OK. Connections – you want ’em? The 75 Convertible has ’em in spades! 2 x USB (one for PC or Mac, one for a deskphone with a USB headset port), 2 x concurrent Bluetooth connections (for mobiles or tablets) and of course, old faithful, the standard ‘RJ’ connection to a deskphone. If you’ve been counting you’ll know that that’s 5, count ’em FIVE connections. making this a ‘Penta’ headset. Do note this is an ‘in office’ headset – the Bluetooth connection is from the base unit to the mobile so you can’t use it when out of range of the base unit. The good news is that it has NFC (Near-field communication) so will automatically pair with your NFC enabled mobile when back in range.

As we’ve come to expect from Jabra you’ll get great quality sound. Do note though that whilst you get the convenience of 3 wearing styles with this model you don’t get quite as good noise cancelling (in the microphone). The mono and stereo models are the first in their class to meed the Skype for Businesses Open Office requirements (trust us, that’s a tough test to pass) but this version doesn’t. It does have a standard directional noise cancelling microphone(G-MOS, Tx, CC 3.8 for the tech-heads out there) and superior speakers (P-MOS, Rx, Silent 3.9) that switch automatically optimise music sound when you’re not on a call. As you’d expect these top of the line headsets also protect your hearing against sound spikes.

Battery life – 9 hours of talk time is pretty darn good for a convertible option and 32 hours of standby is amazing. There’s also a fast charge feature (for the odd occasions when you forget to leave it on the base unit overnight) which gives you over 5 hours of talk time in just 30mins. As with all headsets battery life decreases with distance – ie if you wander far from the base unit all time but you can of course replace the battery. However the unique ‘Powernap’ feature of the Engage extends that standby time even further when it’s not been used for 30 minutes.

One the annoying things about wearing a wireless headset is that colleagues are never sure if you’re on a call or not, so they will either blunder on in and you have to show them ‘the hand’ or (if they’re a bit more considerate) there’s the ever popular over exaggerated ‘are you on a call?’ mime. Happily Jabra has banished this issue with a built in busy light. On the convertible option there’s a bright busy light on the earpiece which flashes when the headset is on. (On the mono and stereo versions this light is on both the earpiece and on the end of the microphone boom (or arm).

Density & Security – it’s an important consideration when it comes to wireless, particularly if you’re kitting out an office. Too many wireless headsets up close and personal to each other will cause interference and loss of sound quality. The Engage series has increased density capacity so you can have 3 times as many headsets in a small space as before. Additionally this is a super-secure headset, with features going beyond DECT Secure Level C, which provides the highest protection. 256-bit AES encryption. 128-bit authentication.

As we’ve mentioned this is an in office headset only – you can’t use use it with your mobile when out of range of the base unit. However if you need a portable headset that will work at home with a PC or you can travel with from time to time. This is it too! Jabra released a firmware update in Dec 2018 that means you can plug the headset into a standard micro USB cable then a PC for use as a corded headset.