Over the last 6 months, there has been a 60% increase of the use of the word “mute, unmute, muted” or some variation of “can’t hear” but software intended to record reoccurring trends in recorded calls.
As we start to consider some form of hybrid working, I’m working with EPOS (which is a brand de-merged from Sennheiser) to bring you premium audio solutions to ensure efficiency and best-in-class-audio when working remotely and in the office.
EPOS – Premium audio solutions
It seems that no matter how many times we log onto (yet another) video conference from home, we’ve started accept as inevitable the fact that we’ll hear these words or something like them on each call.
For those of us fortunate enough to work from home during the pandemic, we’ve come to make jokes out of our government mandated WFH situation, I certainly have, they’ve become. form of escapism. In my work downtime, I like stumbling across TikToks and Reels from other corporates who turn these ‘you’re on mute’ situations into hilarious videos like this one. There’s a reason why these videos have tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of views. We can all relate.
You’re joining the call, you’re waiting for everyone’s faces to pop up on screen, eventually everyone arrives, the host starts talking, but nobody can hear a sound – we politely wait for a little while for then to figure it out, or for someone else to say something – they usually don’t, and so commences the “you’re on mute” gesturing to ears to get said muted persons attention. How times have changed.
Working from Home Life
If you’re like me, we’ve been working from home for just over a year. I was really keen to kick off 2021 by creating the optimal working environment.
I’ve tried working in pretty much all areas of the house: the dining table, the kitchen, the sofa (do not try this at home, not recommended at all), the smallest room in the house and now I think I’ve got it.
Along with fellow working parents who have attempted to home-school some of the last year, we’ve had to get creative with working spaces that allow us to get our own work done, whilst supervising our children on Zoom calls, this had Pops and I working from the dining table for a while, and I’m very glad that time is over.
Now she’s back to school, I can focus more easily on work. I’ve been reflecting on what kind of impression I want to make when I am sat on virtual meetings with colleagues. This is more than how I look, it’s what I’m saying, how I’m saying it, the technology I’m using and the how it all comes together.
As someone who has worked from home in some capacity for the last 10 years, I thought I was well prepared for full time home working. Working from home 1 or 2 days per week, versus working from home permanently for over a year during a pandemic are two very different things.
Home Working Space as an Extension of your Brand
I recently had a day of meetings with one particular Big Tech company, one thing I noticed was that each person had on headphones when on video, whether they were speaking or not. There was nobody on the call from the company without headphones on.
I later learned that headphones are company mandated for lots of companies – they ensure that the sound quality is the best and aren’t coming out of tinny speakers on your laptop and more importantly, to keep company information confidential.
Why Your Tech Matters When Working from Home
I decided that I wanted premium audio to complete my home working environment. I needed headphones that looked good, had great battery life and were comfortable. EPOS suggested this model for me here, which are absolutely perfect. I’ve been wearing them for a couple of months now and I don’t know what else I’d use if I didn’t have them. I cannot be without them:
I wear headphones all day pretty much, from when I meditate first thing in the morning, to working and on calls, listening to a podcast, to cooking dinner and chatting to friends or family. I’ll be sharing more content about what my working day looks like soon, so follow me on Instagram if you don’t already.
Connectivity
The ADAPT 460 is EPOS’s Bluetooth-enabled headphones that sit on a neckband which I can connect it to my iPhone, my iMac or MacBook really easily and actually allows me to simultaneously connect to two devices.
The neckband also vibrates so that if I’m away from my computer or phone, I never miss calls. The headphones can actually be up to 20m away from the connected device, which is great for me as I tend to leave my phone downstairs and run up the stairs to my office and then realise someone is calling me – the headphones still connect.
Battery life
As I’ve mentioned, I spend most of the day with my headphones on, so the fact that the EPOS ADAPT 460 has listening time of up to 15 hours and talking time of up to 14 hours, is amazing for a Bluetooth headset and absolutely knock AirPod Pros out of the water – with 5 hours listening time and 3 hours talking time.
The fact that these headphones are on a neckband means I haven’t lost them, which I’ve done with other headphones more times than I care to admit.
Sound quality
The EPOS ADAPT 460 has Active Noise Cancellation technology which is proven to make you more productive by blocking our distracting noises and help you to focus more easily.
Microphone
The ADAPT 460 has four microphones in the neckband, which rests on my collar and is understated and sleek. People are often unaware that I’m even wearing headphones, however my sound quality is amazing, as is the audio.
I’m working with EPOS over the next few months on content related to home-working and premium audio equipment with some exciting news from me from a content perspective, and a giveaway of my favourite headphones from them, so if you want this content, you can sign up for my newsletter here.
I’m excited to bring you the next evolution of home-working, even though some of us will be heading to the office soon, it’s likely that we’ll continue to spend more time working from home as companies adopt this new-now-normal. I’m excited to share more with you all.
This post is sponsored by EPOS.
