Product Review: The Jabra BIZ 2400 Duo USB Headset

Introduction

Jabra is a well-established name in the realm of professional headsets. Based in Scandinavia, you’ll find Jabra products deployed in offices and call centers around the globe. The Jabra BIZ 2400 Duo headset is a model that connects to a computer via USB, and also has a Bluetooth radio, allowing it’s use with a mobile phone.

Overview

The BIZ 2400 is lightweight, yet durable. It’s a supra-aural design, meaning the leatherette-covered earpieces rest on-the-ears. The adjustable metal headband provides the spring force necessary to hold it in place, reliably.

The microphone boom rotates a full 360 degrees, allowing the headset to be worn with the boom on the right or left. Detents ensure it stays in place once positioned. The microphone boom can also be bent to adjust its distance from the mouth.

The microphone element is a noise-reducing design, minimizing ambient noise. Additionally, the microphone tip features an internal wind screen to reduce the chances of breath noise, and it comes with a removable foam wind screen.

The Kevlar-reinforced cord is flexible, yet durable. A large plastic clip allows the cord to be secured to your shirt pocket or collar.

Mid-way along the cord there’s a round control that includes microphone mute, hook-state switch and rotary volume control.

The companies’ PeakStop Technology protects the user from excessively loud bursts. This is especially useful when other conference participants are using a conference phone that’s not well isolated from the table. In such cases when you put down a heavy object, like a glass or laptop, near the conference phone, a resounding thump to others on the conference call could be heard (without PeakStop).

The headset includes a zippered neoprene carrying case that should ensure the headset surviving the rigors of the road in a typical computer bag or suitcase.

Performance

We evaluated the BIZ 2400 using Counterpath’s Bria For Windows and our own ZipLine 3.0 web phone.

For the perspective of conference calling, the Jabra BIZ 2400 performed well. Device is clearly recognized by Windows, Mac and Linux systems, none of which require any software to be installed.

Once connected to a ZipDX conference, audio playback sounds crisp and clear, with plenty of volume available. The BIZ 2400 consistently delivered HDVoice quality in both directions.

While not the pinnacle of headphone Hi-Fi, the BIZ 2400 are reasonable stereo headphones for listening to music between telephone calls.

Professional headsets like the BIZ 2400 cost a little more than consumer models, but they are designed to last, even when used every day. Jabra even offers a spares kit, which includes replacement ear cushions and a new foam breath filter. This ensures the headset will deliver years of routine use.

Both Wired and Wireless

Feeling a little experimental, I also connected the BIZ 2400 to a Polycom VVX-600 desk phone, which features a USB port. The Polycom phone recognized the BIZ 2400 as a “Digital headset.”  Thereafter, the pair worked well together, including control of hook-state (hangup) from the headset’s inline control.

The circuitry in the BIZ 2400 is powered via the USB connection. This includes a Bluetooth radio; thus, while connected to a  computer, the BIZ 2400 can also be wirelessly-paired to a mobile phone. This allows the user to make calls via computer and a mobile phone, toggling between the two as they wish.

While this certainly explains the “Duo” designation in the name, I wonder just how useful it would be to the average person. It’s perfect for someone who’s desk-bound, spending a lot of their day making calls via their computer and would also like to take the occasional call via their personal mobile phone.

For Interpreters

While everyone wants to hear, and be heard, clearly while on a conference call, interpreters working on multilingual conference calls are a special case. An interpreter must both listen and speak at the same time, which places unusual demands on a USB headset. High-quality audio streams must be delivered consistently, in both directions, at the same time.

As we have trained interpreters in the use of ZipDX multilingual, we have encountered a number of USB headsets that don’t meet this requirement. In fact, such headsets are common enough that we created a test process to determine if a particular USB headset can be recommended to interpreters.

Happily, Jabra’s BIZ 2400 Duo passes our multilingual test with flying colors. It reliably-delivers clean audio to the wearer, even while flawlessly conveying their voice to the audience.

Models & Availability

There are several variants of the BIZ 2400. The specific headset we selected for review is the BIZ 2400 Duo USB, with stereo earpieces and a noise cancelling microphone. For interpreters, we highly recommend headsets with two earpieces.

As a professional product, Jabra’s BIZ 2400 Duo is not likely to be found in local stores. We found it offered by telecom specialists and a number of online vendors, including Jabra Direct and Amazon.

We acquired our sample from Amazon for $125 USD.

Summary

Overall, Jabra’s BIZ 2400 Duo is a good, wired-USB headset for the business user. It’s comfortable for long-term use and sounds very good. It also satisfies the more stringent requirements of a professional interpreter using ZipDX multilingual conferencing. It’s one of the first products to find a home on our list of headsets recommended for interpreters using ZipDX Multilingual.

Pro’s

• Good audio performance
• Light and very confortable to wear
• Thin, flexible cord
• Noise-reducing microphone

Con’s

• Not commonly found in local stores
• Combination of USB + Bluetooth capability is a little odd
• The user interface for BT pairing is a little obtuse