Jabra Evolve2 75 Wireless PC Headset Reviewed.

There’s an arms race going on right now in the tech industry. It’s not for the best GPU or smartphone or even TVs. Nope, it’s for the telecommunications. With no sign to the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems like hybrid working is here to stay. With that in mind, the demand for quality equipment is steadily rising as more and more people start to invest in quality gear. Gear like the Jabra Evolve2 75 Wireless PC headset.

With Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetups becoming more and more common, a quality headset not only is essential to hear what’s going on (and get your voice across), it also shows off a certain professionalism. Wearing goofy cheap headphones might be alright if you’re talking with your friends, but if you’re in a business meeting that’s not going to cut it.

Enter the Jabra Evolve2 75 Wireless PC headset.

What is Jabra Evolve2 75 Wireless PC Headset?

Jabra Evolve 2 75 is a wireless headphone engineered for a hybrid working environment. Meant for the professional who works from home, it comes with a hidden retractable boom mike, charging stand and carrying case. The Jabra Evolve2 75 retails for SG$549 for a USB Type-A (the regular USB ports) or USB Type-C model.

There’s a charging stand but it’s an optional purchase that will cost you an additional S$79. If you willing to shell out the big bucks, you can get the full enchilada for SG$628 from Jabra. My suggestion? If you’re already spending S$549 on the headset, you might as well go whole hog and splurge. Spoiler: It’s worth it.

The first impression that I got when unboxing the Jabra Evolve2 75 was that it felt and looked like a solid piece of hardware. I’ve never paid SG$549 for a headset, but if I did, I know I’d have wanted the box to be as good as it can be. The packaging, although spartan, was sleek and conveyed really well how much of a premium item the headset is. There’s even a cute little wooly carry case! It’d have preferred leather or a hard case like the ones for the Sony headsets, but it’s ok.

Although not much but I do appreciate the lightweight woolen casing does its job protecting my headphone when I’m travelling. It also comes with a little pocket to house the USB-A Bluetooth dongle that connects the headset to laptops or desktops.

The headphone itself is covered in black leatherette with a gunmetal looking matt finish on the metal arms. The headband and ear cups are made using ultra soft foam covered in color-matched black leatherette. At just 197g, wearing it for an extended amount of time is not a problem.

However, after a while I do feel some pressure from the ear cups and my ear do get a bit sweaty. Also note from the picture that the earcup covers do tend to be smudge magnets, so you might want to have cleaning cloths handy.

Aesthetics wise, I have to give credit to Jabra’s design team.

The Jabra Evolve 2 75 is what I would deem as a executive headphone.

Perfect during meetings, I exude a professional vibe with its black and matt silver finishing. The ear cups are not too big to make me look like a fool. The retractable boom mike and overall wireless setup gives it a clean and professional look which I loved. To achieve such a look there must also be some shortcoming, one of which is the ear cups are not big enough to envelop the whole ear.

I don’t particularly feel that my ears are larger than average, so it appears the cups are just a bit too small.

I am not a big fan of touchpads (unlike Sal), so thankfully Jabra made the Evolve 2 75 with buttons.

I still prefer there to be feedback when I press on a button, it lets me know that I actually pressed on it. There’s not much of a learning curve to button placement on the Jabra Evolve2. There are 3 buttons on the bottom of the right ear cup that controls the volume, play/pause and track changing. A Microsoft Teams button in the middle of the right ear cup (guess what that does) and a retractable boom arm to answer calls with.

The left ear cup houses the USB Type-C charging port, power and Bluetooth paring button and the sound mode button which toggles between the ANC (active noise cancellation) and HearThrough modes.

An indicator light on the bottom also reflects the different statuses of the headset, like the ‘Busy’ light function which will light up in red when you are on a call or a purple light which means that you are on Microsoft Teams call.

It’s a nice feature to have but a bit impractical unless you’re with people who know what the lights mean. But hey, better to have something than to lack it right?

I was also able to connect the Evolve 2 75 to my Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra via the Jabra Sound+ App.

At any one time, 2 devices can be paired and used simultaneously and up to 8 devices can be paired. However, the connection to my phone actually dropped a couple of times during my review period. It’s easily solved by switching off and on the Bluetooth on my phone.

Thinking it might be an issue with the Bluetooth on my phone I tried other Bluetooth devices on it but they held fast with their connections. It might be a technical issue on the review headset but it’s something to watch out for.

Connecting the Jabra Evolve2 75 through the Jabra+ app is a breeze.

You will be able to choose a voice assistant between the default Android one or Amazon’s Alexa. Once connected, first time users will be taken to the MySound hearing test page to test your hearing. This is to ensure optimum user experience when using the Jabra headphone.

It’s a cool process and really feels that Jabra’s doing all they can to ensure you have a great experience with the headset. Hell, it even showed me that I might have hearing issues as I seemed to not be able to pickup low frequency noise that well.

Once configuration’s done, Jabra’s software will (based on the test result) personalize how you hear sounds so that you’ll be able to fully enjoy the Jabra experience.

Performance.

Right off, I want to say that the sound quality of the headset is phenomenal. The sound’s crisp and clear, no matter what end of the call or meeting I was on. The built-in ANC is good too, though it’s not quite as capable as those found in audio headsets from Sony or Bose. For the office though, it works really well, blocking out the background noise of my typing too.

With 8 microphones (4 Analog MEMs/4Digital MEMs) with a frequency of 5Hz – 20000Hz for analog and 100Hz – 8000Hz for digital. It’s no wonder why audio is so good. The voice pickup during calls and meetings were precise with nobody on the other end of my meetings have issues hearing me.

Even when I was at Toastbox having coffee and taking a Zoom meeting, my voice had no issue being heard by others in the same call despite the relatively noisy surroundings. I’d call that a real good result, especially from a real world situation test. The ANC was stellar in this situation as well, blocking out the drone of background voices well. It however, did nothing with high pitched noises, which were still audible.

Switching between ANC and HearThrough mode is as easy as just a click of the top left button.

By switching the HearThrough mode on, the headphone will be able to pick up more sounds from the environment and lets you be more aware of your surrounding. The clicking of your keyboard becomes clear and you will be able to hear the background chatter while listening to your music or while your are in a meeting. I call it the spy mode, where I appear to be listening to music but I am still able to hear to my co-workers rant!

I really love the way Jabra spoils us by making life easy for us.

Simple things such as pausing the music when you remove the headset and resuming the music when you put it back on. Although it seems a minor thing, it really adds a personal touch of consideration when the engineers build the headphone. It’s the little things that counts.

In terms of music sound quality, the Jabra Evolve 2 75 boast a frequency range of 20Hz – 20000Hz. You are able to immerse in the 3D surround sound in a Dolby 5.1. The highs and lows of Celine Dion’s The Power of Love can be felt with the occasional beats and subtle bass.

However, I still feel that the overall quality is still quite flat and lacks the explosiveness as opposed to a Klipsch or Sony WH-1000XM series. Then again, the Jabra Elite2 75 isn’t meant to be an audio powerhouse.

Battery life and range.

Battery life for music is up to 36 hours with ANC off and 33 hours with ANC on. While talk time with ANC/busy light off is up to 24 hours and 18 hours with ANC/busy light off. It’s quite impressive as on a full charge with music, phone calls and zoom meetings, it still lasted me a full day’s usage without charging.

The operating range for the Evolve 2 75 is around 30m, my office is 1400sqft in size and I have no problem walking from one end of my office to the other with the music playing.

The Bottom Line.

Overall the Jabra Evolve 2 75 is a great headphone.

It’s a solid device that works superbly for what it’s meant to do!

Though a tad expensive, it will fit the bill for anyone looking to blend professionalism with the latest tech. It’s sleek looking and versatile, and you will look good in it using whether you are in office wear or casual wear.

Not only does it look that way, the functions are impressive too though I wished the music output would be better. Still, if you can only have one headphone for work and play, you should definitely be considering the Jabra Evolve2 75.

TLDR:

One of the best hybrid working headphones that’s really versatile in many aspectss.