I am specifically looking for a headset that is best at filtering out background noise on my end so the person i am talking to always thinks I am in a quiet room. It seems your rating for Noise Handling refers to this. This is the only thing I care about. As such, I would love a way to see the headphones ranked specifically by this measure as opposed to the overall score which isn’t what i care about.

Bose 700 does not have an option to mute my microphone during the call, which makes it very inconvinient for work calls

Aug 20, 2023 05:54 PM By ben1787

1

I am specifically looking for a headset that is best at filtering out background noise on my end so the person i am talking to always thinks I am in a quiet room. It seems your rating for Noise Handling refers to this. This is the only thing I care about. As such, I would love a way to see the headphones ranked specifically by this measure as opposed to the overall score which isn’t what i care about.

I had exactly the same priority - making sure that the person on the other end can’t hear the noise around me. For this, I found the “noise handling” rating here a bit misleading. I believe that rating reflects more how well noise is suppressed for me, but, since I wanted a headset that leaves one ear free anyway (so I can legally use it while driving), that wasn’t my priority. I ended up getting a BlueParrot, which has only one earpiece, and thus doesn’t suppress noise from my surroundings that well, but is doing a great job suppressing noise for the people I speak to. I also confirmed with a number of friends who I could trust would tell me the truth that while they could hear me loud and clear, they didn’t notice the din around me even when I was on a subway platform when a train arrived.

Jan 08, 2024 12:30 AM By downtown_pete

2

I had exactly the same priority - making sure that the person on the other end can’t hear the noise around me. For this, I found the “noise handling” rating here a bit misleading. I believe that rating reflects more how well noise is suppressed for me, but, since I wanted a headset that leaves one ear free anyway (so I can legally use it while driving), that wasn’t my priority. I ended up getting a BlueParrot, which has only one earpiece, and thus doesn’t suppress noise from my surroundings that well, but is doing a great job suppressing noise for the people I speak to. I also confirmed with a number of friends who I could trust would tell me the truth that while they could hear me loud and clear, they didn’t notice the din around me even when I was on a subway platform when a train arrived.

Most of reviewers focusing more on music mode listening and few targeting conversation/conference using bluetooth device.

I have two suggestions to improve the “best” recommendations for phone calls especially:

1. Since there is a huge decline in sound quality when using bluetooth HFP for two way communcation (see Bose 700 thread on this one), this MUST be considered highly on this list. E.g. a headset with a seperate wireless 2.4ghz connector (as some gaming headsets actually have) or especially wired Headsets shall be higher listed in overall voice quality (both input and output) than the Bose 700. Honestly, a cheap USB-C wired headset sounds better in every zoom call than the many bose 700 I bought for the company after the reviews here…

2. One thing that might be weird to us - at least I assume - more technical guys is to take the professional look into account. Another reason why people are not using the Bose 700 is because they “look to bulky, almost like gaming headsets” and they end up reverting to Apple Earpods or Airpods, which are simply horrible. I know, we are data driven here, but I simply can’t force the company wide roll out of for example a 2.4 ghz gaming headset with a lot of red and blue strips on it just because it will “improve the phone quality as you guys are asking for”.

Mar 29, 2024 04:19 PM By Memory

17

I have two suggestions to improve the “best” recommendations for phone calls especially:

1. Since there is a huge decline in sound quality when using bluetooth HFP for two way communcation (see Bose 700 thread on this one), this MUST be considered highly on this list. E.g. a headset with a seperate wireless 2.4ghz connector (as some gaming headsets actually have) or especially wired Headsets shall be higher listed in overall voice quality (both input and output) than the Bose 700. Honestly, a cheap USB-C wired headset sounds better in every zoom call than the many bose 700 I bought for the company after the reviews here…
2. One thing that might be weird to us - at least I assume - more technical guys is to take the professional look into account. Another reason why people are not using the Bose 700 is because they “look to bulky, almost like gaming headsets” and they end up reverting to Apple Earpods or Airpods, which are simply horrible. I know, we are data driven here, but I simply can’t force the company wide roll out of for example a 2.4 ghz gaming headset with a lot of red and blue strips on it just because it will “improve the phone quality as you guys are asking for”.

Hi Memory!

Thank you for your detailed feedback! You raise good points; many people are already turned away from the idea of gaming headsets as call/office headsets. We’ve even had gaming headsets on this list in the past, but they didn’t really fit user expectations. As a result, we consider the professional look as well as what kinds of products people expect when they search for ‘Bluetooth headsets’. We recognize that not everyone is looking for work/business headphones for making calls. As a result, we try to be a bit more dimensional in our recommendations (and within our Phone Calls usage box) because, just as there are people who require high-functioning mics as part of their jobs, there are also people looking more casually in order to call their friends and family while on the go or from home. In these latter cases, calls are a high priority, but there are also other factors like ANC, battery life, and comfort that are also part of their decision-making process.

As for 2.4gHz connector headsets, this is also something we’ve considered, but there aren’t many non-gaming headsets on the market that use this technology and we also haven’t tested many of them either. We have tested the Jabra Evolve2 85, but they can be very difficult to find in stock, which makes it harder to recommend them.

Thank you again for your comments. It really helps us improve and suggest better products products for your needs. If you have any other feedback, please let us know. :)