Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: Business focussed but flawed

Sennheiser produces all sorts of audio products – not just consumer-grade headphones. Its range spans the full gamut of professional and business audio gear and its latest sits firmly in the latter space. The Sennheiser MB 360 UC are noise-cancelling headphones that are designed specifically for use in business telecoms – Skype, VoIP, Google Hangouts and the like – as well as for entertainment. The question is are they worth £219? And do you really need headphones designed specifically for office work?

Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: What you need to know

Outwardly, there’s nothing all that different about the MB 360 compared with regular music headphones. They have an over-ear design that uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone or laptop and they come with active noise-cancellation to keep ambient noise at bay.

The key selling point, however, is that these are headphones for all purposes and, true to that claim, they come supplied with a variety of connection options. A Bluetooth USB dongle ensures the headphones can be connected with PCs and older laptops, while a 2.5mm to 3.5mm analogue cable is also included for hooking up to legacy devices. The idea is, essentially, that these headphones are the only pair you’ll ever need, whatever the application or hardware you’re connecting them to.

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Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: Price and competition

The MB 360 UC will set you back £219. Its closest competitors are the Plantronics’ Voyager 8200 UC, which cost £195, and the Jabra Evolve 75 UC, at £194. Both of these are UC-certified, with the former delivering excellent ANC performance and audio reproduction. Step up to an MS-certified (Skype for Business) headset and you’ll find the Sennheiser MB 660 UC MS, which cost over £400.

For some, UC and MS certification isn’t necessarily needed, as most at this price range offer good recording quality. Examples of such headphones can be found from numerous manufacturers: Plantronics’ BackBeat Pro 2 at £164 are excellent all-rounders; the Sony WH-1000XM3 at £275 offer best-in-class sound and ANC performance; the Bose QuietComfort 35 II at £289 are supremely comfortable; and the Jabra Elite 85H, which cost around £290, boast excellent recording quality for under £300; and if you’re on a budget, the Lindy BNX-100 are a stylish alternative.

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Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: Build quality, comfort and connectivity

The MB 360 UC retains the standard Sennheiser identity: a black and silver colour scheme with the company’s logo printed on the side. It’s a discrete design and will certainly fit in well at the office.

The build is mostly plastic with a metal headband, they’re not too heavy at 238g and they’re compact, too. The earcups don’t rotate fully, which means you can’t lay the earcups flat against your collar bone when wearing them around your neck. However, they do fold inwards towards the headband and pack away nice and small for storage in the supplied soft nylon bag.

Another nice touch is that the top of the headband is made out of a rubbery material, which makes it easy to clean. The ear pads, which are designed to be large enough to sit around the ears, are made from faux leather, but they’re not particularly large. I found they sat part on my ears and part over them, leading to some discomfort when worn with reading glasses. By comparison, the Jabra Elite 85H, Plantronics’ BackBeat Pro 2 and Voyager 8200 UC, the Sony WH-1000XM3 and Bose QuietComfort 35 II are all far comfier and can be worn for hours on end without discomfort.

The controls are placed on the right cup but the amount of function doubling means they can be confusing to use. The power button doubles up as a mic mute toggle, a sprung switch operates the headphones’ call functions, allows a means of seeking through a song, can be used to change the track, access your smartphone’s voice assistant, AND play/pause audio or video content. Finally, the headphones’ volume rocker is used, not only to make audio louder and quieter but also for toggling noise cancelling on and off – just triple-tap both volume up and down simultaneously.

Beside the multi-functional buttons, the Sennheiser MB 360 UC are also endowed with a 2.5mm twist-lock headphone jack and a micro USB port for charging both of which do the job but could be replaced by more universal alternatives. At least battery life and charging times are decent, though, with the MB 360 UC lasting a quoted 25-hours on a full charge and taking 2hrs to charge from empty.

You can’t fault the MH/ 360 UC’s connectivity and audio specifications, though. They work over Bluetooth and can be paired via NFC, they support both the SBC and the higher-quality aptX codecs. And you can connect them wirelessly to legacy kit using the supplied Bluetooth USB dongle. With the 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable also included in the box, there’s nothing that these headphones can’t interface with.

The main purpose, however, for the MB 360, is business voice and video calling and, on this front, I found they worked perfectly. The headset pairs and connects quickly, whether you’re using the dongle or the embedded Bluetooth connection in your laptop or phone. And, on Windows 10, there’s the added bonus that the headphones are recognised as a “Lync” product, suggesting full compatibility with Microsoft’s business messaging system, Skype for Business. Unlike the MB 660 UC MS, these aren’t “optimised” to work on said platform but I found they worked perfectly well.

The only caveat here is that I found the range to be rather disappointing with the dongle. With a wall between the headset and the USB dongle, the signal starts to break up at a distance of 8m. I found this improved when connected to my phone with the range extending out to 20m.

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Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: Performance

Microphone quality is paramount on a headset that’s aimed at business professionals and the MB 360 UC certainly start well, offering dual-noise cancelling microphones in addition to its other wide-ranging capabilities.

To test how well these work I used the USB dongle connected to a Windows 10 PC and found they were able to isolate my voice from low-level ambient sound (such as background train rumblings) but struggled to block out high-frequency transient sounds like clicks from a mechanical keyboard or mouse. While this is something most headphones struggle with, I’d have expected better from the MB 360 UC.

The microphones’ recording quality is good, though, picking up my voice clearly and presenting it in a balanced, reasonably full-bodied fashion.

As for noise cancelling while listening, that’s more disappointing. The Sennheiser MB 360 UC are only a touch better than the cheaper Lindy BNX-100 (providing superior low-end and lower-mid noise cancelling) and are outclassed by the similarly-priced Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 and Voyager 8200 UC.

When assessing the sound quality of headsets like this, there are two factors to consider: the ability of the drivers to reproduce a lively sound for listening to music and how they sound in phone calls. The latter is somewhat hostage to fortune and dependent largely on the quality of the connection and the caller’s microphone. In ideal conditions, though, the Sennheiser MB 360 UC perform well, with voices not sounding overly warm or too nasal.

Music, however, is another matter entirely. With Sennheiser headphones, I’ve come to expect the utmost clarity in the mids and excellent instrument separation. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the MB 360 UC. Kicking off with Anderson .Paak’s toe-tapping “Reachin’ 2 Much” and the headphones sound flat, failing to deliver a wide soundstage. The same could be said about the vocals, which sound pushed back and recessed – the Jabra Elite 85H and Plantronics Voyager 8200 UC deliver a more engaging experience here.

On a more positive note, the MB 360 UC do have excellent control throughout the mid-bass frequencies. Charlie Puth’s “Done For Me” has an energetic vibe to it, with the bass coming through strongly and not overwhelming the mids and treble.

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Sennheiser MB 360 UC review: Verdict

The Sennheiser MB 360 UC on paper, tick all the right boxes for professionals on the move. They can be connected to most hardware platforms, work seamlessly across business communication platforms and have noise cancelling for both listening and speaking.

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However, they do have their weaknesses. They’re neither the most comfortable for glasses wearers nor the most amazing sounding headphones, both things the Plantronics Voyager 8200 UC carry off more successfully.