spec me a noise cancelling headset

[233]

specifically for making calls and video conferencing with,

working from home is a bit of a mare with a standard bluetooth affair so wondering if anyone can suggest somethign decent

must be bluetooth so it will work with phone/ipad/laptop

 

[York]

How much are you looking to spend, and are you using any particular audio/video conferencing clients (like MS Teams/Skype for Business/Cisco WebEx/Zoom etc?)?

At the top end for business use you're looking at something like the Jabra Evolve 75's with noise-canceling mics, and noise-canceling headphones and fully Teams/WebEx/SfB certified. If you're working from a fixed location something like the Jabra Engage 75's maybe better - connect the base station to the laptop via USB (or a docking station) and then the headset is a DECT headset so you can roam the entire house (it's what I use at home). You can also pair multiple devices to the base station via Bluetooth, but the devices can't move more than about 10-15m from the base station or they'll lose Bluetooth signal.

Those are top end business headsets though, so you're looking at probably £200ish for the Evolve 75s or about £250ish for the Engage 75s.

I work in Unified Comms (and have worked from home for years), and have both for different situations. The Evolve for my home office, the Engage when I'm out on the road or on client sites.

These aren't really for general use though. They're OK for music, but not great. I also have Sony WH1000XM3s for travel and Sennheiser HD600s for personal listening. A proper business headset is a godsend for clear audio (both what you hear and how well you're picked up) on a conference call though.

The Jabra range is my preference, and I've got every Jabra/Logitech/Sennheiser/Poly headset (including plenty of unreleased demo stuff!) here

 

[233]

Don’t think I’d quite sneak that through expenses

any suggestions under £100 @York

Something that will place nice with an iPhone and with a laptop for zoom use

2 conference calls a day plus another couple of hours on the phone something decent would be handy

 

[York]

I'd probably look at something like the Jabra Evolve 65. Don't worry about the charging stand - it just uses a microusb cable to charge (and has one in the box so you can use it as a wired headset if you want).

You can get it for about £75-80 on eBay or around £105-120 new, but stock looks to be a little constrained. That has a noise-canceling mic, but no noise canceling on the headphones but it is pretty isolating anyway. It's Bluetooth (make sure to use the included dongle on your PC as you'll get a much better signal/connectivity) and can pair/be used on two devices simultaneously.

Make sure to double check you're getting the stereo version and not the mono single headphone version if that bothers you. I personally hate mono headsets, but know some people swear by them!

 

[Bug One]

If you're looking for noise cancelling - you get what you pay for. I got a paid of Bose QC35s with my P20 Pro. Perfect for working from home in silence while the kids are screaming all around me.

 

[233]

just ordered a mono elvove 65 for general use and in the warehouse, (really need to keep one ear clear anyway as its a working warehouse and whilst i spend most of the day on the phone id rather be safe and not get squished by a truck.

still umming and aahing a bout a stereo evolve 75 pair for purely in the office,

currently spending 2 hours a day on zoom but i'll see how the 65 goes first

cheers for the advise @York

 

[233]

Well the evolve 65 arrived and had a full day of use on Friday,
Decent comfy headset and managed a full day on a charge. certainly made my life a lot easier keepting both hands free used it hooked up to my phone on site in the morning although that did get some strange looks but as i said lifes 100 times easier when your not holding a phone to your ear half the morning and can actually hear people on the other end. and then spent the afternoon on zoom, absolutely spot on. only tried it connected via bluetooth built into the laptop will try it next with with the jabra dongle.

the dect stuff sounds interesting, whats the actual range on the headsets using this? might have to consider a 75 stereo or similar for at home

 

[York]

Glad it works well! The bluetooth dongle just generally gives a better, more stable and higher fidelity bluetooth connection.

When I use the Engage 75 at home I can walk around the entire house with the headset. If you've got a cordless landline phone it'll have the same sort of range as that. So for me (5 bed house + large garden) I can basically be anywhere

 

[233]

@York cheers for clearing that up, just need to try and find one at a decent price and its a done deal.

 

[DB_SamX]

What's the differences between headsets aimed at workers vs those aimed at gamers?

 

[Marsman]

If you're referring to noise cancelling headsets specifically, then I'd say there are few to no gaming headsets that have active noise cancellation (ANC). Any headset made primarily for gaming use, where the user will want noise cancellation, they'd have to rely on a closed headset with good isolation. I suppose in general, few gamers need something that has ANC. A lot of gaming headsets are expensive enough as they are. Add ANC to that and they are going to get even more expensive.

Difference between headsets designed for VOIP use and those designed gaming, will mostly be the size. Gamers generally want some kind of positional sound locating, which works better with full size over ear headset. For VOIP, nothing like that is required, so they are smaller on ear type headsets.

No reason why you can't use a VOIP headset with ANC for gaming, but it won't compare to something that is better designed for gaming. If you just want plain stereo though and have no want for positional placement effects, then a VOIP headset will do the job.