Headphones are becoming increasingly popular among customers who want a wholesome audio experience, and the fact that a good pair of headphones blocks out noise quite well is a bonus too. Jabra is known for making audio equipment and the Evolve 75 is one from the company’s product lineup.

The Jabra Evolve 75, however, is not primarily positioned at people looking for something just to listen to music. It is aimed at establishments like call centres where Jabra competes with the likes of Sennheiser, Plantronics and Logitech.

To start with, the Evolve 75 comes in a cardboard package, which is not the easiest box to store it in. However, Jabra has provided an oval protective carry-on case, which is more compact and made of strong plastic. This black-coloured bluethooth-enabled headset comes with the standard usual stuff. The box contains Jabra Link 370, a USB adapter, charging stand, and a USB cable.

Features like noise cancellation, something that Bose has pioneered, works well on the Evolve. The product brochure peddles geeky terms like passive and active noise cancelling. Passive Noise Cancellation is the noise that headphones block out based on the physical design of the earcups and helps the user hear less of unwanted ambient noises. It is a standard feature in almost every earpiece these days. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), on the other hand, is something that needs attention and the Evolve 75 does a very decent job in reducing unwanted ambient sounds using active noise control techniques.

When used for talking, it eliminates almost all ambinet sounds and one can’t hear even the hum of the air-conditioning. There is also a feature with which red lights on both cups are activated automatically when on a call or can also be manually activated to act as a ‘do not disturb’ signal.

Jabra has innovated with features that allow a person to listen and at the same time not miss out on conversations with colleagues. By pressing the left ear cup once, you can hear sounds from outsidewithout having to take off your headset; a handy feature in call centres, no doubt.

The mike is sharp and adjustible with good ergonomics and can be retracted in case you want to listen to music.

However, when it comes to just listening to music, the Evolve 75 does not match up to Bose’s SoundLink, which comes within the same price range. I tried listening to the music of French electronic music artist Jean-Michel Jarre. His seminal work, Magnetic Fields, which was composed using sampling as musical elements, is one of its kind and while the Evolve 75 captured the essence of the album, it somehow was unable to capture Jarre’s eclectic combination of symphonic multi-layered electronic sounds, with deft percussion.

Other features on the Evolve 75 include Bluetooth connectivity with two devices, which can be connected at the same time for calls and music.

Jabra has assumed that people listen to their music and take calls on separate devices, which could only be in certain cases, as most people listen to music on their phones.

Also, while the brochure claims that the headphones can move up to 100 feet away from a connected device, during the review, the sound started sputtering at a distance of around 30 feet.

On Flipkart, the Evolve is priced at ₹19,000. For almost the same price, one can get the Bose SoundLink.

Customers would do well to weigh what they will use this device for, before making a choice.

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