Headphones and Bluetooth Headsets

I have two things on my mind as I sit on my flight to Dallas. The first is headphones, and the second, more troublesome and disturbing to *me*, are Bluetooth headsets.

I'll start out with headphones because I'm using them as I type this on my berry. With all the travel I've been doing, I've had a chance to try the various headphones I own. For a while I have been using my Sony Over-The-Ear Noise Canceling headphones. The sound is decent, but the bass is only good if you turn on the noise canceling feature, which isn't always wanted. Even then, it sounds more "boomy" then punchy (i.e., sloppy). I also should point out that the volume through the berry on them couldn't get very loud at all, but that's more an issue of the drivers in them not being very efficient. I tried the headphones the Curve comes with, and while they can get loud (VERY loud), they do nothing to block out background noise, which there is *plenty* of on a plane. They also have a *serious* lack of bass or fullness in their sound. So, they absolutely sucked on the plane, but they were okay in normal quiet environments (aside from the weak, less full, sound). I also have a pair of Shure in-ear headphones that I fitted with the sponge inserts (so they breath and don't create a suction in my ear while flying... before changing to this, on one flight, it caused me *serious* pain and an ear infection as it caused mucus to enter my ear canal from the pressure changes and the suction... it woke me from a sleep from the pain). These let in a tiny bit of background noise, which I actually appreciate, while still providing strong bass and full sound. They are what I am using right now to listen to music while I type, and they are proving to be mostly comfortable. Though I expect I will have some pain later... Nothing too bad. I also have a Motorola Bluetooth Stereo Headset that works really well for music and the occasional call interruption while listening, but it does little to block out background noise, and you aren't supposed to use BT on planes anyway. I guess my point is, the in-ear headphones are currently getting my vote for plane use, but I lean towards the BT Stereo headset for everyday (non-plane) use. They've been working well for me when in the house and yard work, even mowing the lawn, and the biggest reason I favor them is because of the lack of wires to get in the way. I don't think I realized how nice that would be when I first bought them, but now I would like even better BT Stereo Headphones. There are even some that include noise cancellation, but I don't know that I am willing to spend close to $200 for a new pair. I will most likely stick with what I have for quite some time.

Now onto Bluetooth Headsets (non-stereo) for everyday phone use on the go. It is nice being able to communicate handsfree, yet private, with a Bluetooth headset, but finding a headset that meets all of my requirements is proving impossible. The reason I'm even on the hunt is because my dogs literally ate my previous one that worked fairly decent for me. It was a Jabra Mono/Stereo headset that was essentially a standard mono headset in appearance and function, yet you could plug in an optional left (other) earpiece and get stereo sound. The sound quality wasn't as good as my Motorola Stereo set, but it allowed you to only use the single piece when not needing stereo music. This made it very pocketable, which is important to me, and the sound quality of the mono piece was generally better than most mono headsets... It also could raise the volume very loud so I could hear my callers in loud environments. It had a separate on/off switch that means it would only turn on/off at my will. It also had a vibrate feature that was great for alerting me of calls while driving with the stereo very loud, etc. I don't want to be that guy walking around with a BT headset in his ear even when not talking on the phone, so pocketability is key. I'm also not going to be that guy with a phone and headset perched on my belt... No thanks (so no BT Headset case).

I have been searching for the best option and was hoping to raise the bar in noise cancellation in the process. My Jabra was ok, but there certainly room for improvement. I had also gone through about 5-6 other headsets before finally settling with the Jabra. Too many headsets have a combination of the following problems: horrible background noise issues; horrible reception (though this is often the fault of the phones BT transceiver and not the headset) to the point that putting your phone in your pocket degrades quality; horrible fit; not enough volume for loud areas; battery life; etc.

Recently I purchased the BlueAnt Z9i because it got decent reviews and was supposed to deal well with background noise... It is also *very* tiny in length, but it was rather thick and stood off my face farther than I would like. In using it, it didn't fair very well. There was still an abundant amount of background noise, and the volume wasn't that great. It also seemed that people couldn't hear me that well. I returned that after about a day of use and opted for the Aliph Jawbone 2 because it was supposed to be the absolute best for noise reduction. I'm sure it works really well for some peoplean but I had several issues with it; 1) to power it on, you hold the talk button, but this "button" is essentially the entire front/outside of the headset. So putting it in my pocket would inadvertently turn it on/off when you weren't expecting it... So you try to answer a call unsuccessfully. 2) this same issue of the talk button being the entire face of the unit, and how easy it is to press, means that trying to adjust the headset better into the ear to hear better frequently resulted in ending a call... This was most frustrating. 3) the fit wasn't spectacular. 4) my callers still heard plenty of background noise, but they did say they could still hear me clearly. I would love for this headset to work for me, but I will be returning it as well.

I still don't know what the right headset will be for me, but thank goodness I can return them when they don't work well for me. I'd simply go without one altogether, but between driving or needing my hands free while troubleshooting something while on the phone with support, I have found it hard to not have one. Some I may try, there is a Plantronics Discovery 925 (I think) that seems decent, a Motorola H12 that may work and was recommended to me, and possibly some others. In the end, I may get the same headset my dogs ate, because at least that was "good enough" for quite a while, and the battery life was incredible at something like 8hours of talk time and 10hours of music!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile