Headset For Remote, and Hybrid Workers: Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex

If perception is reality, then you’re about to get a dose of both; my perception of Jabra’s new Bluetooth Evolve2 65 Flex headset, and the reality of it being one that you really need to seriously consider.

Jabra recently rolled out with this new headset. No big news there, right?  After all, Jabra is a bit over the top when it comes to rolling out new products, And though a new Jabra headset release may be something to crow about, this new Evolve2 65 Flex takes crowing to a new level because I have to say, this is one headset that you really need to stop and take notice of.

In this blog, I’m going to talk about the usual stuff like the technology behind the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex and its features, but I’ll also let you know how comfortable it is, and of equal importance, how it sounds. Sound and comfort are two of the most important things that our customers tell us they look for in a headset. So with that in mind, let’s unpack this new headset and find out what it’s all about starting with our review video for those who'd rather watch than read.

to begin, before Covid, most of us worked in offices. But, once covid hit, many of us found ourselves abruptly working from home, and for obvious reasons.. Fast forward to today, and there’s a lot of talk about a “return to the office.” This means those who’ve been working from home, and in the PJ's will now be making the trek into the office including that dreaded commute. Others might end up with a more hybrid work schedule where some days will be spent working in the office, and others working remotely

No matter where you end up working, the Evolve2 65 Flex by Jabra is the perfect companion, offering the flexibility for both office and remote work. And, this new Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex headset is the perfect travel partner. Here’s why.

Your new travel buddy

Unlike other headsets that get squeezed into travel cases, the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex headset folds down neatly for easy storage. Not only do the ear speakers fold down flat, but the ear speaker housing has a hinge that allows them to fold up. This makes placing the headset into the carry case super easy.

When folded, it’s about half the size of other headsets, and though this collapsible design is like that on the Evolve2 85, the 65 is noticeably smaller as you'll see below.

With the footprint being smaller, that means it's going to take up less space in your bag, which gives you more room for all your other stuff. 

Microphone that has you covered, literally

Hey, let’s be honest.  When you’re on important calls, you want to sound your best, and for sure you don’t want your callers hearing that noise going on in your background. the Evolve2 65 Flex handles both of these situations with ease. 

Jabra packed six microphones into the Evolve2 65 Flex (two analog, and four digital), which they call ClearVoice. They married those microphones to a new chipset, and specially designed algorithm that delivers some impressive voice audio. So if sounding good is what you’re after, look no further than this headset because the truth is, it sounds great. But don’t take my word for it, have a listen to this short clip from our review video on our sound test, and decide for yourself. 

When the microphone isn’t needed, it stows neatly away in a compartment in the ear speaker housing. This keeps the microphone boom out of the way when you’re listening to podcasts or music. But when it’s needed, simply drop it down and you’re ready to go. Raising the microphone boom arm will mute the microphone, and when it’s dropped back down, the microphone is turned back on. The MS variant will also automatically mute your Microsoft Teams application automatically as well.

 And before we leave the subject of sound, let’s not overlook the sound you’re hearing in your workplace, because up until now, the sound I’ve talked about has centered on voice audio quality and removing sounds that you don’t want your callers to hear. But what about the sounds you hear? Are those noises interrupting your concentration, and not allowing you to be as productive as you might otherwise be?

Workplace noises can be distracting, and when you get distracted it’s easy to lose your concentration which can affect your productivity. So whether it’s noisy coworkers, the sounds of office equipment, babies, dogs, landscapers or car noise, they can all prevent you from staying focused on your work.

Smartly, Jabra engineered a feature called Active Noise Cancellation into the Evolve2 65 Flex by Jabra, helping you stay focused no matter your environment. This feature works to electronically cancel out unwanted room noises so you can stay focused on your work. Active Noise Cancellation, or ANC, can be thought of as an "anti-noise" feature because it works to counteract room noises.

Some headsets that offer Active Noise Cancellation only give you the ability to turn it on, or off which leaves you with no control over how much your room noise is reduced. The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex gives you more, well, flexibility to control the noise you want to eliminate. You get to decide how much noise to filter out because it comes with low, medium and high settings. More isn’t always better, but in this case I’m making an exception. And if you need to make more adjustments, this can be done through the Jabra Direct Software.

A new way of hearing

HearThrough, which some brands call Transparency, is a relatively new feature on business headsets. The short explanation of HearThrough is that you don’t have to remove the headset in order to have a conversation with a coworker, or hear what’s going on in your surroundings.  Without HearThrough you have to take off your headset everytime you want to have a conversation with someone, or hear the sounds going on around you.

HearThrough is activated by pressing a button on the side of the headset, which in turn activates microphones that pick up the sounds from your surroundings. That sound is piped into the headset ear speakers which allow you to hear. No more taking off your headset multiple times throughout the day when you want to talk to someone, or hear your environment. This feature solves a problem for those who find removing their headset throughout the day to be annoying.

Another benefit of the HearThrough feature is when you’re outside and on a call, or listening to music. HearThrough allows you to be aware of the things around you like cars, sirens and other things that can help keep you safe and out of harm's way.

Pump up the volume

Even though the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex has a slim profile, does that mean that it’s not capable of delivering good audio? When I saw this headset for the first time, that’s what I thought. After all, with those two skinny little ear cups, my thought was you really couldn’t have much in the way of speaker technology in that small space to deliver good sound quality for music. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my perception was wrong.

The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex comes with 28mm ear speakers that deliver decent sound. The highs and mid ranges were crisp, and there was enough of a bass thump to feel satisfied. All in all, I’d say that most people would find the sound quality in this headset to be pleasing.

Comfort wins the day

You can have the best sounding headset, one that makes you sound like a rock God, and cuts your background noise like a Ninja Warrior. But if your headset isn’t comfortable, do you really have a good headset? In my way of thinking, you don’t because you need both; good sound quality, and comfort. I’ve covered sound, so how comfortable is this headset?

Let’s start out with weight.  Weight matters when it comes to things worn over the head. If you’re on calls that can go on for hours, you really don’t want a headset that’s uncomfortable. Fortunately, that’s not something you need to worry about with the Evolve2 65 Flex. This headset weighs only 4.8 ounces which makes it  one of the lightest double ear headsets available today.

Compared to the Jabra Evolve2 65, and the Evolve2 75, it’s about 30-40% lighter. For long term wearing, weight matters.

Can’t get enough cush

Besides the weight of a headset, the cushions play an important role in your overall comfort. Some headsets take a shortcut and skimp on the amount of cushion they give you, and in some cases, use inferior materials. Those are things you won’t get with the Evolve2 65 Flex because Jabra incorporated what they call Air Comfort Technology into every one of these headsets. 

So what is Air Comfort Technology anyway?  A bunch of marketing hype? Based on what Jabra states, and also based on our own assessment, it’s a lot of air. And I mean that in the most complimentary, and comfortable way. Here’s what I mean by that. Jabra took a fresh look at the materials and approach used in creating a comfortable headset wearing experience. Specifically they looked at these things:

• The cushion on the headband
• The ear cushions
• The earcup design, and the materials used inside the earcups

The headband, and ear cushions are the result of years of research and development by Jabra Engineers. The headband for example, uses a new perforated design that helps to distribute pressure more evenly across the top of the head, and it's made of some very soft material. The 10 second video below shows how play the headband cushion has.

The ear cushions use a new pattern, and new materials that also help to distribute pressure across the ears more evenly. And the inside of the ear cups have been layered with a softer, more responsive material that’s designed to relieve pressure on the ears.

When you put this headset on, you’ll quickly notice the value of these seemingly small details. But as they say; “the little things don’t make any difference, they make all the difference.” And in this instance, these little things make a big difference.

The ear cushions are extremely soft, and squish really well. They sort of mold to the contour of your ear, just like the headband cushion.

And when you combine these Air Comfort Technology features together with its light weight, you’ll quickly appreciate the thought that went into making this new headset, especially if you wear a headset for long periods of time.

Bottom line is I’d like to give some high praise for what Jabra accomplished with these comfort features. The differences are noticeable when compared to other headsets, and these new features really help to make this headset comfortable.

Power to the People

For music the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex gives you 32 hours with the Active Noise Cancellation feature off, and 21 hours with ANC on

For talking, you can expect to get up to 20 hours with ANC and the busy light off, and up to 15 hours with ANC and the busy light on.

Recharge time is 120 minutes which is pretty standard for most Bluetooth wireless headsets. And 30 minutes on the charger will give you a 45% charge which is pretty good.

You have two ways to recharge the Evolve2 65 Flex:

1. You can recharge the headset by plugging it into the included USB cable
2. You can purchase the optional wireless charger that lets you recharge your headset or smartphone wirelessly.

You’ll find on one of the headset ear cups a lightning bolt icon which tells you that’s the side of the headset to place onto the wireless charger.

Otherwise, you have the ability to plug it in for recharging with the choices between USB-A or USB-C cables. The upcharge for the optional wireless charger is $50.00.

Wired, or wireless, your choice. A point worth mentioning is the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex is able to be used even when it’s plugged in for a battery recharge. This means you’ll have use of your headset even if the battery is dead. Many Bluetooth headsets aren't able to be used when the battery is being charged, so it’s another point that helps to make the Evolve2 65 Flex a compelling choice.

Going the distance

Bluetooth wireless headsets normally provide up to 100 feet of wireless range, with a typical usable range of 50-60 feet. The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex is rated up to 100 feet, so it’s inline with other competing Bluetooth headsets.

When you begin walking, and putting distance between your headset, and what it’s connected to, you’ll encounter barriers such as walls, doors, windows, partitions, and other obstructions that weaken the signal. As a result, this weakened signal shortens the range.

Wireless range estimates are normally based on line of sight, or open field, which honestly doesn't replicate what we all encounter in every day use. That said, the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex should give you between 50-60 feet of range in most cases.

Compatibility and optimization

The  Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex is designed, and optimized for use with the leading UC platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom. So whichever platform you use, this headset should work with it without any issues.

Being optimized for Teams, Meet and Zoom means you have the ability to control the software right from the headset. For example, when using the Teams version of the Evolve2 65  Flex, you can launch a Teams call, mute the microphone, or answer/end calls without having to do this from within the software. While on this subject, it’s important to note that the Evolve2 65 Flex comes in two versions:

1. MS Teams
2. UC

For those who use Microsoft Teams as their company standard communications platform, the MS Teams version would be your best choice. This is because you have the headset controls I just mentioned. 

For those who use a combination of UC platforms such as Teams, Zoom, RingCentral or others, it’s best to select the UC variant. This isn’t to say that when you do, you won’t be able to use it with Teams, because you can, but you won’t have the ability to take and end calls, launch a Teams call, or mute the microphone straight from the headset.

Connectivity

The Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex follows the same basic connectivity pattern common to most Bluetooth headsets. That is, you can connect it to a computer with the included USB adapter, or wirelessly via Bluetooth, if the computer is Bluetooth enabled. Although, connecting via an adapter is better because you’ll get:

• A better wireless connection
• A connection that can give you longer wireless range
• Better audio quality
• Remote call answering on popular UC platforms such as Teams

With the Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex, you can maintain a connection to 8 total devices, and it will allow 2 simultaneously which gives you the ability to toggle between them. For example, you can use the Evolve2 65 Flex with a computer, and then switch over to your mobile device. And while I’m on the subject of switching between devices, most headsets that we test take between 3-5 seconds for this handoff. However, with the Evolve2 65 Flex, it switched over noticeably faster than any other headset we’ve tested to date. 

Software makes the hardware

Like many Jabra products, the Evolve2 65 Flex can be customized through the available Jabra software applications that include:

Jabra Sound+

Jabra Direct

Jabra Xpress

So whether you want to customize your headset, get the most access to all the latest features and updates, or just have one place to view, update and control your devices across your enterprise, you’ll want to check out these different free software downloads.

Overall impression

So what’s my overall impression of the new Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex? Well, I’m pretty sure you're getting the idea that I like this headset. And if that’s your perception, you’d be right. Remember what I said at the beginning of this blog; perception is reality. 

 I like this headset for a lot of good reasons, like:

• The small, lightweight, and thin profile
• That it folds down to a small size, and fits into a small travel case taking up less space
• The microphone boom arm stows away, out of sight when its not needed
• That when you raise the microphone boom arm it automatically mutes the microphone
• How the ear speakers sound
• How the microphone sounds,  and how well it removes background noise.
• That it has a busy light built in so others know when you’re on a call
• That you can use the headset with the included cable even when the battery is being recharged
• That it gives you multiple levels of Active Noise Cancellation, and HearThrough features
• That you can get a wireless charger to recharge the headset and Smartphone

But like with all headsets, this one isn’t perfect. So here’s my list of things that I don't like about the Evolve2 65 Flex.

So there you have it, my list of dislikes. 

Aside from those that don’t prefer wearing a headset over their head, this is darn near the perfect headset for those that are fine with that wearing style.

Pricing

No review would be complete without at least a mention of pricing. So here’s what you need to know about cost.

Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex without the wireless charger

$329.00 - 2-year warranty

Jabra Evolve2 65 with the wireless charger

$389.00 - 2-year warranty

Pricing Part II

1. Discounts anyone? If you’re into discounts,and who isn’t, then make sure to use COUPON CODE BLOG when shopping on our website. So make sure to use this coupon code to get a nice discount at checkout.

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2. Buying for a team? If you’re buying 10 or more headsets, reach out to us and one of our helpful Advisors will assist you in getting bulk pricing.

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3. Have old headsets? If you're replacing your current headsets, or you have a box of them in your storeroom just gathering dust, why not convert those into cash or credit towards new ones? 

Headset Advisor has a unique trade-in program that helps you to remove clutter, while reducing the price on your new headsets. Here's where you can get more information on this program.

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4. Prefer a monthly plan over buying? Headset Advisor offers an affordable, flexible headsets-as-a-service program that keeps your technology fresh, while keeping your monthly rate low. Contact us today to learn more.

Have questions, or need some help?

Headset Advisor has been assisting customers with their communication needs since 1994. So if you have questions, or would like a tailored recommendation that’s guaranteed to be compatible with your system, contact us today and one of our friendly, and knowledgeable Advisors will be happy to help.