Jabra Evolve2 65 Wireless Headphones Review

Much like the Logitech Zone Wired, the Jabra Evolve2 65 are somewhat conventional-looking business-oriented on-ears. They feature a sleek, somewhat low-profile design with a monochrome color scheme that will blend seamlessly into an office setting, though their non-removable mic makes them somewhat noticeable during casual use. They're available in either black or beige.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 are comfortable on-ears. They're very lightweight, fairly well-padded, and don't exert too much pressure on your ears, so wearing them throughout your daily 9 to 5 shouldn't be a problem.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have a decent physical control scheme that's quite easy to use. There are dedicated volume buttons that double as playback controls, as holding the volume up button skips forward and holding the volume down button skips backward. If you're on an important call and don't want to be interrupted, you can hold down on both volume buttons to turn on indicator lights on both ear cups. You can mute the mic by flipping it up or by pressing a separate mute button. Lastly, there's a multi-function button that can be used to answer, end, and reject calls. These headphones offer voice prompts for all commands except playback functions, so it's easy to know when you've made an input.

A Microsoft Teams-certified variant is available, which has a multi-function button that provides more functionality with that video conferencing app, but we didn't test it.

09/23/2021: We have tested for breathability.

These headphones have a decently breathable fit. They trap a small amount of heat under the ear cups, but it shouldn't too bothersome during long listening sessions. However, they're not designed for sports use, and you may sweat more if you're wearing them during a run in the park.

The Jabra Evolve2 65's portability is passable. While the ear cups swivel flat, the headband doesn't fold to reduce their overall footprint. Also, their boom microphone isn't detachable, so it could snag on something if you just throw them into a bag unprotected.

These headphones come with a good soft case. It's made out of faux leather and should protect them from scratches and minor water exposure, though bigger drops might cause some damage.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 are quite well-built. They feature a mostly high-grade plastic and silicone construction, though the hinges feel like they're made of aluminum. Overall, these headphones feel like they could endure a couple of minor bumps and drops without taking too much damage.

These on-ears are decently stable. They should stay on your head with gentle movements, but anything more severe than that may cause them to slip off. Their wireless design eliminates the risk of having an audio cable snag on something and consequently yank them from your head.

• Jabra Evolve2 65 headphones
• Soft case
• USB-A Bluetooth dongle
• USB-C charging cable
• Manual

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have a fairly well-balanced, though slightly boomy, default sound profile. Their slightly overemphasized bass adds a touch of extra thump and kick but also makes some mixes sound a little muddy. Mids and treble are impressively accurate, so vocals and instruments should be present and clear. When talking on the phone, voices sound warm, present, and detailed. If you're not a fan of how these headphones sound out-of-the-box, you can adjust them to your liking via a five-band graphic EQ in their companion app.

If you want to use these headphones for meetings or calls, you'll experience a drop in audio quality. This happens once the mic is activated or if you use the 'push to talk' feature. Audio also becomes mono instead of stereo, disrupting your listening experience. However, disabling the mic will return the headphones to their default stereo sound quality.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have mediocre frequency response consistency. Bass and treble response are particularly sensitive to the headphones' positioning and fit, so you may have trouble getting a consistent listening experience if you have long hair or wear glasses.

The bass accuracy of the Jabra Evolve2 65 is satisfactory. There's an extended bump across the mid to high-bass ranges that makes some mixes sound boomy and muddy. That said, your own experience may vary, as their bass response is highly dependent on their positioning and fit on your head.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have impressive mid accuracy. While the bump from the bass range carries over into the low-mids and causes some slight clutteredness, it isn't too noticeable overall. The rest of the range is very accurately reproduced, which yields full-bodied, present, and clear speech, vocals, and lead instruments.

Their treble accuracy is very good. Speech, vocals, and leads sound detailed and bright, without much in the way of harshness.

The Jabra Evolve2 65's peaks and dips performance is decent. A bump in the high-bass range results in some boominess. The following drop through the low to mid-mids thins out speech and leads and pushes them slightly backward in the mix. Another dip in the low to mid-treble range slightly dulls the finer details in some mixes.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 deliver great stereo imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Meanwhile, their L/R drivers are very well matched in amplitude and phase response. Some slight frequency mismatch is present, but it isn't too noticeable. These headphones should accurately localize the placement of objects in the stereo image, which creates a more immersive listening experience. That said, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Jabra Evolve2 65's passive soundstage is sub-par, which is quite normal for closed-back headphones. Their on-ear design only partially interacts with the outer ear, which is crucial in creating an outdoor speaker-like listening experience instead of causing sound to be perceived as coming from the inside of your head. That said, they provide a more spacious listening experience than alternatives like the Logitech Zone Wired.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 don't have any virtual soundstage features.

Their weighted harmonic distortion performance is very good. The frequency range falls within good limits, ensuring clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to evaluate the Jabra Evolve2 65. It should be noted that the tests were completed while using the included proprietary dongle. Our results are only valid when the headphones are used in this configuration.

The Jabra Evolve2 65's noise isolation performance is poor. These on-ears barely block out any ambient noise in the bass range, so you hear quite a bit of rumbling from passing buses and construction vehicles. They also do very little to reduce the chatter from noisy nearby coworkers. That said, they do a good job of blocking out high-pitched background noise, like the hum of an AC unit.

These over-ears have mediocre leakage performance. While they leak less sound than the Sennheiser SC 160 USB-C Headset, there's still a fair bit of noticeable leakage throughout the mid-range as well as the low treble range. As a result, escaping audio sounds fairly full-bodied. If you play your music at high volumes in a quiet office setting, nearby coworkers may hear what you're listening to.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have a flippable boom microphone.

The boom microphone delivers great recording quality. Your voice should be heard as clear, natural, and fairly full-bodied. That said, if you're using the mic, you'll experience a drop in audio quality. The headphones go into mono mode, which is annoying if you're trying to focus on your call. That said, the mic's recording quality isn't affected by this change, and once the mic is disabled again, the headphones return to stereo mode.

The microphone's noise handling capability is good. People on the other end of the line shouldn't have trouble understanding you, even if you're calling from a loud or crowded environment like a busy street. However, the volume of your voice can drop when there's a lot of loud noise around you.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have amazing battery performance. They're advertised as providing 37 hours of continuous playback, but our test unit lasted for more than 60 hours on a single charge while using the included Bluetooth dongle. However, listening to content at high volumes and enabling the busy light can significantly reduce their overall battery life. Thankfully, they also have a standby mode to prolong their battery life when not in use. They recharge quite quickly, taking about an hour and a half to hit full battery. If you can't wait that long, you can use the headphones while they're recharging.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have a good companion app in the form of the Jabra Sound+ app. It provides a pretty wide selection of configuration options, including a five-band graphic EQ, audio presets, microphone sidetone adjustment, and changing the standby mode timer. You can also check their battery life and update their firmware. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to remap their control scheme.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have impressive Bluetooth connectivity. They're compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and can pair with two Bluetooth devices simultaneously. However, you won't be able to play audio from a console using the included dongle and a Bluetooth device simultaneously. If you connect the headphones like this, you can only receive audio from one device at a time. These headphones don't support NFC pairing either, and their latency is a little too high on PCs to make them ideal for watching movies or playing games without experiencing noticeable audio lag. However, their latency on iOS and Android devices is much lower. That said, it's worth mentioning that apps compensate for this audio delay differently, so your experience may vary.

These headphones come with a USB-A dongle that allows you to quickly connect wirelessly to your computer. That said, latency is higher when using this dongle than while connected over conventional Bluetooth. Another variant is available with a USB-C dongle that plugs into compatible USB-C ports, but we didn't get that variant.

Update 04/19/2022: We've added a comparison to better explain audio quality via wired USB. The drop in audio quality using this connection is most comparable to the drop experienced when switching Bluetooth profiles. By default, Bluetooth headphones use Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), which is a Bluetooth profile for audio playback. However, this profile is only one-way, so the mic won't work on any device or OS. If you want mic and audio compatibility, the headphones can switch to Headset Profile (HSP) or Hands-Free Profile (HFP). However, these profiles lower sound and mic quality. This sounds very similar to their wired USB performance. Keep in mind that the manufacturer recommends using the provided USB dongle for the best audio quality.

These headphones support passive USB audio and mic compatibility with the included USB-A to USB-C cable, which you can also use to charge the headphones. They can also still be used over a Bluetooth connection whenever they're charging. Keep in mind that when using this connection, their audio quality drops and it sounds similar to audio via Hands-Free Profile (HFP). This is a two-way audio Bluetooth profile that supports audio and the mic at the same time. However, it has noticeably worse audio quality than Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), which is the default Bluetooth profile and is one-way, so you can't use the mic. Jabra advises that you should use them with the included Link 380 USB dongle if you want the best audio and mic quality.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 have audio and mic support when connected to your PC via Bluetooth. You can also use their USB dongle or USB cable with full compatibility. Some users have experienced a drop in audio quality when using the headphones and mic via wired USB.

These headphones are fully compatible with PlayStation consoles when using their USB dongle or USB cable. However, if you're using the USB cable, you may experience a drop in audio if the mic's active. Jabra recommends using the USB dongle for better audio quality, though.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 aren't compatible with Xbox consoles.

These headphones come with a Bluetooth 5.0 dongle that's paired with the headphones out-of-the-box. Another variant is available with a USB-C dongle, but we didn't get this variant. You can also purchase a charging stand with these headphones, though you should be aware that the dock is an added cost.