Review: Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones

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Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones

Review by Ricky Cadden

Many cell phone manufacturers are using proprietary headphone ports on their phones, but are adding Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support for wireless stereo Bluetooth headsets, such as the Motorola S9-HD. The Motorola S9-HD is the second edition of the S9 headphones and maintains the same sleek styling and supreme comfort, while adding a few key features. How well does the S9-HD stand up to the music, though?

Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones

Physical Aspects

The Motorola S9-HD is a stylish, yet subdued headset, clad mostly in a rubberized matte black plastic exterior. There are two small strips of black chrome on each side of the antenna bump on the back of the headphones. The Motorola S9-HD came to us with an AC wall charger, a handy carrying pouch, and a set of user-changeable rubber eargels. We also had an iPod connector in the package to allow for wireless listening to our iPod Touch. There are 2 sets of large eargels, with a loose outer layer that seals off your ear, to keep background noise out and the music in. The other set is smaller, and lacks the loose outer part, thus making the S9-HD a bit safer for joggers who still need to be aware of their surroundings.

The Motorola S9-HD headphones wrap easily and nicely around the back of your head, with each earpiece resting comfortably in each ear. Control buttons for the S9-HD are found easily on both sides of the headphones, and are nicely arranged in a column containing 3 buttons each. On the right earpiece you’ll find the music controls – forward, reverse, and play/pause. The left earpiece, then, provides the up and down volume controls as well as the call button.

The power button and mini-USB charging port are located at the back of the Motorola S9, on the underside of the antenna bump. The mini-USB port is covered by a rubber flap to keep moisture and debris out. The LED notification light is centered in the middle of the antenna lump, between the power button and charging port. The arms of the headset are made of slightly bendable plastic, so that it can easily stretch to accommodate users’ heads.

The Motorola S9-HD weighs in at a barely-there 38g (1.3oz), which makes a difference when you wear them for extended periods of time. I was able to wear the S9-HD for hours, listening to music without experiencing any discomfort at all. The eargels are nice and soft, and there is just enough tension in the side arms to keep a firm fit, without causing ear fatigue or giving me a headache.

Setup and Use

The LED notification light at the back of the headset flashes blue slowly while the headset is powered on and connected to a phone or device. When you first power the S9-HD on, the light will flash blue three times, and will then turn solid blue to indicate ‘pairing’ mode. If you wish to reactivate pairing mode later, simply turn the headset off, and then press and hold the power button again until the LED shows solid blue. When you’ve successfully paired your headset with your cell phone, you’ll see a blue light with 10 purple flashes.

When you have paired the Motorola S9-HD with your phone, you can simply press the call button on the left earpiece to answer or end a phone call. The play/pause button on the right earpiece can be used to reject the call. If your phone supports voice dial, you can activate this from standby simply by pressing the answer/hang up button. If you wish to simply redial the last number that you called, press and hold this button for a few seconds. While on a phone call, you can use the play/pause button to mute/unmute the headset’s microphone.

The Motorola S9-HD supports multiple connections, so that, for instance, you could connect to your cell phone for calls, but connect to your Bluetooth-enabled computer for music. To do this, first pair your cell phone with the S9-HD, and then turn both your phone and the headset off. Now turn the headphones back on and put them into pairing mode. Follow the normal steps to pair your headset with your computer (or an iPod, if using the included adapter), and confirm that they are successfully paired. Now, turn the headphones off once again, and then turn both your phone and the Motorola S9-HD back on. The S9-HD should automatically reconnect to both devices.

I was able to use the Motorola S9-HD’s multi-point feature to listen to music from my Bluetooth-enabled laptop while still accepting calls on my Nokia N95. When a call came in, pressing the answer/hang up key automatically paused the music, and when I ended the call, the music automatically resumed playing.

As you would imagine, when you have the S9-HD connected to a music device, such as either your computer or a compatible cell phone, you can press the play/pause button to launch the music player. While this worked on my cell phone, it did not work properly on my Bluetooth-enabled laptop. Either way, once your music player is launched, the play/pause button on the Motorola S9-HD will allow you to control the music. You can press the forward button once to skip to the next track, or hold it for a few seconds to simply fast-forward through the track; likewise with the back button. These music controls worked perfectly with both my Nokia N95 and Winamp running on my laptop.

Although the Motorola S9-HD is sleek and stylish, that comes with a sacrifice in battery life. Motorola claims a battery life of only 6 hours talk or music playback time, which is actually less than most smaller, single-ear Bluetooth headsets. In my testing, 6 hours of music playback was accurate, though I did notice a slight increase in music playback time when using my computer for music, as opposed to my phone, which was slightly disappointing. Thankfully, the Motorola S9-HD recharges fully in 2 hours using the provided AC wall charger, and since the headset uses mini-USB, I was able to top it off using an open USB port on my computer, as well.

The Motorola S9-HD boasts a range of 30 feet, though in experience, this is an exaggeration. When paired with my phone (using both the Nokia N95 and the Palm Treo Pro, to avoid phone-specific bias) or the iPhone Touch, I found that the audio would cut out occasionally. For example, with the phone in my front pocket the audio would drop, but performed much better with the phone in my back pocket. Jogging with the phone or iPod in my hand was a slightly better experience, though there were still rare drop-outs there as well. Paired with my computer was a much better experience, and I was able to watch a movie with the S9-HD from roughly 10 feet away easily. Based on this, it appears as though the S9-HD performs better when there is a direct line-of-sight between the headset and the device.

Audio Quality

When listening to music, the Motorola S9-HD excels at producing high-quality music. The S9-HD features SRS WOW HD audio technology, which allows you to enjoy a digitally enhanced audio experience, with more full bass and better overall quality. You can enable/disable SRS WOW HD by pressing and holding the forward button, and there is a noticeable difference in quality. I enjoyed having the option, as well, since some music is better with enhanced bass, while others sounded better with SRS WOW HD disabled. I was also very pleased with the volume of the Motorola S9-HD, as well as the ability to keep music ‘in’, and background noise ‘out’.

Unfortunately, while the Motorola S9-HD excels at music, it is an entirely different experience when attempting to chat with someone over the phone. Even indoors, callers reported a muffled sound, and there was often static on my end, even with perfect reception and using several different mobile phones. I tested the Motorola S9-HD inside a busy grocery store, and both callers simply asked me to call them back later. Similarly, the Motorola S9-HD failed the truck tests miserably, even with the windows rolled up. When using the headset for voice calls in an open area with wind, I was not able to understand the caller, and they were not able to understand anything I said, either.

Conclusion

As more and more cell phones support A2DP for stereo Bluetooth headsets, I’m glad to see Motorola attempting to streamline and stylize these headsets into something that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to sport in public. The Motorola S9-HD is just that, with great music quality, extremely comfortable design, and easy to use controls. Unfortunately, the S9-HD falls a bit short when it comes to battery life and, more importantly, call quality. The S9-HD is mostly unusable for voice conversations. Based on this, we give the Motorola S9-HD a “Recommended” rating, with the warning that while they make tremendous music headphones, they shouldn’t be relied upon for voice calls.

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Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

By Bill Ray

Review: Sony Ericsson has a lot riding on these tiny wireless headphones. Barely bigger than wired earbuds, they’re a flagship product for a company known for its quality peripherals, and SE wants these boys to cement its reputation.

Sony Ericsson’s HBH-IS800: tiny ‘phones

As Bluetooth stereo ‘phones really are very small. The buds fit into the ear canal and stick about 1.5cm out of it, so each headphone is about twice the length of a regular bud earphone and slightly bulkier towards the back. In use, you wouldn’t get a motorcycle helmet on over them, but you’re not going to look like Uhura, either.

The sticking-out bits house the electronics – the battery on one side, the Bluetooth circuits on the other – and the bulge in the wire holds the microphone, the single control button and an LED that isn’t used much. One of the earpieces conceals a hard-to-remove cover – decent nails are needed – behind which lurks a proprietary power connector unlike anything previously seen. Don’t expect to be able to charge this set up using your existing transformers.

Once charged, the headphones need to be paired with a phone – the HBH-IS800 supports auto-pairing, which means that the device automatically goes into pairing mode when powered on, so you turn on the headphones and then search for them using your cellphone or Bluetooth-enabled music player. If your player supports auto-pairing then the connection is instant, otherwise you’ll have to enter the passcode.

We tried both, and while connecting with a Sony Ericsson handset was smoother, pressing zero four times wasn’t too taxing.

Barely bigger than wired ear-buds

When paired, the earphones reconnect to the last-used device each time they’re powered on. They worked seamlessly with a range marginally superior to other Bluetooth earphones we’ve used, though not by much.

The HBH-IS800′s single button is held down for a couple of seconds to switch it on and off, with a shorter press answering – or making – calls.

The HBH-IS800 comes with three separate rubber sleeves, to suit a variety of ears, and once fitted they feel snug enough, which is important as the friction against the ear is the only thing that stops these earphones ending up in the gutter.

Still needs a cable, for the mic and the control key

The chaps at Sony Ericsson, who are all sporting HBH-IS800s these days, have a nice clip in the middle of the wire for attaching the set to shirt collars, but our model lacked that, and it would only be useful if you were wearing a collar anyway. If your workout is rowing or cycling then you should be fine, but anyone planning to jog might want to invest in a cloths peg or risk extending their run as they return to collect their earphones every now and then.

But if your exercise features fewer impacts then the sound you’ll get over the HBH-IS800s is very good. Bluetooth stereo is, of course, dependent on both the headset and the handset supporting the same codecs – the standard only mandates a very basic wireless stereo coding, so manufacturers tend to implement their own but are generally reluctant to talk about it for fear of confusing consumers.

The difference was audible when we tested the HBH-IS800s with a Sony Ericsson Walkman handset and with out, non-SE phones, but the quality was very acceptable with Nokia and Samsiung handsets we used.

A premium product in a natty black case

SE claims the set’s battery life is around four hours for playback or 11 days on standby. We found those numbers to be slightly conservative, achieving four-and-a-half hours continuous playback before the ‘phones shut down after giving several audible warnings. During phone calls, the microphone faired well – it tends to hang near the mouth so call quality wasn’t a problem.

Verdict

The HBH-IS800 is close to perfect – if you want wireless stereo then there’s little reason to chose any other product. The only drawbacks emerge if you’re planning to go jogging, or are very cost sensitive. (final price is still unknown, but this will be a premium product). Everyone else will be happy to see wireless headphones as they ought to be seen: compact, comfortable to wear and as user-friendly as wired ‘phones.

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Wireless Headphones… the Ultimate Convenience

Author: Rc Rougeux

Just recently I was on an airplane, watching the in flight movie and listening to the sound on my headphones. The person in the seat next to me needed to use the washroom so I stood up to move. Unfortunately, the wire caught on the arm of the seat and tore the earbud out of my ear. It was painful and when I sat back down and inspected my earbud I discovered that one of the wires had broken free. This isn’t the first time that headphone wires have become entangled and useless.

That’s why wireless headphones are so good. Many companies make wireless headphones for a variety of reasons. Check out some of the best names in headphone manufacturing, including Iawa, Sennheiser, Shure, and Koss to see if they create the type of wireless headphone that you want.

Wireless headphones have come a long way! I remember wireless headphones in the 80′s had a radio built right in (with a giant antenna) and too two batteries. As you can imagine, those ultra modern headphones looked more like something from a bad science fiction move!

Today, wireless headphones are barely noticeable on a person. If the person uses the earbud or canalbud style of headphones, you can’t even tell that they’re listening to music (although that might explain why they’re dancing around like maniacs).

Wireless headphones are great in the car. If you’re driving down the highway and you get a call on your cell phone, having a hands-free option so you can keep both hands on the steering wheel is idea. These are increasing in popularity and you can sometimes see people walking around with small metallic devices on their ear. These hook over the ear and a small microphone reaches to their cheek, which can pick up their conversation.

Wireless headphones are also useful in an office setting where a receptionist has to walk around (perhaps delivering the mail) while still being able to answer the phone.

Although many advancements are being made in the headphone industry, wireless headphones are going to be a fairly basic model at this point in one regard; they may not be completely appropriate for the audiophile just yet. For the person who loves to listen to music and tries to attain a near theatre quality sound, a circumaural headphone might be the best option. However, these powerful headphones require a power source (for example, from an amplifier) and may not receive enough power from batteries in the headphones themselves. This will change in the near future but it may not be there just yet for the true music aficionado.

For the rest of us, wireless headphones are just the right mix of convenience and quality to hear the sounds we want to hear.

One more thing: Remember to keep the volume down a little and save your hearing!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/electronics-articles/wireless-headphones-the-ultimate-convenience-54064.html

About the Author:
Find out how to get great sounding wireless headphones for that special sound. www.HeadphoneWarehouse.com has quality headphones.

In Depth: How to pick the perfect pair of headphones

Contributed by TechRadar

The headphone is a simple and obvious idea. If you want to simulate, in the listener’s eardum, the effect of a voice, an instrument or a vast orchestra, why bother shifting vast quantities of air in a room when you can simply put the transducer right up close to the ear and move a relatively tiny amount instead?

This was what was done in the very earliest days of electronic sound reproduction, simply because the means had not yet been invented to produce sensible sound levels over a wider area. Loudspeakers soon took over for obvious reasons of comfort and companionship, but earpieces and headphones always had their place on grounds of practicality.

It’s arguable which was the first ‘true hi-fi’ headphone. Perhaps Beyer’s DT48 model in 1937 qualifies, but in commercial terms the first Koss ‘Stereophone’ made more of an impact, in the mid-1960s, as the first headphone to capitalise on the advent of stereo.

Sennheiser got into the game shortly after with the HD414, an open-back model which, with its highly distinctive yellow foam earpads, achieved the sort of world dominance (particularly in radio – look at practically any old colour photo of a DJ in action!) that most manufacturers only dream about, for the best part of two decades.

Developments in technology

But simple though the task of the headphone appears to be, there have been substantial developments over the years and some highly divergent approaches to designing them. Before getting into the details of specific products, let’s have a look at why this is.

First and foremost, a headphone should not have a flat frequency response. This sounds like a bizarre statement, but is literally true and is, in fact, a result of how the human ear works – or, if you like, how sound works in the context of the human ear.

Loudspeakers aim to recreate the sounds of instruments and voices at a distance from the listener which is of the same order of magnitude as that of the original sound source.

That certainly does require a flat frequency response, or something close, but the way a headphone generates sound, only a few centimetres from the eardrum, means that some frequencies end up getting considerably accentuated. In order to approximate the ear’s response to ‘free field’ sound (normal everyday sounds), headphones should have a tailored response.

If we put it like that, it might seem that the ideal would be to make headphones with a flat acoustic output and equalise electronically, but that’s never caught on and would really require a custom equalisation for each headphone – ideally for each listener – which rather defeats the ‘plug in and go’ convenience factor of headphones.

Instead, manufacturers have to be cunning with the mechanical details of their products to give them a response which sounds acceptable. That said, there is plenty of tonal variation between headphones, even high quality models, which you will notice in seconds when comparing models.

Luckily, we are very forgiving when it comes to tonal accuracy. There are limits to what we can deal with, but a slightly uneven frequency response is something we get used to very quickly. Other aspects of headphones are very personal, including the extent to which they exclude ambient sounds. Some people find it very unsettling to have room noise cut out, others love the seclusion.

What about comfort?

Obviously, no two headphone wearers will find the comfort factor exactly the same with a given model and then, of course, there are the usual hi-fi imponderables of each individual’s taste in music and listening level. For all these reasons and more, there is plenty of scope for variation between headphones.

If headphones don’t necessarily have advantages over loudspeakers in terms of overall response flatness, they can easily score in terms of distortion. Because of the tiny amount of movement required to shift a few cc of air, distortion levels (especially in the bass) can be an order of magnitude or more better than even quite fancy loudspeakers. Bass quality is also much easier to achieve: there may be some rolloff of bass response in some models, but there is almost never the sort of lumpy and resonant bass that plagues far too many loudspeakers. Basically (sorry!) there just isn’t anything in a typical headphone that resonates at bass frequencies.

Stereo imaging is much more consistent than with speakers as the relationship between transducers and ears is fixed. ‘Ideal’ loudspeaker listening (speakers equidistant from the listener with symmetrical room placement etc.) may give better imaging with most recordings as it is normal to master for loudspeakers rather than headphones, but headphones will certainly beat speakers randomly dumped into a domestic environment.

But what about the differences between types of headphone? There are several areas where they can differ, including the type of drive unit, whether the drive unit is enclosed at the back and how they sit on the head. By far the most common drive unit is effectively a miniature loudspeaker drive unit, with a voice coil in a magnet gap and a conical, or possibly domed, membrane attached to it. Other systems have been used, though, including the electrostatic principle – see the boxout ‘headphones or earspeakers?’.

Assuming a regular electromagnetic driver is used, the surrounding body can be open at the back or closed off, giving better isolation from the world, but potentially creating a resonant chamber which may colour the sound. Open and closed headphones alike can incorporate earpads which surround each ear (‘circumaural’) or sit on it (‘supra-aural’).

The difference between the last two is largely one of comfort, though some listeners find that the positioning of headphones on the head is critical to the sound, and relatively tight-fitting circumaural headphones are the most consistent here.

In-ear monitors

There’s a further approach to headphones which is very much a recent development, the ‘in-ear monitor’ or earphone. These tiny devices first entered the collective consciousness as a practical accompaniment to portable audio devices and most early examples (and indeed many cheap current ones) are sonically vile.

Thanks to the efforts of such manufacturers as Etymotic Research, in-ear transducers have achieved standards that can legitimately be called hi-fi and they certainly have advantages on the noise-exclusion front, since they function as earplugs at the same time as music-playing devices.

It must be said, though, that some listeners never get on with them, and getting decent sound depends critically on fitting them correctly in your ears.

Mention of reducing ambient noise brings us to another modern headphone variant, the noise-cancelling variety. The principle here is to use a microphone somewhere near the earpieces to detect ambient noise and then amplify this and add it in antiphase to each ear’s signal so that it is effectively cancelled out at the ear.

This can work quite well (especially with lowfrequency sound) and Sennheiser and Bose, in particular, have sold a lot of such models to frequent flyers. The disadvantage is the need for electronic amplification and with it a battery to power everything – and, of course, the extra circuitry has something of an impact on quality, in principle at least.

What about wireless?

Wireless headphones also need a battery or two. The idea of freeing the listener from the headphone lead – which apart from being a literal tie to the hi-fi system is also a liability when one gets up in a hurry and snags it on something – is clearly attractive and wireless headphones linked to the sound source via a miniature radio transmitter have been around for a while.

Quality has never been quite what one might hope, though, and now that so many people have some kind of portable music player (MP3 etc.) it may end up more attractive to load the music on to that and have done with the limited range, tendency to drift off channel and other tiresome side effects of wireless models.

Perceived headphone quality, not surprisingly, is much like any other bit of hi-fi: the more familiar you become with it, the more demanding you are likely to be. It’s therefore hard to say just how much money one should spend to get ‘good’ headphone quality, but certainly compared with loudspeakers the cost is modest.

You can spend over £1,000, especially on electrostatic models, but some very, very fine headphones cost less than £500. In a recent group test, we were particularly impressed by Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic models at little over £300 and £200 respectively.

In a world where a ‘mid-price’ interconnect cable costs £50-£100, we don’t feel the least bit embarrassed at recommending the headphone user to part with at least £70. Below that price, you are likely to miss out on a good deal of musical pleasure: above it, the virtues of good hi-fi typically start to become apparent.

Headphones are not for every listener, nor perhaps for every day, but a good pair is a great investment for any keen audiophile.

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