For professionals drowning in back-to-back virtual meetings, headset fatigue is real. Bulky designs, muffled audio, and fiddly connections plague many workplace audio solutions. Enter the Epos Impact 500 series – a $299 wireless headset aiming to elevate the experience with a focus on comfort and clarity, certified for Microsoft Teams. ZDNET's Kyle Kucharski put it through its paces, finding it might just make prolonged calls enjoyable.

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The Epos Impact 500 headset features a minimalist design with rotatable boom mic and lightweight construction. (Source: ZDNET/Kyle Kucharski)

The Comfort Factor: Lightweight Liberation
The standout feature, according to Kucharski, is the Impact 500's supreme comfort. Weighing a mere 139 grams (4.9 ounces), it's exceptionally lightweight. The breathable, plush earcups, though noted as slightly small, allowed Kucharski to wear the headset for extended periods without the typical pressure or overheating common in many over-ear models. "I even forgot I was wearing it on a few occasions," he reports, a significant endorsement for users who find headsets cumbersome.

Performance: Clarity Where It Counts
Where the Impact 500 truly justifies its premium positioning is in its core function: communication.
* Call Quality: Both incoming audio and outgoing voice transmission received top marks. Testers on the other end of calls described Kucharski's voice as "natural and precise," free from robotic artifacts, stuttering, or dropouts.
* Microphone: The rotatable boom mic automatically mutes when flipped up, a practical feature for quick muting. Its length was deemed optimal – not obtrusive, yet effective.
* Talk-Through Mode: This feature, allowing users to hear their own voice clearly while ANC is active, functioned well, making conversations feel more natural.
* Connectivity: Native Bluetooth ensures easy pairing with laptops without requiring a dongle, though USB-C and USB-A dongles are included for flexibility. Epos promises future support for Microsoft Teams over native Bluetooth.

Friction Points: The Price of Premium & Tiny Controls
The $299 price tag immediately places the Impact 500 in the premium segment, making it less suitable for bulk deployment but targeted at users prioritizing comfort and quality.

The most significant usability critique centers on the physical controls:
* Buttons for call acceptance (on the mic base), volume (on the left earcup), and power (a tiny slider, also on the left) are uniformly small.
* Kucharski noted requiring "some precision and a bit of fumbling" to activate them correctly, especially the power slider positioned near the mic hinge, necessitating the mic to be flipped up before powering on/off.
* While muscle memory develops, the initial learning curve is steeper than ideal.

ANC: Tuned for the Office, Not Total Silence
The Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is effective but purpose-built for the office environment:
* Excels at neutralizing constant background noise like HVAC systems or general room tone.
* Reduces nearby transient sounds (keyboard clicks, light conversations) by approximately 50% – sufficient to prevent distraction during calls but not designed to create an isolated silence bubble.

Endurance: Marathon Battery Life
Epos claims up to 35 hours of talk time on a single charge. Kucharski's real-world testing over a week and a half of intermittent use aligned with this impressive longevity, requiring only one recharge during his evaluation period.

The Verdict: A Worthy Investment for Comfort-Conscious Professionals
The Epos Impact 500 isn't just another headset; it's a solution for those who find traditional models a burden. Its lightweight, breathable design sets a high bar for long-wear comfort, directly addressing a key pain point. Combined with excellent call clarity, reliable connectivity, effective office-oriented ANC, and marathon battery life, it delivers a premium experience. While the small buttons demand acclimatization and the price is undeniably high, the Impact 500 proves that a well-designed work headset can transform the often-dreaded video call into a genuinely comfortable, high-fidelity experience. For professionals whose days are defined by communication, the reduction in physical fatigue might just be worth the investment. (Source: ZDNET review by Kyle Kucharski, November 13, 2025)