For a variety of us, the pandemic has meant working from house, and this example is constant properly into 2021. An integral a part of a variety of our jobs is attending on-line conferences and video conferences. However, this entails with the ability to hear and communicate clearly; you want a very good pair of headphones for this. Most headphones immediately are targeted extra on the music expertise, and business-friendly choices for voice communications are significantly much less widespread, significantly in India.
That modified with Epos, a Danish enterprise and gaming targeted audio model, launching in India. One of the corporate’s first merchandise is the Epos Adapt 560, a pair of wi-fi headphones that’s targeted on voice communications and co-developed with Sennheiser. Priced at Rs. 29,990, that is an costly pair of headphones, particularly provided that it is made for a really particular use case. Does it ship sufficient by the use of options to justify the worth? Find out in our assessment.
The Sennheiser logos sit proper under the bigger Epos logos on the neckband of the Adapt 560Â
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Foldable increase microphone and ANC on the Epos Adapt 560
While the worth would recommend that you simply’re shopping for over-ear headphones, the Epos Adapt 560 has an on-ear design that is usually seen on extra reasonably priced fashions. There’s additionally energetic noise cancellation, which usually advantages from the higher noise isolation of over-ear match headphones, so the design does come throughout as a bit odd, every little thing thought of. The Adapt 560 is comfy because of gentle padding and its low weight, however I wasn’t too impressed with its capacity to isolate background noise.
The headphones have been co-developed with German specialist model Sennheiser. You can see its logos proper under the Epos logos on either side of the headscarf, and certainly Sennheiser’s distinct styling and ergonomics are evident within the headset itself. However, that is a wholly plastic headset, and appears far too fundamental given the Rs. 29,990 price ticket.
The Epos Adapt 560 has all its controls and ports alongside the underside of the precise ear cup. There is a sliding button to regulate playback and quantity, a devoted button for answering calls, the facility button, a devoted button for ANC, and a USB Type-C port for charging and wired use. I discovered all of them a bit onerous to handle at occasions. Even after a number of days of use, my muscle reminiscence nonetheless wasn’t skilled to seek out the precise button once I wanted it.
Unlike most common music-focused headphones which have microphones inside the ear cups, the Epos Adapt 560 has a foldable increase microphone that extends outwards when wanted, and could be stowed away virtually flush with the ear cup when not in use. It’s plastic like the remainder of the headset, and clicks into place when stowed. This guarantees to make voice pickup clearer and extra correct, and I’ll get into the precise efficiency of the microphone a bit later on this assessment.
Connectivity is thru Bluetooth 5 for smartphones and tablets. The gross sales bundle additionally consists of an Epos BTD 800 USB dongle for units corresponding to computer systems and laptops which may not have Bluetooth in-built. This additionally permits the headphones to keep up simultaneous connections with a smartphone and a USB gadget. You can join to 2 Bluetooth units concurrently, with or with out the dongle, together with laptops with Bluetooth in-built.
When stowed, the microphone of the Epos Adapt 560 sits almost flush with the headset
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A button on the dongle is alleged to permit fast launching of the Microsoft Teams app, however I could not get this to work on my MacBook Air. The headphones instantly and routinely linked to the dongle for me with none pairing course of. Apart from Microsoft Teams certification, there’s additionally assist for the SBC, AAC, and aptX Bluetooth codecs.
The Epos Adapt 560 gives wonderful battery life, working for round 34 hours with music enjoying when linked to a smartphone, on a single cost. With on a regular basis use for round 6-7 hours a day of music, calls, and different audio, I estimate that the headphones will run for round 4 days on a single cost. Charging is sluggish although, with the headset taking almost 4 hours to cost totally.
The Epos Adapt 560 is nice for calls and productiveness, not too good for music
Most of the headphones we assessment are music-focused, and the Epos Adapt 560 is a uncommon exception, meant for issues aside from music. With the first use case for such a headset being calls and voice communications, that is what I targeting for this assessment. I examined the headphones with iOS and Android smartphones, and likewise used the dongle for connectivity with my MacBook Air laptop computer. While I used to be in a position to make use of Bluetooth to hook up with my laptop computer, I discovered that utilizing the dongle made for faster connectivity.
The Epos Adapt 560 is superb as a hands-free headset, and I had good experiences with each a smartphone and a pc. The sound tuning makes for clear voices, which have been straightforward to listen to and perceive no matter whether or not I used a mobile or fastened house Internet connection. The increase microphone proved to be wonderful, making certain that my voice was picked up precisely and clearly for the particular person on the opposite finish of the decision.
This voice-focused sonic signature additionally makes the Epos Adapt 560 excellent for dialogue-heavy content material, corresponding to tutorial movies, podcasts, and even many varieties of films. I discovered this fairly helpful as my job usually entails watching this sort of content material, and having the headset all the time linked to each my smartphone and laptop computer made this a part of work so much simpler. Furthermore, gadget switching was virtually seamless, and the headset managed to change the audio sign to the gadget I wished to listen to from almost each time in simply a few seconds.
While the Epos Adapt 560 handles communications capably, the identical cannot be stated of the music listening expertise. Interestingly, the aptX Bluetooth codec is supported on this gadget and I did attempt it with a appropriate Android smartphone to see if this made a major distinction to the music expertise, however this wasn’t the case. The sonic signature made for a quite plain and peculiar sound that’s workable for the occasional monitor you may need to hearken to, however the Adapt 560 definitely is not meant for use for lots of music.
Although wonderful for communications, the Epos Adapt 560 is lower than ultimate for listening to music
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Listening to a high-resolution model of Golden Brown by The Stranglers with the aptX Bluetooth codec in use, I discovered an absence of character within the music, and not one of the element and drive that I’d normally count on from a high-end wi-fi headset. The instrumentals at the beginning of the monitor, which sound fantastically cohesive and detailed on the Sony WH-1000XM4 have been rather more plain on the Epos Adapt 560.
Active noise cancellation on the Epos Adapt 560 is respectable; there was a noticeable discount within the typical background sounds I hear in my house workplace, and even a faint drop in sounds corresponding to voices and the tv within the background. That stated, this is not class-leading energetic noise cancellation by any means. It’s extra carefully corresponding to the mid-range ANC provided by headphones and earphones priced at round Rs. 15,000. It’s additionally value mentioning right here that the on-ear design reduces among the effectiveness of the energetic noise cancellation.
Verdict
Given that almost all wi-fi headphones are music-focused, Epos has a quite distinctive product on its fingers with the Adapt 560. This is a headset that’s unashamedly meant for communications, however is not as particular in its design and have set as most enterprise or enterprise audio merchandise. Instead, it is a productivity-centric gadget that appears, feels, and works like every retail wi-fi headset. It’s wonderful for its core function of communications, with nice connectivity choices and battery life that’s among the many greatest in its section.
However, all of this nonetheless is not sufficient to justify the Rs. 29,999 price ticket, in my view. The on-ear design, peculiar ANC efficiency, and lack of flexibility for music makes this a distinct segment product that not lots of people will actually see the purpose of. Even those that do may assume many occasions earlier than spending this a lot cash on such a purpose-built product. It may maybe be extra value contemplating an all-round headset such because the Sony WH-1000XM4, which gives higher worth for cash and can work fairly properly even for productiveness.
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