really you aren’t saying anything). I think it’s to do with how they volume adjust the mics dynamically or something.

I use my QC35s all the time but switch to a jabra wired headset for calls as got lots of complaints with the QC35s and kept being told to go on mute.

benchaney
I'm currently struggling to find usable bluetooth earbuds. One pair that I found comes flying out of my ears when I moved my head at all. Another is dangerously loud even on the lowest volume setting. The third came with a nonstandard (and therefore essentially useless) charger. It really seems like the entire market is flooded with garbage.
sto_hristo
Have you tried Sony WF-1000XM4? I currently have them and have had 0 issues with them so far. Bluetooth connectivity is great and i regularly switch them between a linux laptop (used for meetings, slight media) and android phone (calls, music).
benchaney
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely look into them.
smoldesu
+1 for the Sony XMs, doubly so if you're on a Linux machine. These things "just work" as well as the Bluetooth adapter you have on the other side. Connection is easier than literally any other Bluetooth peripherals I've used.
vladvasiliu
How's the mic on those? I have the WH-XM3s and boy do they suck. I've never managed to get good audio from their mic, be it on Linux, macOS, or iOS.

I bought them for listening to music, so I don't really mind, and for this they are absolutely great, even on Linux.

Never had any issues with them and didn't have to jump through any hoops.

smoldesu
Wouldn't know, I literally never use it. Got a Shure SM57 I use for remote meetings.
Bud
There's a reason Apple has sold over 300 million pairs of AirPods, even though they are expensive.
post_break
What device was connected when the sound was too loud? Both iOS and Android have the ability to adjust volume limits to minimize this.

Have you tried Samsung Buds+ or the new Galaxy buds? They have incredible battery life and decent microphones. Unfortunately they don't fit my ears so I'm using Airpods 3.

benchaney
This is iOS. I haven't been able to find the ability to lower the minimum volume, and based on posts in the support forums, this seems like a common complaint that has yet to be addressed by Apple. That said, if you happen to know something that I don't, I'd be delighted to hear it.
post_break
Settings, Sounds, Headphone safety, reduce loud sounds, adjust the slider accordingly. I had to turn this on because my IEMs were way too loud on the lowest setting.
benchaney
I had that on the lowest setting already, it doesn't make a difference. I suspect that iOS already thinks its playing music quite softly and therefore won't know to down correct.
smoldesu
I own the 75ts, they work excellent on Linux. None of my wireless headphones work all that well on Mac, come to think of it...
aendruk
The Elite 85t has also been working well for me. mSBC, PipeWire 0.3, Linux 5.17, Intel AX200
buildingsramen
I have the same issue with Elite 75t. It seems to be the result of the microphone volume adaptively creeping downwards. When it gets too low, Jabra auto-mutes.

You can bump the volume up to the midpoint in your audio settings and it will take about another month to re-occur. Sorry this isn't a better solution.

tga
What is a good alternative for a USB/Bluetooth office/WFH headset with a noise canceling _microphone_ (no background voices/noise), especially one that would also work on Linux?

Jabra Elite2 40 for example looked almost perfect, but was almost unusable on Linux/without their custom software.

Bilal_io
I was going to recommend the Sony WH-1000XM4 (which are more expensive). But I wanted to Google Linux support first and I ran into this discussion on Reddit [0], it sounds like the issue is not with the headphones (any BT headphones you choose) but with Pulse Audio.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/jght5s/sony_wh1000xm4...

Godel_unicode
A problem with Linux support for Bluetooth audio? Say it isn't so! I don't understand why people are surprised that using Bluetooth devices on Linux frequently requires "their custom software". This is why.
smoldesu
On the flip side, Linux audio supports things that MacOS and Windows do not. Do you have 990kbps LDAC running on your desktop? Probably not if you aren't on Android or Linux. With PipeWire, I feel pretty comfortable saying Linux has Mac and Windows beat with wireless audio compatibility. Yes, Pulseaudio/ALSA and Jack kinda suck. That's a pretty dead horse to beat when you consider the offerings on... other platforms.
Godel_unicode
Of course I do, I wanted to be sure for myself that the difference is inaudible on Windows like it is on Android. I bought an adapter which supports it and confirmed it was transmitting it, then did my a/b/x testing.

It sounds like you agree with me, the default Linux support for Bluetooth audio is bad and requires custom workarounds to fix. That's exactly what I said.

SSLy
What workarounds are you talking about? Pipewire is stock in distros, and you don't have to configure anything.
Godel_unicode
I'm not sure what you meant by "stock in distros", but I hope you don't mean it comes installed and configured out of the box on all distros, as that is emphatically not the case:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1399464/cant-install-pipewir...

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-pipewire-on-ubuntu-li...

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2022/04/pipewire-replac...

SSLy
It is stock in Fedora, and it's the "driver" in Ubuntu just that apps are using ALSA/Pulse emulation libs, not the native ones. This has no effect on the BT support. Also, it's just Ubuntu being weird again.
Godel_unicode
Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro. If Ubuntu requires workarounds to get audio working, then Linux requires workarounds to get audio working. No whatabouts, no "it just needs one quick thing", if it doesn't just work then it doesn't just work.
SSLy
don't move the goalposts, commenter above was comparing situation to major desktop OSes, which require even more obscure stuff so they don't work even more than Linux "does"
Godel_unicode
I was replying to you. You said "...and you don't have to configure anything". That is incorrect.
smoldesu
PipeWire supersedes Pulseaudio. End of discussion. This position is like arguing that Windows 11 isn't the future because most people are still on Windows 10; it's most definitely wrong and relies on circumstance.

You really want to get pedantic? "Linux" isn't Ubuntu, nor is it Fedora nor Arch nor Debian or any of those distros. Linux is a kernel, and it supports several audio backends (or none at all). If we're comparing with Darwin/NT, neither of them "just work" with audio since none of them ship with it. If we're comparing OSes, then we're talking about Monterey vs Windows 11 vs Linux With The Latest Tech. Not Windows 10 just because more people use it. Not Monterey just because it was better.

That's a disadvantage for Linux in most respects since the new "solutions" for desktop Linux are pretty awful (Wayland, Flatpak, GTK4/Libadwaita, etc). Let it be known that desktop audio is not one of those issues anymore, though.

Godel_unicode
This entire post is completely missing my point. I am, and have been been for the entirety of this discussion, talking about what the situation is today. Today, audio is broken on desktop Linux. Other OSes might have the same problem or they might not. Tomorrow might be different. I'll even go so far as to say it will probably be different.

But today, if you download the most popular Linux distro from Canonical and install it on your PC, you are going to have audio issues out of the box. Saying anything else is gaslighting, and it is the main reason desktop Linux fails. People are told "it's good now, trust us!". So they install it, their headphones don't work, they roll their eyes and say "Linux gonna Linux" and go back to their previous OS.

smoldesu
You're also missing the other side of that coin: that's not my problem. I don't care how you're coping with getting things configured or set up correctly, I sure as shit don't care if people aren't getting it working on their box, and I definitely don't care about how "other people" view Linux. Why should I be afraid of anecdotal desktop Linux failures if it works fine for me?

Linux is not a desktop operating system. By default, it has no audio configuration. Distros package whatever software is considered "current" at the date of their LTS cutoff; Ubuntu is one of them. Ubuntu is using outdated software, and will be stuck that way for a couple years. Currently, Linux audio is fine. You're the one using broken software and blaming others.

vladvasiliu
I don't know about noise-cancelling, didn't even know there were headphones doing that.

But I have the Jabra Engage 75 (not Engage2) and I'm very happy with them. The mic doesn't pick up other voices in the house, since it sits 1 cm from my mouth and is fairly directional.

Also, the phones and base don't seem to communicate over Bluetooth because the range is great: more than 10 m through a thick house wall. I also don't notice the lag. The base is connected to the PC via USB. It also supports BT for connecting to a phone. And the volume controls on the phones affect the volume reported by Pipewire. The only thing that doesn't interact with PW is the Mic mute button. I don't have any kind of Jabra software installed - and there isn't any for Linux (they only have an SDK).

My only gripe with them is that they always prioritize my phone, so whenever I get a random notification they will cut the audio from the conference on the PC in order to play the "ding".

JanKanis
I've used the Poly Voyager Focus, Poly Voyager 6200 and Shokz OpenComm (with Avantree DG80 dongle) with good results. They don't require custom software, but they do require using the provided dongle (or 3rd party dongle for the OpenComm) because PulseAudio doesn't support wide band speech. Installing PipeWire is another option (or waiting for your distribution to switch to it).

With a 3rd party dongle like the Avantree DG80 you can use any bluetooth headset and don't need to worry about the Linux support part. The main disadvantage I found is that you have to manually switch between headset mode and HiFi headphones mode.

I also have the Poly Voyager 8200, but I haven't used it as a headset enough to give a definitive assessment, but based on what I've tried and the results from the other Poly products I expect it to be good.

I also tried the Poly Voyager 5200, but I didn't like the speaker sound quality with it being a single ear device.

tga
Thank you for all the suggestions, your answer is exactly what I was hoping for!

It sounds like Avantree DG80 might solve my issues on Linux, I never realized I could outsource the entire Bluetooth audio headache to a generic dongle and get regular audio out of it.

Aissen
There's always the slight possibility that this might be a bug in the macOS Monterey bluetooth stack ? Hardware interoperability is quite complicated, but the device did work with the previous version of macOS (presumably the one Jabra had to test before shipping).
dwighttk
Why is this submission 2x as wide as the comments? (I’m on mobile Safari)
dwighttk
Ahh. It’s that url isn’t it?
gotrythis
I have the Elite 85h, and it has the same problem, as well as about a dozen other problems when you connect it to a computer. Same response. But the sales letter for the product makes it clear that they do support computers.

My last email to Jabra was ignored:

The message that computers are not supported devices on the Jabra Elite 85h was a very upsetting response to receive, so I didn't respond for quite a while. It's quite frustrating to hear that expensive bluetooth headphones designed to connect to 8 devices are not meant to work with computers. If that were the case, I would expect the Jabra site to say that computers are not supported in BIG letters, as I imagine a lot of people, like me, would expect their computer to be one of those 8 devices.

However, this statement about computers not being supported cannot be true. On the Jabra site for this product, it says: "no need to plug your headphones into your computer." It also has a picture of the product beside a Macbook. I've included screen shots of the product page that show these two points that clearly indicate computers are supported. I've heard this issue of the Elite 85h not being compatible with computers before from Jabra support, but it seems so implausible that Jabra would make bluetooth headphones that don't support computers, and equally implausible that they would mislead people into buying them on their site by suggesting that computers are supported if they are not.

I'm still hoping to get solutions to all the problems I'm having connecting my Jabra Elite 85h to my MacBook Air. Currently it's unusable and I'm going to have to buy another headset to replace them, which is much more wasteful than I would like.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
jjeaff
I use my Jabra headphones to connect to all 8 of my cell phones. I'm sure that is the use case they were built for.
Titan2189
Aaand now you're on the watch list
arthurcolle
Good heavens, why on earth do you have 8 cell phones??? I hate life with just 1
fire
> However, this statement about computers not being supported cannot be true. On the Jabra site for this product, it says: "no need to plug your headphones into your computer." It also has a picture of the product beside a Macbook. I've included screen shots of the product page that show these two points that clearly indicate computers are supported. I've heard this issue of the Elite 85h not being compatible with computers before from Jabra support, but it seems so implausible that Jabra would make bluetooth headphones that don't support computers, and equally implausible that they would mislead people into buying them on their site by suggesting that computers are supported if they are not.

Yeah, like... this is exactly how you get yourself sued, so if that's what they're hoping for...?

nicce
Well, computer is a wide term. My Jabras work well on Linux with custom bluetooth profile. It took some tinkering, and getting good quality for both mic and speakers was achievable. But they should not advertise like this…
rmellow
I also have the 85h and I managed to find an unofficial solution:

The Jabra Link 370 usb dongle. The headphones will then pair with the Jabra software on PC.

That said, I haven't had issues pairing the 85h with a MacBook Pro without the dongle.

And finally, it's ridiculous that Jabra doesn't support this or any other solution.

gotrythis
Thanks.

Unfortunately, that's $94 CAD on Amazon, and more money to Jabra to get these headsets to work as advertised. I'm going to save my pennies and get the new Sony WH-1000XM5.

gotrythis
Also, I had no trouble with pairing the 85h with a MacBook, until I did. For example, it doesn't work with Zoom, but works for other things. And, it kept making my MacBook forget it has internal speakers. I documented and submitted about a dozen problems.
techSupport123
this is a"feature" added to the OS in Monterey that applies to bluetooth headsets - it will auto-mute you when input volume drops to zero, and, AFAIK, many video conferencing clients (zoom, google meets, etc) use this feature to help deal with background noise.

- Zoom instructions to disable dynamic input volume - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/432445/bluetooth-h...

- google meet instructions (when run via Chrome) - there's a flag you can add when starting Chrome, --force-fieldtrials='WebRTC-Audio-AgcMinMicLevelExperiment/Enabled-20' , that will fix the issue. For ease of use, create an AppleScript file, convert it to a shortcut, and launch Chrome from it.

edit - formatting

orev
No, this happens on Windows too, and it’s not related to auto mute or anything like that. The audio stream just drops for a second, like if there was interference or buffer issue.
stevewodil
I have a eerily similar problem with my Galaxy Buds+ on my macbook. 15-20 minutes into a Zoom call and suddenly my audio doesn't work and neither does the mic, I have to ditch the headphones and use the laptop mic + speakers.

Going to guess it's a macOS bug given that other headphones are showing the same behavior

dgacmu
There's a good answer below about how to disable this feature in Chrome.

An alternative to starting it with the experiment flag is to use the "Disable Automatic Gain Control" Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/disable-automatic-...

I've been using it for a while with an 85h and it at least removes _that_ part of the failure. The stupid things keep rebooting themselves randomly while I'm on calls, however - I will never buy another Jabra product again.

(there was a discussion about this a while ago on reddit where folks identified these workarounds): https://www.reddit.com/r/Jabra/comments/qikzif/elite_85h_spo...

Master_Odin
I've the same headphones, and the two problems I've had with them were: 1. Mic auto-muting during meetings. The fix here was to disable automatic mic gain or whatever 2. Headphones not always properly playing music from my phone when also being connected (but not used) to my laptop. Fix was to turn off Bluetooth on my laptop.

In both cases, it seems to be purely an issue with macOS and Apple software, as I've never had a single issue when using windows or my Android phone. For the second issue when I researched it, the conclusion was that apple just regularly does poorly with BT devices connected to multiple sources as why would you use something other than your apple product?