Dell Premier Wireless ANC WL7024 Headset Review - Stylish Productivity

TweakTown's Rating: 95%

The Bottom Line

Easily one of the most feature-packed and impressive headsets for office use, with standout AI-powered ANC capabilities. However, it's the stylish design that propels the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset to the next level, making it excellent for travelers who want on-the-go audio.

Pros

• + AI ANC features for audio and voice
• + Great sound for music and productivity
• + Bluetooth, wired, and low-latency wireless modes
• + Excellent software support on PC, Mac, and smartphone
• + Stylish and robust design

Cons

• - The charging dock isn't a wireless base station
• - ANC on the microphone can cut the beginning of a sentence

Should you buy it?

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Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

Dell offers a range of headsets and headphones designed for the professional market. Many offer Microsoft Office, Teams, and Zoom certification or features, with additional active noise cancellation in various wired and wireless options. The new Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset (WL7024) fits the bill with dual-directional AI-powered noise cancellation that automatically adapts to multiple environments. It's Microsoft Teams certified and Zoom, too, and can connect up to eight different devices with two simultaneously, thanks to low-latency wireless and Bluetooth 5.3.

However, what sets the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset apart from other headsets that Dell offers - or ones explicitly built for office or remote work environments is the minimal and sleek design is stylish enough for these to sit alongside the sort of ANC headphones you'd get from a company like Bose, Sennheiser, or Sony.

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Although the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset has no visible microphone, it incorporates an impressive AI-powered beamforming solution in a bottomless design. Before the headset's launch, the company hyped its AI noise cancellation capabilities by stating that it would cut out the background noise from your environment and voice when broadcasting and those received through Teams or Zoom.

With deep, detailed software customization and additional tinkering available via the Dell Audio App for Android and iOS, there's much to like about the productivity-focused design. However, the fact that it's not your typical office headset but something you could listen to podcasts or chill to some music with makes it stand out from the pack. The Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset is lovely for work and play. Let's dig in.

Specifications & Close Up

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• Product Type: Wireless Headset
• Product Name: Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset WL7024
• Interface: Low Latency Wireless, Bluetooth, Wired 3.5mm
• Compatibility: PC (Windows 10/11), MacOS, Android, iOS
• Form Factor: Over Ear Closed
• Drivers: 40mm
• Headphones Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz
• Noise Cancellation: Adaptive ANC
• Microphone Type: AINR (AI Noise Reduction), AIBF (AI beam forming)
• Microphone Frequency: 20 - 14,000 Hz
• Surround: NA
• Cable: USB-Type-C for charging, 3.5mm audio cable
• Weight: 297 grams
• In the Box: Dell Wireless Headset WL7024, USB-C Dongle, USB-A Adapter, Type-C to C Charging cable, 3.5mm audio cable, Charging Dock with type-C plug, Carry case, Documentation

Kosta's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition
• Display: MSI MAG 321UPX QD-OLED 4K 240 Hz
• Cooler: ASUS ROG RYUO III 360 ARGB
• RAM: 64GB (4x16GB) Corsair DOMINATOR TITANIUM RGB DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s
• SSD: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 4TB, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Plus M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD 8TB
• Power Supply: ASUS TUF Gaming 1000W Gold
• Case: Corsair 5000D AIRFLOW Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX PC Case
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

Dell WL5024 Pro Wireless ANC Headset

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$220.70	$220.70	$220.70	$220.20	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 9/17/2024 at 6:33 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Design & Software and Support

Design

The Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset's design is stylish, minimal, and classy, making it an excellent fit for office and remote work. It looks like a premium pair of ANC-powered headphones without a boom microphone. Weighing 297 grams, it's lightweight for a feature-packed unit, and the mix of leatherette, memory foam, and soft/matte plastics is robust and flexible. Dell includes a nice carry case with the headset and a dedicated charging dock.

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Although very easy to set up and pair with a Bluetooth-capable device or PC, there is one weird thing about the dock - it's USB-C powered and only charges the headset. For low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless, you'll also need to connect the dongle to a PC. The dock is mostly a fancy stand, very welcome, mind you, but it would have been nice to have a place to store the USB dongle so that you don't need two ports if you plan on connecting and charging at a single desktop PC.

This is a minor gripe for a pretty impressive headset. The dock (or direct USB-C charge) provides up to 12 hours of use after a quick 15-minute zap. The total battery time here is impressive, too, with up to 28 hours of talking and listening (or 26 with ANC on) or up to 80 hours of just listening (this cuts down to 60 hours with ANC on).

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In addition, you've got intuitive on-ear and touch controls with audible feedback (that you can also double-check on the app). There's the power and Bluetooth pairing button, one for microphone mute control, a button to switch between the ANC modes, and a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. The latter is purely business-facing; pressing this will bring up the Microsoft Teams window while also being a fancy way to join a Teams meeting without using your mouse.

You also have a range of touch controls for volume, play/pause, answering or ending calls, and enabling or turning off the AI downlink noise cancellation. For as clean and minimal as the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset, there are way more on-ear controls than you'd expect, and they're all intuitively designed and placed.

Under the hood, impressive 40mm audio drivers with the standard frequency response you'd find in a pair of ANC headphones are present, and the closed-back design helps to amplify the bass.

Software and Support

PC and Mac users can download and install the Dell Peripheral Manager app for customization and setup. The app guides you through the connection before providing access to the headset's features. The software is great for quickly accessing the headset's many features, which include making adjustments to the audio profile. You get the same direct control when connecting the headset to an Android or iOS phone and firing up the Dell Audio app.

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With in-depth control over the headset's various ANC and AI features, the Dell Peripheral Manager app is a great way to learn about them after connecting the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset. There are three Active Noise Canceling options: going all out, a second option that lets you fine-tune the amount of ambient noise heard, and completely off. It doesn't stop there, as you can also toggle outgoing and incoming chat/voice audio noise cancellation on or off with additional Sidetone levels to choose from.

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The audio or sound profile settings are limited because you have the default flat preset, bass boost, treble boost, and speech boost. In addition, the custom mode involves adjusting to a pretty simple five-band equalizer, so there's not a lot of depth to the tuning if you're after a specific type of sound for listening to music. There's also a default on-board surround option, which is not surprising considering this product is designed for businesses and professionals, but it would have been nice to see.

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The Dell Peripheral Manager and Dell Audio app also offer control over the automotive features of the headset, which is not something you often see. This includes pausing music, audio, and the microphone when the headset is completely removed, enabling a quick pause feature when lifting a single ear and adjusting the sensitivity for all of the above. Overall, it has brilliant software support that is cleanly laid out while offering handy tooltips to let you know what each feature does. The only thing missing is a guide on the touch controls, which appears during the initial setup process but disappears.

Performance & Microphone

Performance

Weirdly, we've gone this far into the review without talking about audio quality, so let's start there. The tuning of the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset is similar to what you'd find with similar ANC headphones from Bose and Sony; the sound is warm, the bass is rich, and the mid and high-frequency detail isn't overly harsh, making them great for listening to music or podcasts while traveling or on the road. This means that besides the wonderful productivity features and touches, the sound lives up to the stylish and minimal design. Translation, they're a great pair of headphones.

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And when it comes to the ANC, it's more good news, with background noise becoming a thing of the past when you slap these on. From the hum of a desktop computer to someone talking next to you through to local car traffic when taking a stroll - the ANC here helps keep the audio contained, creating the sort of sound bubble that makes this style of headphone one of the most popular around. Of course, you've got noise cancellation for upstream and downstream voice communication, too, which is also impressive.

If you work in a busy or loud environment, the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset might be the ultimate audio solution. Even if you're not jumping into a call or meeting, you can blast some funky drum and bass while filling out benchmark spreadsheets - precisely what I did. Some nice little touches help the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset stand out, like a Busy Light that glows when you're on a call to let others know you're busy and the ability to pair it to two devices at once, so it's virtually impossible to miss that important call.

Microphone

The voice and chat quality of the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset is excellent, crisp, and detailed, even with all of the AI noise cancellation going on. Some headsets that apply ANC to the microphone can often degrade voice quality, and that's not the case here. Chalk it up to Dell's AI ANC noise algorithm or the great microphone. It doesn't matter. However, we did experience some instances where the microphone cut the very beginning of a sentence as the ANC kicked in or realized I was speaking - which was annoying. It's a tiny bit of latency in an otherwise flawless experience.

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Voice quality remains excellent even when connected to a phone, and the noise cancellation for the incoming call's speaker ensures that all conversations are clear - even if you're out and about. The lack of a visible microphone makes it all the more impressive.

Final Thoughts

Weirdly, we've gone this far into the review without discussing games. Sure, that's not what the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset was designed for, but countless people are working on a laptop with games like Hades, Diablo, Call of Duty, and more just a double-click away. For those who take a break with a bit of gaming, the good news is that the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset's excellent audio quality applies here, too; however, the default warm sound profile might seem a little flat if you're used to crisp and tactile game audio.

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Ultimately, the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset is just about the ultimate productivity headset because it blends Dell's excellent office audio solutions with the sleek and stylish design and premium sound you get from a more traditional pair of ANC headphones. $359.99 USD might seem pricey for an office headset, but it's reasonable once you go through its features and capabilities.

Long-lasting battery? Check. Low latency wireless and Bluetooth? Check. The ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously? Check. ANC for audio and voice? Check. And impressive AI-powered ANC to boot. It's wild to think that one of the most remarkable headset releases of 2024 is an office headset from Dell. That's where we are, and the Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset is highly recommended.