We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-20 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a call-center headset that plugs into a PC or console through its own dongle and keeps your ears open all shift, choose Smof Open Ear Headphones; if you need a lightweight office headset with a charging dock and longer battery life for back-to-back meetings, choose Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21.
• Smof's biggest strength: a boom mic with ENC noise cancellation, a physical mute button, and a USB-A/USB-C dongle that gives you a dedicated wireless link for PC, PS4 and PS5.
• Smof's biggest trade-off: up to 10 hours per charge and Bluetooth 5.1, so it asks for more charging discipline and offers a slightly older wireless spec than the Avantree.
• Avantree Lingo N21's biggest strength: up to 15 hours per charge, Bluetooth 5.3, and a charging dock that doubles as a phone stand so the headset always has a home on your desk.
• Avantree's biggest trade-off: no dongle and no boom mic, so it leans on its built-in noise-cancelling mic and plain Bluetooth pairing instead of a dedicated low-latency link.
• Pick Smof if you take calls on a PC or console and want a mic you can position and mute instantly.
• Pick Avantree Lingo N21 if you live in Zoom or Teams all day and want the longest possible stretch between charges with tidy desk storage.
The Smof headset is built around one idea: keep your ears completely open while you talk. The ear placement is open ear, the driver is listed as bone conduction, and the housing is ABS plastic in black. In practice that means nothing presses into your ear canal, which matters if you wear a headset for a full eight-hour shift at a call center, a dispatch desk, or a home office where you still need to hear the doorbell or a colleague walking up behind you.
What sets it apart from a plain Bluetooth headset is the connectivity story. It ships with a USB-A and USB-C dongle, so you can give a PC, a PS4 or a PS5 its own dedicated wireless link instead of fighting with your computer's built-in Bluetooth. The spec sheet calls out aptX, aptX-LL and aptX-HD, which tells you the design is aimed at low-latency, low-loss audio rather than casual music listening. A physical mute button sits on the headset, and the flexible boom mic uses ENC noise cancellation — useful when you're the one who has to sound clear on the other end of the call.
Battery is where you have to be honest with yourself. The 250mAh cell charges in about 1.5 hours and is rated for up to 10 hours of music and calls. That comfortably covers a workday, but it's not a two-day headset. Compatibility is broad — phones, PCs, laptops, tablets — and the brand describes its target users as truck drivers, call centers, online teaching and work-from-home setups. If you want a boom mic you can flip into place, a mute button you can hit by feel, and a dongle that removes Bluetooth guesswork on a desktop, this is the one. If you mainly want to pair to a phone and forget about cables entirely, the dongle-centric design is more than you need.
The Lingo N21 is the desk-professional option. It's an open-ear hook headset that weighs just 29 grams, so the hook rests over your ear rather than inside it, and the ABS housing matches the black, understated look most offices expect. The headset pairs over Bluetooth 5.3 with a 10-metre (about 30 ft) operating range, supports A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP profiles, and covers a 20Hz–20KHz frequency response. That profile list is exactly what you want for calls and meetings: hands-free and headset profiles for voice, plus the streaming profiles for the occasional video or music break.
The headline feature for me is the charging dock. The headset charges by contact when you drop it on the dock, and the dock itself is powered over USB-C. That same dock has a built-in phone stand — worth noting that the stand holds your phone for video calls but does not charge it. The dock weighs 146g, so it stays put on a desk instead of sliding around. If you've ever hunted for a headset two minutes before a meeting, this design quietly solves that problem.
Battery is the strongest number here: up to 15 hours per charge with a 2-hour charge time. That's a full workday with room to spare, and combined with the dock, it means topping up is something you do by habit rather than by remembering. The mic is built in and noise-cancelling, aimed at Zoom, Teams and similar platforms. The trade-offs are clear: no boom mic to position close to your mouth, no dongle for a dedicated low-latency link, and touch controls instead of physical buttons. The warranty runs 24 months, with product registration covering return shipment costs in the first 12 months, plus the brand's own chat, email, phone and video support channels.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for battery life → Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21. Up to 15 hours versus up to 10 on the Smof.
• Best for clear outgoing voice in a noisy room → Smof Open Ear Headphones. A flexible boom mic with ENC noise cancellation and a mute button beats a built-in mic for control.
• Best for desk tidiness → Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21. The charging dock keeps the headset stored and topped up, with a phone stand for video calls.
• Best for long meetings and all-day office wear → Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21. 29g on an ear hook with 15 hours of runtime is a hard combination to beat.
• Best for truck drivers, call centers and online teaching → Smof Open Ear Headphones. Broad device compatibility plus a dongle and boom mic match those jobs directly.
• Best for newer wireless standard → Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21. Bluetooth 5.3 against Bluetooth 5.1.
• Best for physical controls → Smof Open Ear Headphones. Push buttons rather than touch, which many people prefer mid-call.
• Best value → check both. Prices move, so compare the current price on Amazon before deciding — the numbers above are specs, not costs.
In my opinion, the Avantalk Avantree Lingo N21 is the safer buy for most people who work at a desk. Fifteen hours of runtime, Bluetooth 5.3, 29 grams, and a dock that stores and charges the headset is a genuinely practical package for Zoom-and-Teams life, and the phone stand is a nice bonus. I'd only steer you to the Smof Open Ear Headphones if the boom mic, the mute button, or the USB dongle for a PC or console is non-negotiable for you — in that case the Smof does a job the Avantree simply isn't designed for. Both keep your ears open, so the real question is whether you want a desk companion or a dongle-driven workhorse.
For outgoing voice control, yes in my opinion: the Smof has a flexible boom mic with ENC noise cancellation and a dedicated mute button. The Avantree relies on a built-in noise-cancelling mic with touch controls, which is fine for meetings but gives you less to work with in a loud room.
The Smof is rated up to 10 hours from a 250mAh battery and charges in about 1.5 hours. The Avantree Lingo N21 is rated up to 15 hours and charges in about 2 hours, and it tops up on its contact-charging dock between calls.
Both pair over Bluetooth to PCs, phones, laptops and tablets. The difference is that the Smof also ships with a USB-A and USB-C dongle for a dedicated wireless link, which the spec sheet lists for PS4, PS5 and PC. The Avantree has no dongle, so it's Bluetooth-only, with a 10-metre range and Bluetooth 5.3.
Both use open-ear designs that avoid plugging your ear canal, and both use ABS housings. The Avantree publishes a weight of 29g, which is very light for an ear-hook headset; the Smof sheet doesn't list a weight. If weight is your main concern, that published figure makes the Avantree the easier call.
I don't quote prices here because they change. Use the price button on this page to check the current price on Amazon for both models, then compare them against the features you actually need.
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