20-02-2025
Best Headsets for Working From Home in 2025
If you work from home, you need a headset with good ergonomics, excellent voice-calling performance and Bluetooth multipoint to drown out the noises of home. I've tested hundreds of headphones and headsets with boom microphones over 20 years, evaluating noise reduction, comfort, call and music quality to find the best pick for you. I've included some UC headphones on this list, which come with a tiny USB-A or -C dongle to plug into your PC for seamless wireless connectivity, but many are mainstream consumer headphones that also work well for everyday use. Here are our expert picks for the best headphones and headsets for working from home to keep you clearly connected in 2025.
Because everyone's preferences for working from home are different, picking the best headset or headphones for you might be tricky, but I've singled out a few models that we think may take the title of "best overall." The Shokz OpenMeet UC top the list for their excellent voice-calling performance and are a great fit for those who prefer a more lightweight and comfortable design. If you're a fan of a sturdier feel, the Logitech Zone Wireless 2 has several metal components for a substantial and premium look. Those working on a budget may prefer the JLab Go Work (Gen 2), available for less than $50.
Still, I've had hands-on testing with every model on this list, and they're all excellent choices. I'll be sure to update the list as more models are released in 2025.
Plantronics' original Voyager Focus UC has long been considered one of the best work-from-anywhere headsets. Now we get the Voyager Focus 2 UC from Poly (the company Plantronics morphed into after it acquired Polycom), and it's improved in several ways, including better noise reduction (it's stellar), two levels of active noise canceling, increased battery life (up to 19 hours with ANC off and 16 hours with it on) and superior wireless range with Bluetooth 5.1.
You can pair the Voyager Focus 2 UC with your computer with the included USB dongle or your phone (or tablet) via Bluetooth. It can also connect to a desk phone if you want to bring it to the office. Also worth noting: The boom microphone has a mute button on it, but when you flip it up it also automatically mutes the microphone. The original Voyager Focus doesn't mute when you lift the boom microphone.
The Focus 2 comes in several different versions, including USB-A and USB-C models and a version that's Microsoft Teams certified. You can get the headset by itself or in a bundle that includes a charging dock. All versions include a nice protective carrying pouch.
The Voyager Focus 2 UC is expensive but offers excellent performance and is quite comfortable for an on-ear headphone. It also sounds good for music listening with nicely detailed sound and ample bass. It may not be quite up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM5 for music, but it offers a nice music-listening experience for a work-centric headset.
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If you're looking for a souped-up version of Jabra's Elite 85h headphones, which came out a few years ago, the Evolve2 85 offers even better telephony options along with a Unified Communications USB dongle for PCs. It has similar sound quality to the 85h, it has an updated audio chipset, a hideaway boom arm and two additional microphones (10 altogether, with the extra two in the boom arm) for noise reduction and picking up your voice. Its build quality is also a step up. A Microsoft Teams-certified version is available for those who need it. I found it comfortable to wear over several hours, and it offers an impressive 37 hours of battery life or slightly more than the Elite 85h.
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If you're an Apple-centric person who works on a MacBook and also has an iPhone (and maybe an iPad), Apple's AirPods Max noise-canceling headphones allow you to easily connect to multiple Apple devices simultaneously (so long as you're signed into your iCloud account on all the devices) and switch between them. If you're on a Zoom teleconference and a call comes in on your iPhone, the AirPods Max automatically switch to the iPhone if you pick up the call.
They sound great, and with all their microphones they do an excellent job picking up your voice and reducing ambient noise. Aside from their high price, their other potential downside is their heavy weight. Although I found them comfortable, some people have trouble with that.
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UC headsets that include a USB dongle so you can easily connect the headset wirelessly to your computer tend to cost more than headsets that just feature Bluetooth connectivity. Listing for around $130, the Cyber Acoustics Essential Bluetooth Headset HS-2000BT sells at a discount compared to similarly styled models from Jabra and Poly. I'm not going to say the HS-2000BT is better than those models, but it's lightweight and comfortable to wear and offers similar features, including a retractable boom microphone with automatic muting (when you retract the boom mic). It also has a couple of bonus features: active noise canceling and wireless charging (Qi wireless charging pad not included).
Callers said I sounded good though not quite as clear as when I was using the Logitech Zone Vibe 100. I thought the HS-2000BT sounded good when using them to listen to music, though the sound is on the warmer side (pushes the bass a bit). The headset is worth checking out, particularly if it goes on sale.
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Jabra's Evolve2 30 is a wired on-ear office headset with an integrated boom microphone. It's lightweight and comfortable and comes in USB-C and USB-A versions, as well as stereo and mono versions (I tried the USB-A stereo version). The headphones are decent but not great for music listening, but they're primarily meant for voice applications. They feature dual microphones: one for picking up your voice and the other to help reduce the ambient noise around you so callers can hear you better.
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Known for its value headphones and earbuds, JLab offers a pair of on-ear headphones with an integrated boom microphone (it can be rotated up when just listening to music) and multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect them to your phone and computer simultaneously. JLab's Go Work headset may not be great, but it delivers better-than-expected performance for a modest price. They're also comfortable to wear with a lightweight design. You won't mistake these for premium headphones, but the build quality means that they are among the best headphones for work for around $50.
Battery life is rated at up to 45 hours at moderate volume levels, and you can mute calls using the multifunction button (an LED lights up at the end of the boom mic when the call is muted). I wouldn't call the sound quality for music listening and the headset performance stellar, but it's decent, particularly for the price. For music listening, there's ample bass and clarity and a cable is included for wired use. The headphones charge via USB-C. Note that JLab also sells over-ear Go Work headphones that cost around $80 and do sound a little better.
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Before anything else, you'll want to figure out how much you're willing to spend on a new wireless headset. The quality of value-priced headsets continues to improve, so you can find good affordable headsets and headphones for less than $100. The premium models, which offer better build quality and performance, tend to cost $200 or more, and sometimes much more.
When a headphone has a boom microphone, that's when it technically becomes what we describe as a "headset." Many consumer headphones work well for making calls, having an extended microphone that sits closer to your mouth can improve how well your voice gets picked, making it sound clearer. When retracted, some boom microphones will mute the headset so people can't hear you. Some boom mics now feature mute buttons on them. This is an important feature for video calls where you want to easily mute and unmute yourself. The downside to having the boom microphone is that it makes you look like you're wearing a headset instead of headphones. That's a bit of a factor if you plan on wearing whatever you buy outside your home or office.
It's key that the headset or headphones you buy fit your head well. They should offer a comfortable fit that's snug yet not too snug. Ideally, you want a headset of headphones you can wear over the course of a day with minimal breaks.
You want headset that hold up well over time, so look for models that we note have sturdy build quality.
It's critical to buy your headphones at a retailer that has a good return policy, in case you have buyer's remorse. Some people who are having trouble deciding between two models sometimes buy both, try them out for a few days, and then return one.
We test headphones and headsets based on six key criteria. These criteria include design, sound quality, noise canceling performance, voice-calling performance, features and value.
Design: Evaluating design, we assess not only how comfortable the headphones and headsets fit (their ergonomics) but their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. When it comes to earbuds, we also look at water- and dust-resistance ratings.
Sound quality: We evaluate sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks as well as voice calls and comparing the headphones to top competing products in their price range. Sonic traits such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are key factors in our assessment.
Noise canceling performance: We evaluate noise canceling performance by wearing headphones in the same spot indoors near a noisy HVAC unit to see how well they do at muffling lower frequencies. Then we head out to the streets of New York to test the headphones in a real-world environment where we see how they do at muffling not only street noise but people's voices.
Extra features: Some great-sounding headphones and headsets aren't loaded with features, but we do take into account what extra features are on board. These include everything from quick-access awareness to transparency modes (your music pauses and the headphones open up to the outside world so you can have a conversation) to special sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears. For home office headphones, Bluetooth multipoint pairing is an important feature (and other connectivity options such as an included Bluetooth dongle for easy pairing with a computer), as well as auto-muting the microphone. We also take a look at the companion app for the headphones if there is one and how user-friendly it is.
Voice-calling: When we test voice-calling performance, we make calls in the noisy streets of New York and evaluate how well the headphones or earbuds reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear our voices. We also evaluate how they perform on video-conferencing applications such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Value: We determine value after evaluating the strength of the headphones and earbuds against all these criteria and what they're able to deliver compared to other models in their price class.
Plantronics Voyager Focus UC: After Plantronics became Poly, it released a new version of this oldie-but-goodie headset called the Voyager Focus 2 (see above). This model remains on sale. We are steering people toward the newer model.
The benefit of a boom microphone is that it extends out, which puts it closer to your mouth and makes picking up your voice easier. Some headphones and earbuds with beam-forming microphones do a very good job of picking up your voice, but a good boom microphone is often the superior option. The only downside is that unless it truly retracts and is able to blend into the headphone's design when retracted, it makes the headset less attractive as a standard headphone for mobile use.
Yes. Many gaming headsets have retractable microphones and are designed for chatting online with fellow gamers. That makes them good for video-conferencing apps but not everybody likes how they appear wearing a gaming headphone for a business call.
People tend to look better wearing small earbuds than full-size headphones. It's really just a matter of personal preference. The one downside to earbuds is that they usually have far less battery life than full-size headphones, so you'll probably have to charge them during a break to use them for an entire day.
