What BT headphones do you use with your Shadow?

[Guest SomeaznPunk]

I am looking to purchase some BT headphones. However, before I do so, I have a few questions:

1. How is the sound quality? Same as the default, corded headphones or worse?

2. If worse, how much worse? Are there sound distortions? Do higher pitched sounds create a tinny distortion?

3. What brand BT headphones do you have? I had the Motorolla stereo headphones, but it really sucked because the sound quality was not very good on my MDA and there was sound distortion. I sold my headphones soon afterwards.

4. Any other issues I should know about?

[Guest wazmo]

I am looking to purchase some BT headphones. However, before I do so, I have a few questions:

1. How is the sound quality? Same as the default, corded headphones or worse?

2. If worse, how much worse? Are there sound distortions? Do higher pitched sounds create a tinny distortion?

3. What brand BT headphones do you have? I had the Motorolla stereo headphones, but it really sucked because the sound quality was not very good on my MDA and there was sound distortion. I sold my headphones soon afterwards.

4. Any other issues I should know about?

Motorola S705 - works like a champ, plus you can choose what kind of cans to use as it sports a 3.5mm jack.

Philips VOX 340 - haven't tried this on the Shadow yet.

[Guest chaznet]

I have some Motorola S9's that work >great<, both with my Dash and Shadow -- with the maximum volume level being considerably higher on the Shadow. Take a look at the Plantronics Voyager 885's -- they have a detachable second earbud for use as a standard bluetooth headset, and a microphone that pops-out and extends closer to your mouth. Mine are on pre-order, so I can't tell you if they're great or not -- but they look to be. If you purchase online, make sure the store has a liberal return policy, as you may try a few before find the one you consider best. I use MobileCityOnline.com -- their projected delivery date for the 885's is 11/22/07.

I am looking to purchase some BT headphones. However, before I do so, I have a few questions:

1. How is the sound quality? Same as the default, corded headphones or worse?

2. If worse, how much worse? Are there sound distortions? Do higher pitched sounds create a tinny distortion?

3. What brand BT headphones do you have? I had the Motorolla stereo headphones, but it really sucked because the sound quality was not very good on my MDA and there was sound distortion. I sold my headphones soon afterwards.

4. Any other issues I should know about?

Edited November 19, 2007 by chaznet

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Sound quality over A2DP is ALWAYS worse than wired headphones however...

I use my ultimate ears with an adaptor, yes you get a wire, but sound quality is way better and you save battery ;)

P

[Guest mmmaiki]

I have some Motorola S9's that work >great<, both with my Dash and Shadow -- with the maximum volume level being considerably higher on the Shadow. Take a look at the Plantronics Voyager 885's -- they have a detachable second earbud for use as a standard bluetooth headset, and a microphone that pops-out and extends closer to your mouth. Mine are on pre-order, so I can't tell you if they're great or not -- but they look to be. If you purchase online, make sure the store has a liberal return policy, as you may try a few before find the one you consider best. I use MobileCityOnline.com -- their projected delivery date for the 885's is 11/22/07.

I have the Plantronics 885s. (They have them in stock in many Best Buy stores.) I love the small convenient form factor, convertible between normal mono phone BT headset, and BT stereo earphones. They are the first BT stereo headphones I have tried, so I cannot compare them with others. Sound definitely far inferior to wired headphones, however. I haven't yet used it with the Shadow though, which I don't yet have. I've used them with the MDA. I think they may work better with Shadow, due to more memory and WM6.

Sound quality for phone calls--incoming sound not as good to me as my prior BT headset, the much cheaper Plantronics 510. The noise reduction for outgoing sound (how the other party hears you) seems to be very good, however. I've also had some connection problems with it, not always staying connected to my MDA. I wasn't able to pair it at all with my home landline bluetooth cordless phone, the Uniden ELBT595 (which my Plantronics 510 worked well with).

So, my review-mixed. Still haven't decided whether to keep it or not (easy to return at Best Buy).

By the way, I think most BB stores list it at the full list price, $129.95. However, the Best Buy for Business web site lists it at $92 something. In the BB store, I told them about the price on the BBB website, and they matched it.

There is a whole thread about these on the Howardforums Bluetooth forum, on which I and others have written more. I would suggest reading that thread, if interested in the 885. (Contribute to it, if you get the product.)

[Guest chaznet]

I have the Plantronics 885s ... I think most BB stores list it at the full list price, $129.95. However, the Best Buy for Business web site lists it at $92 something. In the BB store, I told them about the price on the BBB website, and they matched it.

I lucked out -- way back when I pre-ordered at MobileCityOnline, they were listed at 69.95 -- I ordered, a week or so later the price went up. I've found the quality of stereo bluetooth varies widely with my S9's by device. All are improved by shutting off the UseJointStereo registry setting. On my SDA, sound quality was awful. Fine on the Dash, but low-volume. Great on the Shadow, and volume is as it should be -- you actually have to check to make sure everything isn't up to loud before turning them on.

There is a whole thread about these on the Howardforums Bluetooth forum, on which I and others have written more. I would suggest reading that thread, if interested in the 885. (Contribute to it, if you get the product.)

Have a link?

[Guest mmmaiki]

Have a link?

www.howardforums.com, scroll down to the Bluetooth forum, look for the thread about 855s.

[Guest mmmaiki]

I lucked out -- way back when I pre-ordered at MobileCityOnline, they were listed at 69.95 -- I ordered, a week or so later the price went up. I've found the quality of stereo bluetooth varies widely with my S9's by device. All are improved by shutting off the UseJointStereo registry setting. On my SDA, sound quality was awful. Fine on the Dash, but low-volume. Great on the Shadow, and volume is as it should be -- you actually have to check to make sure everything isn't up to loud before turning them on.

In general, how would you compare the music sound quality of the 855s to the S9s?

Have you also had connection problems with the 855s?

------------------------------------

Why do you shut off the UseJointStereo setting? (I did a registry hack on my MDA to stop the skipping, and didn't see that jointstereo setting at all. Is it only in WM6?) I know that some compression formats, like MP3, use joint stereo in compressing the music, especially at lower bit rates. (What that means is, the two signals in most stereo music, left ear and right ear, are actually pretty similar, with only a slight difference. Normal stereo takes up twice as much space as mono, due to having two signals, left and right. Joint stereo, on the other hand, on one of the sides only records what is different about it than the other side, rather than a whole second signal. This saves a lot of space, only adding a little to the space taken by a monaural signal, rather than doubling it. Therefore, joint stereo is a good thing in music compression, reducing size without reducing actual heard signal, therefore requiring less lossy compression to achieve the same result.)

Sorry for the long explanation of joint stereo. You may have already known what it is. In any case, I don't quite understand though, what is accomplished by turning off joint stereo in the registry. If the music file you are playing was compressed using joint stereo (as is often the case), that music is compressed with joint stereo, regardless of how you set playback settings on your PDA. What then happens, as a result of turning joint stereo off in playback, in the registy? It cannot make the music play back in regular stereo, as that is not there in the signal, if the music was compressed with joint stereo. If joint stereo is turned off, and you are playing back a music file that is compressed with joint stereo, does the music play in monaural instead of stereo? How would that improve sound quality?

[Guest mmmaiki]

Have a link?

I assume you are asking about a link to the thread about Plantronics 855s on the Bluetooth Forum at Howardforums. I told you how you can find it. However, since I just went there, in case you'd like it, I'll give you a direct link to the thread:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1253149

Now--I'd still like to hear how you find the music sound quality compares between the 855s and S9s, and

whether you have had connection problems with the 855s (as I have).

[Guest mmmaiki]

Now--I'd still like to hear how you find the music sound quality compares between the 855s and S9s, and

whether you have had connection problems with the 855s (as I have).

Actually, I just noticed your (chazznet) earlier post, in which you wrote that you had pre-ordered the 855s, with expected shipping date of 11/22. So you haven't got them yet. (In reading your second post in which you mentioned them, I thought you already had them.) Great price you got! (As I mentioned in another post, the 855s are in stock at Best Buy stores.)

Anyhow, when you get them and try them, please give us your review. either here or in the Howardforums thread.

[Guest chaznet]

Nah... I'm sure they'll be fine, don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already -- good luck!

Actually, I just noticed your (chazznet) earlier post, in which you wrote that you had pre-ordered the 855s, with expected shipping date of 11/22. So you haven't got them yet. (In reading your second post in which you mentioned them, I thought you already had them.) Great price you got! (As I mentioned in another post, the 855s are in stock at Best Buy stores.)

Anyhow, when you get them and try them, please give us your review. either here or in the Howardforums thread.

[Guest mmmaiki]

Nah... I'm sure they'll be fine, don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already -- good luck!

Not a very helpful review----"I'm sure they'll be fine".

The purpose of forums like this is for us to share our opinions and information about different products and technologies. If everyone's response was--"I'm sure everything will be fine--I don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already, good luck", where would these forums be?

1)No, you are not "sure they'll be fine". Absolutely no way anyone could be sure that a BT headset that they never tried will work "fine" for them, with their phone, etc. And even more so, with a headset so new as this one, just came out, very little reviewed. You are not "sure" of that at all. (And if you are so "sure" you'll like it, why do you write that a good return policy is important in choosing a vendor?) Why do you make such a statement?

2)No, you don't know that you couldn't write something about these headphones, that hasn't been written already. You haven't tried the headset yet, so don't know what you'll have to say about them. (And, as I asked, how the music sound quality compares with your S7s?) Furthermore, we are discussing a new product, which has been reviewed very little so far.

[Guest chaznet]

Um... the forum topic you provided the link to has tons of info, I read it all -- including the posts there with links to reviews at CNET and somewhere else, a laptop publication of some sort. In that topic is even a post containing a link to an audio file a person made while using the headset in a car. While talking, he opened the left window, right, and then the sunroof. With the pages of posts there, and the links to the reviews along with an audio file of someone talking into the headset while in a car, I'd have to again say: I don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already, good luck!

Not a very helpful review----"I'm sure they'll be fine".

The purpose of forums like this is for us to share our opinions and information about different products and technologies. If everyone's response was--"I'm sure everything will be fine--I don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already, good luck", where would these forums be?

1)No, you are not "sure they'll be fine". Absolutely no way anyone could be sure that a BT headset that they never tried will work "fine" for them, with their phone, etc. And even more so, with a headset so new as this one, just came out, very little reviewed. You are not "sure" of that at all. (And if you are so "sure" you'll like it, why do you write that a good return policy is important in choosing a vendor?) Why do you make such a statement?

2)No, you don't know that you couldn't write something about these headphones, that hasn't been written already. You haven't tried the headset yet, so don't know what you'll have to say about them. (And, as I asked, how the music sound quality compares with your S7s?) Furthermore, we are discussing a new product, which has been reviewed very little so far.

Edited November 21, 2007 by chaznet

[Guest mmmaiki]

I'd have to again say: I don't think I could write anything that hasn't been written already, good luck!

I'd have to again say---you haven't tried the headphones yet, you have no idea about what you might write about them.

I'd have to again say---your response above is an idiotic non-response. Not at all helpful to your fellow users.

[Guest chaznet]

Sorry you feel that way... ;) ...if I run into anything not in the HowardsForum topic you mentioned, I'll post it.., it really is a great resource for insight into these headsets -- thanks for sharing!

I'd have to again say---you haven't tried the headphones yet, you have no idea about what you might write about them.

I'd have to again say---your response above is an idiotic non-response. Not at all helpful to your fellow users.

[Guest trickinit]

I have some Motorola S9's that work >great<, both with my Dash and Shadow -- with the maximum volume level being considerably higher on the Shadow. Take a look at the Plantronics Voyager 885's -- they have a detachable second earbud for use as a standard bluetooth headset, and a microphone that pops-out and extends closer to your mouth. Mine are on pre-order, so I can't tell you if they're great or not -- but they look to be. If you purchase online, make sure the store has a liberal return policy, as you may try a few before find the one you consider best. I use MobileCityOnline.com -- their projected delivery date for the 885's is 11/22/07.

I have the Motorola S9's as well, and I love them. The audio quality really amazed me the first time I listened to music on it. I also have a Plantronics Discovery 655 which works really well because of its built in noise reduction.

[Guest mmmaiki]

I have the Motorola S9's as well, and I love them. The audio quality really amazed me the first time I listened to music on it. I also have a Plantronics Discovery 655 which works really well because of its built in noise reduction.

We were referring to Plantronics 855s, which are stereo headphones (convertible to mono), therefore the comparison with S9s.

[Guest chaznet]

Yes -- the S9's are great, the first in a long line of stereo BT purchases that I didn't return.

I have the Motorola S9's as well, and I love them. The audio quality really amazed me the first time I listened to music on it. I also have a Plantronics Discovery 655 which works really well because of its built in noise reduction.

[Guest Bwana The Iguana]

Believe it or not, I use 3 (three!) different bluetooth headsets with my Shadow.

1- Motorola S9. I ordered these just to work out with. They are sweat resistent, easy to charge with a mini USB jack so my car charger charges both headset and phone. They are reasonably comfortable. Sound quality is ok, especially if you can get them to fit tightly in your ear.

In my quest to find a second set of bluetooth headphones (so I can leave my S9 in the car with my workout gear) I bought:

2- Motorola HT 820 headphones. They are good, but they pinch the top of my ears just enough to cause a 'hot spot' after a while. It makes them uncomfortable to wear for longer period of time.

3- Plantronics Pulsar 590E headphones. I like these the best. They are very soft and comfortable to wear. I like the sound quality on them, although it doesn't compare with a good set of BOSE headphones of course. The soft covers on the earpieces are not advisable in active situations, they absorb moisture (ie sweat!!) like a sponge. It has a cool extendable microphone tube that greatly enhances the geek level.

Don't set your expectations too high. Bluetooth stereo is great, but has limitations. For instance, I toss my phone in my bag and get a good sound in a 30 or so foot circle around my bag. I can control volume and advance and retreat through my playlist with the controls on the headphones. However, sometimes with the right amount of interference I guess, the speed of the songs is off, sounding like they are playing at 1.25 x normal speed. Switching from stereo music to a call is very strange. Sound quality is not too good and often I end up dropping the call to redial it later without headset. Bluetooth signal has limited range. While it might work up to 30 feet away (if no obstacles) I have problems putting the phone in my jeans pocket and getting a good signal on the headphones. The songs quit playing constantly until I find a way to reduce the amount of body mass between transmitter and receiver. This happens with all headphones.

I use a 2.0 Gig MicroSD card that's synched through Media Player 10. I use 128kbps for the MP3's. There's no problem playing music with this setup at all. Songs come fast, the phone keeps up 99% of the time.

[Guest chaznet]

Just got my Plantronics Voyager 855's today... and... back they go. After about 10 minutes they start to hurt a bit, and pushing those tiny buttons while they're in intensifies the discomfort. After a short time, I really just wanted them out of my ears. Tried all the different earbuds, including the squishy foam ones -- none of them felt comfortable.

The sounds quality was bad. The stereo audio with both my Shadow and my laptop was 'tinny', with very little bass. Using the grahpics equalizers didn't improve things at all, mostly made it sound worse. Volume was very low, even at the highest setting. Used as a headset with my phone, the microphone quality was surprisingly bad, fading in and out -- both what I was hearing and speaking, made for frustrating attempts to have a conversation. MS Voice Command worked OK, not great. A test call to TellMe didn't fare well, if I cupped my hand between the mic and my mouth I had a better chance at TellMe understanding my commands.

The 855 made me >>>really<<< appreciate my Motorola S9's. They sound great with both my laptop and Shadow, lots more volume and bass. The new Plantronics didn't come close in sound quality or comfort. My only issue with the S9's is the earbuds -- I'm always losing them as they fall off easily.

[Guest xshadow]

I use Motorola S9's....i have always heard stereo bluetooth quality sucks...but this is the exact opposite, i absolutely love them