When asked for the secret of her astronomical success, tennis ace Chris Evert replied simply: “Ninety percent of my game is mental. It’s my concentration that has gotten me this far.” Concentration it seems is widely recognised as being the decisive factor in the success of any meaningful endeavour. This is no more so than in the world of work and business. With many of us experiencing a seismic shift in the way we work due to the pandemic, it seems that concentration – being able to focus exclusively on the task at hand – has become a key and extremely rare commodity. Along with all the communication and coordination challenges of working from home, we are all victim to increased distractions throughout the day. This is a problem that the people at Jabra have dedicated themselves to solving. And with the launch of their flagship Evolve2 85 UC Stereo Bluetooth USB-A Headset, they may well have banished the demon of distraction forever.
On paper the Evolve2 85 is clearly an evolution of Jabra’s already formidable UC headset range. The Evolve2 85 offers industry-leading Digital Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation technology, a sturdy boom-mic arm, a 360-degree busy-light and a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. The Evolve2 85 also boasts no less than ten microphones in total. Yes, read that sentence again. Ten microphones in total. Two of these are discreetly embedded in the Evolve2 85’s fully integrated boom-arm while a further eight reside in the ear cups.
One of Jabra’s most noted qualities is its ability to straddle the two words of business and consumer users. The firm has distinguished itself by being able to offer both groups the very best in technology while keeping ahead of current trends and developments. And the Evolve2 85 is no exception. For leisure users the headset has a handy USB Type-C and headphone jack positioned alongside the Bluetooth button on the left ear cup. And on the right earcup there are the audio controls as well as settings for noise cancellation. Tip: make sure you set your audio device settings to stereo mode to get the best out of this headset. It took us a while to figure this out. But once we switched from mono to stereo, the Evolve2 85 came alive.
Built with the busy remote worker in mind, on a full charge the Evolve2 85 offers an impressive 37 hours wireless battery life. Ideal if you decide you’d rather work from the garden rather than the crowded makeshift office inside. On a fast charge the unit provides some 8 hours in an incredible 15 minutes. For audiophiles (a group we are proud to say we are card carrying members of) the Evolve2 85 is equipped with powerful leak-tolerant 40mm speakers. Combined with the headset’s advanced digital chipset and the latest AAC codec, and the result is incredible sound quality that really immerses you in the music no matter how noisy the environment you’re in at the time.
With so many headset’s crowding the market – and all making headline grabbing larger than life claims – it’s often difficult to filter out the signal from the noise and identify one headset that simply does what it says on the tin. This headset is the Evolve2 85. Designed and engineered with three powerful words as its raison d’être: concentration, collaboration and flexibility, the Evolve2 85 is perhaps the greatest advance in headset technology on the market today.
During our ten day test run, we were hugely impressed by the headset’s ability to create instant quiet no matter how noisy the environment. Working from our home office which still has anywhere between 6 and 8 people in it at any one time, the Evolve2 85’s Digital Hybrid ANC and noise isolating ear cushions created a wonderful silence which made concentrating a much easier task.
The headset’s performance while I was making calls was equally impressive. The Evolve2 85 can be connected to all mobile devices and having 10 microphones working on my behalf meant that I could be heard with pretty much 100 percent clarity, despite ringing telephones, people talking and sometimes shouting around me and dogs (two dogs sometimes) barking for attention. Excellent.
As a side note I particularly liked the fact that the Evolve2 85 also comes equipped with Jabra’s signature busy light on both ear cups – a great way of signalling to all around you that you are in working in concentration mode. For those of us concerned with ensuring stable and high quality UC call quality throughout the organisation, the Evolve2 85 conveniently integrates with a number of software and monitoring brands to allow our IT people to quickly and easily pinpoint the root cause of any poor call quality. The Evolve2 85 also got a big thumbs up from our tech people because of the Jabra Xpress software that makes the implementation of new features and software updates a cinch.
This future proofing feature alone – coupled with the standard-setting audio quality – makes the Evolve2 85 a truly stand out product. At a bargain price of £458 the Evolve2 85 is quite possibly the best investment you’ll ever make for improving your concentration and collaboration. Highly recommended.
