Sound quality is often overlooked at work, but if working from home has taught me anything, it's that clear communication with colleagues and friends as well as being able to effectively listen without distractions is incredibly important.
At the end of 2019, Demant A/S and Sennheiser electronic announced that their joint venture would evolve in new set-ups. The joint venture ended in 2020 and while the business segment of Mobile Music headsets stayed part of the Sennheiser Consumer business, Enterprise Solutions and Gaming headsets evolved as a new independent company, EPOS, under the global audio and hearing technology group Demant.
The Adapt range is aimed at professionals wanting the highest level of performance and the 660 claims to offer the best audio experience, however you work, without compromise.
The Adapt 660 means business with its attractive matte black no-nonsense design and no LEDs, garish colours, patterns or logo in sight.
It features a simple, modern, especially sleek design for a pair of over-ear headphones, and feels comfortable without being too boxy or bulky.
The soft, memory foam ear cups balance a tight seal without pinching or being uncomfortable. It’s pleasant to wear for an extended period of time and didn’t get too hot or sweaty.
The overhead band is slightly flexible and is covered in soft leather so doesn’t put too much pressure on your ears or your head.
The 660 is also very light at only 227g making it very easy to wear, better for your neck and very easy to carry.
They also are slightly lighter when compared to Bose and Sony headsets around the same range. Despite the very light weight they are well-built and deceptively strong.
You can also conveniently fold the headphones down to a flat profile making them easy to store and pick up on the go.
A soft case is also provided, and while it is handy it only provides limited protection when placed in a backpack or bag with a laptop, batteries and other objects.
The 660 is easy to set up and offers multiple ways to connect. There's a wireless option via Bluetooth 5.0 or via the USB dongle provided, or you can even use the AUX input and a cable to connect to a 35mm jack if, like me, you sometimes want to be old school or save power.
This versatility meant I could effortlessly switch devices all the time, from desktop to my work MacBook and my Android phone with no issues.
I could also connect to multiple devices at the same time, allowing me to listen to music while not worrying about missing calls.
The range of the headset is up to 25 meters if you are unobstructed, meaning you can stay connected to your call when you are far from your device.
To turn them on, you just rotate the ear cups slightly until they make a satisfying click sound, this is cool, but the only downside is when I sometimes forgot to click them back into the off position.
Intuitive touch controls on the sides of the cups allow you to play, pause, skip as well and change the volume and answer and end calls.
Using the Epos Connect app you can change equaliser profiles and change some of the advanced settings. It was easy to use but not essential for using the headset.
The 660 has seriously impressive stamina with the battery lasting a mighty 30 hours and the 700mAh lithium-Ion battery took just under 3 hours to fully charge.
The long battery life makes these the perfect headphones for all day use They are not only useful for work calls in the office, but you’ll keep them on for your commute home.
The call clarity was superb and is enhanced by Epos AI machine learning. Attendees to meetings sounded precise and clear, while my input was sharp and nicely isolated from background noise, so on my calls I was always clearly heard.
Any sounds like another meeting going on around me - and even my child yelling - were more muted. But the more noise the headset filters out, the lower the quality of your audio as the headset has to perform more tricks to make your voice clear.
The quality of the audio was astounding for music and video. High tones, mid and bass all sounded crystal clear and perfectly balanced without one overshadowing another.
Helping you stay organised, the 660 supports the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant so that you can listen to weather reports, news briefings or podcasts which can be handy if you are already invested in the Amazon ecosystem.
You can also press a dedicated button to launch Microsoft Teams, allowing you to jump straight into calls with the dongle.
In a busy office (especially a newsroom) it can be impossible to not have your concentration broken by loud noise, and the same can be said from working from home, especially around children.
Along with the passive noise cancelling from the cups sitting over your ears the 660 can dial down background noise with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and these cancel out lower frequency sound waves.
There’s also a switch to switch between the ANC noise-cancelling modes (or simply turn it off). Adaptive mode adjusts noise reduction based on your surroundings, while the Maximum mode is for when you really need quiet time.
Using its very clever hybrid adaptive noise filter algorithm and 4 microphones located on inner and outer portions of the earcups, they listen and adapt to ambient noise to reduce unwanted sound, isolating you and allowing you to concentrate better.
The sound cancelling is the most impressive feature of the headphones, being the most effective I’ve ever used.
Another impressive feature of this headset is Adaptive Beamforming Microphones.
Using 3 enhanced microphones together, this constantly tunes the directionality of the microphone system for optimal speech pick up in noisy environments and effectively imitates a front-mounted microphone.
Verdict
While the Adapt 660 is expensive, it definitely feels like a more refined experience, giving you unparalleled audio fidelity, and microphone clarity with exceptional noise cancelling.
The best feature of the Epos/Sennheiser Adapt 660 is its versatility as you are no longer chained to your desk, allowing you to be on the move, co-ordinate with colleagues better, multitask more effectively and focus in most distracting environments.
The Epos/Sennheiser Adapt 660 is the most advanced and precise headset I’ve ever used, providing consistently clear communication allowing you to concentrate and suffer fewer distractions.
The EPOS Sennheiser Adapt 660 is out now for £329.99
