Epos Sennheiser Adapt 660
A hi gh-quality headset from the firm formerly known as Sennheiser, but hunt around to find a better price
SCORE
PRICE £349 (£419 inc VAT) from eposaudio.com
Everyone loves a rebrand, so little wonder that Sennheiser has decided to spin off its headset arm into the all-new Epos Sennheiser. Or at least, that’s what it’s called for now, with future products to drop the Sennheiser branding. Here, I’m testing its top-end model from the Adapt 600 series, the 660. Epos lists its price as £349 exc VAT, but a hunt around online will find it available for closer to £200.
As with Logitech’s Zone Wireless set ( see issue 299, p69), the Adapt 660 is designed to work with multiple devices so you can pick up a call on your phone or from a VoIP service running on your laptop. If you use the supplied USB dongle, there’s even a shortcut button on the headset that will launch Microsoft Teams (it’s Alexa by default).
Sound quality rivals top-end wireless headphones such as the Sony WH-1000XM3, with a rounded output that delivers detail so o often lacking in cheaper sets. I couldn couldn’t t find any areas of weakness, with the set proving equally at home playing a JS Bach violin partita as it was Pixies’ Gigantic. It delivers active noise cancelling too – the “Adapt” in its name reflects the fact it listens and adjusts the amount of noise cancelling it applies. You can also control this using Sennheiser’s rather basic Smart Control app, with the idea being that you keep your focus on your work rather than noisy neighbours. I’d be perfectly happy to take the Adapt
660s on a flight, and they fold flat for packing into the supplied carry case.
There’s no mic on a stalk, with
Epos relying on mics built into the headset. This works to an extent, but despite its claims about AI assistance it still picks up room noise along with your voice. Others won’t have any difficulty hearing you, but if you want
“I couldn’t find any areas of weakness, with the set proving equally at home playing a Bach violin partita as it was Pixies’ Gigantic”
to sound like you’re using a professional mic, go with Logitech’s Zone family.
You need to memorise which taps and swipes are used to accept calls, increase volume and play/ pause tracks. It’s intuitive, but if you want to use all the shortcuts, download the user guide from pcpro.link/311senn. Battery life is excellent at 30 hours s (or 20 hours with noise cancelling on), but note it charges through a micro-USB port rather than USB-C and that contributes to a slow charging time of zero to full in three hours. Luckily, you can listen during that time.
My final word is on comfort, because this headset is a joy to wear. The cups surround your ears rather than pressing down on them, and even in the mini heatwave I didn’t find my ears got overly hot. While the price is high, this is a pair of wireless headphones perfectly tuned for the office.
Bluetooth 5 active noise cancelling 3 x MEMS mic array 30hr battery life up to 25m range 227g 2yr limited warranty