Review: EPOS ADAPT 660 Bluetooth Headset

Like the majority of business professionals in 2020, you’ve probably discovered the weaknesses of your once tolerable personal computing gear – especially your audio set up. A regular, cheap headset that could get you through a rare work-from-home sick day just won’t cut it in today’s remote work lifestyle of days filled with video conferences and phone calls. Fortunately, there are top-tier options like the EPOS ADAPT 660 Bluetooth Headset to upgrade your work audio experience and bring some sanity and comfort back to your workday.

The EPOS ADAPT 660 Bluetooth headset is an ultra-light, enterprise level audio headset that offers adaptive active noise cancelling (ANC) for clear audio, an excellent battery life up to 30 hours and is comfortable enough to wear throughout the entire day, not just for an hour or two. We were able to test the 660 headphones for over a month before writing this review and we’re believers in the capability, comfort and sound these business cans bring to the work-at-home masses. Yes, their MSRP price tag starts at $439 – although you can often find them on sale for a great deal – but if you’re online with calls and video meetings everyday like we are (thanks, Covid), a pair of ADAPT 660’s is worth the investment.

DESIGN

The first thing we noticed when unboxing the 660 wireless headset is how incredibly light the unit is – these cans weigh a mere 8oz. Compared to the bulky over-ear gaming headset we’ve been using for calls, the ADAPT 660’s were a welcome reprieve to our head and ears. The ear cups have soft, cushioned oval pads that do a great job keeping sound contained around your ears. Additionally, the angle of the rounded ear cups help give the ADAPT 660’s an extra degree of comfort as they don’t try to make your ears conform to an unnatural shape like many over-ear headphones do.

The on/off switch is a bit different on these cans, you twist the ear cups into listening position to turn them on, then rotate them back to turn them off and you can lay them flat. This took a little getting used to at first, but we liked how this innovation also helped keep the headset from rolling off the desk – a win in our book.

The headband is adjustable and has durable padding. If you like to hang your headphones around your neck, be aware that the ADAPT 660’s may feel a bit more snug on your neck than your standard headphones thanks to the padding on the headband and ear cups.

There are few switches and buttons on the ADAPT 660 headset, with the right-side ear cup housing the Bluetooth on/off switch, NoiseGard/ANC level switch and the Sound Effect Mode button. Additionally, the outside casing of the right-side ear cup is where the touch controls are located.

EPOS incorporated its ground-breaking AI technology into the ADAPT 660 headset which uses unique machine learning developed algorithms to optimize voice pick-up regardless of your environment. This basically means that the headset is capable of evaluating the noise around you and adapting the microphone input and speaker output to ensure you can hear and be heard better than ever before.

FUNCTIONALITY

Built with mobile workers in mind, EPOS equipped the ADAPT 660 with four adaptive ANC microphone system monitors to adjust noise reduction based on the sounds at your location – whether that’s a windy street, noisy train or bus commute or in a chatty open office environment.

We really like the adaptive ANC.

While it never completely blocked out every single sound, the ANC definitely made it easier to focus on tasks as the sound level in the home office changed throughout the day. The ANC also performed well in public as we wore the 660’s to retail stores. The adaptive ANC functioned as expected against noise from people, music, carts and the general clatter you can expect at your local hardware and big box retailers.

Testing the headset on windy on-street walks for call clarity and sound confirmed the adaptive ANC to be extremely capable, although we didn’t like how the clearness of the calls couldn’t let us blame the headset connection for how out of shape we sounded on those calls. For the times when you want to focus and block every sound possible, you can choose the Maximum setting for ANC with the push of the SoundGard switch.

And if someone wants to chat, simply double-tapping on the touch control panel activates the Talk Through option – which pauses music and activates the microphones to help pickup voices through the noise.

The ADAPT 660 headset uses Bluetooth 5.0, charges fully in three hours and can last up to 30 hours depending on intensity and type of use. A BTD 800 USB dongle is included, allowing you to connect to your computer and provides a single dedicated button to launch Microsoft Teams. You can also connect the 660 headset to your Alexa app for voice assistant functions – a great way to access calendars and adjust your schedule on the go. Plus, if enabled, you can use the Alexa drop-in function to check in and remind the kids to do their homework or chores – all from your headset.

Another function that we really like about the EPOS ADAPT 660 headset is the multipoint connectivity that allows you to pair two Bluetooth devices simultaneously, like your PC and smartphone, enhancing your flexibility to answer calls on either device without having to disconnect and reconnect. This was extremely helpful when we had to attend Google Meet or Zoom calls, then make phone calls, then take another video call. It was so much easier to be able to just focus on work instead of tech support, thanks to the ADAPT 660’s multipoint connectivity.

SOUND

It’s not all business with the EPOS ADAPT 660 headset, there is also serious audio capability under the hood for superior stereo sound with these Sennheiser co-branded cans. We put the ADAPT 660 headset through a marathon of musical genres to see how it would perform and we are pleased with how well these headphones played our favorite classical, metal, pop, oldies, techno and jazz tracks while we worked over the past month.

While the audio quality of these cans is great and enjoyable, the ADAPT 660’s are not going to replace a serious audiophile’s primary listening headphones anytime soon. If you are looking for the best wireless headphones for music, we recommend the Sony WH-1000XM4. But, if you are looking for a premium headset that puts business first and plays your music crisp and punchy, then you’ll enjoy the high-quality level of audio performance the ADAPT 660 brings to the table.

The EPOS ADAPT 660 headset can be used as headphones only as well. Simply turn off the Bluetooth switch, connect the included audio cable to your smartphone, PC or audio player headphone jack and enjoy your music with or without ANC. This is a great option for commuters who want to save some smartphone battery juice.

CONTROLS

While many headphones still use buttons to control audio options, touch controls are becoming more prevalent for high-end over-ear headphones. The ADAPT 660 touch controls are located on the external panel of the right ear cup and feature the basic swipe up/down for volume, tap and double tap for next/previous music track or end call. If you enabled the headset in your Alexa app, holding down on the touch panel for a second and then saying, “Alexa…” followed by command, connects you to the voice assistant.

The 660’s touch controls are more responsive than most, but can be a bit finicky at times, like when you accidentally bump the panel when you stretch and switch songs right at the best part of the song – or hang up on a client. But that’s something that doesn’t happen very often once you get used to the headset. Overall, we enjoyed the responsiveness and how easy the touch controls were to use once we learned all the different functions.

VERDICT

After extensively testing the EPOS ADAPT 660 Bluetooth headset daily with video and phone calls, music and Alexa Voice Assistant tasks, these enterprise-level wireless headphones are our top recommendation for active professionals, regardless if they work from home, are on-the-go or work in a traditional office setting. Despite the initial price point, the EPOS ADAPT 660 headset is worth the investment, thanks to their workplace versatility, excellent adaptive ANC function, high-quality audio capability and first-in-class voice and call clarity.

To learn more about the EPOS ADAPT 660, visit eposaudio.com.

See also: SoundID Brings Personalized Sound To Over 406 Headphones