Employees love it, but there are some complexities to working from home in the new hybrid working model. Whether you’re working in a quiet space, or in a communal family area the ability to stay connected is increasingly important.
We’ve seen several options in this space from EPOS over the last year or so. There are a number of options for connectivity and it feels like EPOS has really nailed down the right formula there. The Adapt 660 AMC has again continued this, but there’s a single detractor that I don’t understand the reason for in the current market.
What is it?
The Adapt 660 AMC is an over-ear headset that is designed to meet the needs of a hybrid or full-time work from home employee. I say this because it’s got multipoint connectivity through both a USB dongle for video meetings, as well as Bluetooth 5.0 and 3.5mm cable options.
The AMC branding is a collaboration with Aston Martin Cognisant, the Formula 1 racing team, and due to this — the licencing costs for naming and use of branding colours — cost a fairly significant $855.00 but let’s move past the cost for now…
The connectivity of the headset is broad enough that it’s going to be useful in several areas of daily life. I’m impressed by the range of connectivity, too; I’m able to leave my phone and laptop at my desk and still have a connection for calls at the other end of the house when I’m working from home.
Adding to this is the ANC capabilities which are triggered by a slide switch to either off, adaptive or on modes. Generally, I’ve found adaptive to be pretty good for my needs; filtering out
Sound, Comfort and Controls
In my paid employment, I spend a lot of time on phone calls and, internally to the team, on MS Teams calls. So I need that multipoint connectivity, with the USB dongle living in the side of my laptop and the Bluetooth connection to my phone. The ease of switching calls between the laptop and phone is brilliant, with a single button to press to answer calls on either interface.
Regardless of what you’re doing, though, the sound is pretty solid. To expand on that, the audio balance is nice — perhaps a little flat for bass — for music playback. The mids are really clean, which is fantastic for vocal playback and particularly noticeable if you’re listening to orchestral scores. My listening is pretty eclectic, across everything from orchestral scores to brain melting metal and I didn’t really notice any moments of the audio simply falling flat.
Calls are really crisp and clear for both parties. I’ve used the Adapt 660 AMC on an open balcony in a fairly significant breeze, with the person I was talking to being oblivious to the weather conditions I was in. More importantly, for me at least, the combination of the fit, audio quality and noise cancelling meant that the call was as clear as if I had been in a quiet office.
I have a strong personal preference to over-ear audio, so these are pretty comfy from the get-go. What I really liked about this headset is it is ridiculously lightweight and highly adjustable. There are adjustments on the headband for those with larger heads, the ear cups can be adjusted forward and back as well as up and down on hinged mechanism. This adjustability, added to the padding and lightweight design means it’s ultra-comfortable.
As part of this comfort is the need, or lack thereof, to take off the headset regularly to control playback. Already mentioned so far is the slide control for the ANC and single push button for call controls. But there’s a convenience factor in the fact there aren’t any other physical buttons.
Taking the headset out of its case and twisting the ear cuts from flat to positioned ready to wear, turns the headset on. You can set an automatic timeout on the app to power off and reduce wasted charge.
For playback, similar to the Huawei Freebuds Studio, the playback controls are touch controls on the right ear. Play and pause through a single tap, volume up and down by sliding your finger accordingly, and forward or back tracks by sliding your finger forward or back on the ear cup.
Battery and Charging
Putting it simply, the battery life is really good!
As I said earlier, I’m on the phone or in online meetings a lot throughout the day, so this is critical to my work during the day. The Adapt 660 AMC delivers really well across this, with the battery being more than enough for three days constant use during business hours. With a couple of quiet days, I can go close to a week on a single charge.
The charging though is a bit of a problem in my eyes. For a headset that costs this much money, to be running a MicroUSB charger instead of USB-C feels like a massive oversight; perhaps only just saved by the outstanding battery life. Personally, I have very deliberately avoided buying anything that doesn’t charge by USB-C for several years, simply for the convenience of knowing I’ve always got a charging cable with me.
Should you buy the Adapt 660 AMC?
Being brutal for a moment, there are the barriers that have already been outlined; the price and MicroUSB charging. If you’re willing to look past those two, then this is a really good option if you’re a work from home/road warrior. The case is nice, if a little chunky, and will protect your headset from bumps and scrapes during daily travel.
The sound quality, comfort and connectivity are all right on the mark regardless of your specific needs, short of audiophiles who will know exactly what they want. Calls are clear for both parties, and it really is an overall, very positive experience. Given the quality of options on the market, including some of the other EPOS options we’ve previously reviewed, I’m not sure I could justify the cost of this unit over others unless you’re a big fan of Aston Martin Racing.
I had a lower spec model from the same range last year. I had to return them because the multipoint connectivity was so buggy. Hopefully they’ve sorted that out in these now. The whole point of them is to allow PC calls and phone calls without having to manually switch connections.
Arent they just Sennheiser PXC550II from year ago? Hugh price tag.
Considering device power connection policy in the EU, and their co-branding with an EU F-1 team, they absolutely need to release an updated version if this, with USB-C, and withdraw all stocks of the microUSB version immediately.