By Jaime Misalucha
The grandeur of listening to your favorite music from a worthy personal sound device is like looking for that perfect pair of jeans.
Personally, no matter how much research I do before buying an earphone or a headphone, it always fell short in terms of sound quality performance. Listening to orchestras and bass-heavy music, I always look for a sound device that can let me clearly hear the high and lows of the music that sounds realistic as if you are hearing the music live.
Surprisingly, the Jabra Evolve2 85 delivers excellent sound quality that lets you hear those high and lows of music or sound beautifully and more.
It actually has 10 microphones built around the headphones to give you the most accurate active noise canceling and to be able to accurately capture your voice during calls. Apart from that, it has a built-in boom microphone that you can pull out and twist towards your mouth. The boom microphone also has its own mute button for full control while on call. This very ingenious feature is perfect for all your online meetings.
Here in Manila Bulletin, we actually used the Jabra Evolve 2 85 as our headset for communication between the control booth and the set during the live broadcast of Manila Bulletin’s online news show, MB Now, and it performed well. Communication was clear and we never missed a cue. Its speakthrough feature works well as we don’t need to remove the headphone to hear other people and the audio from the control booth.
Its battery gives you up to 37hours of battery life with fast charging technology, in fact, a 15-minute charge can give you 2hours of battery life.
Both its earpads have control buttons. This may be confusing at first as typical headphones have all their buttons located at one side only. On the left is a button to switch to active noise control and speakthrough feature. Next to it is the power button, Bluetooth LED indicator, Type C charging port, and a 3.5mm jack.
On the right are the play/pause button and volume up and down buttons that also doubles as next and previous buttons. The center of the right earpad also has an accept/reject button for calls. The boom mic is also nicely tucked on the right earpad.
Apart from that, its headband and earpad cushion are very comfortable and you won’t feel like there’s a clamp squeezing your head just like some other headphone brands out there. It is also flexible and bendable for easy storage, especially with its accompanying hard case.
In terms of connectivity, it has various ways to connect the Jabra Evolve2 85 to your device. Frist is via the typical Bluetooth which automatically activates once you turned on the headphone. The second option is through its Bluetooth dongle which you can connect via USB port to your device. The Jabra Evolve2 85 actually has two versions of dongles, the USB-A and the USB-C. So you have to decide which one you prefer before buying one because only one type of dongle will be included in the package. The dongle is actually useful if you are, like me, sometimes lazy to go through my laptop or smartphone’s setting to activate and connect to the Bluetooth. One thing noticeable though is when you are connected through the USB dongle is that it takes a few seconds for the music to fade in through the headphones.
So if you are using the Jabra Evolve2 85 to do voiceovers, you might find it a little confusing as it will take a few seconds for you to hear what you have just recorded as you will always have that feeling that you missed a few words during the recording session.
In terms of wired connectivity, the Jabra Evolve2 85 comes with its own 3.5mm cable which to some, is useless but really, it is good to have it available when needed.
The Jabra Evolve2 85 is also smart at it pauses the music when you take it off and automatically resumes once you put it back on.
Whatever you are doing, be it work or play, the Jabra Evolve2 85 can accompany you as it brings high-quality sound and top-notch voice accommodation topped with ease of use. It also pays that is it very comfortable to wear and will not give you ear and head aches. The Jabra Evolve2 85 is truly built for work and play.