Отзывы о Jabra Evolve2 85 Link380a MS Stereo

First things first, these are not worth $450. They don't feel premium, but rather cheap plastic. I'm particularly nervous about the longevity of the boom mic. There's some nice features, like the auto pause of music, ability to pause/mute when taking the headphones off, and the busy light. But if you're spending $450 just for those features, I'd think you'd need to consider what you really feel is important in a headset.

I bought these solely for work since I generally spend 6+ hours a day on calls. The call quality is a bit above average, but does not cause anyone to say "wow, you sound so good!". It's better than other mics, but not by any significant margin.

Sound-wise they are decent. They are not as good as Sony or Bose, but they do an OK job. The Sound+ app equalizer is helpful to find the right balance. But I wouldn't recommend buying these for any sort of audiophile listening experience. ANC is OK. You can still hear some noises at certain frequencies but it's not bad ANC.

Comfort, these do fairly decent. I like how they cup over the ear. They take a little (i.e. 2-3 days) to get used to the pressure, but then are fairly comfortable to wear for longer periods. Not awesome as the Bose QuietComfort by any means, but they get the job done.

So, they do OK on call quality, OK on sound for music and listening, and OK on comfort. Bottom line is that I would not recommend these for $450. If they were around the $300, then I may say it might be worth it. At this price point, I would expect at a minimum a premium call experience and they just don't deliver as much as their marketing department would lead you to believe which is sad. I'd strongly consider the Sony WH-1000XM4 over these, even though the Sony's don't have a boom mic. They offer as good a call experience, a significantly better audio listening experience, and are $100 cheaper.

I bought this phone because it was rated highly on the Wirecutter.

Pros:
- Good sound quality, both audio output and the microphone
- Comes with a dedicated USB transceiver, so it doesn't depend on the computer's Bluetooth support
- The noise cancellation is quite good. I don't like active noise cancellation, but even the passive cancellation (insulation) works well.

Cons:
- The headphones go into idle mode if there is no active audio stream. After starting a new audio stream, there's a 1-2 second delay before the headphones start picking it up. That means e.g. every time you play a Youtube video, it'll take a couple seconds before you can hear it. I called them and the support was very helpful and knowledgeable, and quickly proposed a reasonable unofficial work-around to leave the OS audio settings open so that it is always receiving from the microphone, which prevents the headphones from going idle. But I decided I do not want to deal with this work-around if I'm going to pay $450 for a headset.
- The active noise cancelling would sometimes turn on by itself, I'm not sure why, I'd have to press the button to turn it off again.

The delay before the audio starts up was really a dealbreaker. I returned it and went for Astro A50 instead which is a bit cheaper, has lower quality microphone, but won't go idle just because there's no audio stream (it still saves battery by detecting if it's on the head or not), plus it has a nice stand for charging.

The headset was comfortable even on long calls but the boom mic is rigid and can not be adjusted, it was practically in my mouth which caused a bit of distortion. To mute the mic with the boom arm it has to be put in a weird position. Even though the Evolv2 85 is more comforable the Evolv2 65 was a better fit for me and the boom mic has a few adjustments and the mute action works flawlessly. The range of both was about the same.

I really wanted the 85 to work but for the high price it needed to be perfect. Save half of the money and get the Evolv2 65, it is not perfect but it is adjustable.

The headset is comfortable and I feel it has good sound, however it has one HUGE flaw with multiple devices.

On the MS version, there is no way to switch between devices. So if I am in a meeting on my PC and someone calls my phone one of two things happen:
- the headset randomly decides my meeting is important and I can not use the headset with my phone.
- the headset randomly decides my phone is more important and I can not tell my meeting that I am taking a call.

Both are equally frustrating and the lack of being able to select makes it not useable for me. Additionally, sometimes when my phone is not playing or doing anything, it simply decides it still wants to be connected to my phone so I can not use it with my PC until I manually disconnect it from my phone.

It has button to open MS Teams, which is useless since if you use Teams a lot is will already be open.
It has volume buttons, which have limited value since both my phone and PC also have volume buttons.
It has a button that is supposed to pause or play music, but rarely does anything when pressed.
It has an ANC/HearThrough button that is useful.
And an on/off button that is important.

This could be a great headset if it had a button that would allow me to switch between my phone and PC or allowed me to customize the button functions.

The noise cancellation is almost too good. When I first turned the noise cancellation on it threw me because I couldn't hear myself talking other than through the headset! I go through two days of ZOOM meetings before I even think about charging the battery. My only reason for rating the sound at a four vs five is that I get a little static occasionally especially when a message comes in on my computer and sometimes randomly - it's short-lived but when you pay this much for a headset static should never happen. When I don't have static (98% of time) the sound is awesome.

The item was difficult to set up...I returned for sennheiser headset which was much easier and also cheaper. And quality was better.
Return process had a hidden 10% restocking fee with this reseller but reseller did refund after I complained!!

Link 380 constantly not connecting to Windows. I can use the built in bluetooth but the dongle (when it works) does provide better range.

Can't customize buttons.

Mute button on the tip of the boom mic makes it feel like you're going to break the boom, and everyone has to hear you fumbling around to find the mute button. I'd rather re-map to the large button on the side of the ear cup. Boom is also very short, if you have bulbous cheeks you'll be brushing against the mic a lot.

Active noise cancellation doesn't do much.

Best feature is the battery life. I can get 2 or 3 days depending how many calls I'm on.

Overall not worth the hefty investment, go for a $100 headset instead, you'll get comparable features without the cost.

Comfort is reasonable, I wear glasses under the headset which I usually wear for about 5 or 6 hours a day. If it's continuous it does make my ears sore, if I have an occasional break confort is good.

When worn during yard work they do wind up sliding around on my head.

I have had my Jabra for over a month and had nothing but issues. I've submitted multiple help tickets and had zero resolution. My new iPhone 11 Pro is constantly trying to connect via Bluetooth to the headset and cannot recognize it in my list. 50% of the time, I'll "forget the device" and try to reconnect it. The Jabra headset doesn't seem to restart or pair with my phone.

Also, I've used the USB-C Bluetooth to connect to my computer when running meetings via Zoom. Every time I make a phone call using my iPhone and Jabra, my Itunes starts on my computer and plays music until I quit the application. It's incredibly frustrating.

I'll just start off by saying, I've been using a Jabra Evolve 40 for the last couple of years for conference calls and voice dictation. It's a very good product and overall I think Jabra is a good company. However...

For $450, the sound from these Jabra Evolve2 85 UC headphones is disappointing. There is a very noticeable lack of bass and high-end frequencies, which is probably fine for phone calls and online meetings during the workday, but the performance for music listening is just sad. I was really hoping music was going to sound better through these headphones. I was not expecting hi-fi music studio headphone performance, but I've heard far better sound out of headphones under $100. $450 lesson learned.

For performance during the workday taking calls and participating in online meetings, I think these headphones are pretty good. However, I do have Bluetooth connectivity issues occasionally which causes my voice to drop off when talking to colleagues. The Bluetooth connectivity issues could certainly be attributed to Windows 10 or my current Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 3rd gen laptop, but that is a little bit frustrating. I enjoy not being tethered to my PC by a USB cable, so that's a plus.

I typically use 4 sets of headphones any given day for different reasons. I have a set for work, one for traveling, one for gaming, and one for casual listening. I have four different headsets because I have four different needs at the times I use those headphones.

For work, I needed a set that has a microphone boom arm. I needed to be able to charge it mid call, without dropping the call, if the battery gets low.

For travel, I needed something portable that could fold up. Must have a 3.5 mm input for connecting when Bluetooth is not possible. Noise canceling was also important.

For gaming, I needed USB-C. I also needed a dongle since the Nintendo switch doesn’t support Bluetooth.

For casual listening, I needed it to be convenient. Need to hear through it, and detect when it’s off my head or back on. Needed to have good sound quality with customizable equalizer.

The Jabra Evolve2 85 is not the best at every catagory individually, but it is the only headset that is in the top 3 of every catagory.

This headset does everything I need well enough that I no longer need 4 different sets of headphones. That alone justified the higher cost for me.

I highly recommend these headphones!

I'm a realtor and do a lot of lead generation and couldn't imagine ever using a different headset.

Can not work with MacOS Big Sur. The A380 Bluetooth adapter keeps on connect and disconnect.

Easy installation and great quality

This Jabra Evolve2 85 Wireless Headphone is my new companion at work and on the move. It has a pleasing decent color combination, not too light, not too heavyweight. It looks and feels sturdy, and there are no tremble, wobble, or any cracking noise. It has enough clamp force to sit firmly on my head, and with the soft earpads and headband, I can wear it all day without any fatigue. The recharge is easy with the USB type-C, but I am a little disappointed that I don't get the dedicated charging pad in the package for this price. The battery lasts forever and when I put down the headphone, cuts the sound, saving energy, until I but it back, it continues uninterrupted.
The wireless connection builds up fast and easy. I was stunned when I found myself about 40 (!) feet far from the source, and on a different level (!) in my house, the connection stayed stable, without sound degradation. It has a minimal (unnoticeable) latency between the sound and the picture. I appreciate that the function buttons aren't on one spot but nicely distributed on both cans. I can operate with them easily with my thick fingers. The sound signature is a smart balance between its two purposes. Clear implementation in dialogues, at the video or phone conferences, and impressive imaging and separation at the expense of soundstage. My favorite setting for music listening is the "Hear Through". Across the smart and vast Jabra Sound + (Android) app, I could personalize my preferences easily. (for example. making the sound signature a little bit V-shaped).

the Evolve 85 headphones are well built, very comfortable to wear and are enjoyable to listen to. They support multipoint and have software available for download which can program the headphones to perform many tasks while paired to your PC. they can also be custom tuned via the Sound + App. There is an option to purchase a Bluetooth adapter that plugs in to a PC that isn't Bluetooth compatible. The mic for calls can either be handled by internal mics inside the headphones, or by default, calls are handled via a mic that folds up and extends from the right earcup. The earcups themselves are kind of narrow and are firm, but are comfortable even laying down, and are deep. Also there is a good amount of padding that should prevent your ear from bumping up against the driver.
The left cup has a button along the edge for toggling between passive, HearThrough and ANC modes, as well as a slider to power the headphones on and off and enter in to pairing mode.
The right cup has a Microsoft teams button in the middle, and controls for volume, track navigation, answering and ending calls and play pause. The small button on the external mic functions to summon your digital assistant, even if the mic is folded inside the headphones. While on a call, the headphones by default will announce that the call is muted when the mic is not extended, or unmuted when it is extended. The prompts are simple and just state; 'muted.' and 'Unmuted.' respectively.
The sound of these is surprisingly good out of the box. I realize sound preferences are subjective, but these by default are tuned to cover the bases well for a large audinece. as mentioned earlier, they can be tuned via a 5 band eq, or via audio presets in the app. I plan on testing these out, but i've found myself really enjoying the default tuning they ship with. The bass is lighter than some might want, but has great extention and texture throughout. The mids are forward but full and the treble leans toward bright which some may not like, but this tuning really does play well with any genre.
The app also has soundscapes like nature sounds, or white noise, which i enjoyed listening to. The HearThrough is natural sounding but could be dialed up a bit in my opinion. The ANC is affective and will get the job done just fine thanks in part to the already great passive isolation, but it isn't the greatest strength of these headphones.
Over all these are a great tool for work and play and should last for a long time

I have a pile of headsets in my home that I have used for Teams and Zoom meetings over the past year. My job requires that I discuss complex engineering issues with a panel for 3-5 hours once a week and we need to be heard clearly and need to be comfortable for extended periods of time during our review sessions.

Initially, we used the built-in mics in the webcams but stopped because the background noise and my meeting was too disruptive. Next I tried other devices, like my PS4 gaming headset, but the mic quality was not up to par for giving discussions of complex matters to a panel of 5-7 folks. Audio would cut out occasionally and volume would fluctuate.

Next, I tried airpods but the battery could only last 2.5 hours of continuous talking.

Then, I came across these, which work perfectly. The battery seems to last for days and the sounds is incredible. It is as if the other people are next to me and they report back that my sound quality is significantly better than other participants in the meeting. The MS Teams integration is super helpful if you use this program, with LED light indicators on the earmuffs and headband that light up when you are in a call (not out of the box though, requires the jabra software to be installed).

This includes a dedicated dongle as well.

Charging is via USB-C - huge plus.

Includes a hard shell leather case that looks and feels high end.

Overall, excellent product.

First I want to say that out of the box this headset was great. My husband uses these for gaming and a major issue we have faced with other headsets he has tried is that they get damaged when not in use or in transport. These have a great storage/travel option and so know these are going to last him a while. Next I do want to point out that the dongle is in this weird little side pouch on the inside of the case in the fabric. Took us quite a while to find it and I honestly though they hadn't included it at first.
My husband says both the sound quality of the headset and the sound quality everyone else hears from the mic are great. He did point out that the headset keeps going into standby mode when he is like taking a minute or two and getting a snack or something else where there is no sound coming from the game. When he comes back it takes a second or two for the sound to pick up again. He pointed out when he was on a system like the PS4 where there is background sounds on even the menu screens this doesn't really happen.
I personally like that this headset expands to fit any size head. My husband has a larger that normal size head. Sometimes he even has issue with certain baseball hats fitting. However he had no issues with this headset. Overall I do think this is a good headset and he was pleased to used it for gaming.

Overall, for music/listening use, these are some great headphones. The noise cancellation is definitely their best selling point, and I found sound quality -- treble and bass in equal measure -- to be great.

The battery life is definitely not quite at the level of what it claims to be -- thirty-seven hours -- but such estimates rarely match up to reality. I think this is marketed mostly for work/student use rather than for gaming and so forth (hence the "concentration" aspect noted on the box) but it wouldn't work terribly for gaming. I put it lightly through its paces in terms of gaming, but I was not either disappointed or overly impressed with the microphone overall. It's about average on that front.

It's a good-looking set, if a bit bulky, but all in all, a good addition to a headphone arsenal. I don't think I'd get this for anything other than primary music-playback/video playback, but that's definitely where it's strongest.

Let me save you some fretting and frustration if you decide to buy this. No, the Link 380a bluetooth adapter is NOT missing from your package. I spent more time than I want to admit looking for the bluetooth adapter not finding it anywhere in the case, at one point convincing myself it must be hidden docked in a secret compartment in the headset itself. As it turns out, there is a teeny tiny pocket on the edge of the storage case with a fabric pull tab sticking up a bit...it is in that tiny pocket. The adapter itself is teeny tiny, no bigger than the USB-A plug and a tiny little plastic fin with an LED light just big enough to pinch. You plug it into any USB port you've got free, the Jabra Direct software (download it from the Jabra web site, no software is included in the box) automatically detects it and in my case offers to update the firmware, and it is already paired to the headset in the box - you really have to do absolutely nothing other than plug the adapter into your PC and then turn the headset on. We use Teams at work so I already had it running when I did all of this and Teams even automatically popped up a small tutorial about how to use the headset with Teams because it detected you had set up a Teams certified headset - that was pretty cool.

Since this is a wireless headset I'll mention range and connection stability. Using the Link 380a, I honest to goodness could not find a single spot in my whole house either in the basement, second floor, one end of the house all the way to the other where the headset lost connection, quality seemed to become lowered, broke up or stuttered even a little bit. Rock solid. No complaints with this, at all.

I'm having a love it in some ways and not in others type of experience with the boom mic on this headset. The part that I love about it is that they designed it in such a way that it tucks away almost as if it doesn't exist into the body of the right earcup. I know that this differs for everybody but I probably spend 90% of my day listening to music and/or listening to other people talk and only 10% actually using the mic on my headset so being able to just easily get it out of the way is really cool... but what isn't awesome about it is that there is very little in the way of adjusting you can do to get it in just the right position. Personally I haven't found that it seems to affect the call quality in my case, but I imagine others might not end up having it in the golden zone and compared to some other booms it *feels* a bit flimsy.

Audio quality. There is one thing that might make you hate it for music if you accidentally get a little button happy but is easy to fix. There are two modes the headset can be in, and you have to pay attention to the colour of the Link 380 adapters LED colour. For music, you want it to be glowing a Cyan colour for a proper A2DP link because if it's not the music quality will be pure trash. If the colour is Red/Green it means it's in Voice Link mode. Now, what got me is that I was playing with the buttons on the headset and pressed the big "Teams Logo" button on the right earcup which is supposed to be for answering/ending calls or opening teams notifications but even if it has none of those things to do it seems to switch the headset into voice mode and out of music mode - until I figured this out I honestly thought the headset broke on me the difference in music quality as so big. Now, if you're in the proper music link mode though the sound is actually really good for a business headset and I've been perfectly happy listening to music on it for the better part of the afternoon. Bass is deep and not too muddy, highs don't give me a headache over time... no, it's not going to replace a pair of high end headphones that are meant for music and nothing else but for a bluetooth based wireless business geared headset I was rather impressed with the versatility it shows with music.

Features wise this headset does everything I could want. Noise cancellation isn't the absolute best I've ever used but it does work extremely well in general. You won't get complete and total isolation from any ANC mode on this headset if there are very loud noise sources nearby (tested with one of my kids screaming at me) but I did completely miss our smoke alarms doing a quick automatic sound check while listening to music with these headphones on. I love the on-ear detection that will automatically mute when you take the headset off, I found it works exactly as I expected every single time and wasn't flaky at all. The teams specific integrations that I've tested all work as expected.

Overall build quality and comfort I find to be good. Ironically I think the smaller Evolve2 40 headset is actually the more comfortable headset, but I have perhaps larger ears than the average human being and find the ear cups on these to be just large enough to almost fit over my entire ear but ... not quite. The actual materials are quite cushy and comfy and even though they look like they'd make my ears sweat they haven't at all. The headset is made of, as far as I can tell, entirely plastic materials but they're all high quality plastics and it feels quite solid for the most part. The storage case it comes with is also quite nice, and it's pretty easy to fold the headset up flat and get it back into the storage case. There appear to be charging contacts on the earcup for some kind of external charging cradle but this model doesn't come with it and you need to plug it in to charge. There's a USB-C charging port on the headset itself, but it comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable. I checked and confirmed that you can use a USB-C PD charger like your phone charger to charge the headset directly, it does properly negotiate charging.

I have tried different Jabra headsets before and they were mainly focused on music. The Jabra Evolve2 85 is marketed as a headset with a focus on communication and telework.
I like the sleek and professional look of this headset. It is all black and feels heavy and smooth. The headset is expandable by pulling the headband on either side to widen it. This headset should fit any sized headframe. The headframe is padded and feels very comfy. The earcups are very comfortable and give a suction like fit to your ears. However, after some time I feel I need to remove the headset as it creates a vacuum effect in my ears and needs somewhat getting used to. The noise cancelling feature works extremely good and together with the playing audio it keeps external sound almost completely away. This helps you focus on your work without any noise interference. Sound quality is very good and it gives a nice balance of treble and bass. I needed to play around with the equalizer to get the sound to my liking. I like how even the smallest notes are very clear when listening to music.
I like the hidden boom arm located on the right earpiece. It is foldable and you wouldn’t know it’s there when its tucked away. The microphone quality is superb. This headset supports Skype and Microsoft teams and there is also a busy light feature where it lights up when you are on the phone so your colleagues know you’re on a call. The microphone also works and sounds good even when it is tucked in. The microphone quality is very crisp and precise and sounds very natural. This along with the ANC works well to have a one on one conversation without external noise.
I like the soft leather used on the earpads. They are very soft and give a comfortable feel especially for telework. Having said that, the soft material is prone to head grease (oil from your hair and skin) and I feel the leather padding will be the first to peel off over time.
There are small buttons and sliders for power, Bluetooth, track controls and volume on either side. It can get a little frustrating as I have to feel with my fingers and try to find the button for a certain action. So, controlling the headset from the computer or phone is much easier.
Battery life
The Jabra Evolve2 85 has very impressive battery life. It is advertised as having 37 hours of battery. The best feature is the 8 Hour battery boost with a 15 minute charge.
Price
I know the price is a little steep at first glance. I think those who do a lot of telework will appreciate the technology that is packed into the Jabra Evolve2 85 would find value in this.

I'm pretty much exactly the target audience for a headset like this - I like to listen to music while working and am on calls basically throughout the day so I need a good sounding professional looking headset with an excellent microphone that is comfortable.

And while this Jabra headset certainly does tick all the right boxes, it does so at a very high price that doesn't look out of place on our corporate order page (read: way overpriced) and is way out of line compared to consumer offerings.

The sound quality on these are exceptional by Jabra standards and quite respectable compared to most headphones your average person will have sitting around... though at this price point, you really can get better sound for your money in a dedicated pair. However, as for sound input, you just will not beat the clarity of the Jabra with the typical headphones people tend to compare these against (Sony/Bose) - it's quite an unfair comparison as the Jabra has a boom mic but the Jabra just sounds the most like you're actually talking in person. When you move away from comparing these against headphones and into a comparison between these and Gaming Headsets, you really can get comparable quality for less money though I don't think anyone will take their finance partner seriously when they're wearing a gaming headset with RGB lighting... so maybe the Jabra is the right choice, after all.

Noise cancellation isn't a selling point to me on big cans like these. There's a basic level of isolation from these to begin with and it's not like my home is a wind turbine of noise - any headphones work to give me quiet and these certainly do the trick as well.

Super petty.. but what makes these headphones special is really the nice big light that indicates when you're in a call. I'm working from home and we always have this awkward, "are you in a call or do you just have headphones on" mess and this really solves it. The light is super visible and is really well integrated with Teams - it's a killer feature for me.

The battery life is excellent and able to get through about a workweek of a normal person's workweek (or about 3 days for me, unfortunately) and is as good as it gets.

I think these are priced quite high but recognize that many people are in a similar position as myself with a hefty budget for outfitting their home office and simply do not care about the cost all that much. And keeping that in mind, I do think that these are the best solution for working from home at any price, largely due to the excellent Teams integration.

Short review : Stellar as a business headset (for communications), excellent as a pair of BT headphones (for music)

Pros :
- Stylish premium design
- Premium materials
- Super comfy ear cups
- Excellent battery life
- Stellar voices reproduction (what actually matters THE most for a business headset)
- Global sound reproduction is pure and neutral (no boosted high and/or low frequencies)
- Excellent for voice calling (the best headset from the seven or eight I've reviewed lately, but also the most expensive by a huge margin)
- Sensor detection : when you remove the headsets from your ears it turns off automatically.
- Kudos to the Jabra app development team! It works flawlessly not only the first time, but every single time I use it! That's extremely rare for a mobile app. Bravo!

Cons :
- I have standard size ears for a man and the cups barely fit over my ears.
- The thin delicate mic boom needs to be fold down AND rotate 90 degrees. Then rotate back and fold up for storage. The “rotate” step is annoying, but what bothers me is how long before it breaks?
- You need to learn how to store these in the traveling case. Good thing there’s a little drawing stitched inside the case that shows you how to fold the headset because it’s not intuitive at all.

I’ve been an audiophile for the last 25 years and I could listen to music for hours with these Jabra Evolve2 85. That’s how pure and neutral the sound reproduction is. If you’re an audiophile and you’re looking for Bluetooth headphones would I still recommend these Jabra Evolve2 85 headset/headphones ? Well I would say you should take the time to test these Jabra against the audiophile brands (sony, sennheiser, bose…). One thing for sure, it sounds a lot better than my bose qc25. For 600 bucks you have some pretty interesting models from audiophile brands, but do not write off the Jabra too quickly because it’s marketed as a business headset first for foremost.

If you’re a professional in need of a business headset do not hesitate one second and try these Jabra Evolve2 85 right away!

Note : I don’t work using Microsoft Team so I couldn’t test this headset in a Team environment.

The Jabra Evolve2 85 have almost every possible feature you can think of. Whomever designed these headphones went above and beyond to determine features and ergonomics that would make these over ear headphones top quality.

Quality/Construction:

The over ear foam is soft and can be kept on your ears for hours without feeling discomfort or sweating. The head rest is comfortable and the headphones extend/close with a telescoping feature into the head rest. The plastic construction feels durable and not cheap. The headphones swivel almost 270 degrees each and fold inwards to fit nicely in the travel case. The microphone boom arm tucks away discretely into the headphone and also can be twisted to the desired direction.

Sound Quality:

The overall sound quality is darn good. You can use the Jabra MySound App to customize different presets and EQ’s. The bass boost on these headphones are great, however I feel they could have just a little more gain. Overall, the entire EQ band is clean and crisp with no distortion. The Active Noise Cancellation Reduces outside noise fairly well, although not completely. The Hear Through Feature is extremely useful in case you still need to hear what’s going on around you.

Other Features:
• One feature I especially like is when you take the headphones off the music pauses, and when you put them back on it fades in and resumes.
• There is a busy light that illuminates red when you are on a call to indicate to anyone approaching you that you are busy and on a call

Overall, these headphones look and feel professional. They can be used for gaming or in a professional capacity (Webex, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc). As Jabra states, these headphones are “Thoughtfully designed. Puroposely engineered. Expertly built”.

I've reviewed a ton of headphones - from $30 pieces of trash to $1400 IEM's. When I first received the Jabra Evolve2 85, I thought, "You've got to be kidding me. What a cheap feeling piece of..." BUT... they've legitimately grown on me. I've really tried to think of them as an expensive headset, not simply headphones.

•• They're comfy AF ••

When I put them on, I was like, "How can they possibly justify this price for such a LIGHT unit?" Then I wore them for a couple of hours and had an epiphany. For my head shape and ear size, they are effortlessly comfortable. I can (and have) literally worn them all day without any ear-itation. There's no clamp, and they just fit around my ears beautifully. I've actually never had a pair of headphones that I can do this with outside of my gigantic Sennheiser 598's.

Making calls? Just need a super comfy bluetooth headset? This is the Evolve2's true strength. Apart from comfort, they do everything else in a "pretty okay, I guess" fashion.

•• Sound ••

The sound quality is good, not incredible. Using the Jabra Sound App, the equalizer helps tremendously, and I've gotten them to a comfortable, balanced output. "Audiophiles" can wax and whine about sound profiles and can rant about bass, mids, and treble all the want. Matter of factly, everyone hears slightly different. Some people are missing or hearing completely different frequencies. The only way to know for sure is to try it, so... I'll say that these headphones are particularly neutral sounding. For closed-back headphones, they don't offer a particularly robust music experience... but they are clear, which is what you want for meetings and constant phone conversations.

In active noise cancelling, the profile gets muted and condensed. Not the best sounding. With ANC off, it's still not great. It's actually in "Hear through" mode where you ironically hear more that they open up, brighten, and sound at their peak for music... But it's not a practical mode to spend all of your time in unless you are in complete silence.

•• Not for music ••

This model has the latest AAC codecs available. This means it plays bare-minimum compressed music files akin to MP3. Music will sound "just fine," but this headset does not have the capacity for hi-fi, lossless music. And really, at this price point, it's a little confusing.

The desktop bluetooth link absolutely butchers the quality of music. It sounds mega-compressed and awful, so that's a hard pass.

•• Noise Cancelling ••

Frankly, the Evolve2 85's noise cancelling properties are on the lower end of the price-point. If you are after true, powerful noise cancelling... look elsewhere. These dim wind, chatter, and general noise. They'll dull the sounds of the office. They don't do much for traffic, however.

I rate my WI1000X (Sony ear buds) MUCH higher for ANC. This makes sense, however, because they are directly in the ear. For over ears I've tried, the Bower & Wilkins PX and Sony M4 both block significantly more sound than the Jabra.

Again, if noise cancelling is your main thing, this ain't the headset you're looking for. I should note that, for general noise in an office, it WILL be effective.

•• Desktop Connectivity ••

This is a big fat failure. The desktop link quality is, to put it mildly... TERRIBLE. There’s a delay, and to everyone over multiple tests, it sounds like I’m talking through a, and I quote, “windy toilet paper roll.” For a headset of this price, one would expect moderate Bluetooth functionality given that they supply you with the USB hub themselves, so it isn’t even a third-party device issue.

I held off posting this for over a month, thinking that quick firmware updates would resolve it. Jabra Direct has had TWO firmware updates since I received the headset, and neither of them have changed the sound AT ALL. Unacceptable.

•• The Desktop App - Jabra Direct ••

Is pretty dang good. You can adjust the equalizer from here, which you can also do on the SmartPhone app.

There's a lot of call-setting customization available. For example, you can turn off the mute when you lift your mic, enabling the other microphones built into the headset to function. This raises ambient noise for the person on the other end, but it's an option. Options are good. You can even adjust the decibel level for the hear-through setting, which I thought was pretty cool.

Connecting to Jabra Direct was seamless. Just plug in my Jabra link that comes with the headphones, windows auto-installed it, and the headset was detected and connected in seconds. I also like that they have built in functionality with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Skype.

•• Mic ••

The mic is... hit and miss. It sounds just fine and picks up audio quite nicely without irritating background noise. Great for phone calls, right? But it's inflexible. You can pull it down and slightly curve it in, but that's it. For ME, this works perfectly and sits nicely. One other reviewer said it was basically sitting in his mouth, which would make it pretty awful. So... depends on the size and shape of your face, like anything, I suppose.

A small touch is that the mic mutes when you raise it, which is nice. I'm not a big fan of the "ACTIVE CALL" lights surrounding the headset, personally. But if you're in a busy office, and your mic is down, they will let people know to run the other way. Brad's got icecubes to sell, baby.

•• Design ••

These are chunky boys. Jabra advertises that you can just slip the microphone up, and suddenly, you've got a sexy pair of headphones... Reality says that's not true. They are big bois, unlike most of their sleeker competitors like Bose, Sony, B&W, B&O, and the list goes on. This is far from an office deal-breaker; just keep in mind they're not the BEST for seamless commuting.

•• Battery life ••

37 hours is about right. I haven't managed to get them below 40% over several days. The recharge is faster than any headphones I've used. Literally 8 hours in 15 minutes. It's crazy. I can't imagine running out of battery.

•• Bluetooth connectivity ••

Is actually immaculate. I've been 20-30 feet away from my phone without breaking a sweat. These things have literally never skipped for me, which is a HUGE feat for bluetooth headphones. A true rarity, which is a sign of Jabra's attention to detail.

•• Buttons ••

Crisp and tactile quality. They're excellent; nothing more to say.

•• Carry Case ••

A hard-shell case is always a nice addition. This case is no exception. Zero complaints.

•• Price ••

I wish these were $350. I think they'd be much easier to justify. At $450, they've got a few too many small problems like mic inflexibility, mediocre ANC, and only SOLID sound. At time of writing, these were up to $600 due to low stock, which is utterly ridiculous. There's literally no reason to pay more than $450 at worst.

•• Conclusion ••

If you have to wear a headset ALL day for calls and require minor noise cancellation, these are fantastic. I toyed with a 3 star rating, but for me, the comfort and sound are overshadowed by the poor desktop connectivity, mediocre mic quality, and astronomical price. That said, they're easily the most comfortable headset I've worn when putting in 8+ hour sessions. The price tag is dubious, yes, but the comfort and relative call quality (although not through Desktop applications) might be worthwhile for you.

Putting music first in your list of priorities is a no-go, and I find the design to be chunky and unappealing for daily, outside wear.