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By Kaitlyn Wells and Melanie Pinola Office Cubicle Modern
After further testing, we have new wireless, wired, and single-ear Bluetooth headset picks.
Office headsets are designed to address a specific need: They allow you to take or make calls from a computer or mobile device while hearing and being heard over the distracting noise that surrounds you.
Wireless headsets can connect to your phone and allow you to talk even when you’re dozens of feet away from your desk. Wired headsets, which are less expensive, eliminate battery-life concerns and stress over potential Bluetooth issues.
After testing more than four dozen popular headsets, we’ve found that the Poly Voyager Focus 2 is the best wireless headset and the Jabra Evolve2 30 is the best wired headset. If you’d prefer an old-school monaural Bluetooth headset that wraps over one ear, we like the Poly Voyager 5200 UC.
All three options offer the sound quality, comfort, and features that professionals who spend all day on the phone need.
With a battery that lasts for days, great microphone quality, and large, comfortably padded earcups, this wireless headset has all the features we look for.
This headset has the best mic we’ve found in a wireless model and a collapsible design that makes it easy to carry. But it’s twice as expensive as our top pick, and its battery life is shorter.
If you’re at a computer all day and don’t need to use a headset with your phone, this wired headset offers mic quality similar to that of our wireless picks—for less than half the price.
This is the best-sounding wired headset we’ve tested, with large, comfortable earpads.
This headset captures voices clearly while suppressing background noise. It’s lightweight and comes with a flexible earhook that makes it more comfortable to wear than bulky, traditional Bluetooth headsets.
With a battery that lasts for days, great microphone quality, and large, comfortably padded earcups, this wireless headset has all the features we look for.
The Poly Voyager Focus 2 offers excellent call quality. Our panelists said they “heard every word” of our audio-sample recordings, and they liked the warm and natural tones the mic produced.
Rated to last 25 hours of call time or 40 hours of listening time before needing to be recharged, the Voyager Focus 2’s battery will easily last several working days. Its built-in sensors make it fun to use, too. Folding and unfolding the boom mic, or removing or donning the headset, can mute or answer incoming calls.
Plus, the combination of a flexible headband and large, padded earcups that swivel 180 degrees make wearing the Voyager Focus 2 for long periods of time more comfortable in comparison with our wireless upgrade pick, the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex, whose earcups swivel only 90 degrees.
In our tests with this headset, we could get only about 40 feet away from our phone before the connection broke up—about a quarter of the advertised 164 feet, and half of what we could do with the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex. Your mileage will vary depending on the layout of your home or office, but a limited headset range could be frustrating when you’ve misplaced your phone right before an important call. Still, 40 feet offers you plenty of space to pace around an office.
This headset’s app also offers a find-my-device feature that runs on the Tile network, but this feature doesn’t work if you don’t keep the headset paired to your phone every day.
This headset has the best mic we’ve found in a wireless model and a collapsible design that makes it easy to carry. But it’s twice as expensive as our top pick, and its battery life is shorter.
The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex is easy to connect wirelessly to a computer or phone, and it offers the best range of the headsets we recommend. It should make you sound great, too: It uses six microphones to offer better vocal clarity than what you can get from most of the models we tested.
Testers described the overall sound as clear and loud. But some preferred our top pick, the Poly Voyager Focus 2, which offered a better balance between vocal clarity and background noise reduction than the Evolve2 65 Flex.
This model’s memory-foam ear cushions create a soft seal around the ears that with the press of a button can passively or actively block background noise; the cushions also make the headset pleasant to wear for hours-long stints. That said, with its active noise cancellation turned on, this headset creates a noticeable eardrum-suck sensation, which some people may find uncomfortable.
The Evolve2 65 Flex also has foldable earcups and collapses to half its size, making it easier to stash into a bag in comparison with our other picks. But it needs recharging more often than our top pick does.
If you’re at a computer all day and don’t need to use a headset with your phone, this wired headset offers mic quality similar to that of our wireless picks—for less than half the price.
Of all the wired headsets we’ve tested, the Jabra Evolve2 30 offers the best mix of great audio quality—both input and output—and lightweight comfort. Compared with less expensive options, it did a better job in our tests of suppressing background noise while still capturing clear, warm vocals.
On the downside, the controls on the right earcup are somewhat small, but it’s not hard to get used to them.
This is the best-sounding wired headset we’ve tested, with large, comfortable earpads.
The vocal recordings we made with the Jabra Evolve2 50 were the best of the bunch: clear and natural-sounding, even with loud background noise.
Its headband padding is thicker than that of our wired headset pick, the Jabra Evolve2 30. The foam earpads are larger, too; they make the Evolve2 50 a bit heavier than the Evolve2 30, yet they’re still comfortable. In addition to using the on-ear buttons to control volume, play music, and answer calls, you can mute or unmute the headset by raising or lowering the mic boom.
Although the Evolve2 50 costs a bit more than our other wired-headset pick, at this writing it is still around $140 cheaper than the best-sounding wireless headset.
This headset captures voices clearly while suppressing background noise. It’s lightweight and comes with a flexible earhook that makes it more comfortable to wear than bulky, traditional Bluetooth headsets.
If you prefer the old-school look or want the portability of a tiny Bluetooth headset, go with the Poly Voyager 5200 UC. In our tests with almost deafening coffee-shop chatter in the background, the Voyager 5200 UC made us sound as if we were calling from a sound booth.
In exchange for that superior voice isolation, however, the Voyager 5200 UC sacrifices natural vocal warmth and smoothness. We sounded more robotic with this headset in comparison with half of the other headsets we tested.
Still, the Voyager 5200 UC has a decent seven-hour battery life, and we found that its flexible earhook made it more comfortable to wear than other Bluetooth headsets with thin plastic wraps. It’s also the only Bluetooth model we’ve tested that comes with a charging case. The case doubles as a stand so you can quickly set it down between calls without having to wrangle it back into its box.
Senior staff writer Kaitlyn Wells has been with Wirecutter since 2017 and has covered everything from standing desks and dictation software to laser printers and email unsubscribe services.
Senior staff writer Melanie Pinola wrote previous versions of this guide. She has also written about technology and working from home for outlets such as Lifehacker, PCWorld, Laptop Magazine, and Consumer Reports.
To get help in devising our criteria for evaluating office headsets, we consulted nine professionals from different industries who used headsets all day, every day, for meetings and communication with their teams, customers, and potential clients.
To evaluate the mic quality of the headsets, we asked a dozen people to review our contenders and compare their performance over both phone calls and video conferences. For previous versions of this guide, we also enlisted expert panelists, including Wirecutter senior staff writer Lauren Dragan (who has tested more than 1,000 headphones) and Grammy-winning music producer and audio engineer Charles A. Martinez.
An office headset is the ideal choice for anyone who spends a large part of the workday tethered to devices for phone and video calls. With their boom microphones, which sit close to your mouth, these headsets are designed to capture exceptionally clear dialogue. And with their long cords or Bluetooth wireless connections, they allow you to get up and move around as you converse.
In addition to headsets with boom mics, we also considered monaural Bluetooth headsets—the kind you might associate with stock brokers, salespeople, and lawyers. You know, people who spend much of the day on the go, taking calls. These headsets are much lighter and more portable but generally lack robust call controls, have a short Bluetooth call range, and suffer from a short battery life.
All of these headsets represent a compromise: They don’t sound better than the best headphones, and they can’t make you sound nearly as good as the best USB microphone can. While our stereo headset picks comfortably outclass much more expensive headphones in speech-to-text accuracy, their sound is notably compressed, with less dynamic range than you’d get from many other mics. In other words, you wouldn’t want to use even the best of these headsets to record a podcast.
If you talk on the phone or over video-conferencing software only occasionally, you don’t need one of these headsets. Pretty much any good pair of headphones with a microphone—or even your device’s built-in speakers and mic—should suffice.
We started by looking at the headsets released by major manufacturers and reading recommendations from sites including PCMag and ZDNet. Our interviews with professionals, in addition to verified owner reviews on Amazon, helped us determine the main features that people look for in a wireless headset for use in a home office or small office:
We used the same criteria, minus the battery life, to evaluate wired and Bluetooth headsets.
We weren’t able to find many over-ear headsets (the kind with huge earcups that rest on your skull rather than on your ears), and those we did find, such as the Jabra Evolve2 85, cost over $400.
For the wireless contenders, we also discounted headsets that use DECT wireless technology, since they are limited compared with headsets using Bluetooth, which can connect to many more devices.
We tested wireless, wired, and Bluetooth headsets in separate batches, using the same methodology for each group: We wore each headset for at least one full workday, taking one- to two-hour breaks between stints. On the following days, we swapped between headsets for a side-by-side comparison.
We spoke and listened during countless video-conferencing calls, called family and friends, asked them to call us, and left an embarrassing number of voicemail messages to ourselves. We also recorded calls with each headset in both a quiet environment and one where we played coffee-shop sounds in the background, using the Coffitivity app.
Here’s how we evaluated their features:
With a battery that lasts for days, great microphone quality, and large, comfortably padded earcups, this wireless headset has all the features we look for.
The Poly Voyager Focus 2 is the best wireless headset for professionals who make calls day in and day out but don’t want to sacrifice voice quality for battery life. Compared with other wireless headsets we tested, this model stood out for its microphone quality, with its clear, crisp rendering of human voices. And it’s comfortable to wear all day, too.
It sounds great. The Voyager Focus 2’s call quality was excellent compared with that of its peers. Panelists said they could “hear every word,” and that the headset was the “clearest” and “best” in audio quality out of the models we tested.
Most panelists agreed that the Voyager Focus 2 did a superb job of blocking out background noise. But some testers detected a noticeable sibilance, or hiss, on calls with the active noise cancelling turned on.
Its battery lasts a long time and recharges quickly. The Voyager Focus 2 uses Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, which accounts for its long battery life. Bluetooth 5.0 and above force all audio connections to use Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), which makes headphones that use it far more efficient than those that use previous versions of Bluetooth.
If the headset ever does tell you that the battery is low, you can charge it for two hours to get a full, 25-hour charge for calls or 40 hours of listening time. Or, just connect this headset to your computer with the included Micro-USB cable for additional audio time.
It’s easy to use. In our tests, pairing the Voyager Focus 2 with our devices was easy. We were able to switch seamlessly between paired devices, such as a phone and computer, and when calls came through, the headset automatically muted the music on the computer while we answered the call and instantly resumed playback when we hung up. And being able to answer a call and mute or unmute just by moving the boom arm is an especially fun feature.
It’s likely to fit lots of people comfortably. The Poly Voyager Focus 2’s round earcups are designed to comfortably fit different head shapes. They can swivel 180 degrees, a wider angle than many other headsets can accommodate. In comparison, the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex’s earcups have slightly thicker padding but swivel only 90 degrees.
The app can be useful. The Poly Lens app lets you customize settings and tracks battery life. It also offers a device tracker using Tile’s location-tracker technology, which sends an alarm tone to the headset when you activate it. However, this find-my-device feature works only if the headset is paired to your mobile device and turned on. And the phone’s volume control dictates how loud the alarm tone blares, so you need to remember to adjust the volume before activating the feature.
This headset has the best mic we’ve found in a wireless model and a collapsible design that makes it easy to carry. But it’s twice as expensive as our top pick, and its battery life is shorter.
The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex offers clear call quality, great sound, and expansive Bluetooth range that makes taking calls away from your desk more enjoyable. It’s also a great headset for hybrid workers who want a comfortable and compact option that they can toss into a bag while on the go.
But some testers still preferred our top pick, the Poly Voyager Focus 2, which provided warmer, more natural vocals. The Evolve2 65 Flex also needs recharging more often than the Voyager Focus 2.
Vocals are remarkably clear. Thanks to its six microphones, this headset stands out for its voice clarity. Several panelists described this headset as “clear” and “loud” during voice calls and video-conference calls.
Still, some other testers said that the Evolve2 65 Flex’s audio samples sounded “fuzzy” or detached, and they preferred the Voyager Focus 2 for its balance of warmth and clarity. We think that effect may be due to this model’s slightly shorter boom arm, plus its active and passive noise-cancellation technologies, which can distort output.
The noise cancellation is a game-changer. The Evolve2 65 Flex’s active noise cancellation (ANC) could be helpful if you tend to get distracted by the sounds of the world around you while working. However, you should confirm that “eardrum suck” (discomfort from using ANC headphones) doesn’t affect you.
ANC helps reduce low-frequency sounds such as the loud rumble of air conditioners or the droning in an airplane cabin. It doesn’t, however, block out high-pitched children’s screams or the bright chime of a doorbell, which we think is a good thing.
This headset also has a sound pass-through button, which you can use to better hear the noises around you when the situation demands it, such as a doorbell ringing or an IRL request from a colleague. You can also adjust the level of ANC through the Jabra Sound+ app.
Setup is simple. As with the Poly Voyager Focus 2, setting up the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex was a breeze in our tests, and so was pairing it with a computer and mobile devices.
It has good range. The Evolve2 65 Flex is rated for a Bluetooth range of up to 100 feet, and the Voyager Focus 2 is rated for up to 164 feet. Neither device worked that well in the real world. But in our testing, we were able to travel 80 feet away from our phones using the Evolve 2 65 Flex—roughly twice the distance we could travel while using the Voyager Focus 2.
This advantage could be attributed to the Evolve2 65 Flex’s Bluetooth 5.2 chip, which is slightly newer than the Voyager Focus 2’s Bluetooth 5.1 chip. The 40 extra feet that the 5.2 chip provides can make all the difference during a busy workday when you’ve misplaced your phone right before an important call.
Compared with our top pick’s longevity, its battery life is short but still good. The Evolve2 65 Flex is rated for 32 hours of music listening and 20 hours of talk time—about 20% less than what the Voyager Focus 2 offers on a single charge. (Both models need 120 minutes to reach a full charge.) As you might expect, advanced features such as additional microphones (the Evolve2 65 Flex has six in total) and active noise cancellation can drain battery life faster.
To better conserve battery life, the Evolve2 65 Flex enters “nap mode” when you take it off your head. After four hours in nap mode, it changes to “sleep mode,” and it turns off completely after 24 hours without use. You can adjust these settings through the Jabra Sound+ app to better accommodate your personal schedules.
The large, padded design is comfortable. The Evolve2 65 Flex’s earcups offer more padding than those of the Voyager Focus 2. But the earcups swivel only 90 degrees, in contrast to the Voyager Focus 2’s 180-degree swivel.
While that narrower swivel shouldn’t bother most people, it could be uncomfortable if you prefer earcups that sit at a wider angle and offer a more relaxed fit against your ears. Still, in our tests, the large earcups sat gently on the ears, and the headset applied minimal pressure on the head and temples.
It’s the most portable wireless headset we’ve found. The “Flex” in this model’s name refers to its collapsible design. Just fold the headset into thirds at the earcups before tossing it into your bag.
The optional wireless charging base elevates the look. We especially like this nice-to-have accessory because it gives the illusion that the headset is floating. All you have to do is place the chargeable left earcup on the charging base to activate the setting.
But the USB charging cord that comes with the headset works just fine, too. Opting for Jabra’s stand ups the total price by $60; there’s no reason to buy it unless you hate having extra wires clogging up your desk space.
It’s expensive. The Evolve2 65 Flex costs twice as much as our top wireless-headset pick, and at a typical price of $330, it’s the most expensive model we recommend. And that’s before adding on the optional, wireless charging base.
If you’re at a computer all day and don’t need to use a headset with your phone, this wired headset offers mic quality similar to that of our wireless picks—for less than half the price.
The Jabra Evolve2 30 is the best USB headset for people who take a lot of calls at their computer. It combines excellent mic quality with wear-all-day comfort, and the headphones sound great with both music and voice. It’s vastly better than all the cheaper wired headsets we tested because it does a better job of reducing background noise while still making you sound clear and natural.
Its mic suppresses background noise effectively. The Evolve2 30 was the second-best wired headset in our sound-quality evaluations after the Jabra Evolve2 50, our wired upgrade pick. Its two-mic boom picked up crystal-clear audio without broadcasting ambient noise or loud coffee-shop sounds playing in the background.
Less expensive wired headsets, such as the Logitech H540, couldn’t eliminate background noise and made our voices sound more muffled.
Its audio output is nice, too. With the Evolve2 30, music, conference calls, and podcasts all sounded good—not tinny or distorted, as with the cheaper headsets we tested.
It sits lightly on the head. Thanks to the Evolve2 30’s lightweight construction and design, it was the most comfortable of the wired models we tested.
The wide, steel headband is easily adjustable, and the memory-foam earpads are covered in soft, plush leatherette—not scratchy fabric or thinner foam, like the earpads on many of the other headsets we tested. The earcups also swivel, allowing for a better fit across different ear and head sizes and shapes.
We love its attractive and useful physical design. In particular, we appreciated the large, easy-to-find button on the outside of the right earcup that answers or rejects calls (or, for the Microsoft Teams version of the headset, opens a Microsoft Teams notification).
An unobtrusive red light on the right earcup lets others know when you’re on a call, and the headset’s USB connector illuminates in red to show when your microphone is muted. Both are small but helpful touches unique to Jabra’s wired headsets.
This is the best-sounding wired headset we’ve tested, with large, comfortable earpads.
The Jabra Evolve2 50 is the best-performing wired headset we’ve tested in microphone and speaker quality, and though its larger earcups and headband make it heavier than the Evolve2 30, in our tests we found that it was still comfortable to wear for hours at a time. But whether the improved audio is worth the investment for you is likely to come down to how much time you spend on calls.
Its extra mics help it yield better sound than the competition. The Evolve2 50 has four microphones, versus two in the Evolve2 30, which might explain its slightly better performance. Our vocal recordings were crisp, clear, and warm—even when the mic was cancelling out loud background noise.
The headset is equally impressive. During our tests, incoming audio also sounded excellent, with both bass and treble notes shining through in songs. We found that the earcups alone did little to block out external sound, leaving the bustle of a coffee shop immediately noticeable. But turning on the active noise cancellation feature quickly pushed even the noisiest ambient sounds into the background.
It has a substantial feel that sets it apart from the competition. The Evolve2 50 has thicker headband padding and bigger earcups than the Evolve2 30, which makes it more comfortable for people with larger ears and better at passive noise cancellation.
We found it surprisingly comfortable. Even though it’s not as lightweight as the Evolve2 30, the Evolve2 50 feels great on the head. At just over 5 ounces, it weighs less than most of the wired and wireless headsets we’ve tested.
The controls are straightforward, if a little small. The controls on the Evolve2 50 are on the front of the right earcup, rather than the back, so they’re more intuitive to use with a press of the thumb. The small buttons on the edge of the earcup control volume, playback, and mute, and a larger button on the earcup answers or ends calls.
In addition, during calls you can raise the Evolve2 50’s mic boom to mute yourself or lower it to unmute, which we found to be very useful in practice.
This headset captures voices clearly while suppressing background noise. It’s lightweight and comes with a flexible earhook that makes it more comfortable to wear than bulky, traditional Bluetooth headsets.
The Poly Voyager 5200 UC is the best monaural Bluetooth headset you can get if background noise reduction is your primary concern. Even if you’re in a busy airport or at a playground where children are squealing with joy, the Voyager 5200 UC’s mics can make you sound as if you’re in a quiet room. The trade-off is lower overall sound quality in comparison with what you can get from our other picks.
It blocks out every noise. During testing, our panelists unanimously noted the Voyager 5200 UC’s “unbelievable” noise cancellation in loud environments compared with other headsets we tested. While the BlueParrott M300-XT offered excellent noise reduction, with loud coffee-shop chatter only slightly audible in between spoken words, the Voyager 5200 UC eliminated almost all sounds aside from the speaker’s voice.
This is likely because the Voyager 5200 UC uses active digital signal processing (DSP) on its four mics, plus other technologies designed to optimize incoming sound for the speaker’s voice. Other Bluetooth headsets, including the Jabra Talk 25 SE, have just one or two microphones that don’t block as much background noise.
It’s comfortable to wear. We were surprised to discover that the Voyager 5200 UC’s bulky-looking earhook was comfortable to wear for hours, once our testers selected from the three included ear-gel sizes and angled the earpiece for the best fit. In contrast, we had high hopes for the sleek-looking Jabra Talk 25 SE and BlueParrott Point but found that their thin earhooks dug into the skin and often felt as if they would fall off.
Taking calls is a smooth experience. The Voyager 5200 UC offers a few more controls and conveniences than most other Bluetooth models, such as a button to pause or play music, which you can also use to interact with Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri voice assistants.
You can also answer a call by simply saying “Answer” if the headset is already on. Alternatively, if you’re not currently wearing the headset, you can pick up the call by putting the earpiece in your ear, since the Voyager 5200 UC has sensors to determine when you’re wearing it.
If you have sensitive ears or want better situational awareness: The Shokz OpenComm2 UC Bone Conduction Headset performed on a par with the Poly Voyager Focus 2, our top wireless pick, in call quality and noise cancellation. But it costs more than our main pick and offers a shorter talk range and battery life, and its magnetic charging cable doesn’t attach very securely.
The Shokz OpenComm2 uses bone-conduction technology to vibrate soundwaves directly into the cochlea—the inner part of the ear that interprets sound—rather than broadcasting them through the air and into the ears as traditional headphones do. The sensation and pressure against the temples may be off-putting to some people, including those who are neurodivergent and don’t like feeling even the slightest movement against their skin. If the vibration isn’t an issue for you, this Shokz headset may be a good choice if you prefer a lightweight model that doesn’t cover your ears.
If you want the cheapest headset that doesn’t totally suck: The Logitech USB Headset H540 is about a third of the price of the Jabra Evolve2 30, and it was the best of the wired headsets we tested under $50. However, we don’t recommend it unless you absolutely need a cheap headset and don’t already own any other alternatives, such as a pair of earbuds or headphones with a mic.
The H540’s microphone conveys voices clearly but also captures a lot of room noise; in our testing, it made us sound as if we were in an air tunnel. It also has no indicator to show whether you’re muted, and to our eyes the cheap-looking, shiny plastic didn’t seem like it would last long.
If you’d prefer a wired headset with in-line controls rather than on-ear buttons: The Logitech Zone Wired is a great alternative to our wired-headset pick, the Jabra Evolve2 30. Its in-line controls feature clear markings for answering or rejecting calls, muting or unmuting, and playing or pausing. They reside on a thick, braided cord that’s less prone to tangling than rubbery alternatives, and a lapel clip helps to keep the controls close at hand. You can also mute or unmute yourself, respectively, by raising or lowering the mic boom—this is a handy feature that the Evolve2 30 doesn’t have.
This headset offers excellent audio quality and background-noise reduction in line with that of the Evolve2 30, though it seems to be tuned for softer-spoken individuals. Those with louder natural speaking voices may need to adjust the input volume.
But the Zone Wired is heavier and a little less elegantly built, and in our tests its microphone didn’t capture voices with quite the same rich, warm tone.
This is not a comprehensive list of all the headsets we’ve tested. We have removed models that have been discontinued or no longer meet our testing criteria.
The mic boom on the Avantree Aria Me AS90TA is flimsy, and in our tests it could barely suppress background noise.
The EPOS | Sennheiser Adapt 360 has a tight clamp, which is good for passive noise cancellation, but after half an hour it can feel like a vise on your head. We also heard some static when listening to music.
Our recordings on the EPOS | Sennheiser Adapt 660 exhibited a robotic tin-can sound, which we believe is the result of comb filtering (video).
The Jabra Evolve 65 has an unpadded headband, smaller earcups, a shorter battery life, and poorer voice quality in comparison with our current picks from Jabra.
The Jabra Evolve2 55 produced noticeable eardrum suck and had a short wireless range, and the control buttons were difficult to use.
Our previous pick, the Jabra Evolve2 65, didn’t perform as well as our current picks with their active noise cancellation and crystal-clear sound.
The Jabra Evolve2 75 did a terrible job of isolating our voice, and it often cut out during calls.
Producing middling voice quality, the Jabra Evolve2 85 couldn’t justify its $400 to $500 price tag.
We dismissed several Logitech models—the Logitech Zone Vibe 100, Logitech Zone Vibe 125, Logitech Zone Vibe 900, and Logitech Zone Wireless—for their poor voice quality, subpar pairing performance, and uncomfortable headsets.
The Poly Voyager 4200’s speaker made female vocals sound a little distorted and grainy.
In our testing, the VXi BlueParrott S450-XT earned the lowest scores for outgoing audio quality, and it was also the bulkiest and heaviest headset we tested.
We preferred the performance of the Shokz OpenComm2 UC Bone Conduction Headset over that of its predecessor, the Shokz OpenComm UC Bone Conduction Headset.
The EPOS | Sennheiser Adapt 165T is a decent headset: It’s lightweight and comfortable to wear, and our voices transmitted clearly. However, background noise came through louder with this headset than with our picks, and the build quality felt a little less premium.
Our previous picks from Jabra, the Jabra Evolve 40 and Jabra Evolve2 40, don’t offer background-noise cancellation or audio quality as good as that of our current picks.
The Microsoft LifeChat LX-6000, our previous budget headset pick, has tiny earcups and a tight headband, which made it uncomfortable for us to wear for even a 30-minute call. The microphone also glitched on occasion during our testing.
Like their wireless siblings, the Logitech H390 and Logitech Zone 750 fell out of contention for their staticky audio, volume issues, and uncomfortable designs.
The BlueParrott M300-XT, a previous top pick, doesn’t sound as good, and doesn’t pair as easily, as our current pick.
The BlueParrott Point, the FimiTech Bluetooth Headset, and the New Bee Bluetooth Earpiece had poor noise cancellation and made our voices sound unpleasant.
The Jabra Perform 45 offered solid performance but lacked robust control features, such as voice activation.
Despite the Jabra Talk 25 SE’s advertised 33-foot call range, we couldn’t leave our desks during testing to make a call without the connection dropping.
The Jabra Talk 45 and Mpow EM16 didn’t sound as good as our top pick in our tests, and they lack volume and mute buttons.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn’t like, although she can’t say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.
Melanie Pinola covers home office, remote work, and productivity as a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, work, and lifestyle/family topics. She’s thrilled when those topics intersect—and when she gets to write about them in her PJs.
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