Jabra Engage 55 Wireless Headset

In Brief

Jabra’s much loved wireless Engage headset for PC/Mac only (or USB desk phones). Feature-packed, reliable, lightweight and with excellent sound, this has been the headset of choice for the Simply team since it came out. Available in mono and stereo (one earcup or 2). Super-portable with a dongle that’s large enough to make it hard to loose.  Perfect for hybrid staff who just work with softphone.
Connects via DECT wireless dongle (not Bluetooth). 
Launch Date – May 2022

What We Love

+ DECT quality and security in a compact, transportable package – perfect for hybrid workers
+ MUCH better range than Bluetooth and no issues with lots of users close together
+ Great quality sound both ways – makes busy days less tiring and ensures you sound professional to clients 
+ Noise cancelling in microphone is excellent – your client will hear ONLY you 
+ Wear with microphone on left or right side – suits all preferences 
+ Convenient mute button on microphone – no scrabbling around on your earcup when you’re about to sneeze! 
+ Up to 13 hour talk time –  enough for even your businest days!
+ Bright busy light on earcups AND on the end on the microphone – your colleagues will know when you’re not to be interrupted
+ Lightweight and comfortable for all day use

What We Don’t Love

– No option for Active Noise Cancelling in the earcups
– Ummmm… yup, that’s it

The Blurb

The Engage 55 is designed for use with computer (MAC or Windows) ONLY (NOT a mobile and NOT most deskphones). If you have a phone with a USB headset port you can use it with that instead. Designed with hot-deskers and hybrid workers in mind, it’s very transportable between desks or home and office. Perfect for users who need the security, quality or range of DECT wireless (rather than Bluetooth). All are compatible with all major softphone applications.

The series has a handful of different models; 3 wearing options; Mono with one earcup and a neckband wearing style, Stereo, a headband only ‘2 eared’ model and Convertible  which has earhook and earbud only a headband style and neckband. All wearing styles are available with USB-A or USB-C dongles, with or without a charging stand and in a version certified for MS teams or standard UC. NB This is a charge stand ONLY. ie It doesn’t form any connection to the computer other than to recharge the battery in the headset. 

Simply Headsets strongly recommends you download Jabra software to get the most of out the Engage headsets…

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Digging a bit deeper

The Engage 55 UC lets you move the headset between home and office without the bulk of a base unit but with all the benefits of a DECT headset.  It may have a dongle but this is no Bluetooth headset! DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) offers better range, sound quality and security than it’s BT counterparts.

DECT Sound quality  These days Bluetooth quality is really very good but not as good as DECT!  The Engage series has top notch sound both ways. It has a directional noise cancelling microphone. this is so effective that if you lift the microphone up,  its like muting the call (in fact, it’s so effective that our fabulous rep Kim thought it DID mute the call).  As you’d expect these top of the line headsets also protect your hearing against sound spikes.   The SH team can choose whatever headset they like.  It’s pretty telling that nearly all of us now use Jabra Engages.

DECT Range  Advertising at up to 150m, when bluetooth + a dongle are 10-30m  you can wander MUCH further.  NB the advertised range is a maximum  and is reduced by vaious environmental factors but you should easily get 55-70m as a minimum in an open plan office.

DECT Security With FIPS military grade 256 bit encryption algorithms to prevent eavesdropping, the security of your conversation is assured.  As Jabra put it; ‘Its like a mini Fort Knox’.

A dongle you won’t loose!  We’re always getting calls for spare dongles –  they’re generally tiny and really easy to lose or forget.  If left in a laptop when in transit, they can get broken, or worse, damage your laptop!  Jabra have heard this feedback and made the dongle for the Engage is big enough not to lose and witha flexible cable so it will bend rather than break.

Battery life  13 hours of talk time and 52 hours of standby is amazing. There’s also a fast charge feature (in case you forgot to power-up 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 dongle all time. However the unique ‘Powernap’ feature of the Engage extends that standby time even further when it’s not been used for 30 minutes.  Asn as we mentioned you can plug in the Engage 55 and use it like a corded headset, charging at the same time.

Busy Light on the headset 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 mono and stereo versions this light is on both the earpiece and on the end of the microphone boom (or arm). On the convertible option it’s just on the earpiece.

Density  – 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 older headsets

Comfort The Engage mono and stereo models have soft letherette earcushions with a central hole to help keep your ear(s) cool.  Theyare lightweight headsets that don’t clamp vicelike onto your head.  The headband isn’t too loose and it isn’t too tight, it’s juuuuuust right.  (NB his is for mono and stereo only).  The mono style has a handly pull tab so you don’t grab handfuls of hair when you remove it.  The convertible has headband , neckband and earhook options in the box.  To be honest it’s an anusual wearing style and hasn’t proved very popular. The earbud is attached so that even in the neckband and headband style,  you still have a hard bud poking in your ear.

Stuff we thought was nifty:

* Volume up and down function: The headset knows which way up you’re wearing it so you know that the top button always means volume up.

*The mute button is on the mic making it easy to locate (and you can set a reminder so you don’t waffle on forgetting your caller can’t hear you). Or lift up the microphone –  it’s not officially a mute function but may as well be!

* You can conference up to 3 additional headsets onto one dongle- great for conference calls or training.

The Verdict

This is the latest all mod cons headset from Jabra. If you need a transportable high quality headset for use with computer, this is your new bestie!

Specifications
SKU	Jabra-Engage-55
Manufacturer	Jabra
Product Type	Computer Wireless
Wireless Technology	DECT
Talk Time	up to 13hrs
Warranty	2 Year
Wearing Style	Over the head (one ear), Over the head (two ears)
Connection Type	USB DECT
Software Compatabilty	Apple, Dragon Naturally Speaking, MacSpeech, MOC & Lync, MS Teams CERTIFIED, Skype, Unified Communications, Voice Recognition Software, Windows, Zoom CERTIFIED, MS Teams Compatible, Zoom Compatible
Ear Cushion Material	Leatherette
Speaker Frequency Response	Music mode – 40Hz – 16000Hz Speak Mode – 150Hz – 6800Hz
Mic Frequency Response	100Hz – 7300Hz
Coverage Range	Wireless Range
Charge Time	90 mins (40% in 30 mins)
Charger Type	Cable charging – USB-A or USB-C connection.
Conference Additonal Headsets	3
Coverage Range [Wireless]	up to 150m
Best Use	Noisy Office, Quiet Office
Application	Computer (USB)
Audio Qualities	Enhanced (DSP) Digital Sound Processing, Mono sound, Noise cancelling mic, Noise protection, Peakstop Protection, Stereo sound, Wideband Audio, Wideband mic
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