Effective Improvements

The technology race often results in compromises. On-screen keyboards allow for full-screen phones but offer sub-par typing experience and there are enough people who care, to be a market for phones with physical keyboards. In-ear "truly wireless" earbuds are super convenient but they do not offer the best possible conversational audio quality as the microphones, however good they are, are simply too far from the mouth.

I was facing similar dilemma while on the road with my trusted Bose QC-35 headset. QC-35 is a great pair of wireless cans and I consider wearing them to be at least a half-way upgrade from economy to premium (or even business), as the comfort of flying in silence with subtle music in the background is significant.

Bose unfortunately still has not been able to develop a microphone array that offers good listening experience on the other end of the line. They simply pick up too much ambient noise and too little primary voice to be considered good for participating in (or, especially, leading) conference calls.

On the other hand carrying a separate headset just for teleconferences is not a smart solution. Shouldn't one headset be sufficient?

I did some exploration in this area and found a relatively inexpensive accessory - a boom microphone that can be plugged into the Bose QC-35 (and other similar models too). The audio quality it delivers is great. One of the best.

The only caveat with it is that it requires a 3.5mm audio socket on the other end. So while my Blackberry or the MacBook Pro have that feature, the iPad does not. Ideally this thing should have a USB-C connector on the other end of the cable. Perhaps there will be a new model in such configuration. Until then it is either the 3.5mm jack or a 3.5mm to USB-C dongle. Still less bulk to carry compared to two separate headsets.