Poly made its name in the business world, crafting tools that bring people together. Headsets, phones, webcams, and software are key to what it has to offer, but it recently partnered with HP to deliver its new flagship-tier Poly Voyager Free 60+ true wireless earbuds. With this new set, Poly finally has a product that gamers and music lovers should stand up and notice. With effective ANC and both a Bluetooth transmitter and an audio re-transmission case that provides wireless listening even on devices that don’t support it (like the Nintendo Switch), this is an expensive but impressive pair of earbuds.
Specifications
- Current Price: $229.95 - $329.95 (Poly, Headsets Direct)
- Connects to:
- Voyager Free 60+ UC: PC via included BT700 Bluetooth® adapter; smartphone via Bluetooth®, external audio source via 3.5 mm (listening only, cable included)
- Voyager Free 60 UC: PC via included BT700 Bluetooth® adapter; smartphone via Bluetooth®
- Voyager Free 60: Smartphone via Bluetooth®
- Wireless
- Bluetooth Version: 5.3
- Codecs: AAC, AptX, SBC, and mSBC; LC3 with BT700 only, in both mono and stereo telephony modes for improved density
- Range: Up to 30 m / 98 ft with included BT700 Bluetooth® adapter; up to 3 m / 9.8 ft streaming via smart charge case (Voyager Free 60+ UC only)
- Battery:
- Battery Capacity: Each Earbud: 70mAh, Charge Case: 580mAh
- Battery Type: Lithium ion
- Talk time (using both earbuds): Up to 16.5 hours (5.5 hours plus extra 11 hours with charge case)
- Listening Time (ANC On): Up to 24 hours (8 hours plus extra 16 hours with charge case)
- Charge time (Earbuds): Full charge 2 hours
- Charge case: Full charge 3 hours
- Fast Charge: Up to 1 hour 12 minutes of talk time after 15 mins of charge
- Standby time: Up to 30 days including charging case
- Qi certified wireless charging
- Frequency Response: Dynamic EQ optimized for PC wideband voice telephony up to 7 kHz or for multimedia 20 Hz to 20 kHz
- Hearing Protection: SoundGuard DIGITAL: G616 support limits the level to 102 dBSPL; Time-weighted average prevents average daily noise exposure from exceeding 85dBA*
- *Requires Poly Lens Desktop App to enable SoundGuard DIGITAL features
- Active Noise Cancellation: Adaptive ANC automatically compensates for variations in user fit; Transparency mode with two user settings (Environment/Speech)
- Smart Sensor: Answer calls by inserting earbuds, mute off and pause/resume music by removing earbuds
- Microphone Technology: Three microphones per earbud; WindSmart technology for protection against wind noise; Adjustable Sidetone; Low, Medium or High; Use only one earbud for calls, if necessary
- Headset Controls and Lights:
- Earbuds
- Button for Bluetooth® pairing, Call Answer/End (for mobile calls), Play/Pause (for media), Voice Assistant, etc
- Gesture control for volume up/down, mute/unmute, call hold/resume, ANC/transparency, track forward/backward (Configurable via Poly Lens app)
- Charge Case
- Pairing Button (Voyager Free 60/Voyager Free 60 UC)
- Three charging status LEDs (Voyager Free 60/Voyager Free 60 UC)
- Touchscreen for full configuration and control (Voyager Free 60+ UC)
- Color Options: Carbon Black, White Sand
- Accessories
- Voyager Free 60+ UC
- Touchscreen charge case, OLED display and Qi wireless charging
- Small, medium and large silicon ear tips
- USB charging cable (300 mm / 11.8 in)
- BT700 USB Bluetooth® adapter
- USB to 3.5mm audio cable (770±20mm)
- Voyager Free 60 UC
- Charging case with Qi wireless charging
- Small, medium and large silicon ear tips
- USB charging cable (300 mm / 11.8 in)
- BT700 USB Bluetooth® adapter
- Travel case (charging case and BT700 adapter)
- Voyager Free 60
- Charging case with Qi wireless charging
- Small, medium and large silicon ear tips
- USB charging cable (300 mm / 11.8 in)
- Manageability: Poly Lens (Cloud, Desktop, Mobile)
- IP Rating: IP54
Poly Voyager Free 60+ - First Impressions and Key Features
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ are an interesting pair of earbuds. That’s true from the get-go. They come in a plain cardboard box that belies their premium positioning (but earns points for me for being eco-friendly). Inside, the case is tucked into a pocket in the packaging while the small and large silicone ear tips are displayed in a box just beneath. In the bottom of the package, the documentation is hidden, as well as the USB Type-C charging cable and the 3.5mm to USB-C adapter that allows it to work with non-Bluetooth devices.
The case is large and just barely pocketable. It stood out in a sore thumb in my jeans pocket. There’s a good reason for its size, however. This is a smart case and includes a built-in screen to control its different parameters. We’ll get to the screen more shortly but after using it, it’s pretty clear that it’s meant to sit out on your desk, not be hidden away in a pocket.
The buds themselves follow the AirPods bud-and-stem design. They’re larger than AirPods but not by much, and their added size allows the stem to get slightly closer to your mouth for improved call quality. Inside the buds, the listening experience is driven by a pair of 10mm dynamic drivers. They get quite loud and are tunable using the Poly Lens app on PC or Mobile.
The Voyager Free 60+ is packed with features. They feature active noise cancellation that’s designed to adapt to your surroundings and the current fit with the silicone tips. The feature advanced microphones for clear calls that cancel out environmental noise, including wind thanks to its WindSmart technology, quite well. For audiophiles, they use the latest Bluetooth 5.3 codec and support aptX for high quality wireless audio. They support multipoint connectivity with two Bluetooth devices and can swap between the two, and PC, and on the fly.
The biggest features arrive with the case, however. Hidden inside the upper lid is a USB dongle that allows you to connect to your PC, even if it doesn’t support Bluetooth. It’s important to note that this isn’t a 2.4GHz dongle, so you can’t count on the same ultra-fast connectivity that a dedicated gaming pair of earbuds might offer, but it did seem to be better than just connecting directly to the PC’s built-in Bluetooth, and the connection was much more stable (let’s face it, motherboard Bluetooth connectivity is inconsistent at best). I noticed a bit of delay in first-person shooters, but it’s fine for slower paced games like MMORPGs in my testing.
The case also opens the door to wireless listening even on devices that don’t support it. Like the Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2, the Voyager Free 60+ features a 3.5mm to USB Type-C cable. Connect the 3.5mm jack to the source device, such as a Nintendo Switch, and the case automatically connects to the earbuds and starts streaming the audio through. It’s designed, ostensibly, for use on airplanes but it works with anything with a headphone jack.
The screen on the case is useful and saves having to use an app for most things, but shouldn’t be quite as necessary as it is. The screen displays battery information, connection status, and allows you to control functions like volume, media controls, ANC, and swapping devices. Since it’s too big to comfortably leave in your pocket and the buds are clearly designed to be used with a computer as well as a smartphone, the most natural place for it is on your desktop. There, the case becomes a media controller, tapping it to customize your listening experience.
It works, and I admit that it’s much less gimmicky than I thought it might be. The problem is that you can’t control everything on the buds themselves. The Voyager Free 60+s have a button on the bottom of each stem and a touch-sensitive strip along its side. The button can play or pause tracks, answer or end calls, or summon your virtual assistant. The strip controls volume and mute for music and calls respectively and can toggle ANC on and off when no media is playing.
If you use the buds on the go, you’ll need to be taking the case or your phone frequently. You can’t change tracks using just the buds. You can’t enable transparency mode without first pausing your music. It’s strange that such an expensive pair of earbuds lacks basic functionality like tying multiple commands to double and triple taps. It feels absent purely because you can control those things using the case — assuming you’ve paid for the model that has the screen. I wasn’t able to test the lower-priced models without it.
If you want to change the function of the strip (the button is locked), you’ll need to download the app, and that’s worth doing regardless. Inside, you’ll find out about a number of other features that aren’t apparent on the case itself. There are wear sensors, which you can enable or disable, as well as a volume limiter to protect your hearing. There’s even an anti-startle mode that staves off big jumps in volume. The app also allows you to choose between Bass (default), Flat, and Bright EQ presets, though there is no ability to set your own custom EQ curve.
Finally, the Voyager Free 60+ makes an impressive showing with battery life. They’re rated for 8 hours with ANC on, and I found that figure to be accurate. They get quite loud and I found anything about 60% to be too loud, and since battery ratings are typically taken at 50% volume, ratings and reality are closer here than many other flagship earbuds. The case offers two full recharges (24 hours of total listening), is Qi wireless compatible, and supports fast charging (15 minutes in the case restores up to “1 hour and 12 minutes” of talk time, which translates to a couple solid hours of music and gaming.
Poly Voyager Free 60+ - Listening and Daily Use Impressions
I’ve been able to spend the last week with the Poly Voyager Free 60+ as my constant companion and there’s a lot to love here. The buds aren’t perfect but they sound great, make using them with a PC incredibly easy, offer clear calls, and have very good active noise cancellation. It’s clear why these are such a good fit for work, but even as a general user, they’re quite nice.
The buds come with the bass preset enabled by default. I consider this their “stock sound,” and it’s full and rich, offering good punch and rumble. The bass reaches low and can be quite impactful for kick drums and explosions in movies and games. The sound isn’t muddy by any means, but the warm low end does color the mids to make vocals sound lush.
There’s plenty of detail throughout the spectrum, especially if you swap to the Flat or Bright EQ presets. I like a warm sound but don’t like to sacrifice detail or clarity to get there, and the buds balance the two ends of the spectrum very well. Their default, warm tuning is one of my favorites of any bud-and-stem style earbud. They’re rich, dynamic, and detailed. Simply put, the Voyager Free 60+ sounds great.
The microphone quality is quite good. I completed a series of recordings in Audacity using the Bluetooth dongle and it was one of the clearest microphones I’ve heard yet. My voice wasn’t quite as full-bodied as it sounds naturally but clarity was simply no issue. Even sitting in the field of a fan, I was still able to be understood, so environmental noise cancelation is quite effective.
The buds aren’t perfect, however. The fact that the USB dongle still uses Bluetooth is disappointing when 2.4GHz would make them more viable for gaming. As it is, the latency does impact shooters. Using them with PC, there’s also a delay of about a second before audio picks up. It can be jarring to see a video begin playing and not hear any sound before it begins. It’s as if the earbuds are reactivating a connection instead of just leaving it active for seamless playback.
The touch controls are another issue. They work (mostly) but are inconsistent. More than once I found myself swiping on the earbuds only to have them not respond until the third or fourth swipe. Having to control basic functions like skipping tracks or adjusting ANC (when audio is playing) using the case adds extra steps to a process that should be simple and intuitive.
Overall Impressions and Final Thoughts
These drawbacks aren’t game-breakers, but they do make the buds feel unoptimized. They sound great, but at $329, it’s fair to expect a premium experience across the board. The Voyager Free 60+ delivers in sound quality, ANC, and battery life, but ironically it does these things so well that missed swipes and limited controls stand out all the more. The current price feels too expensive. The good news is that the biggest issues facing the earbuds can largely be solved through firmware updates.
As it stands, I would recommend waiting for those to roll out and hopefully a price drop. These earbuds could be great but need a little more time in the oven to get there.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
