Bang & Olufsen 980

The Cisco B&O 980 delivers elite sound, ANC, and mic performance, ranking among the absolute best for calls. Its build quality is surprisingly cheap, comfort is just okay, and the sky-high pricing only makes sense if you're deep in Cisco's ecosystem. For most people, the Sony XM6 or Sennheiser Momentum 4 offer better overall value.

In our database, the sound quality sits in the 97th percentile, right up there with the Sennheiser Momentum 4 and B&W Px8. The 40mm dynamic drivers push out rich, detailed audio, and the aptX Adaptive codec keeps things clean when streaming high-res music. ANC hits the 98th percentile, meaning it's one of the absolute best for silencing the world. But the real star is the mic performance, which also lands at the 98th percentile. If you spend your days on Webex or Zoom calls, your voice will come through crisp and clear even with chaos in the background.

Connectivity is strong, with Bluetooth 5.1, multipoint, and a 3.5mm jack giving you plenty of options. Battery life delivers 47 hours of music playback, and that 10-minute charge netting 3 hours is genuinely handy. It's well above average, though not class-leading. The weak link is comfort and build. Comfort rating sits around average, and the build quality is below average, which feels off for a product at this price. The plastic construction doesn't inspire confidence, especially when you compare it to the premium feel of rivals.

When you stack the Cisco B&O 980 against the Sony WH-1000XM6, the choice comes down to call quality versus overall polish. The Sony offers better comfort, a more premium build, and nearly equivalent ANC for a lot less money. But its mic can't touch the Cisco's six-mic array, so if you sound like you're in a tunnel during calls, the Sony won't save you. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra is another top pick for ANC and all-day comfort, but again, its call quality lags behind. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 gives you excellent sound and battery life at half the price, with better build materials, though the microphone is merely adequate. If you want luxury audio and build, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is a closer competitor at a similar price. It feels and sounds fantastic, but its ANC and mic performance don't match the Cisco, and you lose the enterprise integration entirely. For the pure work-from-home warrior who can't afford a bad mic day, the Cisco pulls ahead, but for almost any other use case, the alternatives offer a better overall package.

Let's talk money: the Cisco B&O 980 ranges from $679 to $1,171 depending on where you shop. That's a massive spread, and even the low end puts it well above the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Sennheiser Momentum 4, both of which clock in around $350-400. For that cash, you're getting a headset that's a Swiss Army knife for calls, with Cisco AES-128 encryption and Webex Control Hub management baked in. If your IT department is footing the bill and you live in Webex all day, the value proposition makes sense. But for everyone else, the cost feels inflated. Our value score of 61.6 tells the story: you're paying a steep premium for enterprise features most people will never use. Make sure to hunt for the $679 deal if you still want these, because anything above that is just gouging.

Here's the thing about the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980: it's not your typical pair of headphones. These came from a collaboration between B&O and Cisco, and they're built for the meeting-heavy professional who needs flawless calls and focus. You get adaptive ANC, transparency mode, and a six-mic setup with active voice adjustment, all wrapped in a foldable design. At first glance, they look like a premium headset for the home office battlefield. But when you pick them up, you notice the plastic chassis doesn't quite match the price tag, and that's where the story gets interesting. We put them through our database and found some real surprises, both good and bad.

Skip these if you don't need best-in-class call quality and Cisco integration. Casual listeners will find the build quality disappointing for the price, and the high cost just doesn't align with the plastic feel. Instead, grab the Sony WH-1000XM6 for a more premium, comfortable design at nearly half the price, or the Sennheiser Momentum 4 if you want excellent sound and battery life. If you must stay in the $600 range, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 offers a luxurious build and superb audio, though you'll sacrifice mic performance.

For the right person, the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 is genuinely impressive. If your day revolves around back-to-back video calls in noisy environments, the mic and ANC will make you sound like a podcast host while the world outside disappears. The audio performance holds its own for music, too, so you won't feel shortchanged after work hours. But for pure music listeners or casual users, these are a tough sell. The build quality feels like a $150 headset, and the price screams 'corporate procurement.'

That said, if your company is standardizing on Cisco collaboration tools and you need a headset that integrates seamlessly with Webex, there's nothing else quite like this. Just make sure to hunt for the lower end of that price range. $679 is still a lot, but the $1,171 listings are pure robbery. For everyone else, the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Sennheiser Momentum 4 will give you a much better bang for your buck, with solid all-around performance and a build that doesn't feel like it came from a tradeshow giveaway bin.