Now that we are spending a lot more time working from home, we want to make sure that we are audible in meetings (at least most of us do!). You can rely on your laptop microphone but for most people the one that comes with their laptop is of low quality. If you spend a long time talking during the day it’s nice to be able to stand up and walk around and still be heard. That rules out all wired headsets.
The expensive options are the Bose 700 or Sony WH-1000MX4 retailing at £299 at John Lewis at the time of writing. They are good all-rounders and the price tag reflects the fact that they are market leaders when it comes to active noise cancelling, but is the cost worth it if you don’t really need that functionality? I have read some not so stellar reviews on the Sony WH-1000MX4’s call quality, the general consensus on the Bose 700 call quality is that it is very good. I already have Sennheiser Momentum 2 over ear headphones and their sound quality is brilliant. Trying the new contenders from Bose and Sony above in shops they don’t compare. Of course, this is my subjective view. Unfortunately, the mic performance on my Sennheiser leaves a lot to be desired. I gave up trying to find a reasonably priced replacement for them which also have a decent mic and settled on a two headset/headphone solution. I keep the Sennheiser Momentum 2 as my main leisure set. For work purposes i use the Jabra Evolve2 65. Admittedly, I have only had them a week but the call quality is terrific and the battery lasts for ages (37 hours according to the literature). As for sound quality, ok, this is where you have to compromise. Not excellent as my Momentum 2’s but definitely a solid good. I listened to Ed Sheeren’s “Bad Habits” and it was an enjoyable listening experience but without the detailed separation of parts I get with my Momentum 2. Let’s look into more detail at the Jabra Evolve2 65.
Price
I got them for £129 at Amazon.co.uk. That is a terrific price, less than half the cost of the Bose or Sony mentioned above. 5/5
Audio Quaility
Good not excellent. I am not an audiophile but it is a pleasant experience listening to music, they don’t compare to Bose 700, Sony WH-1000MX4 or Sennheiser Momentum 2 over ear. 3/5
Comfort
They are on ear headphones and for me quite comfortable. 4/5
Mic Quality
This is where they excel. They have 3 microphones and a boom arm which probably helps. Here is a recording of me speaking through the mic. 5/5
Noise Cancelling
No active noise cancelling but the passive noise cancelling is pretty good. They reduce the surrounding noise. I don’t work in a building site so its not a big issue for me 3.5/5
Overall
For my use case they are close to perfect as in addition I have a dedicated leisure headphone set (the Sennheiser M2 over ear). As I said I couldn’t find a one headphone/headset solution. 4/5
