As more of us drift back to the office, we will face something many of us haven’t heard in quite a while: noise. Going back to an open-plan office with the chatter of colleagues, the hum of printers and air-conditioning units, we will have to find a way of carrying on with phone calls and video meetings without the distractions of busy office life.
The latest wireless headset from Danish company EPOS has just launched. The IMPACT 1000 Bluetooth headset is available in various variants, including ANC (active noise cancelation). The IMPACT 1000 has been designed to ensure people can stay focused on their phone call or Zoom meetings while ensuring noisy distractions are reduced to a minimum.
The IMPACT 1000 may be relatively new, but it’s already chalked up a few awards, including Red Dot and Gold iF Design awards for its technologies and user-friendly features. Those technologies include BrainAdapt technology. Developed by EPOS, BrainAdapt is a group of technologies that work in concert to improve the cognitive performance of people using the headset. Using a combination of hybrid adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and advanced voice pickup technology powered by EPOS AI.
EPOS claims the IMPACT 1000 is the first headset that adequately addresses the challenges posed by our modern hybrid work environments. Building on decades of leading psychoacoustic research, the latest study by EPOS has attempted to evaluate the benefits that noise reduction in audio devices can offer when subjects have to perform two tasks simultaneously.
The experiment involved subjects undertaking two tasks of understanding speech while carrying out a visual task. This happens in thousands of call centers daily as employees listen to phone calls while typing info into a computer. The study revealed that noise attenuation – such as the hybrid adaptive ANC used in the IMPACT 1000 headset – provided several benefits when people must perform two tasks.
The experiment showed that ANC reduced listening effort by 67% and enabled users better to recognize speech in a noisy environment by 48%. By minimizing the effort required for the brain to listen and understand the elements of a conversation, EPOS claims the IMPACT 1000 can boost user efficiency by up to 40%, representing a significant increase in productivity and performance.
To provide a clearer listening environment, the EPOS AI used in the IMPACT 1000 uses machine-learning technology that scans the user’s environment up to 32,000 times per second to suppress disruptive sounds and enhance the audio the user needs to hear. Another benefit of this feature is the caller on the other end of the line only gets to hear the relevant sounds and the noise of the call center activity is largely filtered out.
The other major design factor in producing an advanced headset is to ensure it is comfortable to wear, especially for long periods. The IMPACT 1000 feels very light, although it also feels well made. The soft ear cushions and padded headband make wearing the headset comfortable even after several hours. The flip-down boom has four MEMs mics and can easily be flipped out of the way. The user can choose whether the mic is worn on the left or right side.
EPOS offers three ways of connecting the IMPACT 1000 to its host device, whether a smartphone, tablet or computer. Firstly, a wideband USB dongle plugs into any computer and appears as an audio input and output source. The dongle provides excellent, low-latency sound and is probably the best and most convenient way to connect.
Alternatively, the headset can connect directly with a computer or smartphone using the Bluetooth system on a chip built into the headset. This is the ideal way of connecting to a smartphone or tablet. You can even connect two devices to connect a personal and business phone simultaneously. Finally, a wired USB connection is the last way to connect. This provides a very low latency and high-resolution connection and would suit gamers.
In addition to the ANC function, the EPOS IMPACT 1000 also offers a Talk Through function that enables users to communicate with colleagues without removing the headset. A 360 busy light signal shows when the user is busy on a call. Each headset comes with a charging stand that keeps the headset fully charged and ready to go.
To test the IMPACT 1000, I borrowed an IMPACT 1060 ANC variant with all the bells and whistles except Microsoft Teams certification. The first thing I noticed about the headset is how light and comfortable it is to wear, even for long periods. Secondly, the ANC function works very well and cuts out a lot of unwanted sounds. However, perhaps even more impressive with the noise-canceling technology used on the speech that’s picked up. Even in a busy environment, it sounds like you could be chatting from a quiet room at home.
The sound quality of the drivers used in the IMPACT 1000 is excellent. This headset is as good for listening to music or watching a movie as it is for taking phone calls or joining in with video meetings. I’ve reviewed EPOS equipment since the company was spun off from Sennheiser. The road has been rocky at times, but the IMPACT 1000 is a triumph for EPOS because everything about it is on point. The sound, comfort, speech pickup and connectivity are all perfect. It may be an expensive headset, but it is a brilliant one.
Now we come to a little bit of negativity. In my view, the headset could do with a little more volume. I did find myself cranking up the volume to maximum, so maybe that’s something EPOS could address in a future firmware update.
Verdict: The EPOS IMPACT 1000 ANC Bluetooth headset is a triumph. This is the best headset yet from EPOS in almost every respect. It’s comfortable to wear, the ANC works wonderfully, the microphone picks up the user’s voice clearly and the connectivity options are very convenient and glitch-free. The only downsides are the software and slightly low volume, which are easily fixed. If you want a noise-canceling headset for phone calls and video meetings, the EPOS IMPACT 1000 should be at the top of your shortlist alongside the premium models from Jabra, another Danish company.
Pricing & Availability: The EPOS IMPACT 1000 ANC Bluetooth headset is available now in various variants. The basic version of the EPOS IMPACT 1000 costs $289 / £220 / €269. The ANC version that I tested (IMPACT 1060 ANC) costs $429 / £365 / €415.
More info: eposaudio.com
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