After a 6-year wait, Jabra Evolve series is back! They announced the Evolve3 85 and Evolve3 75. Just like the predecessors, the 85 is an over-ear headset while the 75 is an on-ear headset for those serious about high quality work communications.
What I feel is special about the Evolve series is that Jabra has created a headset that works really well for office and looks really good for use outside office. If you often have to take calls everywhere you go – in office, inside trains, at food courts – then you probably shoud invest in a pair of quality headsets.
It is easy for me to express how I love using them because I have been a Jabra Evolve user. I use the Evolve2 30 SE, a corded USB headset that most of us at work agrees it’s great. But there are a few minor flaws – the flaky ear cushions and headband, the bulky design with boom mic, and the wire that always get hooked around my chair armrest.
Thankfully, they resolved that with the third-gen Evolve3. They are now lighter, more compact, and most importantly, no more flaky artificial leather, replaced by fabric that are also replaceable. Interestingly, the Evolve3 85 have an even smaller footprint when folded and packed in the case.
Both headsets now do not have the boom mics, making them look more like normal consumer headphones than office headsets. To me, I kind of preferred the boom mics because they definitely will pickup my voice better. However, Jabra has put in efforts to ensure that the current design will also deliver the same mic clarity. In fact, they have implemented Gen AI to analyse the voice so that it will process to make the voice some more audible and for the other parties to hear you better.
Between the Evolve3 85 and Evolve3 75, their functions are almost identical, except the Evolve3 85 supports 3.5mm analog audio connection. On the left ear, there is the power switch and ANC button; press to toggle different modes, press-hold to turn off ANC. On the right ear, there are the mute button, volume buttons, play-pause buttons. Plus the call answer button on the earcup.
There are 2 LED indicators on each side to provide visuals to your colleagues that you are on a call. There is no way that they cannot see it.
Whether to choose Evolve3 85 or Evolve3 75 comes down to budget, comfort, and audio balance. I find the Evolve3 85 delivers slightly better treble clarity, more bass depth, and more spatial in the imaging, while the Evolve3 75 provides a more wholesome midrange. I prefer the warm-ish tone of the Evolve3 75 during calls, yet the Evolve3 85 clarity elevates the quality of the conversations.
In terms of ANC, the Evolve3 75 is slightly better in reducing ambient sound, and I believe it is due to the on-ear cushion giving a bit more passive reduction of noise. When it comes to HearThrough, the Evolve3 85 is better in letting me hear the surrounding noises.
When buying the headsets, you have a choice of either the USB Type-A or Type-C. The latter is really tiny, so you need to be careful in handling it and avoid misplacing or even dropping them.
The headsets can be paired to two Bluetooth devices at the same time. One would be the dongle and the other could be your smartphone. The headsets give prioritisation to the dongle over the secondary device, so if it detects audio stream from the dongle, the secondary device will not stream audio to the headset. The only time when it overrides is when there is an active call detected on the secondary device.
Battery life on the Evolve3 85 is 25 hours of call time or 120 hours of music, while the Evolve3 75 is 22 hours call time or 110 hours music.
Jabra+ App
Connect the headset to your smartphone to access and personalise features on the headset, as well as updating the firmware. From the app, you can customise quite a lot of audio and call features, like:
- Adjust Sidetone
- Adjust HearThrough
- Set the busylight
- Spatial sound
- EQ and Presets for music
- Call audio tuning
- Wear detection
- Wind noise reduction
- Sleep mode
- Mute reminder
Compared to Evolve2 65 Flex
Nothing beats the compactness of the Evolve2 65 Flex, as you can see the images below, it is even more compact than the Evolve3 75. Unfortunately, the earpads and headband uses artificial leather than is prone to flaking. I prefer the mic quality of the 65 Flex, afterall, the boom mic puts the pickup closer to the mouth. The 65 Flex’s ANC and HearThrough seems to be more aggressive which causes more ear pressure and lets me hear higher frequencies more. For audio quality, the Evolve3 75 sounds a bit more clearer while the 65 Flex brings out the midrange more.
Verdict
The Jabra Evolve3 series have removed the boom mics while improving the overall design to achieve an even more compact profile. While they are not the perfect headphones for music listening, I enjoy using them as they are easy to carry around, are lightweight, and better built than the Evolve2 65 Flex.
The Jabra Evolve3 85 retails at S$890 but is available at a street price of S$549. The Jabra Evolve3 75 retails at S$626 with a street price of S$469. Get it at the Shopee and Lazada official stores.
