I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since I covered the OLEAP Pilot headset. I keep these at work, as the open-ear design and the retractable boom mic are perfect for all comms at work. Using these for Teams and occasional music sessions to focus on work became second nature. How can OLEAP possibly improve these? I’m holding OLEAP P200b Pro in my hands, and I’m about to find out!
Review Summary
OLEAP P200b Pro has no right to sound this good. An open ear design and -50dB microphone noise cancellation delivers clear audio without distractions while you work or play. They are now part of my permanent PlayStation 5 setup, waiting for the Battlefield 6 launch and some online play!
Pros:
- Open ear design with excellent sound
- long battery life
- perfect for gaming!
Cons:
- non detachable mic
- microphone noise cancellation can be aggressive
4.5/5
You can get yours now at: Oleap page for £152.00.
OLEAP P200b Pro
Other than a nicer colour scheme (navy/purple vs black/grey), OLEAP P200b Pro (AmazonUK|AmazonUS) are virtually identical in design to the original model. Without holding both of them in my hands, I could never tell which headset I had in my hands. There are, however, small improvements to the design, mainly around the neckband material.
OLEAP P200b Pro feature 3 typical Bluetooth control buttons on one side (play, track skip, volume) with extra commands linked to long presses and a single action button on the opposite side of the microphone. There is a USB-C port for charging, and the microphone mutes automatically once it’s retracted.
By default, OLEAP P200b Pro uses Bluetooth 5.0 to connect to various devices (you can have 2 devices connected at the same time), but it also comes with a USB dongle for more straightforward operation. While the pouch was included in the kit, the USB-C charging stand present with the original OLEAP Pilot was not.
Comfort
As the only noticeable design difference is the stiffness of the band, I thought I’d mention my thoughts about the comfort. OLEAP P200b Pro are light, and after a while, I didn’t notice them on my head. The neckband is a little softer, but the design inherits some challenges. You won’t find these comfortable in lying down positions.
Other scenarios, like being active, wearing hats, or helmets, didn’t bother me. If I could think of a single improvement, it would be to make the “near-ear” sections stick to the ear more.
OLEAP P200b Pro offers approx 8h of battery life when in use, and considering that I only charged it twice in two weeks, it reflects well on its battery lifespan.
Audio quality
As the drivers are placed directly over your ears, but without covering them, you’ll experience two things. Firstly, OLEAP P200b Pro never impedes external sounds. There is no difference between hearing things around you while wearing these and not having the headphones on your head.
Secondly, after trying bone-conductive headsets (which I found great for podcasts but fell a bit short when listening to music), just like the previous model, OLEAP P200b Pro comes with a far superior audio quality, especially at the lower frequencies. There was no surprise this time, as I had tried the previous ones before, but I cannot understate how impressive the sound is, given the gap between the earpiece and your ear.
Bluetooth headphones often introduce a small latency between the headset and the phone, so I tested it with some games and videos to see where I’m at. I’m pleased to report that the connection is excellent and there is no noticeable latency in either scenario.
-50dB Noise reduction
The killer feature of the OLEAP P200b Pro is the noise reduction of the boom mic. Before I got to test it properly (Android phones don’t like capturing audio from external microphones – I recommend using the Bluemagic app), my mum assured me she cannot hear anything else that is happening around me.
To verify this, I boiled some water, went for a run, a cycle and even flushed the toilet to see how much I could get away with on a potential Zoom/Teams call. Granted, all these scenarios were pretty extreme, but I love pushing things to the limit.
There is some aggressive noise cancellation going on in the background, but when I speak loudly, I do end up with a voice that everyone can hear and understand. The louder and more “in your face” the voice is, the bigger the artefacts in the audio track, but if you are only trying to mute the sounds of a busy office or the sounds of the kettle, you will get away with this!
Unexpected hero of… multiplayer games
I wrote most of this review before I purchased the PlayStation 5. No, the review isn’t this dated, but I hesitated a lot to get the latest Sony gaming console, as my sessions aren’t as frequent as they used to! It looks like Battlefield 6 is going to be good, so I’m looking forward to playing a few hours with my best friend online.
While you could use OLEAP P200b Pro as the primary source of audio (bear in mind you need to output the sound via USB dongle), this isn’t how I’m going to use the headset. In PlayStation settings, you can assign the headset to be used exclusively for voice chat. With OLEAP P200b Pro’s open ear design, I still get to enjoy the 7.1 Dolby Atmos sound of my speaker setup, while the headset does an excellent job at taking care of the voice calls. This is where the noise cancellation shines, as my commands (or mostly swear words while dying) come across clearly, and the shared frustration of my combat buddies can be heard clearly!
While some could argue that you could get a “gaming headset” instead, I’m a 40+ adult with life and responsibilities, and being able to respond to external stimuli while I game (unexpected doorbell call, or simply someone shouting for my attention) still carries a higher priority than taking the lead in virtual battle. OLEAP P200b Pro works surprisingly well for gaming!
A successor?
If you already own OLEAP Pilot, the new revision is probably not for you. OLEAP P200b Pro (AmazonUK|AmazonUS) are great, but they don’t offer a significant improvement in quality to be seen as an economical upgrade. The original headset is simply too good. If you have £152 to spare (cheaper without dongles) and want to experience better microphone clarity, then go for it. OLEAP P200b Pro is a perfect office companion to everyone who values office communications. It will likely outperform other business headsets.
Final thoughts
Just like before, I’d love to see a detachable mic. This would transform OLEAP P200b Pro into a sport-oriented headset that offers all the benefits of open-air headphones without the significant loss in sound quality. Until then, OLEAP has to settle for my office/gaming recommendation, unless you don’t care for that microphone! Having tried bone-conductive headsets before, I’d pick OLEAP in a heartbeat. Let me know your thoughts in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.
