Hardware

Mobile Phone | Bluetooth Headset

Long-term Field Test: 14.03.2013 to date

Jabra Supreme+

Features

  • Optimised for common UC platforms and latest generation softphones
  • Multiuse™ – simultaneous connection with two Bluetooth devices possible
  • Jabra CONNECT app to control and adapt devices to the headset
  • Active noise cancellation - eliminates ambient noise for the headset user
  • Noise Blackout™ 3.0 reduces background noise
  • Voice control and voice guidance for hands-free use
  • Flip-boom for easy activation and transportation

Tested with Samsung Galaxy Note, BlackBerry Z10, Apple iPhone models 6s Plus, 7 Plus, 8, X, Xs, 11 Pro Max and most recently with the 11 Pro.

Purchasing

12.03.2013: Bluetooth headset ordered from Amazon.
13.03.2013: Amazon has sent the goods.
14.03.2013: I received the Jabra Supreme+.

Equipment

Photo: Jabra Supreme+ Bluetooth headset

Photo: Jabra Supreme+ Bluetooth headset with folded-out microphone boom

  • 1 Jabra Supreme+ Headset
  • 1 USB cable
  • 1 Battery charger
  • 1 Car charger
  • 1 additional Eargel™
  • 1 additional ear hook
  • 1 Quick guide

An app is also available via Google Play and Apple App Store.
Original quote from the description on the packaging:
“Customise your headset and control communication devices with the Jabra Connect app and iOS app”.

Tech Specs

Photo: Jabra Supreme+ with folded-out boom.

Photo: Jabra Supreme+ with unfolded microphone boom

Connection

  • Bluetooth Version: 3.0
  • AVRCP: no
  • Auto Pairing: yes
  • Music streaming: yes
  • Loudspeaker frequency range: Wideband Audio/HD Voice
  • Digital Signal Processing (DSP): yes
  • Microphone: Double microphone (Noise Blackout™) – Disturbing background noise is suppressed
  • Microphone muting: yes

Battery Performance

  • Talk time: up to 6 hours
  • Standby time: up to 360 hours
  • Streaming music: up to 6 hours
  • Charging: via USB cable
  • Charge level indicator: audible warning, announcement at any time on request – voice dial command “Battery” – or ask Siri: “Battery?”

Firmware Version: a.4.18.2

Design

Wearing style: with a flexible ear hook, over the ear, gently presses the earpiece to the ear
Dimensions: Length: 90 mm, Width: 30 mm, Depth: 22 mm

Practice

Voice Dial Button unusable due to faulty Firmware (Version a.4.18.2)

Status 09.11.2017:The headset interprets almost all voice commands as a connection request, i.e. a pairing command, and then plays back its help text.
So you think that the connection to the smartphone is gone and you have to set everything up again.
Or worse, you mistrust the operating system of your smartphone and think about a factory reset.

But that is not necessary at all! Simply close the microphone boom, wait a moment and open it again, or open it later to take a call when you have an incoming call – it has not really forgotten its partnership with the smartphone!

Tested multiple times, reproducible with Samsung Galaxy Note, BlackBerry Z10, Apple iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone Xs, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Jabra Supreme+ replaces the actual successor Plantronics M70

Update 20.09.2019:
My newer Plantronics M70 Bluetooth headset does not work properly with the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS version 13 that I bought today (only for about 1 minute, then it loses the connection).So I try the Jabra Supreme+, which to date has only served for incoming calls at home.

I have found out that it is suitable for voice dialling in connection with an iPhone and that the error described above does not occur if the large call acceptance button is held down for a long time, i.e. the usual operation on the headset for the assistant Siri instead of Jabra's voice dialling button.

Update 25.06.2020:
Amazing how robust and durable this Bluetooth headset is!
I've been using it constantly since 20. 09. 2019 and the battery is still good. I don't make calls all the time, but I always have it with me and often on my ear to listen to incoming calls because the iPhone stays in my backpack when I'm on the road. The iPhone announces the name of the caller on the headset and I don't need to unpack the iPhone for outgoing calls thanks to voice dialling.

Pros

  • good sound quality
  • high volume possible
  • Support for HD Voice
  • powerful active noise suppression
  • advanced voice control
  • simultaneous use with two devices possible
  • supports German announcement – also of operating states

Cons

  • a little thick and quite large with the microphone boom folded out
  • Voice dialling button unusable because every voice dialling attempt via it starts pairing, see below

Press Commentary

c|net Deutschland
24.05.2012: Test rating: good (7 out of 10 points)

teltarif.de
28.07.2012: Reliable Bluetooth headset with small weaknesses at a fair price

Conclusion

Limited recommendation.The bulky housing and the protruding microphone boom make the Jabra Supreme+ stand out quickly – if you don't want to walk around with it on phone standby, it's better to go for a smaller, more inconspicuous device like the Plantronics M70.

The unreliable pairing connection (firmware version a.4.18.2) is annoying: at the latest, it only offers a new pairing after the second voice dialling command. If you dial a phone number directly on the smartphone's touch screen, the headset never loses the connection to the smartphone.

20.04.2014 Addendum:
Looked for a new firmware on the manufacturer's website and the update software may not need an online connection after all, because you can download the firmware individually or together with the update software. I might try that out soon.

A normal customer who is not that familiar with computers and has neither the patience nor the time to try things out and install software cannot be expected to do all that!
And in most large companies, no one is allowed to install third-party software, so no new firmware can be installed either!

06.03.2017 Addendum:
In the meantime, I had tested the Jabra Supreme+ again with Apple's iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones and apart from a somewhat muffled sound and quiet background noise, it initially worked on iPhones without losing the Bluetooth connection. In later tests, it no longer worked on the iPhones either (if you avoid the headset's voice dial button and activate Siri assistant for voice dialing instead by pressing the large call acceptance button for a long time, the headset remains usable). However, the somewhat muffled sound is not due to the iPhone! Both iPhone models have a ruler-like frequency response from 20 to almost 20,000 hertz.

I would definitely not buy it again!

Alternatives

  • HD-Voice)
  • Plantronics M90 – equivalent to M70, but with a special USB charge cable in the box – with that you can connect two devices on one USB jack
    (e.g. connect a M90 with the USB jack from your PC/Mac and connect another USB device on the same USB jack with that PC/Mac)

Photo, from left to right: Jabra Supreme+, Plantronics M50, Plantronics M70

Photo, from left to right: Jabra Supreme+ (with folded-out microphone boom), Plantronics M50, Plantronics M70

Photo, from left to right: Jabra Supreme+, Plantronics M50, Plantronics M70

Photo, from left to right: Jabra Supreme+ (with folded-out microphone boom), Plantronics M50, Plantronics M70

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