"Ela" sounds more like a open word, "éLA", try to say yeah but in half take the YH, the soud of the "EA" its similar as the sound of "Ela", "Ele" sounds very similar as the letter "A" in English, is deeper
I would like to hear each one by one, to compare ele and ela. When I listen at slow speed I can hear "ela", at normal speed the last vowel of ela elides into the first vowel of escrive.
When you know the conjugation table, even if you hear "escrevo" instead of "escreve", you can fix it before writting, because you know which one is correct. I hear "escreve" with the turtle speed audio. (and at normal speed too, I hear "é")