The AirPods Pro are excellent wireless earbuds with effective noise canceling that’s almost as good as a pair of over-ear headphones. (Speaking of over-ear headphones, Apple recently released the AirPods Max, and they’re excellent.) They also work seamlessly with the iPhone and other Apple devices. But other options cost less than the AirPods‘ asking price, such as the Galaxy Buds Live, Amazon Echo Buds and Jabra Elite 75t. I used both the AirPods Pro and Elite 75t for several months to fully compare them on sound quality, battery life, comfort and connectivity. Here’s what I found.

AirPods Pro win with transparency mode, but you’ll want to listen to the Jabras more

Both of these earbuds have admirable sound quality. When listening to music, songs across a variety of genres sound more exciting and dynamic and have a much punchier bass response on the Elite 75t than the AirPods Pro when left on default settings. Jabra also has an app (iOS and Android) that offers a quick hearing test, called MySound, to fully personalize the sound profile to your hearing. There are also equalizer presets and a full EQ if you want more control.

The AirPods Pro have an adaptive EQ that’s constantly working behind-the-scenes to tweak the sound according to the shape of your ears, but there’s no dedicated app or consolidated interface to adjust the sound to your liking. You can use an equalizer from apps such as Spotify or Apple Music if you choose. Apple has given the AirPods Pro spatial audio support in iOS 14 so the earbuds deliver a virtual surround sound experience which is very effective for movies or TV shows with 5.1-channel, 7.1-channel or Dolby Atmos audio.

The AirPods Pro have the edge on call quality for both the caller and the receiver. When you’re making calls, having active noise canceling turned on makes it feel like you’re having a quiet conversation even if there’s a hubbub around you. The microphone’s position also helps clearly isolate your voice for the other person. That said, callers remarked that the sound of my voice from the Jabras was a little louder than when I made the same call with the AirPods Pro, although they could hear more background noise. Jabra also has a sidetone feature that lets you hear more of your voice when making calls. (So you can avoid shouting!)

Listen to a microphone sample from each in the video above.

Transparency mode on the AirPods Pro (called Hearthrough on the Elite 75t) pipes in some outside sound so you can be more aware of your surroundings. In my experience, Apple‘s transparency mode sounds more natural and I’m able to use it for a longer stretch of time than the version on the Jabras, which sounds a little too tinny.

Noise canceling on AirPods Pro is better

The ANC technology on the AirPods Pro does an excellent job of suppressing background sound, making the music and podcast-listening experience incredibly satisfying. At launch, the Jabra Elite 75t didn’t have ANC, but thanks to a firmware update you can now get ANC on these buds as well. It’s not as effective as the ANC on the AirPods Pro, but the design of the Jabra does block out a significant amount of external noise anyway (even without ANC) thanks to the in-ear design and snug fit of the interchangeable tips.

Note that the Elite 75t’s ANC is not as effective as the newer Elite 85t, which has a dedicated ANC chip.

The Elite 75t give a snug, secure fit

The AirPods Pro have always been comfortable to wear for longer stretches throughout the day, but the smallest ear tip in the box is still a tad too big for my teensy-tiny ear canals. The seal is tight, but not as snug as Elite 75t’s. The AirPods Pro also refuse to stay in my ears as snugly as the Jabras when I was exercising, but your experience will vary.

Both cases conveniently store and charge the buds at the same time, though only Apple’s case will charge wirelessly. (Jabra also sells the Elite Active 75t which have extra water resistance and a wireless charging case.)

Read more: Best on-ear headphones for 2021: Bose, Beats and more

Siri fans get the most out of the AirPods

The voice-activated “Hey, Siri” feature lets you call on the assistant hands-free. Siri also can read your text messages aloud when you receive them, which is great when you can’t reach your phone or need to be hands-free. You can use all the voice assistants on the Elite 75t, even Alexa, although you will need to press the button on the buds to activate.

Connections and stability: Advantage AirPods Pro

The AirPods Pro seamlessly connect to iOS devices — I experienced few dropouts or connectivity issues.

The Jabras were stable, as well, though I noticed a few more dropouts when using them paired to a computer than to a phone. I do enjoy the Jabras can connect to two devices at a time and you hear an audio prompt in your ear to let you know it’s connected to more than one device.

The AirPods Pro have a clickable stem that lets you skip forward and back between songs, flick between ANC and transparency mode, or activate Siri. You can customize it easily from the iOS settings menu. The Elite 75t have a physical button on the earbud that you can also customize from the Sound Plus app.

Jabra wins on overall battery life

The Elite 75t battery lasts a lot longer than that on the AirPods Pro. Jabra says you’ll be able to get up to seven and a half hours of listening time from one charge. Over the past few months, I averaged about six hours, 45 minutes of listening time. With ANC on, battery life will drop — I haven’t yet run a full ANC battery test on the Jabra earbuds, but will update this when I get a chance.

Apple promises up to five hours of listening time on the AirPods Pro with ANC and transparency mode off, or four and a half hours with ANC active. I regularly get almost four and a half hours with ANC turned on from a single charge.

Then there’s also extra juice provided in the cases: 24 hours of total listening time for the AirPods Pro and 28 hours from the Elite 75t.

Are the AirPods Pro or Jabra Elite 75t the best wireless earbuds?

That really depends on how you use your earbuds. Are you a music lover or a multitasker? For listening to music, I always go for the Jabra Elite 75t. If I want to spend the day jumping between calls and listening to a little bit of music, I’d choose the AirPods Pro.