Introduction
This blog post is over a pair of office headphones I received recently in a raffle. They are the Plantronics Voyager Focus UC, a nice pair of headphones overall with a slightly high price tag. They have some great features and some mediocre qualities. However for those who work at coffee shops or go around a bit, these could be the headphones for you.
Design and Out of Box Experience
In the box the item comes with:
- Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Headphones
- Bluetooth USB device (referred to as the BT600)
- Cloth Bag
- Micro USB
- Charging Stand
- A couple of manuals and little booklets (none of particular importance)
The Plantronics Voyager Focus UC are Bluetooth headphones that come with a cloth bag with a zipper on the inside to store your micro USB cable and the Bluetooth device that it comes with. It’s kind of a pain to get the headphone charger stand out because the wires were kind of stuck in the cardboard. The manuals are long and tedious, and don’t provide anything beneficial (although most people don’t even read the manuals).
General Overview
The headphones themselves are quite comfortable; they feel like pillows on your ears. It has a nice adjustable band to fit your head size and it has got lots of nice software features included with the headphone device which I will get into in the section Software Features.
The Microphone comes with a sensor that can detect if your headphones have been taken off or put on so that when you put them on and the ANC(automatic noise canceling) switch is enabled it will automatically turn on the noise canceling. This is a great feature and makes the transition from the outside world to my workstation feel seamless. This switch can be found under the right ear speaker.
The benefits of these headphones don’t come from the high quality sound, portability, microphone quality
Sound Quality
I’m not an extreme audiohpile but I have dabbled in some high end headphones, my current headphones are the Sennheiser HD 599. The HD 599 headphones are much higher quality, more comfortable, better sounding cans, and are an all around better set of headphones in terms of sound quality.
That being said these are still not your run of the mill headphones, they are decent enough to compare to the classic Koss Porta Pro and arguably are a bit better than Porta Pros. It has better highs, lows, but there is no bass. They are more comfortable on your ear, and I feel like they are able to conform to your head better than the Porta Pros because of the small leather band that they have below the metal band.
That being said you will be able to hear other people on phone calls or Skypes with the Plantronics just fine,the microphone is more convenient and the couple of sensors added into the headset make it a pleasant experience to call someone.
Overall, if you’re looking for a pair of headphones based solely on sound quality you’re better off looking at Sennheiser, Grados, or Audio-Technica.
Software Features
There are two major software features that come with the headphones I would like to point out:
- Can connect two devices at one time, meaning it can connect to your computer and phone.
- When the headphones turn on, it says the talk time left for the headphone set.
Out of the box these are some great features that I greatly appreciate. There are some other features once you install the Plantronics Hub software which can be found here.
A couple of the features that are added once you install the Plantronics hub are amazing as well. One being that when you are talking and the mic is muted, the computer will pop up with a notification that the mic is muted. This is a greatly appreciated advance in software as there have been many a times when I’ve been talking and there is no response, only to find out that I’ve been talking for 3-5 minutes with the mic on mute.
In addition to the mic mute notification feature, you can see how long the headset has left in battery life straight from your computer with the Plantronics hub software making it so that you can plan accordingly if you’re headphones are about to die.
Overall regarding the Software features for this headset, they are amazing. I’ve never had a pair of headphones that came with software that actually benefited the experience and made me want to use them more. I would feel like Iron man when using these pair of cans. If you’re looking to experience a similar feeling I highly suggest trying it.
Microphone Quality
The microphone quality is decent, people can hear you but t’s not going to be something you want to use in a studio or anything. Better than your typical gaming headset but worse than the Audio Technica AT2020 or Blue Yeti USB Microphone. Generally speaking these headphones have a mediocre microphone and really is the bare minimum for talking to people over the internet.
Portability and Battery Life
This is where the headphones personally shine. They aren’t as portable as a pair of truly wireless headphones but hey are going to be alot more comfortable. Personally I hate in ear buds and have a pair of Soundpeats I bought on amazon for 20$ when I go running or out and I want a pair of headphones in case. But if you plan on going to a coffee shop or somewhere to sit and use your computer these headphones shine brightly.
The battery life on these headphones are crazy too, at a full charge they are supposed to give 14 hours of life. I can’t say I’ve been able to utilize these headphones for 14 hours straight to say that this is true, but I can say that I’ve never been out of battery with these headphones after a day of use. They also implemented fast charging so they will charge very quickly once you put it on the charging stand, finishing a charge within 1-2 hours.
Value
The MSRP for this item is 300$ from the website (found here), however I was able to found it on Amazon for about 180$ here. Also, it was found on Newegg at the time of this post for 160$.
Value much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With Sound quality slightly better than Porta Pros, Microphone quality being just good enough for work, very good battery life, and very comfortable headphones at the minimum price of optimistically 150$ new, I’d have to say that these headphones are really for those who don’t mind splurging a little bit. If you’re trying to get a budget friendly pair of headphones I would suggest getting the Porta Pros and slapping a mic on them or perhaps just using your phone. But if you’re willing to spend a little more or if you can find a pair for under 100$ I’d say buy them, because for under 100$ it would be worth it. At 150$ I wouldn’t purchase these.
General Overview
Although mediocre in almost every area, I feel like they really nailed the core features I’m looking for in a pair of headphones. I believe when you bring out the fact that these are Bluetooth headphones however, the qualities of these headphones outshine all other headsets I’ve ever personally used.
By being good enough in sound quality, microphone, battery life, and comfort I feel like the mixture of bare minimum in every aspect makes these headphones my go to headphones for going around with. By nailing the bare minimum of quality that I’m willing to put up with and putting it into a comfortable, high battery life headset I can say that I am happy with these headphones. In addition to these bare minimum requirements of mine, the software features are amazing too. That being said, I’ve been comparing these Bluetooth headphones to wired headphones throughout this review. Adding the convenience of Bluetooth, this headset really blows out all the other Bluetooth headphones I’ve utilized before.
These software features provide an Iron Man like experience and truly do make using these headphones an extremely pleasant experience. The small little software features are what really tip these headphones from okay/good to a great pair of headphones making my life just a little bit easier by taking care of small minuscule issues that we all have to face from time to time.
Overall I’d recommend these headphones (if you can find it at a good price).
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