Using USB-C on the headset is an intelligent choice, as there isn’t a wrong way to insert the cable, and it’s a very positive connection. It also allows those that use a USB-C charged laptop to charge the headset using the same charger. In use The headset can be connected to two of the paired devices at the same time. You can only connect another device by disconnecting one of the already connected devices.

Pairing ADAPT 360 - EPOS Pairing ADAPT 360 - EPOS

The strengths of this design are the excellent battery life, Microsoft Teams certification and how they’ve been optimised for UC. With both these standards in play, they should work well with most conferencing applications and softphones without requiring much effort on the part of the user. Bluetooth is the main connection type, either to Bluetooth device such as smartphone, or via the included USB Bluetooth dongle. An audio cable is provided for hardwired use. When this cable is in use the Bluetooth is not employed. A USB-A or USB-C cable is included for charging. ADAPT 360 models include USB-A, and ADAPT 361 include USB-C. When the microphone arm isn't required, and it can be stowed inside the band with a small retaining divot making it much easier to place inside the carry bag without the boom interfering. The arm also can come out in either direction, making it possible to reverse the control and inputs side. The dongle LED flashes blue while searching and switches to dimmed blue when connected successfully to the headset.

The ‘Ultra noise-cancelling’ microphone filters out ambient noise while the neodymium magnet speakers offer EPOS ActiveGard technology to apply a 118dB maximum to protect the listener from acoustic injury cause by sudden spikes in audio level. When the headset is connected via USB, charging is indicated by a small coloured LED near the power button, and it changes colour according to the battery capacity. Red for less than 20%, purple for between 20% and 60%, and blue for over 60%. When it reaches 100%, the LED turns off, which is the least helpful it could be. Nearby is the action button, which has various functions depending on what the headset is doing. For example, those using Microsoft Teams can answer a call with it. And, for those crazy enough to be using Cortana, it can fire off that technology ready to do your bidding. We’d of liked better noise-cancelling and more comfort, but depending on where you intend to use them and for how long, they are more than acceptable for the majority of users. Our perception of noise-cancelling in these devices has been recently coloured by reviewing the Bose 700 UC, which given the price of those, might be an unkind comparison.

EPOS Adapt 260 review: An extremely agile headset that is

Press and hold the dongle's button and the headset's power button until the LEDs alternatively flashes blue and red. Once the dongle and the headset are connected, the dongle lights up dimmed blue. Maybe they’re not the most comfortable cans we’ve worn, but they’re good in enough ways to easily justify this expenditure. It's difficult to determine if the limited upper range is a bi-product of processing for voice clarity, but that looks like a likely scenario. These things said, listening to music on these isn’t a bad experience, but it isn’t one that audiophiles would run to embrace either. The headphones have leatherette ear pads for comfort over long periods of use, with the built-in 3.7V DC lithium polymer battery providing standby power of up to 62days, listening time of up to 46hours, and talking time of up to 39hours (each with ANC turned off). Charge time is 2hours and 30minutes. Enable Bluetooth on your mobile device and start the search for Bluetooth devices – see instruction manual of your mobile device.This single sided headset offers ‘exceptional wearing comfort’ along with a higher quality audio output than the ADAPT 100 series headsets. Optional accessories: HZP 50 ear pad, HPH 01 hygiene cover, HPH 02 hygiene cover, USB CC 6X5 spare USB cable. The LED flashes 2 times blue as soon as the headset finds a device to connect to. The LED turns off. Specifically, the righthand side of the headset is dominants control, and to achieve this, it is physically larger. The difference is only about 3mm if measured from the outside of the band to the inside of the cushion. That’s enough to place the controls around the right earpiece and squeeze the microphone boom on the inside of the band. To transmit data via Bluetooth, you first have to pair your headset to a wireless device. The delivered dongle is already paired with the headset.

EPOS IMPACT 200 - EPOS

We didn’t get that much, but it will certainly get you through more than a couple of days of use without needing to recharge. And, a full recharge doesn’t take more than a couple of hours. There are few aspects of these Adapt 260 that we need to discuss under the banner of useability. Let’s start with how easy they are to use. In addition to the headset, EPOS also included a USB Bluetooth dongle and a USB charging cable that’s USB-A at the computer end and USB-C on the headset. Probably one of the best features of these, when compared with other Bluetooth headphones, is the battery life, with a quoted talk time of 27 hours. This single-sided headset design offers 3.5mm/USB termination along with inline call control functionality, and is optimised for UC (Universal Communication) use and Skype via PC.But we’d missed one tiny image on the product notes that indicated that the speaker elements could move in a groove on the inside of the band. Using the provided Bluetooth dongle, the headset is automatically connected once you insert that into a running system and power them on. The power button is also the Bluetooth pairing button, so if you need to pair it to a different adapter, you can initiate that process with the same button. The headset complies with the Bluetooth 5.0 standard. Bluetooth devices need to support the “Hands-Free Profile” (HFP), the “Headset Profile” (HSP), “Audio Video Remote Control Profile” (AVRCP) or the “Advanced Audio Distribution Profile” (A2DP). Initially, this was bearable, but after wearing these for around three hours, the amount of friction started to make them less than comfortable, and the thought of wearing them for a whole working day wasn’t a pleasant one. Press and hold the Power button until the LED flashes blue and red. The headset is in pairing mode.

EPOS | EPOS Connect app EPOS | EPOS Connect app

The headset can save up to eight paired devices. If you pair the headset with a ninth device, the device with the oldest activity in the pairing list will be overwritten. If you want to re-establish a connection with this device, you have to pair it again. The headsets are optimised for UC use and are Microsoft Teams certified. A dedicated button the headset allows the user to launch Teams on a connected computer when the USB dongle is used. Firmware and headphone management can be updated via the EPOS Manager and EPOS Connect software. After we’d bathed in its design aesthetic, we noticed a few interesting choices that EPOS made that run counter to what we’ve seen elsewhere. And, the final control is a toggle switch that is mostly intended to change the volume setting. The problem with this not being a dial is that it jumps 10% of the volume setting with each push, making it difficult to configure the perfect settings without using a slider bar in Windows.

Conferencing

Your writer's head bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Kryton from Red Dwarf, and with the Apapt 260 positioned with the drivers directly over my ears, the top of the band didn’t touch the top of my head. Once I’d adjusted the band, it did fit better but the cushioning on the centre of the band directly on top of my head wasn’t enough to compensate for the curvature of my skull. EPOS ADAPT 200 series headsets have been designed to offer comfort and connectivity, with models allowing Bluetooth connection to two devices simultaneously. All 200 series headsets have dynamic, closed design, and include leatherette ear-pads which aid passive noise dampening. The headphones are limited by EPOS ActiveGard protection which is set at 118dB SPL.