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

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 is a $857 headset with performance that ranks dead average (48th-50th percentile) in every key category. Its social proof score is in the basement at 14%. You are paying a massive premium for two brand names on a mediocre product. Save your money.

The Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 is a $857 headset that lands squarely in the middle of the pack. Its percentile rankings tell the story: sound quality, noise cancellation, microphone performance, and battery life all hover between the 48th and 50th percentile. That means for nearly every key metric, this headset is just about average compared to other wireless over-ear models. It's a premium collaboration between a networking giant and a luxury audio brand, but the raw performance data suggests you're paying for the name more than the experience. The one standout is its social proof score, which sits at a dismal 14th percentile, indicating it's not a popular or well-reviewed choice among buyers.

Let's talk numbers. With a sound quality score in the 49th percentile, you're getting audio that's fine, but not exceptional. The ANC performance at the 48th percentile is similarly middle-of-the-road; it'll cut out some background hum, but don't expect the near-silence of top-tier competitors. The six-microphone array lands at the 48th percentile for mic quality, which translates to decent call clarity, but nothing that will make your colleagues remark on how good you sound. Battery life at the 48th percentile aligns with the advertised 23 hours of talk time, which is adequate but unremarkable. In short, this is a headset that performs exactly as its median rankings suggest: competently, but without any single area that excels.

At $857, the value proposition here is almost non-existent. You are paying a massive premium for the Cisco and Bang & Olufsen logos on a product that delivers strictly median performance across the board. For the same money or less, you could buy two of the top-performing headsets in our database. The price per percentile is astronomically high, making this one of the worst value picks we've seen in this category.

Stack it up against the competition and the picture gets worse. The Sony WH-1000XM5, often found for hundreds less, dominates in ANC (typically 90th+ percentile) and battery life. The Apple AirPods Max, while also expensive, offers a far more cohesive ecosystem and spatial audio features the 980 lacks. Even the Beats Studio Pro and Bose QuietComfort Ultra offer significantly better noise cancellation and more polished user experiences for less money. The 980's only potential niche is its baked-in Webex management for corporate IT departments, but that's a very narrow use case that doesn't justify the cost for almost anyone else.

Everyone should skip this, but especially music lovers, frequent travelers, and anyone shopping with their own money. With sound and ANC scores languishing below the 50th percentile, it fails to satisfy critical use cases. Budget-conscious buyers should run the other way given its 3.7/100 score in that category. Even luxury seekers will find better-built and better-sounding options from the same brands.

We cannot recommend the Cisco Bang & Olufsen 980 to anyone. The data is clear: you are spending luxury money on a thoroughly average product. Its 14th percentile social proof score is a huge red flag that the market has already rejected this offering. Unless your company is issuing these to you and mandates Webex Hub control, steer clear. There are a dozen better options that cost less and perform significantly better.