Jabra Evolve 75 Review

Welcome to the review of the Jabra Evolve 75 headset. 

This is a noise cancelling headset so it’s perfect to use in noisy environments like at home if you have kids being loud in the background, working in a call center or if you work in an open office concept environment.

Body Design 

At first glance the body looks a little weak, but it’s surprisingly well built. Its mostly plastic construction doesn’t make me feel this headset would get damaged easily. 

The most important thing about the body design is how comfortable they are to wear. Even after wearing the headset for five hours straight, my ears don’t get sore (at all), and they don’t get too warm or sweaty. It’s incredibly comfortable to use. 

The top band has thick cushioning which should work great for people with little, to no hair.  

It’s an on the ear style headset and the leatherette on the ear cushions is thick enough to prevent any discomfort.  

At rest (while sitting on my shoulders around my neck and not my ears) the headset sits rather narrow but the flex is loose enough so when it’s on your head, it doesn’t apply much pressure to your ears. 

When resting the headset on your neck it’s rather easy to move your head in any direction including moving your head down. 

The ear cups also have decent rotation to accommodate various head structures and ear types. They’re able to rotate forward and back as well as up and down. 

The ear cups also have a decent extension reach to them so if you have a longer head, this headset will still be quite comfortable. 

Unfortunately, the bands don’t bend so you can’t collapse the body. That would have been a nice feature to have in case you want to pack them in your bag but don’t have the traveller’s pouch. 

MS and UC Version 

There are two versions to purchase of this headset which makes it really confusing but I’ll help break it down. There’s the MS version or the UC version. 

The MS version means it’s designed to seamlessly work with Microsoft tools such as Skype for Business. For example, when connecting the headset to your computer for the first time, Skype for Business will default the Evolve 75 as the main audio device for you. Another feature is if you’re receiving a Skype for Business call, the middle button on the right allows to press the button to answer or hang-up without any special setup. 

The UC version which stands for Unified Communication is for everything else such as Cisco Jabber, Zoom, Go-To Meeting, Webex, and even Microsoft Teams.

Long story short, avoid the MS version. For some reason some vendors will charge more for the MS version, even though on Jabra’s site the MS and UC versions are listed for the same price. 

Another reason for getting the UC version is that it works flawlessly with Teams including the answer and hung-up button. Also, if you’re using Skype for Business, it’s a lackluster tool compared to Teams. The MS version is more of a convenience gimmick, but the UC version can do just about the same thing for Microsoft tools and Skype for Business is fading away since Microsoft is pushing Teams on businesses. 

Noise Cancelling 

As mentioned, this is an active noise cancelling (ANC for short) headset. Simply putting them on while powered off already reduces background noise because this is an on-the-ear headset. Turning the headset on turns on ANC. It does a decent job of cancelling background noise. Not as good as the Sony WH-1000XM3, which is an outstanding headphone (link to that review here). The Evolve 75 does a decent job though, muffling out noise from the TV and my wife yelling at me (lol). 

ANC performance is the same whether you’re connected with Bluetooth or the USB receiver. 

Controls 

ANC can be turned off from the ANC button on the left earcup. The center button on the left mutes all volume and allows you to listen if someone walks up to and starts talking to you. That’s pretty much it for the left side. 

Focusing on the right ear now, there’s the power options to switch between powering off, Bluetooth or USB connectivity. Holding the switch against the Bluetooth function puts it in pairing mode. There’s a button to mute the microphone on the top, the other way to mute is to simply raise the mic arm a little. Lowering the mic arm unmutes. On the side are buttons to increase or decrease volume. 

While listening to music, holding volume up will go to the next track, holding volume down will go to the previous track.

Pressing the middle button will answer or hang up a call which works perfectly on Teams, Cisco Jabber, Zoom and Go-to Meeting in my testing. 

While on a call the headset rings on the side light up red, indicating you’re on a call which is awesome. This let’s people know you’re on a call and shouldn’t be disturbed. This feature worked well for me while on a Zoom, Teams, Cisco Jabber or Go-to meeting call. 

A subtle feature is that the USB receiver lights green when on a call, red then you’re muted and blue with no active call. 

Holding the middle button while playing music will play or pause a track. 

If you wish to, when the mic is raised, you can magnetically keep it in place. This is a completely optional feature.

Battery 

Unfortunately, the charging port is micro-USB fitting and not USB-C. 

The battery is consumed the fastest while using the microphone and ANC is active. I average about 14 hours talk time use on a single charge. It lasts longer when I’m not on a call. 

Jabra mentions it takes about 3 hours to charge the headset, but I tend to average 2 hours and 15 minutes. 

There is a charging stand that is sold separately but it’s one of those annoying ones that you must put the headset on perfectly on the charging port. This is due to the charging port that connects the headset sticking out, so you must put the port into the headset precisely. Wireless charging would have been preferred as an alternate method of recharging. 

Audio Quality 

The microphone has great clarity and is designed to silence background noise so the person on the other end of the call can hear you better. This works great in situations like a call center or a noisy café with a lot of background noise. The microphone does a decent job of cancelling out background noise. 

What’s interesting is that while on a call you can hear your own voice in the headset, this lets you know how loud you’re speaking. This is great when you have ANC on, this way you’ll know if you’re getting too loud. 

This headset is primarily designed for work use and if the person on the other end of the call has a decent microphone, the audio can sound crystal clear. 

I noticed that having the USB receiver plugged in improves the Evolve 75’s microphone quality slightly (it’s hard to notice). Quality of incoming audio is unaffected; it always sounds great. 

For listening to music, it’s it works surprisingly well for a headset. During my testing I noticed while ANC is on, that mids and highs sound great whereas bass is just slightly reduced. This was hardly noticeable, and I only noticed it since I thoroughly tested this headset. When ANC is off, you’ll barely notice that bass increases slightly. 

When it comes to playing action videos games or movies with explosions it sounds awesome. 

It’s surprising to me that a headset designed mainly for work purposes performances great for casual entertainment use. 

Software 

You can download firmware updates from Jabra’s website and there’s software called Jabra Direct that allows you to customize features like if the boom mic is up, it’ll mute the mic or not, turn off voice audio cues (like when the headset tells you battery time remaining when turning on the headset), bass settings and other features. Most importantly is that you can download firmware updates which can include bug fixes and might improve performance. 

There’s a Jabra app for cellphones called Jabra Sound+ but it doesn’t support the Evolve 75.