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Cisco’s 2018 headsets offer six differentiated telephony options at a competitive price point

When you think of the best headsets for collaboration, Cisco probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind. However, the company has made deep in-roads into business headsets over the last couple of years. The Cisco Headset 500 Series was among its first releases in this segment, available since March 2018. They were envisioned as an accompanying device for its highly popular IP phones.

Cisco sells millions of IP phones every year, but the telephony experience is limited by the quality of headset that you use with it. This becomes even more complex when you transition from a traditional, cubicle-based office to a more modern, open-plan layout. Headsets inevitably let noise creep in, hampering the collaboration experience. Here’s where solutions like the Cisco Headset 500 Series come in. It offers a bevy of features to make open-space collaboration easier, and that too at a compelling cost component.

Let’s quickly review the features of the Cisco Headset 500 Series to understand what makes this a good choice for you.

Right off the bat, it should be noted that the Cisco Headset 500 Series is compatible only with Cisco Ip phones and soft clients. While there is DECT 6.0 wireless technology available, it only helps Cisco phones detect when a headset is in the proximity. In other words, the Cisco Headset 500 Series is for those already in the Cisco ecosystem. Here are some of its key features:

The mic captures wide bandwidth sound, there is an impressive degree of acoustic sensitivity, and balanced noise reduction delivers a crisp, natural-sounding sound. The Cisco Headset 500 Series even performs audio shaping to finetune the inbound audio.

With the standard base, you get up to 300 feet roaming, powered by DECT technology. There is on-ear control (no adapter needed) as well as a dedicated music mode at 48-kHz. A nifty feature we liked here is the 561/562’s auto-answering capabilities. Where the headset is undocked, calls will be automatically answered, and placing the headset on the dock or base will end the call.

The obvious differentiator in this series is its sheer range – you could go for a bare-bones, wired headset with a single earpiece at as low as $90. Or you could opt for an advanced multibase station Bluetooth headset that connects with devices outside the Cisco ecosystem. For large teams with diverse telephony needs, switching to the Cisco Headset 500 Series makes perfect sense.

Given that these are early days for Cisco headsets, the 500 Series is pretty close to the intended mark. It gives you plenty of options for every employee category, the sound quality is definitely above average, and the design (particularly the 522, 532, and 562 with padded headsets) makes comfort a priority. In short, the Cisco Headset 500 Series is a great option for business telephony in the mid-tier segment.

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