Best Headsets for Working From Home in 2023 – CNET

The QuietComfort 45 has virtually the same design as its predecessor, the QuietComfort QC35 II, which many people considered one of the most comfortable over-ear headphones — if not the most comfortable. (And, if comfort doesn’t make them the best headphones for working, what would?) It has the same drivers, according to Bose, and the buttons are in the same place. However, there are small but notable changes. First off, these thankfully have USB-C instead of micro-USB.

Secondly, the microphone configuration is different. Not only have the mics been shifted on the headphones, but there’s now an extra external microphone for voice pick-up, which means the QC45 has a total of six microphones, four of which are beamforming and used for voice. By contrast, the QC35 II has a total of four, two of which are used for voice. (The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 also have six microphones total.)

The end result is these are excellent for making calls. They’re similar to the Bose Headphones 700 in that regard and also feature top-notch noise canceling, as well as multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect them with a PC and your phone simultaneously. Read our full review of the QuietComfort 45.

Plantronics’ original Voyager Focus UC has long been considered one of the best work-from-anywhere headsets. Now we get the Voyager Focus 2 UC from Poly (the company Plantronics morphed into after it acquired Polycom), and it’s improved in several ways, including better noise reduction (it’s stellar), two levels of active noise canceling, increased battery life (up to 19 hours with ANC off and 16 hours with it on) and superior wireless range with Bluetooth 5.1. 

You can pair the Voyager Focus 2 UC with your computer with the included USB dongle or your phone (or tablet) via Bluetooth. It can also connect to a desk phone if you want to bring it to the office. Also worth noting: The boom microphone has a mute button on it, but when you flip it up it also automatically mutes the microphone. The original Voyager Focus doesn’t mute when you lift the boom microphone.

The Focus 2 comes in several different versions, including USB-A and USB-C models and a version that’s Microsoft Teams certified. You can get the headset by itself or in a bundle that includes a charging dock. All versions include a nice protective carrying pouch.

The Voyager Focus 2 UC is expensive but offers excellent performance and is quite comfortable for an on-ear headphone. It also sounds good for music listening with nicely detailed sound and ample bass. It may not be quite up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM4 for music, but it offers a nice music listening experience for a work-centric headset.

There’s a bit of a generic look to Kensington’s H3000 headset, but it’s comfortable to wear with a nicely padded headband and ear cups, and it seems well built. Featuring a rotating boom microphone that can be worn on the right or left side (there’s no designated left or right ear cup), the H3000 also offers good performance with decent sound for music listening and clear voice quality, according to those I spoke with (the microphone flips to mute). There’s no active noise canceling — just noise reduction for calls — but the ear cups do passively seal out a fair amount of ambient noise. 

The headset uses Bluetooth 5.2 and has excellent battery life — it’s rated for up to 60 hours of music listening and 40 hours for calls. It also has multipoint Bluetooth pairing, allowing you to pair it two devices simultaneously (your computer and smartphone, for example) and Kensington says it’s designed for use with Intel Evo laptops but works fine with other laptops as well. 

Released in mid-2020, the Jabra Elite 45h were essentially billed as the best on-ear headphones for the money and among the best headphones for work. While there’s nothing terribly fancy about them, they are a great value for on-ear headphones, with good sound quality, a sturdy design and comfortable fit — for on-ear headphones, anyway. They perform well as a headset for making calls too, and include a sidetone feature that allows you to hear your voice so you don’t talk too loudly. Battery life is also good and it has multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect to both your computer and your smartphone at the same time, and easily switch between the two should a call come in on your phone. It mostly works.

Known for its value headphones and earbuds, JLab offers a pair of on-ear headphones with an integrated boom microphone (it can be rotated up when just listening to music) and multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect them to your phone and computer simultaneously. I’m more partial to the Jabra Elite 45h, which list for $100 but usually sell for around $70. But if you don’t want to spend quite that much, the Go Work are solid headphones — and a good headset — for the modest price. They’re also comfortable to wear with a lightweight design. You won’t mistake these for premium headphones, but the build quality means that they are among the best headphones for work for around $50.

Battery life is rated at up to 45 hours at moderate volume levels, and you can mute calls using the multifunction button (an LED lights up at the end of the boom mic when the call is muted). I wouldn’t call the sound quality for music listening and the headset performance stellar, but it’s good, particularly for the price. For music listening, there’s ample bass and clarity and a cable is included for wired use. The headphones charge via USB-C.

Jabra recently released the Evolve2 30, a new more affordable wired on-ear office headset with an integrated boom microphone. It’s lightweight and comfortable and comes in USB-C and USB-A versions, as well as stereo and mono versions (I tried the USB-A stereo version). Alas, it’s hard to get at the moment — apparently, there’s plenty of demand for office headphones/headsets at this price point. 

The headphones are OK for music listening, but they’re primarily meant for voice applications. They feature dual microphones — one for picking up your voice and the other to help reduce ambient noise around you so callers can hear you better. 

Shokz has turned its OpenRun (formerly called the Aeropex) bone-conduction headphones into a more communications-friendly headset with an integrated boom microphone. Since these leave your ears open (the sound is conducted through your cheekbone), they aren’t for people who want to seal their ears out from outside noise. Rather, the idea is that you can hear everything around you without having anything covering your ears or jammed inside them. Some folks find that liberating.

While Shokz are arguably the best-sounding bone-conduction headphones, they aren’t great-sounding for music because they’re lacking in the bass department. However, they’re great for speech so they work very well as a headset for making calls, with good noise reduction. These also have multipoint-Bluetooth pairing, so you can pair them with your phone and PC and easily switch to your phone if a call comes in while you’re on your computer. (Here are the instructions on how to use it.)

As long as you don’t mind the boom microphone, you can use the OpenComm for sporting activities as well. The OpenRun and other Shokz headphones, including the flagship OpenRun Pro, are favorites for runners who want to keep their ears open to hear the outside world for safety reasons. They’re also water-resistant. The only downside is they require a proprietary charging cable instead of USB-C. Battery life is rated at 16 hours of talk time and eight hours of listening time.

In a surprise move, Sony announced that you can now upgrade Sony’s excellent WF-1000XM4 noise-canceling with multipoint Bluetooth with a firmware upgrade (the LinkBuds and LinkBuds S earbuds are also eligible for the same upgrade). That was their only missing feature, and while Sony will likely release a new WF-1000XM5 in 2023, these are still great-sounding earbuds. They have great noise canceling, solid voice-calling capabilities and good battery life. While they fit a lot of ears, including mine, they may not be a comfortable fit for folks with smaller ears.

An oldie but goodie, the Plantronics Voyager Focus UC allows you to switch between a Bluetooth connection on a smartphone or tablet and a computer. You may find these to be the best headphones for work if you want lightweight, comfortable on-ear headphones that have excellent noise reduction. They also have a retractable boom microphone so people have no problem hearing your voice, and you can hear your voice in the headphones. 

Note that Plantronics has become Poly and there is a newer model called the Voyager Focus 2 (see above). 

If you’re looking for a souped-up version of the Elite 85h, the recently released Evolve2 85 offers even better telephony options along with a Unified Communications USB dongle for PCs. While it has similar sound quality to the 85h, it has an updated audio chipset, a hideaway boom arm and two additional microphones (10 altogether, with the extra two in the boom arm) for noise reduction and picking up your voice. Its build quality is also a step up. A Microsoft Teams-certified version is available for those who need it.

I found it comfortable to wear over several hours — it offers an impressive 37 hours of battery life or slightly more than the Elite 85h. 

There’s a lot to like about Logitech’s Zone Vibe 100 wireless over-ear headset, which comes in off-white, carbon and rose color options. For starters, it’s lightweight and comfortable to wear, with a retractable boom microphone that you can flip up to mute, plus it has a mute button on it. Additionally, it features multipoint Bluetooth pairing, so you can pair it simultaneously with your Mac or Windows PC and your smartphone and easily switch audio back and forth between the two devices. These aren’t active noise canceling headphones but they offer a decent amount of passive noise isolation. Battery life is rated at up to 20 hours of listening time.

People said I sounded clear on calls and there’s some sidetone, so you can hear your voice in the headphones as you talk (that way you don’t end up raising your voice too much). I thought they sounded good while listening to music on my phone. However, the sound quality wasn’t quite up to the same level when streaming Bluetooth audio on my computer, though it was still decent. The Logi Tune app for iOS and Android does allow you to tweak the sound profile, adjust the sidetone and set when the headset goes to sleep when not in use.

Jabra’s Evolve 65E UC is an around-the-neck model that offers a comfortable, secure fit. You get three sizes of stabilizing fins along with three sizes of ear tips. This version is Skype for Business and UC certified and the included USB Bluetooth adapter allows you to be connected to your PC (Windows or Mac) at the same time as your smartphone.

While these headphones are decent for music listening — they’re a little shy on the bass — they excel as a headset for making phone calls, with good noise reduction, especially wind noise. The integrated inline microphone sits close to your mouth so people have no problem hearing you. Battery life is rated at 13 hours. 

Note that this is the business-grade version of the Elite 65e. Jabra also makes the step up Evolve 75E UC that features active noise canceling. I didn’t think the noise canceling was great, however, so it’s probably best to save the money and get the 65E UC.

UC headsets that include a USB dongle so you can easily connect the headset wirelessly to your computer tend to cost more than headsets that just feature Bluetooth connectivity. Listing for around $130, the Cyber Acoustics Essential Bluetooth Headset HS-2000BT sells at a discount compared to similarly styled models from Jabra and Poly. I’m not going to say the HS-2000BT is better than those models, but it’s lightweight and comfortable to wear and offers similar features, including a retractable boom microphone with automatic muting (when you retract the boom mic). It also has a couple of bonus features: active noise canceling and wireless charging (Qi wireless charging pad not included). 

Callers said I sounded good though not quite as clear as when I was using the Logitech Zone Vibe 100. I thought the HS-2000BT sounded good when using them to listen to music, though the sound is on the warmer side (pushes the bass a bit). The headset is worth checking out, particularly if it goes on sale.