Our Verdict
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is mediocre for mixed usage. Since this is a mono Bluetooth headset, it isn't designed for listening to music and is meant for use while making or receiving phone calls. The microphone does an excellent job of separating your voice from background noises, so the person you're speaking to will hear you clearly even in a noisy office. However, your voice sounds dark and muffled while on phone calls. The comfortable and stable fit makes this headset a very good option if you make a lot of phone calls while running or jogging. Since it's Bluetooth-only, it isn't recommended for gaming, as there's likely too much lag.
- Comfortable and stable fit.
- App offers a ton of customization for phone calls.
- Easy to use controls.
- Microphone has excellent noise handling.
- Swivel microphone allows headset to be worn on either ear.
- Battery doesn't last quite as long as advertised.
- Disappointing microphone recording quality.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 isn't recommended for neutral sound listening. This is a mono Bluetooth headset that's designed for making phone calls and not listening to music.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 isn't recommended for listening to music during your commute or while traveling. Since it's a mono Bluetooth headset, it's primarily designed for phone calls. While it could be a decent choice for making or receiving calls during your commute, it doesn't block out any background noise, so it can be tough to hear the person on the other end of the line if you're in a loud environment, like on a bus or airport.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a very good option for making phone calls while running or jogging. The headset is comfortable and feels very stable in the ear, so it shouldn't move even during more strenuous workouts. As it doesn't block out any background noise, it's good for running outdoors so you can stay aware of your surroundings. However, its sound profile is tuned for phone calls, and music will be severely lacking any bass.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 isn't recommended for listening to music in the office, though they can be an okay choice if you make a lot of phone calls at work. While it's comfortable enough to wear all day, and the 6.4-hours of talk-time should last you a full work day, the unbalanced sound profile and mono design aren't meant for listening to music.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 isn't recommended for wireless gaming. This headset is Bluetooth only and isn't compatible with PS4 or Xbox One. While you can use it with any Bluetooth-enabled PC or mobile device, the latency will likely be too high for competitive gaming. The sound profile is also lacking in bass and is designed for listening to voices, so explosions and gunshots in your game will be severely lacking in thump.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a Bluetooth-only headset that cannot be used wired.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is mediocre for phone calls. While this Bluetooth headset is comfortable enough to wear for long periods, and will likely last an entire work day, the microphone recording quality is disappointing. While on phone calls, your voice sounds dark and muffled. On the bright side, the noise handling is excellent and even in noisy environments, the person you're speaking to can hear you clearly. The app also includes a ton of customization options for phone calls, and the buttons on the headset are easy-to-use while in the middle of a call.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We purchased and tested the Plantronics Voyager 5200. There is also a model called the Voyager 5200 UC that comes with a USB dongle for PCs, as well as some 'Office' models that include a dock. These results are only applicable to the regular 5200, as the other variants may perform differently.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a mono Bluetooth headset designed for making and receiving phone calls. Unlike most headphones we've reviewed, it isn't designed for listening to music, and its sound profile is tuned so that voices are clear and don't sound piercing or harsh. While the boom microphone's recording quality is sub-par, it does an excellent job of separating your voice from background noise, making it well-suited to use in a noisy office. Check out our recommendations for best Bluetooth headsets for phone calls, or if you want something better-suited for gaming, best wireless gaming headsets.
The Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset is a much worse mono headset for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset. Both headsets share almost the same design and feel equally comfortable, well-built, and stable, except the 5200 charges via Micro-USB while the Legend uses a proprietary magnetic charging clip. The 5200 has a better-balanced sound profile for phone calls, resulting in less piercing and painful voices. It also has a much better microphone that makes your voice sound slightly more natural and does a significantly better job of separating your voice from background noises. On the other hand, the Voyager Legend has longer battery life.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset is better for phone calls than the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset. The Plantronics is more comfortable, better-built, and it has more controls, including a volume control. Its boom microphone performs much better in noisier environments. That said, the Jabra's microphone has a better recording quality.
The Jabra Evolve2 65 Wireless are more versatile than the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset, though they're radically different devices with different intended uses. The Jabra are Bluetooth stereo headphones with a better-balanced sound profile, much longer battery life, a broader range of configuration options, and a superior boom microphone. Meanwhile, the Plantronics is a mono earbud that's far more portable and does a much better job of staying in your ear. Both offer multi-device pairing capability, though only the Jabra are Bluetooth 5.0-compatible.
The BlueParrott B450-XT Headset is a better headset for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset. The BlueParrott has a more balanced sound profile and its boom microphone has a better recording quality. It also has a longer continuous battery life and you can use it while it's charging. However, the Plantronics Voyager is more comfortable and since it's an earbud headset, it's also more portable. Its microphone is better at noise handling, which is handy if you need to take calls on the road from your truck.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset is better for phone calls than the Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Headset. The 5200 is more comfortable and stable and is better-built. It also leaks less noise, and its microphone has a better recording quality and noise handling performance. That said, the 3200 has a better-balanced treble range, so voices and sibilants sound more detailed.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset and the Jabra Elite 65t Truly Wireless are different styles of headsets designed for different uses. While the Plantronics is a mono Bluetooth headset that's designed for phone calls, the Jabra are truly wireless headphones that can be used for phone calls as well as listening to music. The Plantronics' microphone does a much better job at handling noise. Overall, if you're looking for headphones to listen to music and make phone calls from time to time, the Jabra are a better choice, but if you need a headset for the office that's designed specifically for phone calls, the Plantronics is a better pick.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth headset is a better mono headset for phone calls than the Jabra Steel. The Plantronics is more comfortable, has better controls, and has a more even sound profile that suits speech better. However, the Jabra's boom mic has a better recording quality.
The Mpow EM12 Wireless Earphone and the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset are mediocre mono headsets. The Plantronics is more comfortable, has much better controls, has a better-balanced sound profile for voices, and has much longer battery life. Its boom microphone also handles background noise significantly better than the integrated microphone on the Mpow, and Plantronics has a dedicated companion app with a ton of customization options. On the other hand, the Mpow has a more casual look, and its microphone has a better recording quality.
The Apple AirPods Pro and the Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset are designed for different uses. The Voyager 5200 is a mono Bluetooth headset that isn't meant for listening to music, while the Apple are truly wireless headphones designed for listening to music. The microphone on the Voyager does a much better job at handling noise, and the app gives you a ton of customization options for phone calls. On the other hand, the Apple come with a charging case, and two earbuds so you can listen to stereo music. Their sound profile is also much better-balanced for music.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset is a better Bluetooth mono headset than the TaoTronics TT-BH041 Bluetooth Headset. The Plantronics is far more portable, easier to use, and is far more stable on the ear. It also has a microphone that isolates speech from ambient noise with greater effectiveness, not to mention it has multi-device pairing as well as a dedicated companion app. Meanwhile, the TaoTronics has a substantially longer continuous runtime and does a better job of reducing audio leakage.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 Bluetooth Headset and the Mpow Pro Trucker Bluetooth Headset are both solid choices for taking phone calls on-the-go. Some users may prefer the Plantronics' mono earbud design, which is more portable and more stable than the mono on-ear design of the Mpow. The Plantronics also comes with a companion app, and its microphone performs better in noisier environments. That said, the Mpow has a longer continuous battery life, and its microphone has a better recording quality.
We've upgraded our Headphones Test Bench to 2.0! This update brings several key changes to our tests and usages, making it easier than ever to interpret our sound results based on your personal preferences. You'll also find a brand-new interactive graph tool featuring multiple targets (including our own!) for you to explore and compare.
For a full breakdown, check out our changelog, which includes detailed commentary from our test designer explaining the rationale behind our update.
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Test Results
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 has a fairly standard Bluetooth-headset design. There's a fairly large ear-hook that goes around your ear, and a thin boom microphone. Overall, it's a little bulkier than some other options but has a straight-forward and professional look.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is comfortable. It comes with three sizes of silicone tips, and since they don't enter deep into the ear canal at all, they're comfortable for extended periods. The ear-hook part of the headset is flexible and doesn't put too much pressure on your ear. After a couple of hours, it may start to cause a bit of discomfort and fatigue. Luckily, you can flip the mic around, so you can move the headset from one ear to the other to help reduce discomfort during long periods.
The controls of the Plantronics Voyager 5200 are decent overall. There are volume up/down buttons on the top of the ear-hook, a power toggle on the rear, and two call/media control buttons on the microphone itself. These two buttons more designed for call controls rather than media controls, and while you can only pause/play tracks, there's a good amount of call controls including answer, reject, and redial. You can also use one of the buttons on the mic to trigger your phone's assistant, which can be convenient.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is very portable. While it's a bit larger than most pairs of truly wireless headphones, you should still be able to easily slide it into most pockets. If you want something even more portable, check out the Mpow EM12 Wireless Earphone.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 doesn't come with a case. While a charging case can be purchased separately, we haven't tested it.
The build quality of this headset is good. It's made primarily of silicone and plastic and should be able to withstand a few accidental bumps or drops without sustaining too much damage. The ear-hook is fairly flexible, which should help prevent it from snapping or breaking easily.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 feels very stable in the ear. Unlike the Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Headset, the ear-hook helps keep it in place well, and even more severe head movements don't cause it to fall out or move. The boom mic also stays in place well and shouldn't slide or move around.
The sound profile of the Plantronics Voyager 5200 is well-tuned for voices and speech. It lacks quite a bit of bass, but voices sound present and aren't piercing or harsh. However, some voices may sound slightly dull and lispy.
The frequency response consistency of this headset is very good. Provided you achieve a proper fit with the included tips, you should experience similar bass and treble response every time you use it.
The bass accuracy of this headset is very bad. There is practically no low-bass, which is responsible for the thump and rumble in music. Mid-bass, where the body and punch of the bass sits, is very lacking. Luckily, high-bass, where instruments and some low voices get their warmth, is fairly flat and only slightly under-emphasized. While overall music will be lacking bass, this headset is tuned for phone calls and voices, and most people shouldn't notice the lack of bass. If you're looking for a mono headset with significantly better bass accuracy, check out the BlueParrott B450-XT Headset.
The mid-range accuracy of the Plantronics Voyager 5200 is outstanding. The entire range is very well-balanced and accurate, especially the high-mid which, along with low-treble, is responsible for most vocal frequencies. This results in clear and full voices that don't sound weak, distant, or harsh.
The treble accuracy of this headset is okay. Most of the low treble range is fairly well-balanced and accurate, resulting in vocals that should be somewhat detailed, articulate, and present. While the mid-treble range is fairly underemphasized, making vocals sound slightly dull and lispy, this is better than if it were overemphasized, which would result in piercing and painful voices. Most of the high treble range is recessed, resulting in audio that sounds fairly lifeless instead of being hissy, though this shouldn't affect voices too much, as most voices don't reach these higher frequencies.
The peaks and dips performance of this headset is mediocre. The largest peak is in mid-high treble which makes some frequencies sound slightly harsh. Overall, it's small enough that most voices don't come across as piercing or painful. While the peak in mid-high bass doesn't necessarily represent an over-emphasized mid-bass, it shows the relative increase in that range over the very recessed low bass.
Because the Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a mono headset, there is no stereo imaging.
Like with most in-ears, the passive soundstage of this headset is poor. This is because properly activating the resonances of the pinna (the outer ear) is one of the important factors in creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage. Since in-ears and earbuds completely bypass the pinna, their soundstage tends to be perceived as small and located inside the listener's head. That being said, because there's only one earbud, the openness is excellent.
This headset doesn't have any virtual soundstage features.
The weighted harmonic distortion of the Plantronics Voyager 5200 is mediocre. While there's some distortion present, it likely won't be too noticeable for most people while on phone calls.
Note: We were unable to reach 100dB volume while testing this headset. Therefore, the '100 dB' score was tested with the headset at max volume and the '90 dB' score was set 10dB lower.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when listening using these settings.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 isolates almost no background noise. This is likely by design, as while on phone calls, it helps to be able to hear your own voice when speaking. This is also due to the fact that the earbuds rest inside the ear as opposed to going deep into the ear canal and creating a 'plunger-like' feeling that blocks sound.
The leakage performance of this headset is good. There's some leakage at higher frequencies that's slightly above the noise floor of an average office. This means that when using this headset at high volumes, coworkers right next to you may hear some leakage.
This headset has a boom mic.
Like with most Bluetooth headsets and headphones, the recording quality of the mic is sub-par. While your voice is fairly natural and easy to understand, it's also slightly dark and muffled sounding. For a Bluetooth mono headset with better recording quality, check out the Jabra Steel Bluetooth Headset or the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset.
The noise handling of the microphone is excellent. Thanks to the boom microphone that sits close to your mouth, the person you're speaking to can hear you fairly clearly even in noisy environments.
The overall battery performance of this headset is sub-par. While the 6.4-hour battery life is only mediocre for headphones, it should be more than long enough for a headset. This is because unlike listening to music continuously throughout your work day, it's likely that you will take breaks between phone calls. The headset also features a standby mode which can help conserve battery life when it's not in use. If you want something similar with better battery life, check out the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset, though it doesn't perform as well overall. If you want a longer battery life, you could also consider the TaoTronics TT-BH041 Bluetooth Headset or the Mpow Pro Trucker Bluetooth Headset.
The dedicated companion app for the Plantronics Voyager 5200 is good. While it doesn't have an EQ to change the sound profile, like with most good apps for headphones, it has a lot of customization options specific to phone calls, such as the ability to configure the sensors in the headset to automatically answer or reject a phone call while you're wearing the headset. The headset is also compatible with the 'Tile' app so you can find it in case it's misplaced.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 supports NFC pairing to easily connect to an NFC-enabled device. You can also pair it to two devices so you can easily switch between your phone or PC. The Android latency is among the lowest we've ever recorded. However, it's noting that this was measured while streaming a YouTube video, and apps seem to compensate for this differently, so your mileage will likely vary in real-world usage.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a Bluetooth-only headset.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a Bluetooth-only headset that can't be used wired. It comes with a Micro-USB cable for charging.
The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is Bluetooth-only and isn't compatible with PS4. It should work with any Bluetooth-enabled PC, however.