EPOS Sennheiser Adapt 165T USB II
Great sound quality – both from the mic and through the earpads – but the price is currently too high
SCORE
PRICE £70 (£84 inc VAT) from eposaudio.com
This is the second outing for EPOS Sennheiser Adapt headsets in PC Pro, with the wireless 660 pair ( see issue 311, p71) gaining a Recommended award for near-audiophile sound quality. The Adapt 165T II sets its sights lower down the food chain, but again provides detailed reproduction; what it lacks in bass, it makes up for in rich detail and clear vocal delivery.
You also lose the immersive nature of over-the-ear headphones, and note that the only active noise cancellation is for the microphone, but that makes sense for a professional headset such as this. Its competition comes from
the likes of the Logitech Zone Wired ( see issue 311, p71), or indeed the older Sennheiser SC 165 set that the 165T essentially replaces.
The “T” stands for Teams, with this new set being certified for Microsoft’s service. That shows itself in a dedicated Teams button built into the inline remote control: press this to jump straight into an active Teams call. There are also volume up/down controls and a mute button for the mic, but one of the features I like most is that you can remove the 3.5mm connector from the control and turn the headset into a “dumb” pair of headphones. EPOS also sells a USB-C variant of this set (the 165T USB-C II) for direct connection to modern phones.
The obvious disadvantage of a wired connection is being tethered to your device, but at 2.3m there’s plenty of slack. Arguably, too much slack; I was surprised EPOS doesn’t follow the literal lead of the Logitech Zone Wired and include a fabric cable tie so that you can shorten it if necessary.
“There’s a dedicated Microsoft Teams button built into the inline remote control: press this to jump straight into an active call”
Both headsets offer clear voice capture and great noise suppression on their microphones, and ultimately the only thing separating them is comfort: I prefer the more cushioned
Zone Wired earpads, but neither get overly hot, even after an hour or two. One advantage of the Adapt 165T’s flat design is that they can fold away, making them less bulky in a bag.
Swings, roundabouts. The final decision may well boil down to price, and neither of these sets are cheap. You can now buy the Zone Wired set for £100 (from Insight) while the Adapt 165T USB II has an RRP of £84. Note, however, that Currys still sells the non-Teams, non-EPOS version (the Sennheiser Adapt SC 165) for £54. I hope and expect this updated EPOS pair to drop closer in price to their predecessors, at which point I would happily recommend them.