Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Stereo Bluetooth B825 Headset Review

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Plantronics is a well-known brand for its world-class professional headsets. Especially in business contact centers, Plantronics headsets are the de-facto standard. In addition to its business-focused headsets, it also has a broad range of consumer products. Their consumer product line has improved tremendously over the last couple of years. One such pick is The Plantronics Voyager Focus UC. The Voyager Focus headset helps you to converge the best of both worlds. As a person who hosts and attends a lot of online meetings, and also likes to listen to music at work, this headset is a God sent! In this post, we do a Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Stereo Bluetooth B825 Headset Review. Read on!

Also Read our reviw of the Moto Pulse Max Over-Ear Headphones with Mic

Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Stereo Bluetooth B825 Headset Review

The Plantronics Voyager Focus UC is a Skype for Business certified headset (Erstwhile Microsoft Lync). It is ideal for attending online meetings, The voice quality is crisp and definite, and the boom microphone makes your voice highly audible on the other side as well. You can only connect the headset via. Bluetooth. A Bluetooth adapter already comes in the box and pairing with it is seamless. However, if you have limited or no USB ports available on your laptop/tablet, then you will need to match it directly.

Here are some of the product pictures:

[image_slider]
[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-7.jpg”] Charging Stand [/image_items]
[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-6.jpg”] Audio Controls [/image_items]
[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-5.jpg”] Open Mic & Mute Button[/image_items]

[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-4.jpg”] Stand Connector [/image_items]
[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-3.jpg”] Noise Cancellation Switch [/image_items]
[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-2.jpg”] USB Connector [/image_items]

[image_items link=”LINK_IMAGE” source=”https://www.faceofit.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Plantronics-Voyager-Focus-UC-1.jpg”] Side Profile [/image_items]
[/image_slider]

The Plantronics Voyager Focus comes with a “Boom Mic” and comes with three microphones built into the headset. The receivers come with in-built noise cancellation and also an “Open Mic” feature. The red button doubles up as a mute button when in a call. While not on a call, if you tap the “red Mute button” it activates the OpenMic that enables you to hear your surroundings. You can also control the level of ambient noise (Surroundings) you hear by adjusting the volume wheel on the headphone. We tested the Mic for regular voice recordings in a relatively quiet room. The voice recording turned out to be excellent, especially for Podcasters, YouTubers or Gamers.

Plantronics Voyager Focus Controls

• Volume up/down: Works only in music mode with standard controls.
• Track backward: Working only on certain apps. Web-based music players might not work
• Play/pause music: Certain players do not work with this feature. Smart sensors also help you to resume playing. More on this later.
• Track forward: Dedicated button
• ANC: Using the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), it helps you to reduce external noise and enhances your music and sound quality.
  You can toggle ANC to On/Off. To turn ANC off, slide the stitch away from “ANC.” Turning on ANC also increases the volume a little.
• Active noise canceling: When we enabled this feature, the Boom sound experience is enhanced. However, a slight discomfort is experienced due to excess vibration on the ears. It is certainly something that I had to get used to.
• Charge port: You can charge the device using a standard Micro-USB cable, or the charging dock.
• Active call = mute/unmute: Press the Red button on the Mic to mute. Only works when you are in an active call.
• Idle = OpenMic (hear your surroundings). You can adjust the levels using the volume controller.
• Headset LEDs for pairing, battery status, online indicator: The 5 LED configuration indicated your headset status.
• Call button ([ ]) : Works with certain apps. When paired with iOS devices, it wakes up SIRI.
• Power button: It does exactly what you would expect it to do.
• Bluetooth pair button: You will have to pull all the way to the Bluetooth indicator to enable pairing. It might be confusing to some in the beginning.

Refer to the image below:

Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Product Manual

Other notable features of this headset include pairing two devices at the same time. You can receive a call notification on your headset from the second device. You can quickly switch between the two without issues. To answer the second call, you need to first tap on the Call button to end the current call and tap the Call button again to respond to the new call.

What’ in the Box

In the box you will get the following items, which may vary based on your region:

1. Headset
2. Charge Stand
3. Bluetooth USB adaptor
4. Carrying case
5. Micro-USB Cable

Even though a wall charger is not supplied, you can use any mobile USB wall charger to charge the device without issues. The device charges up in less than an hour and gives your hours of usage and audio playback.

If you want to change the language of your choice, (Default: English) for the inbuilt voice prompts, use the Plantronics Hub software. The software is only available for Windows & Mac, and the headset needs to be connected using the charging stand. In addition to that, Plantronics also releases firmware updates for the device which can be updated using the same method. We will do a separate post about this for updating, troubleshooting the device.

USB Bluetooth Adaptor V/S a Direct Bluetooth Connection

The high-fidelity Bluetooth USB adapter is only for your laptop or PC. Once detected, the device will be automatically paired. Plantronics claims that the voice and audio quality would be better using the Bluetooth Adaptor rather than a direct Bluetooth connection. In our tests, both the direct link and using the Bluetooth adaptor experience was on par with each other. We couldn’t tell the difference between the two much. The Bluetooth Adaptor had multiple LED lightings, and a solid blue indicates a solid pairing. Here is an image for your reference:

To conclude here are the device Highlights and Lowlights as per our testings.

What you will Like:

• Superb Audio reproduction, both for voice, music and conference calls.
• The Boom Mic accurately captures the sound. I feel it is ideal for podcasters, YouTubers, etc.
• The Voice Cancellation works well. We tested the headset on a flight, and we could not hear any external noise of the engines, etc.
• Standard Micro-USB charger helps. No proprietary charging cables or interfaces.
• The Dual Bluetooth option is not bad.
• Can work well with softphones as well.
• Short Charging time and long battery backup.
• Automatically goes to a deep-sleep mode when not in use.
• Inbuilt sensors help you interact with the headset without pressing any buttons
• Comfortably sits on your ears for hours without any discomfort.

What you will Not Like:

• When ANC is enabled, you will feel an extra vibration on your eardrums, which might be slightly discomforting.
• The Bose Noise Cancelling headsets do a little better job at “Active Noice Cancellation.”
• Priced slightly on the higher end of the spectrum.

Conclusion

To conclude our Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Stereo Bluetooth B825 Headset Review, we are confident about one thing, though, this headset is a one size fits all offering. If you like or dislike our review, please feel free to comment below in the comment section. Cheers!