If you have a desk job, chances are you either spend some time working from home, or else sitting at your desk in the office on video conferences with other people working remotely. If you find yourself in this position more than once a day, it might be time to do your ears a favour and invest in a decent headset.
In a bloated marketplace with fierce competition, Logitech’s Zone 305 headset gives good performance for its price point, and most importantly, is unlikely to annoy you.
First impressions
The Zone 305 headset feels well made, looks pretty modern, and seems quite durable. The padding is comfortable, the band is not too tight, and the rigid arm of the microphone in particular feels very solid, with the right amount of tension to keep it on the desired angle.
I quite like the soft pouch the Zone 305 ships with – personally I much prefer something like this that keeps the headset safe in your bag without taking up a ridiculous amount of room.
Set up
The first time you turn the Logitech headphones on they will enter pairing mode automatically. They should be able to connect to all modern phones and laptops, but if you’re using a desktop computer without Bluetooth, you can use the supplied USB receiver.
If you are an audio nerd, there is also an optional app called Logi Tune that will give you greater customisation over the headset. One example setting is ‘sidetone’, which controls how much of your own voice you hear played back in-ear during a meeting. I actually did find the sidetone a little lower than I’d prefer, so you might like to customise them if you can be bothered.
In Use
Compared with some other work headsets on the market, the Zone 305 has very nice bass and performs a serviceable job of playing music. You probably wouldn’t choose them as your go-to music playing headphones, but they definitely do the trick in a pinch. However, unlike proper over-ear music headphones, these have quite a lot of audio bleed out to those around you at higher volumes, so don’t think you can bop along to tunes at your desk in the office without anyone noticing.
The Zone 305 has two noise-cancelling mics about an inch apart , which are designed to better pick out your voice from any ambient background noise in loud rooms. In my testing, this did a good job of picking up and amplifying my voice, and was very clear. In particular, the mic passed the ultimate road-test: it lasted an entire phone call with my hard-of-hearing mum while I did chores around the house, without getting any complaints that she couldn’t hear what I was saying. That said, you shouldn’t expect the Zone 305 to totally remove background noise – it just does a good job of focusing on your own vocals. I compared its performance with a similarly priced Jabra business headset that only has the one mic, and honestly I thought both headsets captured pretty similar quality of voice compared with background audio.
In terms of battery life, the Zone 305 promises up to 16 hours of talk time per charge. I found the charge definitely covered at least a full day of work, and I never bumped up against any battery problems – especially because it’ll tell you the battery percentage every time you turn the things on. If you do find yourself running low, it charges very quickly by USB-C; 5 minutes of charging will get you another hour of usage in an emergency.
Probably most importantly if you’re going to be in back-to-back meetings a lot, the Zone 305 headset is pretty comfortable to wear for long stretches at a time. They are quite light, well padded, and don’t get too warm.
Other features
Logitech claims the Zone 305 can continue to perform up to 30 metres from your device with a clear line of sight (i.e. not through 30m of concrete). I found in practice I was able to comfortably walk three rooms away in my house before it started to cut out, which is enough to sneak up to the kitchen to make a coffee, or to mute the mic and run to open the door.
The Zone 305 has three basic versions – two certified for Microsoft Teams (one with a receiver, one with native Bluetooth support), and a third that’s a Universal model (with a receiver). The main thing that should influence your decision over those model types is how entrenched your usage of MS Teams is. That said, I road-tested an MS Teams certified model, and frequently use MS Teams, and couldn’t really find any special use for the buttons it comes with. If answering a Teams call with a button on your headset vs clicking your mouse is a game changer for you, then these are going to blow your mind. For most people, I suspect the Teams-specific features will probably go unnoticed.
Issues
The Zone 305 has a handy volume control at the back of the left ear. Unfortunately the volume up button is just beneath the Call button, which will exit you out of any meeting you’re in, so use those with care.
Conclusion
Speaking as someone who spends a lot of time in video conferences and has a few similar headsets lying around (including a pair that are a bit pricier), the Logitech Zone 305 has become my go-to choice. There’s no one reason for that; there’s nothing about this headset that really blew me away, but in general it does everything pretty well. They’re comfortable enough to last through a day of meetings without running out of juice, turning into a furnace against my ears, or letting the mic slowly drift out of place.
If you’re in decision paralysis comparing headsets, these are a pretty safe bet.
Zone 305 will be available through authourised distributors. Zone 305 (Teams version, native Bluetooth, without a receiver) is $139.95. Zone 305 (Teams version, with receiver) and Zone 305 (UC version, with receiver) are $169.95.
Thanks to Logitech for providing the hardware for this review.
Specifications
- Colour: Black
- In the box:
- Zone 305 headset
- USB-C receiver
- USB-C to USB-C, 1 m charging cord
- USB-C to USB-A adaptor
- Headset measurements:
- Height: 172.8 mm
- Width: 166.7 mm
- Depth: 66 mm
- Weight: 122 g
- Battery:
- Battery type: Built-in battery (Lithium ion)
- Battery life (talk time): Up to 16 hours
- Battery life (listening time): Up to 20 hours
- Speakers:
- Frequency response (music mode): 50-20KHz
- Frequency response (talk mode): 100-7KHz
- Impedance: 32 Ohm
- Sensitivity: 96 dB ±3dB @1kHz
- Connection Type:
- Bluetooth, USB-C receiver and USB-A adapter
- Bluetooth version: 5.3
- Wireless range: up to 30 m
