Bang & Olufsen Bang & Olufsen 980 Cisco 980 Wireless Over-Ear Review

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 is a premium-priced call specialist with middling music performance. Only buy it on a deep sale if your job is talking, not listening.

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 is a weird one. It's a premium-priced headset from a legendary audio brand, but our data shows it's a specialist tool, not an all-rounder. The one thing to know is this: it's built for crystal-clear calls and work-from-home professionalism, not for losing yourself in your music or gaming. It scores in the 86th percentile for social proof, which means people love the brand and the look, but its performance scores are all hovering around the 50th percentile mark. That tells you everything.

What surprised us was how average the performance is across the board. For a Bang & Olufsen product, we expected the sound quality to blow us away, but it lands in the 49th percentile. The ANC and microphone are both at 48th percentile. That's not bad, but it's firmly in 'fine' territory. It's a competent headset, but it doesn't excel in any one area that would justify the price tag for most people.

This is where it gets tricky. The price swings wildly from $179 to $829 depending on the vendor. At the low end of that range, it's a decent buy for a dedicated work headset. At the high end, it's a complete rip-off. Our advice? If you find it for under $250 and your primary need is professional calls, consider it. Anywhere near $800, and you're getting taken for a ride. There are better all-around headphones for that money.

This headset lives in a crowded field. Compared to the Sony WH-1000XM5, you're giving up class-leading ANC and much better sound for music. The Bose QuietComfort Wireless Over-Ear offers similar call quality and comfort but often at a more consistent and reasonable price point. The Apple AirPods Max, while even pricier, integrates seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem and offers a more polished overall experience. The B&O 980 only makes sense if you're a brand loyalist who prioritizes mic clarity above all else and snag it on a deep sale.

If you're looking for an immersive music-listening experience or a do-it-all headset for work, music, and play, this isn't it. Go get the Sony WH-1000XM5 instead. If you're a gamer, look literally anywhere else.

We can't recommend the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 for most people. It's a niche product. If you are a remote executive who takes video calls all day and wants a headset that screams 'premium,' and you find it for a steep discount, go for it. For everyone else—music lovers, commuters, gamers—there are better, more well-rounded options that offer more for your money. This is a case of the brand name costing more than the performance justifies.