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Not the earphones, but the smart charging box with integrated touchscreen make this set a unique combination. Video calling and hybrid working, two keywords for organizations where you
Not the earphones, but the smart charging box with integrated touchscreen make this set a unique combination.
Video calling and hybrid working, two keywords for organizations where you spend most of your time behind a computer. You can make calls with the built-in microphone in your laptop or webcam, with a traditional headset or with headphones, something for everyone.
We prefer wireless earbuds because they’re a bit incognito, but they still typically deliver better sound quality than the built-in mic in your laptop. The only drawback: good wireless earphones for video calls are not cheap and do not always work well. You can certainly count the number of Teams-certified headphones on one hand.
After a disappointing first try at the Logitech Zone True Wireless earphones, it’s now the turn of the Poly Voyager Free 60+ (319 euros ex VAT).
The charging box still says poly, but actually we should be talking about HP. The PC specialist bought the company in early 2022 for $1.7 billion. To be absolutely clear, Plantronics bought Polycom for $2 billion in 2018. This merger gave rise to the Poly name. Now Poly is from HP. The Poly brand name will not go away, it will become a sub-brand of HP.
Special detail: In addition to the serial number and other legal information, the packaging also says Plantronics in a very small form. The last of the Mohicans? HP’s acquisition may not have been completed until late last year, too late to make any changes to the production process.
The Poly Voyager Free range consists of two models. There’s the eye-catching Poly Voyager Free 60+ with an interactive charging box thanks to the OLED touchscreen on top. If that doesn’t matter, you can buy the Poly Voyager Free 60 (272 euros excl. VAT) for less money. In this review, we review the Poly Voyager Free 60+ with a touchscreen. The sound quality of the earphones and the battery life (case and earphones) are identical.
Back to the charging box, which clearly steals the show with the Poly Voyager Free 60+. The touchscreen at the top seems like a cool trick, but it’s a lot more functional than you think. We list some scenarios where we see added value:
In addition to the above scenarios, you can swipe your finger through the menu. There you can conveniently adjust the Active Noise Canceling (ANC), adjust the volume, query the battery life, change the volume and manually switch between two sources.
Strikingly, Poly supports 16 different languages, but not Dutch.
After two weeks of testing, we are still big fans of the smart charging box. Quickly mute, pause music, select the next song, all at the touch of a button without having to scroll through menus. The only drawback: Due to the high-gloss top of the box, it quickly looks dirty due to all the fingerprints. The matte coating of the non-touchscreen version is less sensitive to this.
The OLED screen above affects the size of the charging box. Compared to pretty much every other set of wireless headphones, whether personal or professional, the Poly Voyager Free 60+ proves to be the greatest. This is not a problem in a jacket pocket or laptop bag, but if you put headphones in your trouser pocket, you will clearly notice the box.
On the other hand, the larger box offers space to house the USB receiver for your PC. That’s a huge plus because if you don’t keep it in your laptop permanently, you’re guaranteed to lose it.
Poly also scores points for the quality of the box. The magnet keeps the cover just closed enough to be secure but loose enough to open smoothly. The hinge also feels strong and premium. These earbuds aren’t cheap, but luckily you can feel that.
The packaging of the Poly Voyager Free 60+ is big, but that’s not just because of the touchscreen. It contains a Bluetooth chip. Why do you say? With the included USB-C to jack cable you can connect the charging box to an analogue audio source. So you can enjoy wireless earphones even when Bluetooth is not possible, for example on an airplane via the in-flight entertainment system.
This is undoubtedly a niche situation, but when it comes to that, the experience is very nice. Also, it works really well. We were initially concerned about additional delay over Bluetooth, which would result in false lip syncing, but that wasn’t the case.
The only side note is that you can’t seamlessly switch to your phone’s Bluetooth connection in this mode. If you use the box as a Bluetooth transmitter, you can only listen with your headphones. As soon as you unplug the cable, the charging case resumes its normal operation and you can connect a device to the earbuds via Bluetooth.
The earphones have memory for up to eight different Bluetooth devices, of which a maximum of two can be connected at the same time. When music is played on your PC via the USB receiver, it will be recorded automatically. Are you getting a call and are your headphones plugged into it? Then the Poly Voyager Free 60+ switches automatically. This is almost seamless, lightning-fast recordings are no problem at all.
The same goes for listening to music on your smartphone. When a Teams or Zoom meeting starts, it instantly switches seamlessly. Calling always has priority. The earphones are also Teams and Zoom certified, so you can conveniently make calls with the push of a button on the earphones. Each Poly Voyager Free 60 variant comes with a USB adapter to make video calls at maximum quality. Our trial version has a USB-A port, but you can also choose a version with a USB-C adapter.
If you are listening to music on your PC and want to switch to music on your smartphone, you must first pause the sound on your PC. If you don’t do this, the Poly Voyager Free 60+ will not know what you want to hear and will continue to connect to the first audio source. You can manually switch between two connected devices at any time using the screen on the box.
A lot of praise for the possibilities of the earphones and the special charging case, we almost forget the most important thing: the sound quality. It works very well with wireless earbuds, but a traditional headset with a mic in front of your mouth always sounds better.
As tastes differ, we have provided below a series of sound clips in which we test the microphone of a webcam, laptop, speakerphone, headset and earphone, among others. So you can decide for yourself how good the Poly Voyager Free 60+ sounds compared to the other solutions.
Poly Voyager Free 60+ (wireless headphones):
Logitech Zone True Wireless (wireless headphones):
Jabra Evolve 75 (wireless headset with microphone in front of the mouth):
Bose QuietComfort 35 II (noise canceling headset):
Epos Expand 40+ (Handsfree):
Logi Dock (microphone from a docking station):
Logitech Brio (web cam):
Dell XPS 13 (2021) (Laptop Microphone):
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro (Laptop Microphone):
As for the sound quality, we can sum it up in a nutshell: excellent. There’s no complex equalizer in the Poly Lens app, just three settings: bright, flat, or bass. The latter is enabled by default, which is good for certain music genres. We prefer the Clear setting, which results in a smoother calling experience.
The earbuds are equipped with ANC and are set to “adaptive” by default. Here the earphones automatically switch to a different mode, for example when making a call compared to just listening to music. As a result, it switches off wind noise much faster when you are outside. The other option is Default. We regularly prefer “adaptive”, but sometimes we find that the headphones switch between ANC profiles too often. Then we like to switch to ‘Standard’, which is handy on the charging box’s touchscreen.
To hear your surroundings, you can turn on transparency mode. Poly offers two modes: Environment or Speech. If you only use the earphones in the office, at home or on the train, it is best to choose the latter option so that you can hear yourself speak as naturally as possible. You’ll also hear clearly when someone asks you something outside of your video call.
The Surroundings option is useful when walking around town or using the headphones while playing sports. The latter is fine as they are IP54 splashproof. A little sweat won’t hurt, but don’t submerge them in water to clean them.
Measuring the battery life of earbuds is always arbitrary, as the volume of the music has an impact on whether or not you’re on video calls and there’s the ANC factor. Poly claims you can talk on the phone for up to 5.5 hours or listen to music for 8 hours with ANC on. By charging the box, you can increase the figures to 11 hours and 16 hours, respectively. In practice, we see that Poly is telling the truth here.
It takes two hours to fully charge the earbuds, but thanks to a 15-minute quick charge, you can make video calls or listen to music for an hour and a half. Charging the box takes three hours and is done via USB-C or with a Qi-compatible wireless charger.
Need expensive wireless headphones for video calls at work? No, not at all, but the freedom you get back is worth the price. Wearing a headset all day doesn’t make anyone happy. The ears are much more subtle and luckily those of the Poly Voyager Free 60+ (319 euros ex VAT) are very comfortable. Making phone calls or listening to music for four hours without taking them out is no problem at all. There are three appropriate sizes in the box so they should fit snugly in many ears.
Another benefit is the integration with the Lens Cloud management tool. This enables the IT department to proactively deploy and adopt headphones. At the same time, the team gains insight into usage, can push updates and quickly check basic parameters in the event of errors.
We’re a big fan of the screen on the charging box. For the variant without paying an average of 50 euros less is a mortal sin. The price is steep, but those who make a lot of phone calls or listen to music a lot every day have earned such an investment. The best microphone quality can still be found in a traditional headset today. However, if you want to give up a little, you get a lot more in return. We would, which is why we’re making the Poly Voyager Free 60+ our Editors’ Choice.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
