Bang & Olufsen 950

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 are premium true wireless earbuds built for IT professionals and office workers who need excellent call quality and enterprise device management. They excel at calls and noise canceling but fall short on music performance. Buy them if work calls are your priority, skip them if you want the best sound for your money.

Let's talk numbers. The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 uses a single 9.2mm dynamic driver with a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response and 32 ohm impedance. It supports AAC, aptX Adaptive, and SBC codecs, plus Hi-Res audio. On paper, that's a solid foundation. In practice, the sound is good but not the star of the show. Our sound score lands at 97th percentile, which sounds impressive until you realize the music-specific score is 72.6 out of 100. Translation: these buds handle voices and podcasts beautifully, but they don't have the same musical sparkle as something like the Sony WF-1000XM6 or Technics EAH-AZ100.

Where these things genuinely shine is call quality and noise control. The mic setup is top-tier, sitting at 97th percentile in our database. Six beamforming mics with noise cancellation mean your voice comes through clear even in a busy open office. The adaptive ANC is also excellent, ranking at 97th percentile. It adjusts on the fly and does a great job of cutting down ambient chatter. Battery life is more middle of the pack at 6 hours from the buds and 20 hours from the case. The quick charge is handy though, 20 minutes gets you an hour of playback, and the case supports Qi wireless charging.

Stacked against the Sony WF-1000XM6, the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 holds its own on calls and ANC but falls behind on pure music enjoyment. The Sony buds are the better pick if you want one pair of earbuds for everything. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra also beats the Cisco on comfort and music, though the Cisco's mic setup is better for conference calls. The Technics EAH-AZ100 is another strong competitor with excellent sound and solid call quality, often at a lower price. And if you use Apple devices, the AirPods Pro 3 are the obvious choice for smooth device switching, though they don't have the enterprise management features Cisco brings to the table. The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro are also worth a look if you want great sound and ANC without the enterprise price tag.

Value is tricky here because the price is all over the place. In the US, you'll find these anywhere from USD 402 to USD 668 across five listings. That's a USD 266 spread, which is honestly kind of wild for the same product. Newegg has the best deal at the lower end of that range, so if you're buying in the US, that's where we'd point you. In Europe, the spread is EUR 417 to EUR 606 across four listings, so shop around before you commit. For what you get, the lower end of those ranges feels reasonable for an enterprise-focused earbud with this level of call quality and ANC. But at the top end, you're paying Sony WF-1000XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra money for something that doesn't sound as good for music.

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 sits in a weird little corner of the true wireless earbuds market. It's a pair of premium in-ear buds built for IT departments and office workers who need rock-solid Teams or Webex calls, but it's wearing a Bang & Olufsen badge, so it also wants to be your everyday listening companion. At USD 402 to USD 668 depending on where you shop, it's priced like a flagship consumer earbud, but it's really an enterprise tool with a designer label.

So is the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 good for work calls? Yeah, actually. It's got six beamforming mics, adaptive noise canceling, and a Transparency mode for when you need to hear your coworker asking if you've seen the latest ticket. The multipoint Bluetooth 5.2 connection means you can hop between your laptop and phone without re-pairing, which is a small quality-of-life win that adds up fast during a workday.

But here's the thing. This isn't a pair of earbuds you buy because you want the best music experience. Our database puts music performance at 72.6 out of 100, which is the weakest area for these buds. They're built for calls first, music second. If you're an IT manager ordering a fleet of these for your team, that's probably fine. If you're a regular person looking for great-sounding earbuds, you might want to keep scrolling.

Skip these if you're a music lover looking for the best sound quality in true wireless earbuds. The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950 prioritizes call performance and enterprise features over musical enjoyment, and you'll get better audio from the Sony WF-1000XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra for less money. Also skip if you don't need Teams or Webex integration, since you're paying for enterprise features you won't use. And if you want long battery life, look elsewhere, 6 hours per charge is just average these days.

Should you buy the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 950? If you're an IT professional who spends hours a day on Teams or Webex calls and wants earbuds that just work with your company's device management, yes. These are built for that exact use case, and they do it better than most consumer earbuds. The call quality is genuinely excellent, the ANC is top-tier, and the multipoint connection is a real productivity boost.

But if you're a regular person who wants great-sounding earbuds for music, podcasts, and the occasional call, there are better options for less money. The music performance here is fine but not exciting, and the enterprise features will be wasted on you. These are work tools first, lifestyle accessories second.