What is more difficult to gauge is the clarity of speaking for those at the other end of the line, as that’s potentially more important than the experience of the wearer. The big issue here is the price. Because almost everything else about the Jabra Evolve2 75 is suitable for those that need to communicate effectively during their working day. Those using the Jabra Direct software can make adjustments to increase or decrease the output across bass, the mid-range and treble as required. They’re comfortable for extended wear, easy to drop on the charger, and they work elegantly with Teams (or UC) depending on your preferences.

It’s an additional cost on what aren’t cheap headphones, but having this item made encountering an uncharged device less likely. Overall, these sounded much better than we’d anticipated, and we can see no good reason why these couldn’t be used for other purposes than conference calls when the need arises.

De Evolve2 modellen met Microsoft Teams-certificering ondersteunen Microsoft Teams als een plug-and-play-ervaring. De plug-and-play-ervaring biedt de volgende voordelen: While this headset might be inherently easier for a right-handed person to use, this bias isn’t as evident as we’ve seen elsewhere, and the button selection is reasonably well dispersed between the two sides. Jabra estimates the earbuds can last up to eight hours per charge with ANC on, or up to 10 hours with it off. The case holds up to an additional 25 hours of battery life, again depending on your use of ANC and typical listening volume level. The company claims you can recharge the earphones in about two hours and that five minutes of charging gets you roughly an hour of playtime. Internally, 6mm drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20KHz. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2 and support the AAC and SBC codecs, but not AptX. Once you're past the setup process, the app shows an image of the product with battery life readouts for each earpiece and the case. Below this, you can select between ANC, HearThrough (transparency), or off modes. If you select either the ANC or HearThrough options, a fader appears that lets you control their respective intensity.

The earphones were particularly ineffective against a recording of a busy restaurant with clanging dishes and boisterous conversation. In fact, it was difficult to tell whether the ANC mode was active at all. At least they manage to avoid one common pitfall—we didn't hear anything in the way of a masking hiss in quiet environments. But being realistic, Jabra made the Evolve2 75 series with exactly this price point in mind, and they’re constructed and specified accordingly. And, therefore a cheaper version of this design probably wouldn’t perform as well or last as long in frontline use. A sufficiently simple layout that most people should embrace after receiving a relatively short walkthrough on how to operate them. What especially impressed us was how easily these can be placed on the charger, reducing the possibilities of those awkward moments when you arrive for work and then realise that the headset isn’t charged. Unexpectedly, these are fine for other purposes. Audiophiles might hear some of the compromises made to achieve their sound profile and the impact of noise-cancelling technology. But they’re not as evident as we’ve experienced on other business headphones, especially regarding the higher frequencies. There is bass, not excessive amounts, but it offers some.

The four-mic MEMS array (which works in combination with dual bone conduction sensors in each earpiece) offers strong intelligibility. We had no trouble understanding every word from a test recording we took on an iPhone. The signal emphasizes clarity and seems to capture a bit more in the midrange than typical. It was a bit quieter than we prefer, but the in-ear mic levels help keep voices at an ideal volume for clear communication. Our experience on Zoom test calls was similar—ideal clarity, even if the signal could be slightly louder.

It’s tempting to wish these were cheaper, so someone sourcing headsets for many employees wouldn’t eliminate these from a procurement exercise-based purely on the cost per unit. You can adjust the control layout to a degree in the app by switching between various modes (Music and Media, Incoming Calls, or Active Calls). Within these subsets, you can reassign gestures to different functions. In testing, we found the controls easy to operate and never felt like we needed to shove the earpiece further into the ear canal to get them to work. One minor annoyance: There’s no way to add an off option to the ANC/transparency cycle, which means you have to use the app to listen without either. Everything about the new design is smoother and more elegant, with a shorter retractable microphone boom and a discrete charging base. The only downside to ANC is that it reduces battery life, reducing talk time from 24 hours to just 18 hours. That said, unless the shifts being worked are entirely illegal, this isn’t an issue that most wearers are likely ever to encounter. For those using these on a Windows PC or Apple Mac, Jabra provides Jabra Direct, a tool to manage the headphones and apply firmware enhancements when required. Softphone support is provided by default for Microsoft Teams, and Zoom on the MS Teams variant. These should also work well with Skype and Mitac, amongst other popular tools.They’re also a significant improvement over the original Evolve 75 design, not that those are bad in any significant way. Jabra chose not to do that here, and the Evolve2 75 is significantly different from the original Evolve 75 it replaces in both form and function. Typically, when headphone maker produces a second version of a successful design, they often retain much of the original structure and technology, primarily to reduce costs. The Bluetooth on the Evolve2 is version 5.2, supports the pairing of the headphones with up to eight different devices and can connect to two of those at any one time. This functionality allows you to use two different computers or devices, and seamlessly transition between them.

The left side has pins that interface to the charging base, the power button that doubles for Bluetooth pairing, the USB-C charging port and a button that controls the noise-cancelling function. While it is possible to charge these using only a USB cable, we recommend investing in the charger, as it has a dramatically better design than the original Evolve. Instead of the large and awkward frame that the headset hung on, the new charger is small, discreet and the way the headphones land on it is elegant.

Like the original Evolve 75 but even better