Jabra Evolve3 85

Jabra has previously been the "king" when it comes to luxury office headsets. Although it's probably not something you'd buy for a huge group of ordinary employees - particularly as a single unit currently costs over £450 - it's hard to argue against the comfort, build quality, sound quality, and in particular, the microphone. Just as in our Bang & Olufsen reviews - or at least some of them - we have previously established that if you make the best product, it gives you flexibility and goodwill when it comes to commanding a premium price. And that is what we have here - the best.

As you unpack the Evolve3 85, it's clear that there's a world of difference. It weighs 23% less than the Evolve2 85, giving a fighting weight of around 220 grams, and it's significantly smaller physically, too. Fortunately, it hasn't become an on-ear model; it's still a comfortable over-ear headset, and it doesn't feel decidedly flimsy, as a Logitech office headset tends to do. No, Jabra has struck the perfect balance here, with a headset made from warm materials, incredibly robust, yet just light enough that you notice it whilst wearing it.

You still get a wireless charger included, but instead of connecting via those annoying pogo pins as before, the entire side is now Qi-wireless, meaning you just need to place it with the correct ear cup on, and it charges. You can also charge all sorts of other things now, if the headset itself isn't taking up the space. It can run for up to 120 hours of music with active noise cancellation switched on, or around 20 hours of talk time. That's pretty impressive, and as charging is now so seamless, I never found myself short of juice for the day ahead. What's more, you can replace the battery yourself, which is another win for the right to repair, so thank you for that.

The boom arm is gone and now special beamforming microphones and advanced, adaptive noise cancellation are used to filter out background noise from your voice, and I promise I'm telling the truth when I say that this is the most impressive set of microphones I've heard in a headset. It truly feels, at times, as though you're standing right next to the person you're speaking to. There's a warmth, a bassy resonance, that creates even greater immersion. At times it's almost on the verge of sounding nasal, but Jabra has really worked on the tuning here, so it's genuinely hard to complain.

The Evolve3 85 uses 32-millimetre drivers with a frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz and supports a host of major codecs such as LC3, AAC, and SBC. It has a sensitivity of 108dB and an impedance of 35 ohms. Technically, these drivers have become smaller, shrinking from 40mm to 32mm, but you can't tell. The sound is excellent, and so is the ANC. It's not on a par with a pair of AirPods Max or Sony's WH-1000XM6, but as an office headset, it's on a par with most gaming headsets, and that's certainly saying something.

It's not exactly "pretty", but the funny thing is that this is both subtle and well-constructed enough that it's actually one of the few headsets I can easily see the office worker using on the train home via Bluetooth, and thanks to a versatile spec sheet and fantastic comfort, you can actually do without the aforementioned XM6s.

Ultimately, it's the price that's the main sticking point. Yes, you really do get the full package here and more. But at easily over £450, it's a crazy price point from Jabra, but the specs, comfort, and actual usability can also largely justify the Evolve3 85 costing 30% more than most competitors. Largely.