There are many headphones and headsets on the market and many of us use them for meetings etc because it’s just easy. But what if you want something more dedicated to and designed for meetings.
You work in a busy office with a lot of others around you on the phone all day so you want a headset for your meetings that will provide excellent audio pickup, even in a noisy work environment, while at the same time giving you excellent audio of the parties on the other end of the call. This is when you would choose something like the EPOS IMPACT 1061 ANC headset.
| Pros | Cons |
| Lightweight and comfortable | No USB-A cable |
| Wireless charging on the stand | Sound a bit soft at times |
| Triple connectivity — USB, BT and USB Dongle | |
| Multipoint Bluetooth connection |
What are they?
The EPOS IMPACT 1061 ANC headset is the new headset from EPOS that includes their BrainAdapt technology for improved focus and reduced “brain fatigue” over longer periods along with hybrid adaptive ANC. It includes a high quality boom mic that is ambidextrous and automatically mutes the call when raised.
The headset includes machine learning technology that scans the user’s environment to suppress unwanted noise and enhance wanted sounds thereby adapting the headset to a variety of environmental conditions.
The headset is designed for comfort with a lightweight design, soft ear cushions and a headband that is padded for extra comfort.
Theis Mørk, VP Product Management at EPOS says: “As the complexities of the modern work-scape continue to evolve so too must the solutions that we use to ensure productivity and communication. Backed by world-leading psychoacoustic data, the IMPACT 1000 is a trailblazing innovation for professionals and businesses operating in the New Open Office environment. Communication is at the core of business success and it’s integral that leaders think intentionally about how they are optimising the potential of technology solutions to empower their employees. Doing so will help improve productivity, accuracy, and efficiency.”
BrainAdapt
EPOS has completed extensive psychoacoustic research on the effect of audio on sections of the brain that causes listeners to zone out and become fatigued — the cognitive load. Using AI along with filters and algorithms they filter out sections of the sound wave so that the resultant wave is less “harsh” and doesn’t provide as much cognitive load on the user.
BrainAdapt adjusts the sound profile on the fly based on who is in the room at the time, with the sound waves individualised — at this stage it is unclear just how that works on a meeting room of people and given it is proprietary technology I doubt we’ll ever know.
The end result is a less fatigued user according to EPOS (and their significant number of well-designed studies) – something we could all use a bit of help with during a long work day.
Comfort
At 181 grams, the Impact 1061 ANC headset from EPOS is relatively lightweight and sits comfortably on the head. The soft headband combined with the earcup tension allows for an extremely comfortable fit.
I was able to wear them for several hours without any adverse effects or pain anywhere. They are one of the most comfortable headsets I have ever used but then they are designed to be used as a headset almost exclusively and not for gaming, and not for music – although, in a pinch they can be used for these.
The headset we received is an ambidextrous headset (if that is the correct terminology) meaning that it can be worn either way, with the mic earcup on the left or right. The mic rotates all the way over 270 degrees allowing it to be placed in front of the mouth from either the left or the right earcup.
The earcup with the mic attached to it houses the power and Bluetooth sliding button, the volume slider and the USB-C charging/connectivity port. The non-mic earcup houses only the ANC button.
Each ear cup has a soft pleather covering over foam cushioning which is extremely soft and comfortable, even in a warm environment for long periods of time. Also located on each earcup is a couple of red lights that light up when you are on a call so colleagues etc around you will know why you are ignoring them at that time.
Connectivity
The EPOS Impact 1061 ANC can be connected using just Bluetooth to your device the old fashioned Bluetooth way. The USB dongle included in the box is a Bluetooth dongle which offers a direct and immediate connection to the device the dongle is connected to.
Unfortunately the USB dongle is USB-A only so if you have a device that has USB-C ports only you will have to use the old fashioned Bluetooth connectivity if you want a wireless connection. There is also the option to connect using the included USB-C cable to your device and use a wired connection but in 2023 who wants that?
The wired connection did work well though, I’m just not a fan of it.
My favourite use was the USB dongle for quick connectivity that also provides a higher quality sound than old fashioned Bluetooth only — if only the USB dongle was USB-C compatible as well.
I had a meeting scheduled and my TWS headphones were not connecting to my PC because there were far too many devices around that they kept connecting to instead of the PC I wanted them to. Even though I had not connected the EPOS headset to the PC before I quickly plugged the USB dongle into the PC and the headset connected immediately – no messing around with device parking etc.
The headset can be connected to three different devices at a single time thanks to its multipoint connectivity support.
Sound quality
The mic offers great sound quality which is expected these days. The best thing about this headset mic is the simple way to mute it – simply lift the mic arm up. To unmute it lower the boom mic. This came in very handy when in a meeting and my ferocious guard dogs (Westies) sensed someone outside so went into crazy barking guard dog mode. To be able to quickly mute with a simple raise of the boom mic without having to search for the right button to mute it was extremely handy.
The EPOS AI and its noise cancelling algorithm is designed to enhance your voice getting through and minimise background noise transmission but there is only so much it could do. It was able to remove the dogs running around in the background but, as you would expect, failed at the guard dog barks.
All in all, for a headset designed specifically for office use in meetings there is nothing more you could ask from it. The sound in the earcups was clear and well-isolated from background noise, albeit possibly a bit soft compared to other headsets.
Now the noise was not up the sound quality standard of a media consumption high end headset such as the Bose QC45 or NC700 but it was certainly passable for good music quality but as mentioned above, not as loud as some.
If you really want top notch music and rarely are involved in online meetings then you could use music headphones most of the day and just switch to the EPOS headset for meetings but if you have a lot of meetings and non-stop calls then the EPOS will certainly do for music quality while you use the headset to give the best quality audio in meetings and calls.
Charging stand
So many of use leave their work headsets lying around or on some flimsy stand but the EPOS IMPACT 1061 arrived with a wireless charging dock/stand. Simple place the headset on the top of the stand, as you would normally store headphones on a stand, and they will charge.
I really liked this new addition to the EPOS lineup as it made the whole setup tidy but also functional.
You can also charge them using the USB-C to USB-C cable included in the box. Connecting the headset to your computer via this cable will allow you to charge the headset while simultaneously using it in a meeting.
Final thoughts
The EPOS IMPACT 1061 ANC headset did everything I asked of it. It connected easily using Bluetooth and even easier when plugging it into the computer using the USB-C cable or the USB dongle.
The audio pickup was great which was handy because a couple of ferocious West Highland terriers guarding my house from the evil delivery people and random people walking past the house is not so professional when on a work call.
The ear cups provided good sound with excellent noice cancellation and while the sound is not high quality audiophile music listening quality they will do if that is all you have around. It was far from bad when listening to all genres of music. The ANC was good enough to enable me to hear the meeting clearly even with a noisy background.
The headset was everything I could have asked for in a work headset. I would have preferred audiophile quality sound and a physical USB-C dongle but you can’t have everything.
The EPOS IMPACT 1061 ANC headset is available now from various retailers and from the EPOS website for RRP $485.00 AUD / $539.00 NZD.
