Introduction to the Jabra Engage 75
The Jabra Engage 75 Stereo headset is an excellent headset for both office calls, but also more appropriately these days for calls from your home office. Not only does it feature excellent unified communications features for Zoom and Microsoft Teams, along with other UC platforms but it also provides stereo listening with noise cancellation, helping you stay focused with the kids in the background.
Note: This was first posted on September 25, 2018 on LinkedIn. I have updated this post since for an SEO edit.
Unified Communications Background
Prior to joining Unify Square, the last time that I used Skype for Business (SfB) was in 2015. At that time I was working within Microsoft’s Venture Integration Group, which is responsible for the company’s acquisitions. We were part of the team that was Onboarding 25,000 or so Nokia employees, a process that lasted well over a year. That clearly didn’t end the best, either, but that’s another story.
During that project, we had weekly conference calls using SfB with over 100 people. I’m not sure if it was because I was a contractor at the time, but no one educated us on the importance of using a headset that had been tested and certified for SfB. I would dial in from an LTE-connected iPhone with cheap headsets or from a laptop on a WiFi network. Not surprisingly, the audio quality at times was terrible and screen shares would often fail. At that time, it seemed to be just accepted that this was how it was going to be, with jokes that Skype did not perform as expected. Management would encourage team members to attend the meeting in person in a conference rooms that were reserved, in part to overcome the call quality issues. However, I had no idea that team members like myself were contributing to the poor qualify and we were affecting everyone else. I sure wish I had a Jabra Engage 75 then!
Fast forward to now: I’m working at Unify Square, a company that is focused on enabling outstanding experiences for enterprise meetings, chats and calls. A major part of that is helping IT leaders understand that it’s often the ‘last mile’ that is often a major pain point for their UC environment. Making sure connections are happening over a good network with a certified headset is critical to call quality, not only for a particular user, but for everyone on the call. As Alan Shen, our VP of Consulting describes it best as “Your Users are your Infrastructure” and something that IT leaders need to account for as they deploy UC platforms.
In the last year since starting here, I have used a number of headsets: Jabra VXi UC, Plantronics Voyager 4200, Jabra Motion and the Plantronics Savi 440. Each of these headsets worked well for what was needed, which were UC calls and meetings. That said, they were just tools to get work done, nothing else.
Introducing the Jabra Engage 75
Just over a week or so ago, I started to use a Jabra Engage 75, the stereo version. In that short time I have totally fallen in love with this headset for many reasons, and I’m raving about it to anyone that will listen. Looking at the core UC workloads, there are so many things that stand out:
- Call Quality: The Jabra Engage 75 calls sound great. Crisp and clear and no complaints from the other end.
- Works with both Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business: Previous headsets didn’t always work with both, which was a pain.
- Charging Station: I love the charging Station that you can use to answer a call, love that it rings, and love that it gives you a sense of battery life.
- Range: The Jabra Engage 75 seems to work anywhere within our office without moving the charging Station. I can walk into the break-room to make a cup of tea or walk into pretty much any conference room while on a call.
- Noise Cancelling: This works so well that people have to tap me on my shoulder as I don’t hear anything around me while I’m working. More recently, with the Jabra Engage 75 kids, dogs, leaf blowers, don’t bug me!
- Comfort: I can wear this headset for most of the day with no comfort issues at all. Also, if I’m not actively using the headset, it often just rests around my neck and is very comfortable.
- Battery Life: Just as it’s comfortable for a whole day working, the battery lasts as long as I need it.
These features for the Jabra Engage 75 make this the best UC headset I have ever used!
Many of the things that led me to choose this headset as my favorite: call quality, comfort, battery life, range, etc., combined with the fact that this is an over-the-ear style AND that the Jabra Engage 75 comes with stereo speakers, makes this a perfect music listening device. Our office is open plan and because of this I haven’t been listening to music while working. However, this headset completely changes this, and I’m finding that I’m listening to music again, and this, in turn, is helping me focus and not get distracted.
As mentioned above, I recommend the Jabra Engage 75 headset to anyone looking for a high-quality headset. For more details on the Jabra Engage 75, click here.
Note: In full disclosure, Jabra actually sent me the headset for free as part of an ongoing marketing partnership we have with them. That said, they didn’t ask me to write this, they didn’t know I was going to and they haven’t read this before posting.