Once upon a time wearing headphones in a work situation brought funny looks and a presumption you were wasting the company's time.
These days it seems impossible to walk around an office without seeing headphones and earbuds of every size, colour and quality everywhere.
A Zoom meeting here, a Google Meet there, a Microsoft Teams chat everywhere - it's a cacophony of noise that's taken these audio devices from evil distractors to must-have accessories.
Not only is this a boon for those of us who love nothing more than working with a tune playing softly in their ears, if you get the right pair then they'll drown out the background noise too.
Poly's Voyager Focus 2 headphones are the rich, older cousin with a wardrobe that makes jaws drop in envy of the USB Plantronics headset I currently have in the newsroom.
Can these stylish, noise-cancelling cans prove their worth or am I better off sticking with my trusty old pair?
I've been using the Voyager Focus 2 headphones for a few weeks now and here are my thoughts.
The good
There's so much to like that with these headphones it's hard to know exactly where to start - everything just screams quality.
Of course, you'd expect that if you're going to fork out between $400 and $500 for a pair, right?
That puts these firmly at the top end of what I'd be prepared to pay for a set that is, effectively, going to sit on my desk permanently.
The headphones are easy to set up and, thanks to the charge stand, are ready to go in no time at all. It's all so effortless and they look great, too.
The easy setup is helped, of course, by the lack of wires connecting the headphones to my computer. Those wires are more dangerous than the free food that appears in work kitchens when you're still stuffed after lunch but can't resist.
I've lost count of the number of times I've stood up and yanked things that shouldn't be yanked by accident. Headphone wires have helped pull an entire computer over and I - just - saved a monitor from impending doom, teetering at the edge of a desk another time.
Now I'm free to get up and wander around the office knowing I'm not going to lose connectivity - or expensive technology.
Poly claims a battery life of 19 hours talk time with active noise-cancelling (ANC) off and 16 hours with it on. But with the use of the charge stand, I can't imagine when that's ever going to be an issue - where else are you going to put them after use?
There are three levels of ANC selectable with the flick of a switch. When fully on, the constant drone of the air conditioning disappears, but enough noise comes through that I can hear people calling me.
Audio quality during calls was excellent, both ways. I never had any issues hearing people and thanks to the microphone Acoustic Fence technology surrounding the microphone, background noise never bothered those on the other end of my calls.
The soft and flexible band at the top of the headset made these very comfortable on my head and, more importantly, avoided the 'hair spike' issue my current set leaves when I take them off.
I was also seriously impressed with just how quick the Voyager Focus 2s connected when switched on. So often Bluetooth devices require all kinds of poking, prodding and switching on and off to get to work.
Not here. It never failed to be seamless and instantaneous.
I also liked the boom microphone set up - there's a single button to switch the microphone on to mute if you need to keep it near your mouth, but if you rotate back up to the holding position it switches to mute automatically with a magnet holding the boom softly in place.
There's nothing more satisfying than when elegance and functionality combines in such an easy way.
The bad
There's nothing inherently bad with the Voyager Focus 2 headphones and in my day-to-day situation I was left with little to worry about.
Two things of note, however.
This style of headphones, which sit on the ear rather than enveloping them, have been known to cause me ear discomfort issues over longer periods of time. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this.
Currently I only need them for a maximum of an hour or so at a time, with plenty of time between uses so it never became an issue for me when testing.
Secondly, I consider their use for music as secondary to their main purpose so I wasn't too worried about the sound being a little bass-heavy for my liking - even when I was playing my favoured metal music.
Due to work restrictions I wasn't able to download the software that gives more control over the settings, so I could potentially have found a way of perfecting the sound with some trial and error. But who really does that?
And, forgive me for casting aspersions here, I suspect anyone who does probably already has a music setup they're going to use for such circumstances involving very expensive headphones, gold-plated wires and an attitude to match.
One final thing to consider - there are alternatives at this price point which might be better options for wireless ANC headphones from the likes of Bose or Sony offerings.
If you want to use your cans at work and everywhere else and don't mind carrying them about, these probably aren't right for you.
Me? I'm too forgetful and prefer to know that I'm always going to have a decent set available at my desk when needed.
The verdict
The Poly Voyager Focus 2 headphones are a stylish addition to any work desk and, despite being on the pricey side, are definitely worth considering.
Performance is, obviously, important - but, when it comes to work, convenience is also key.
Wireless connectivity, knowing they're never going to run out of battery and the high level of quality all combine to make this a powerful offering.
Those of you who can write them off against your tax bill or persuade your employers to pay for them on your behalf should get on to that.
Otherwise, maybe start saving for when you next need to replace your work headphones. You're unlikely to regret it.
Newshub was supplied a Poly Voyager Focus 2 with charge stand for this review.
