Verdict
If you are in the market for a exchange premium set of over - capitulum earpiece that focalize on call , the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC should be on your radio detection and ranging . With a comfortable fit , great call character , good audio calibre , lot of connectivity alternative and more they sense deserving the outlay of over £ 200 . Where they fall down is in versatility , they wo n’t be the best headphones for most hoi polloi , but then they do n’t seek to be . But for a bit more portability and info on the audio they would be an easygoing testimonial .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
It ’s a well - trodden trope by now . body of work from Home is here to remain and as a consequence it give to have a high - quality home solidifying - up , whether that be a acute webcam or a bank bent of headphones .
The dubiousness as to whether you should have a domicile band - up is now moot , what now needs answer is quite how much masses are unforced to invest . Is it enough to make do with the £ 10 wired headset , or is it deserving spending over £ 100 , or even over £ 200 to achieve right-down call timbre ?
Poly , owned by HP , has answers for every Mary Leontyne Price bracket , but its latest all bells and whistles offering is the Voyager Surround 80 UC . These over - ear earpiece purportedly sport advanced microphones , high firmness sound and all of the mod - cons one would expect of headphones at the price power point .
Whether it lives up to the hope is what I ’ll explore in my full review , but the other questions are : does it do more than a more consumer - centric set of headphones costing less ? Is it deserving the price premium over more mass - mart offerings ?
Design
From the moment I pick up the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC , the thought process that has gone into its design is absolved .
These headphones are as slick and modernistic as any on the market . They do n’t cavort any flourishes of distinction , and for that accurate reason they are totally office appropriate as might be expected . They are constructed from a sturdy diffuse - touch charge card that ’s pleasant to the touch and which repel grease well .
One criticism I ’ll make concerns size and portability . These are big headphone with large comfortably cushioned earcups , but they look a little like an air traffic control headset . This is exacerbated when move around . Though they have a ready to hand hard carry slip , they ca n’t fold down and become lowly . It is n’t a big way out , but it bear upon their versatility a little .
They may not be portable , but they ’re comfortable to wear . Using them across a full work day there was no heat build - up that we note and no skin irritation . It ’s utterly potential to put them on and bury them , though you wo n’t completely given their size of it . To top it off they feel sturdy and well - constructed .
come to the controls , Poly admit an interesting sheet , with most interactions the headset uses speck inputs . There ’s two button on the proper loving cup , one a slider that turns the headset on and allows pairing over Bluetooth , while the other simply mutes the microphones .
For intensity , answer calls , ending calls , hop tracks and more , swipes on the earcups are involve . The gestures required are broadly wide-eyed enough , the surface domain is big enough to easily swipe on , and the headset is generally unspoiled enough at interpreting your input . There are still lots of accidental presses – ending a call when adjust it on your psyche is an embarrassing error to make , but for the most part these are well-situated to curb . Touch controls are nearly always pregnant with issues , and the Surround 80 UC do n’t get out them , but here the carrying into action is sound than much of the competition .
As might be require there ’s no stated level of water resistance or waterproofing , but these are n’t intended to be used for exercise . If you are commuting , they may withstand a light exhibitioner of rain , but I would n’t guarantee it – these are meant to be use at a desk .
Features
As might be expected for a premium modern headset , the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC does n’t skimp on features .
To begin , there ’s more cables and appurtenance included in the box than one could excite a reasonably sized control stick at . There ’s a USB - C Bluetooth dongle that also has a USB - A adapter , there ’s a USB - C to 3.5 millimeter phone jack cable television and aUSB - Cto USB - one C cable , chip in you a host of option to connect to your gimmick of choice . The latter cable also charges the headphones while you listen . These can all easy be bundle in the included hard case ; they can be taken anywhere you like .
Given that call quality is a focus of the Surround 80 UC , there can be no surprisal that it sports no less than ten ‘ boomless ’ microphones on the front , five on each cupful . In practice session I found these worked very well to provide crystal clear-cut spokesperson call quality , though with an advance when using the wired USB - C to USB - C option .
As these are intended first and frontmost as a call headset , here they succeed with sang-froid .
The Active Noise Cancellation ( ANC ) is similarly in effect if not quite as good as the very ripe out there . The likes of theSony WH-1000XM5can impede out more , such as the poke of an airplane , but the Surround 80 UC will work well to tune up out the hum of the average authority .
Bluetooth 5.3is hold up , as is multi - gadget connectivity – it is possible to be pair off to two gadget at once which is very utile if work from a phone and a laptop . Once a connection was in place , it was rock - solid , even through multiple wall . Battery life is a stated 22 hours for calls , and I notice this to be mostly precise . If you use these for work , you ’ll take to recharge every couple of days or so .
Poly Lens is the app offered to tailor-make the headset through your smartphone or computer . Despite its somewhat weird name , it allows you to adjust preferences , update the headset , see the manual and more . It ’s also potential to ‘ find ’ your equipment using the app , playing a tone through it if you ca n’t see it . This is dependent on a Bluetooth connection as might be expected , but it does a becoming job of helping you find the headset under a raft of document when necessary .
Sound Quality
With such a focus on call quality and on being a call headset , whether the Surround 80 UC can also go well as a set of headphone is a legitimate question to ask . This is peculiarly reliable given there is no stated advanced Bluetooth codec accompaniment . Where most would put on proudly that they support the like of AAC , SBC , LDACor AptX , the Surround 80 UC leaves me in the darkness .
It ’s a delight to cover then that this does n’t seem to have affected the quality of output . As might be expected , there is an vehemence on voice and trebles , mean that the likes of calls yes , and audiobooks work very well . Though they may not be design for the commute , they function well in the role of bus - associate , the 40 mm driver show their worth .
For other genres of medicine , it by and large shines . There ’s enough warmth and energy in the bass to work well with punk and dance , enough clarity in the trebles to give up individual instruments to be picked out in more complex orchestral rail . There is a nice academic degree of stereo detachment , in all you ’ll be well dish out using these to listen to music between calls while working .
It would have been courteous to see a trivial more pizazz in this country and stated support for high - resolution audio , but the Surround 80 UC are execute sonic performers .
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Should you buy it?
If you have a call - heavy workflow there ’s few headsets that will serve you well , even for the toll .
The Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC are not foldable and are quite big , you ’ll struggle to fit them into a stocky purse .
Final Thoughts
The question was set in the beginning : is it worth paying more for dandy mic performance ? Take the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC as an lesson and the response but with many caveat .
These are accomplished as a call headset , with a comfy design , great mike quality , oodles of connectivity options and a rock - solid bluetooth connection . If you are someone sat at a desk in an office or in a house , taking lots of Teams calls and encounter through any given day , the investment funds made in the Surround 80 UC will be worth it .
If however you are attend for a headset that can double as a commuting companion , you ’ll be put off by the large size and the unfitness to turn up them into a more portable visibility . The deficiency of stated codec documentation then means that likewise price options from Sony and others might be a more sensible investment .
take as a whole , the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC is an established premium headset with a lot to recommend it but specialised a petty too much to appeal to everyone equally .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try out every lot of headphones we review thoroughly over an elongated period of clock time . We use diligence received test to liken features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to retrospect a product .
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FAQs
Curently , the Surround 80 UC is certified to go with Microsoft Teams
