PCMag Asia | Smartphones | Review
Sennheiser Presence UC ML
By Tim Gideon Feb 06, 2019
The versatile Sennheiser Presence UC ML Bluetooth headset delivers a useful mix of mic clarity in loud environments and multipoint connectivity in the office.
The Sennheiser Presence UC ML is a very versatile monaural Bluetooth headset. Its mic cancels out background noise exceptionally well, and delivers above-average intelligibility so you'll be heard clearly no matter where you call from. It connects with up to eight devices and comes with a USB dongle that allows you to use the headset for Skype for Business. It's definitely pricey at $199.95, but it's a solid option for those who want clarity in loud environments, and multi-point connectivity in the office. This is a workhorse—it's not the absolute best in its field, but it is quite good for both background noise cancellation and seamless connectivity.
Design and Usage
The Presence UC ML has a black and silver plastic design. Weighing in at less than 0.5 ounces, it's lightweight, comfortable, and stays out of the way. There's not a typical boom mic to contend with—the mic is situated on the end of a very short boom slider that decreases the distance from your mouth by perhaps half an inch. The slider pulls out from the body of the earpiece just slightly, powering the headset up.
The multifunction button on the outer panel of the headset places it in pairing mode. It also answers and ends calls, redials the last number, allows you to access voice dialing, or transfers call audio from your phone to the headset, all depending on how many taps you give it.
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After the headset is paired with your phone, you can then pair it with the included Sennheiser BTD 800 USB dongle (which sells on its own for $104). Simply plug the dongle into your laptop and press the only button it has until it starts blinking. Various blinking patterns on the dongle indicate various pairing, call, and music playing states. The range of transmission for the dongle is roughly 82 feet.
Once connected to both computer and phone, you can field phone calls from your mobile device, Skype calls from your computer, or stream audio from either. When you're streaming audio from your computer and receive a call on your mobile device, the Presence UC ML will give you a vocal prompt, and allow you to answer the call while muting the audio from your computer. When the call is ended, the audio stream from your computer will resume. It should be noted, however, that the audio stream on your computer is only muted, not paused—playback will continue while you're on your call, you just won't hear it. It's not that this is unacceptable, but pausing playback would be far more useful—and we've tested headsets, like the Plantronics Voyager 4220 UC, that do this seamlessly.
The Presence UC ML uses a digital MEMS microphone, which is actually a three-mic digital array that uses beam-focusing technology to hone in on your voice. This delivers a frequency range of 150Hz-6.8kHz, ideal for picking up vocals and mostly leaving outside noise above and below those frequencies out of the equation. The mic uses what Sennheiser calls Own Voice technology, which sounds like a fancy term for noise cancellation that detects when you are speaking and focuses on tamping down surrounding noise for better clarity. It also utilizes Wind Safe technology, another fancy way of saying it can detect what type of environment you're in and adjust its noise-cancelling algorithms accordingly.
Internally, a dynamic neodymium magnetic driver delivers the audio from 100Hz-15kHz, a solid range for a dialogue-focused, monaural device.
Sennheiser includes three eartips in different sizes. They each feature a nozzle-like end that rests against your ear canal. There's also an earbud-style tip that doesn't have this nozzle edge, nor does it have the stabilizing fin. The earpiece can be worn with or without the included earhook, and on either ear. Other accessories include a handsome hardshell case (with molded areas to hold the earpiece, USB dongle, and charging cable) and a car adapter for using the headset on the road. The included micro USB charging cable is about as short as a charging cable can be.
Sennheiser claims the Presence UC ML gets roughly 10 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby time. Your results will vary slightly, but should mostly be close to these numbers. Tapping the multifunction button when not on a call gives you a vocal readout of the current battery life.
Clarity and Performance
The mic offers very strong intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded clearly and cleanly. It isn't the cleanest, crispest sound we've ever heard, but the mic does a solid job of zeroing in on your voice so that things sound close despite the lack of a long boom.
Perhaps the reason the Presence UC ML doesn't sound totally pristine is because the noise cancellation technology really does work. But this means that in between words, when there is any chance of background audio slipping through, the mic shuts the door, and the result is a signal that sounds like it's in a fairly quiet room no matter where you are. While the dialogue never suffers, the overall audio stream can sound a little choppy as the ANC goes to work on tamping down surrounding noises.
Callers on the other end could understand us clearly, but noticed the choppy sound of the audio. While this may not sound like a compliment really, it's in the name of eliminating virtually all background noise. I made some recordings while blasting restaurant noise through my speakers. When I spoke, I was clear enough to be understood without issue. When I wasn't speaking? Silence. So if what you're after is a crystal clear mic that broadcasts the finest details of your voice, there are better options available. But if your priority is for others to understand you perfectly when you're in a noisy restaurant or walking through car horns and wind noise in the city, this is ideal.
We also put the mic to the test in windy, rainy conditions. It completely eliminated any hint of cars driving by and the patter of rain. When a gust of wind hit the mic dead on, however, it resulted in the least clear of all the moments in my voice recordings. To be fair, it was a very strong wind gust. At other times, the wind was blowing notably, just not as strong, and it didn't have any real effect on the mic.
The Sennheiser Presence UC ML focuses on eliminating cafe chatter, office noise, and outdoor sounds so that callers can hear you clearly. It's the job of the mic to get rid of background noise as much as it is to convey voice audio cleanly, and it does both well enough for your calls to sound like they're taking place in a quiet room. The Blueparrot B550-XT delivers cleaner vocal audio, but it lacks the Presence UC ML's business-ready features. The dongle adds another dimension of functionality that the BlueParrott headset can't touch.
That said, there are other models more suitable for simple office use. Consider the inexpensive monaural Jabra Steel or the binaural Plantronics Voyager 4220 UC and Jabra Evolve 75. But when it comes to tamping down noisy environments and allowing seamless connectivity with computers for Skype and other purposes, the Sennheiser Presence UC ML gets most things just right.
Bottom Line: The versatile Sennheiser Presence UC ML Bluetooth headset delivers a useful mix of mic clarity in loud environments and multipoint connectivity in the office.
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Contributing Editor Tim Gideon has been writing for PCMag since 2006. He specializes in reviewing audio products, and is obsessed with headphones, speakers, and recording gear. See Full Bio
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