Jabra Speak2 75 review: Free your hybrid work with a high quality speakerphone
With more meetings being conducted with remote participants, it's time to focus on quality conversations
Hyperdrive Hits
5/5 Medals of Yavin: Highly recommended for anyone who has meetings with remote participants
Wired or wireless connectivity
Large well-spaced buttons around the speaker
Fantastic speaker and microphone quality
Jabra Direct software support
Intro
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I held conference calls via my computer primarily with clients and at a frequency of two to three calls a week. Since early 2020, I’m often on Microsoft Teams making calls, even to others in the office, three to six times a DAY.
Prior to 2020, I was perfectly fine with grabbing a headset for calls, but I’m now experiencing headset fatigue. Our IT folks purchased some Jabra speakerphones last year and we’ve been using those throughout the office for conference room calls, office calls, and mobile calls. Even though I’m a tech nerd, I didn’t actually have one myself so I was excited when Jabra asked if I wanted to take its Jabra Speak2 series for a spin.
I connected the Jabra Speak2 75 up in my home office and the Speak2 55 at the company office in Seattle. This review grades the Speak2 75, but I’ll detail the differences between the two speakers too.
Not everyone has the ability to use a speakerphone at their desk, but even if you don’t have a private office these Jabra Speak2 devices are great to use in conference rooms, in your home office, and in other locations with the wireless Bluetooth connectivity option.
Rating:
As explained in my palmsolo’s Refresh Rating Scale post, I’m awarding the Jabra Speak2 75 five (5) Medals of Yavin. The speaker performed flawlessly and it has raised the bar for all of my calls. Unlike my computer and some other computer accessories, I’ve yet to experience a single failure of the Speak2 75 and it is one of my favorite pieces of office technology.
The Good and the Bad
Despite all of the internal testing and trials, it’s rare to find a perfect product. Reviewers tend to push things to the limits and find unique situations where things may not perform perfectly. Software updates can also come later to fix some cons on products.
Pros
Perfect reliability
Connect via cable or Bluetooth
Four beamforming noise-cancelling microphones
65mm speaker with duplex audio
Large, easy-to-access buttons
Long 32 hour battery life
Integrated Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet support
Microphone quality indicator
Robust design
Cons
Speak2 75 is nearly twice the price of the Speak2 55
Experiences
The Jabra Speak2 75 retail package includes a professional looking gray case so you can protect the speaker if you want to take it to different spaces throughout the day. There is even a small pocket to hold the USB-A Bluetooth Link 380 adapter, included with the speaker.
The connection/charging cable is connected to the bottom of the speaker and can be wound around the bottom of the speaker if you want to shorten it up or use the speaker in wireless mode. While the end of the cable for your computer is USB-C, there is also a small USB-C to USB-A adapter the slides up and down the cable so you can connect to whatever computer you have.
The speaker can be used in both Bluetooth and cable modes so I have it connected to my primary computer, a Surface Pro 8 dock, with the cable and to my mobile phone with a Bluetooth wireless connection. For the first month or so I only had it connected to my computer for Microsoft Teams calls, but then realized it is much better than using the speakerphone built into my phones so now callers experience the best quality calls all of the time.
The microphone quality indicator (not available on the Speak2 55) appears as a glowing light around the entire top of the speaker. It glows green when good quality is recognized and orange when you need to move closer or speak more clearly. This indicator light around the speaker also turns red when you mute your calls.
There are 10 touch-sensitive buttons around the top of the speaker. Starting from the top, 12 o’clock position, and working clockwise, there are the following buttons/functions:
Power on/off
End/reject call button
Battery status indicator
Volume up
Mute microphone (only available during an active call)
Volume down
Bluetooth pairing
Answer call
Microsoft Teams control
Custom button: Default serves as play/pause, but you can customize this button in the Jabra Sound+ application
When the button is active or available for use, it is lit up so you can easily see where to tap. I absolutely LOVE using the Mute button that is positioned at 6 o’clock on the speaker. I used to fumble with finding the mute button on Teams and using my mouse to toggle it on and off. It’s so much more efficient to quickly tap right on the speaker and the red ring around the top that lights up makes sure I know when I am active or muted.
The Jabra Direct app on your computer, and the Sound+ app on your smartphone, help you get the most out of the speakerphone experience with equalizer settings, firmware updates, and other settings to customize and control your speakerphone experience. It’s the same application that you can use to control other Jabra products, like the Jabra PanaCast 20 web camera or earbuds.
Specifications
Specifications alone don’t mean much, but they are useful for comparing similar devices and checking that you are getting value for your money.
Microphones: Four (4) beamforming, noise-cancelling mics
Mic pick up range: Up to 8 feet
Speaker size: 65mm (Speak2 75), 50mm (Speak2 55)
Bluetooth version: 5.2 (75), 5.1 (55)
Simultaneous BT connections: Two (2)
IP rating: IP64 dust and water resistance
Battery: 4,700 mAh for up to 32 hours of talk time (75), 1,800 mAh for up to 12 hours (55)
Dimensions (Speak2 75): 132.5 mm diameter x 35mm thick and 466 grams
Dimensions (Speak2 55): 120 mm diameter x 33mm thick and 280 grams
The significant differences in the Speak2 75 compared to the 55 include super-wideband audio support, 65mm speaker size, microphone quality indicator, Microsoft Swift Pair, Teams and Zoom Rooms support, and much longer battery life.
Bottom Line
The Jabra Speak2 75 is available now for $369 and if you are looking for an easy way to take your calls to the next level then I highly recommend it. As much as I am on the phone daily for work, having a speaker that provides crystal clear audio for me and callers on the other end is a no-brainer. I have not had a SINGLE comment made from another participant on a call that I sounded muffled, unclear, or compromised in any way.
My calling experience has been flawless and it is so nice to not have a headset mounted on my head, a boom that I forget to raise and lower, or other accessory that I have to think of to make and receive calls. The bottom position of the mute button is perfect and it is my most used button by far.
The ability to quickly unplug the Speak2 75 and take it with me throughout the day is also a benefit for the way I roll. The smaller, and more affordable, Speak2 55 is also an excellent choice and perfect for a home office where you can quickly use it for all of your family’s mobile phone calls if you are not using the speaker for your work calls.
Jabra is my go-to brand for high quality audio experiences and the Speak2 series of speakerphones is extremely impressive. The quality, reliability, flawless performance, ease-of-use, and portability make it the standard to measure all others against.