Wireless headphone features like active noise cancellation (ANC), spatial audio, long battery life, and a high-quality microphone can be critical to staying focused or collaborating in a noisy office environment.
Prominent brands like Apple, Bose, Jabra, Sennheiser, and Sony offer high-quality wireless headphones in South Africa.
MyBroadband looked for highly-rated wireless headphone models with at least 20 hours of battery life and features like ANC, spatial audio, and a quality microphone for voice and video calls.
We tried to include options for a range of budgets, with the cheapest listed being Sony’s WH-CH720 for R2,299 from Takealot and the most expensive being Apple’s AirPods Max for R13,999 from iStore.
We also looked at Google reviews, which we used to find some of the best options available in South Africa.
The best wireless headphones you can buy that are ideal for the office are listed with prices below.
Headsets are listed from cheapest to most expensive, with their respective Google Reviews scores in brackets.
Sony WH-CH720 (4.6/5) — R2,299 (Takealot)
Sony sells its mid-range WH-CH720 wireless headphones for R2,299 on Takealot, offering features like ANC, all-day battery life, and multipoint connection.
Sony says the headphones use dual noise sensor technology and an integrated V1 processor to offer robust noise cancellation capabilities.
The V1 processor, combined with Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine, also helps produce high-quality sound that is “exactly as the artists intended”.
Users can expect up to 35 hours of playback and talking time with active noise cancellation on. The battery life jumps to as much as 50 hours when active noise cancellation is deactivated.
Sony’s WH-CH720 headphones have a rating of 4.6 out of five stars across 3,134 Google reviews.
Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex (4.8/5) — R4,740 (FirstShop)
Jabra describes its Eolve2 65 Flex as the most portable professional headset it makes, and it features ANC, noise-cancelling microphones, and Jabra’s Air Comfort technology.
“Air Comfort technology” essentially refers to the materials it uses for padding to provide a comfortable feel while keeping the headphones as foldable and portable as possible.
The headphones also feature a 360-degree busy light, which wearers can activate to glow red, letting everyone around you know when you are engaged and focused on something.
Users can get up to 32 hours of playback on a single charge with active noise cancellation deactivated. With ANC enabled, listening time drops to 21 hours.
Jabra’s Evolve2 65 Flex headset has a rating of 4.8 out of five across 51 Google reviews.
Sennheiser PXC 550-II (4.3/5) — R5,999 (Takealot)
Sennheiser sells its comfortable PXC 550-II wireless headphones for R5,999 on Takealot.
The headset features ANC to block out ambient sound and transparent hearing for when you need to listen to your surroundings.
A single charge of these headphones will support music playback or voice calling for up to 30 hours.
The PXC 550-II headphones feature convenient touchpad controls to control aspects such as volume, active noise cancellation settings, and calls.
It also supports Siri and other virtual assistants through its “Voice Assistant” button.
Sennheiser’s PXC 550-II headphones are rated 4.3 out of five stars across 387 Google reviews.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra (4.6/5) — R12,499 (iStore)
While on the higher end of the price scale, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra offers a premium feel and top-tier specs that many will find ideal for office environments.
The headphones offer robust ANC, Bose’s Immersive Audio technology, and customisation through the Bose Music App.
Users also have various music modes from which to choose and can expect clear calls with the headphones’ built-in microphone.
Regarding battery capacity, Bose says the QuietComfort Ultra headphones will last up to 24 hours on a single charge.
However, it doesn’t specify whether or not this is with ANC or other features enabled.
The headphones are rated 4.6 out of five stars across 1,132 Google reviews.
Apple AirPods Max (4.6/5) — R13,999 (iStore)
Although they are the most expensive option, Apple’s AirPod Max headphones offer a range of benefits, including seamless operation with other Apple products such as MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones.
The company says the headphones combine a custom acoustic design with its in-house H1 chip and highly-optimised software.
Apple’s AirPods Max headphones boast ANC, spatial audio, and up to 20 hours of battery life with both features enabled.
Customers can also split audio from one Apple device to two pairs of headphones, which is ideal for tasks requiring collaboration.
The AirPods Max has a rating of 4.6 out of five stars across 8,150 Google reviews.
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