Wireless over-ear Skype/MS Teams Headset?

[Vanya]

Hi all,

Mods, apologies if this isn’t the right sub-forum, please feel free to move.

Ok, I’ve been looking for a good wireless headset for a while because my Jabra Elite 75t bluetooth earbuds are not working with Link/Skype or MS Teams.

I can be heard on the other end but I get no audio my end, as though the connection is always and only single channel and one direction.

I’ve gone through the settings without success yet my nasty-ish USB wired headset from work does function ok with both these applications without any set up at all.

I don’t want one of these call-centre looking headsets, I’m hoping to find one that’s more like an over-ear (not on-ear) headphones but with a microphone boom/arm thing.

Kind of like the gaming headset form factor but this is not for gaming use.

Is there a mid to high end solely wireless headset that does work in these applications?

The usage is mainly VOIP, budget is around £200 but I’d prefer not to go over £300.

Any suggestions or recommendations please?

[mikef]

Sorry, no recommendation for over-the-ear gaming-style headsets; as I'm currently on video conference calls 6 hours a day, neither would I want to be wearing my over-the-ears 'phones for anything like that long (although in theory I could do, with an external mike)

However, if you have that sort of budget and want the best MS Skype-optimised headset, look at the Plantronics Savi 8220-MS headset (sample vendor price)

This is a DECT headset, not a bluetooth one, meaning it has a range of 100m, not 10ft. The base-station connects to your computer via USB (or phone via bluetooth)

A couple of warnings:
- you see the headset advertised without base-station (if it's under £150, that's just the headset which is no use without base-station)
- make sure it's the 8220-MS model for Skype/Teams, there's another model not for Skype *
- there's also a single ear-cup model the 8210 for call-centre use. That's not the one you want

* if you've ever tried Skype with a regular bluetooth headset, you'll know that if the call starts with sound off, you don't have the headset button needed to turn it on

[Vanya]

Hi all,

Mods, apologies if this isn’t the right sub-forum, please feel free to move.

Ok, I’ve been looking for a good wireless headset for a while because my Jabra Elite 75t bluetooth earbuds are not working with Link/Skype or MS Teams.

I can be heard on the other end but I get no audio my end, as though the connection is always and only single channel and one direction.

I’ve gone through the settings without success yet my nasty-ish USB wired headset from work does function ok with both these applications without any set up at all.

I don’t want one of these call-centre looking headsets, I’m hoping to find one that’s more like an over-ear (not on-ear) headphones but with a microphone boom/arm thing.

Kind of like the gaming headset form factor but this is not for gaming use.

Is there a mid to high end solely wireless headset that does work in these applications?

The usage is mainly VOIP, budget is around £200 but I’d prefer not to go over £300.

Any suggestions or recommendations please?

[mmm-five]

I've used my Bose QC35 (series II) headphones the odd time I've forgotten the company-supplied Plantronics ones.

I find them much more comfortable for 2+ hour conference calls - and the noise-cancellation is great for noisier offices, although the cups remove a fair bit more background noise (even without the NC turned on...if you want to save battery) than the Plantronics.

Can be had for about £240-ish.

[The_Nugget]

Teams used to mess around with my settings all the time and I’d get similar. What I did was go into the Widows device/audio settings and remove any device apart from my headset. Now it works perfectly.

[ZesPak]

Vanya said:

I don’t want one of these call-centre looking headsets, I’m hoping to find one that’s more like an over-ear (not on-ear) headphones but with a microphone boom/arm thing.

Kind of like the gaming headset form factor but this is not for gaming use.

Is there a mid to high end solely wireless headset that does work in these applications?

The usage is mainly VOIP, budget is around £200 but I’d prefer not to go over £300.

Any suggestions or recommendations please?

I looked into this but wanted nice stereo sound for maybe some music.

In the end I bought a (gaming) Logitech G933 and it's been very good tbh. Open range is about 10m, a nice feature for meetings is that you can fold up the microphone which automatically triggers mute, and then fold it down again to start talking.
It looks big, but in black with the lights turned off it's quite discrete.

I use it for just about anything, including teams and skype. It IS a USB plug though.

[Vanya]

Okay, thanks guys, I’ll give those 2 a look.

Yeah, not sure how the duplicate post has appeared, it wasn’t there earlier when I checked.

Something maybe only mods will understand and they can get to use their special powers to remove the 2nd one.

[Vanya]

Thanks guys.

Maybe a mod can consolidate the 2 threads.

Nugget: I think I’d better recheck my windows and device settings... one more time!

Zespak: I’ve got that headset in my Amazon basket but was undecided to press the button, as I said I wasn’t after a gaming version. I’ll take closer check as I did quite like the look of them.

[Scrump]

Threads merged.

[sjg]

Have a browse through https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/micr...

I like the Plantronics Focus UC but much of the Jabra Evolve line is nice too.

Get one with the proper bluetooth dongle and use it! While things can work OK on many laptops using the native bluetooth paired directly to the device, so many quality issues these days are from flaky bluetooth on the PC side, particularly corporate laptops that haven't seen a driver update in years. Use the dongle and it's all on a separate dedicated bluetooth stack that's optimised for audio.

[tvrforever]

I use the Plantronics Voyager 8200 UC for 3-5hrs MS Teams video conf a day - and also for podcast listening whilst working (connects seamlessly to laptop & phone concurrently.

Find them very comfortable, microphones work very well, MS Teams certified and controls work fine...

[TurnedEmo]

Are there any Skype compatible BT headsets for under £50?

I tried a £20 set - the sound quality is fine, but it doesn't have the right buttons.

[fastraxx]

mmm-five said:

I've used my Bose QC35 (series II) headphones the odd time I've forgotten the company-supplied Plantronics ones.

I find them much more comfortable for 2+ hour conference calls - and the noise-cancellation is great for noisier offices, although the cups remove a fair bit more background noise (even without the NC turned on...if you want to save battery) than the Plantronics.

Can be had for about £240-ish.

I have these, I have heard complaints from people about background noise being louder with these, has anyone mentioned that to you? I can only get them to work in conference calls by dialling out to my mobile then answering it....can't seem to connect direct to laptop (my QC35's are bluetooth and think yours are too?)

[jimmyjimjim]

mikef said:

.... the best MS Skype-optimised headset, look at the Plantronics Savi 8220-MS headset (sample vendor price)

This is a DECT headset, not a bluetooth one, meaning it has a range of 100m, not 10ft. The base-station connects to your computer via USB (or phone via bluetooth)

I've an older version of this, and would recommend it. Good bit of kit.

[robbieduncan]

I also recommend Plantronics. I use a Savi 720. Yes it looks like a callcentre thing. But callcentre people sit with these on all shift: they have to be comfortable with long battery life so I'd recommend them! The Savi 720 is good as its DECT but also bluetooth so you can easily and quickly switch from computer to desk-phone to mobile phone

[mmm-five]

fastraxx said:

I have these, I have heard complaints from people about background noise being louder with these, has anyone mentioned that to you? I can only get them to work in conference calls by dialling out to my mobile then answering it....can't seem to connect direct to laptop (my QC35's are bluetooth and think yours are too?)

No-one's mentioned it specifically (QC35 Series II may be slightly different to the Series I?), but that could also be because the standard ones supplied by the company can pick up a colleagues voice from the other side of the office anyway.

Mine are regularly paired via bluetooth to the company laptop, iMac, iPad and iPhone - but I can only have 2 of them paired at the same time.

Some people have reported sound dropping out after a firmware upgrade, so I'm glad I didn't bother as everything was working on my so I didn't see the need to do the upgrade.

[Vanya]

mikef said:

Sorry, no recommendation for over-the-ear gaming-style headsets; as I'm currently on video conference calls 6 hours a day, neither would I want to be wearing my over-the-ears 'phones for anything like that long (although in theory I could do, with an external mike)

However, if you have that sort of budget and want the best MS Skype-optimised headset, look at the Plantronics Savi 8220-MS headset (sample vendor price)

This is a DECT headset, not a bluetooth one, meaning it has a range of 100m, not 10ft. The base-station connects to your computer via USB (or phone via bluetooth)

A couple of warnings:
- you see the headset advertised without base-station (if it's under £150, that's just the headset which is no use without base-station)
- make sure it's the 8220-MS model for Skype/Teams, there's another model not for Skype *
- there's also a single ear-cup model the 8210 for call-centre use. That's not the one you want

* if you've ever tried Skype with a regular bluetooth headset, you'll know that if the call starts with sound off, you don't have the headset button needed to turn it on

Sorry and thanks Mikef, I did read your reply yesterday but neglected to reply.

I see the benefit of one-ears if having them on for long shifts, not the case for me.

The longest conference call period shouldn’t exceed an hour very often.

That said, I don’t mind the sound of these, especially the range afforded by DECT connectivity.

[Vanya]

Scrump said:

Threads merged.

Many thanks Scrump.

[Vanya]

sjg said:

Have a browse through https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/micr...

I like the Plantronics Focus UC but much of the Jabra Evolve line is nice too.

Get one with the proper bluetooth dongle and use it! While things can work OK on many laptops using the native bluetooth paired directly to the device, so many quality issues these days are from flaky bluetooth on the PC side, particularly corporate laptops that haven't seen a driver update in years. Use the dongle and it's all on a separate dedicated bluetooth stack that's optimised for audio.

Thanks SJG.

The Plantronics does also look interesting even if on-ear.

The Jabra Evolve2 85 is appealing too but getting pricey.

[Vanya]

Thanks for all the responses guys, a bit more research needed, not too much though hopefully.

The Plantronics Backbeat Pro2 are looking favourite at the moment but seriously tempted by the Jabra Evolve2 85, PH man maths needs to be applied here otherwise I can’t justify the extra 100 quid approx.