Wireless earphones

[Ervin Farkas]

I already have an older pair of wireless headphones, and I get a headache every time I use them, they are from Advent if memory serves well.

I am looking for a different type setup where the receiver is not built into the headphone (that, in addition, holds the batteries too, making it very heavy), but a small box I can put in my shirt pocket or clip to my belt. And instead of headphones, uses a pair small of earbuds - their quality has improved dramatically since the advent of the iPod era.

And I don't need studio quality, consumer grade would do it... but I can't find any. Please send a link if you found one of these.

Thanks,

[Alexandru Petrescu]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

I already have an older pair of wireless headphones, and I get a headache every time I use them, they are from Advent if memory serves well.

I am looking for a different type setup where the receiver is not built into the headphone (that, in addition, holds the batteries too, making it very heavy), but a small box I can put in my shirt pocket or clip to my belt. And instead of headphones, uses a pair small of earbuds - their quality has improved dramatically since the advent of the iPod era.

And I don't need studio quality, consumer grade would do it... but I can't find any. Please send a link if you found one of these.

Thanks,

The earlier versions of Bluetooth Stereo Headphones, maybe even some recent like Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 will do earbuds in ear and stick receiver in pocket, linked together with wires. There are many versions of these.

I think Sennheiser has put someting on market recently that does earbuds in ears, no wire between earbuds and no stick whatsoever but while this seems as a nice lightweight solution it's obviously not what you're interesting in.

All bluetooth wireless headphones are 2.something GHz meaning lower noise than InfraRed or earlier VHF or UHF headphones. There are also 2.5GHz headphones that don't do Bluetooth neither WiFi but are 'HiFi'. There's also a startup doing 5GHz headphones promising even higher quality audio.


Forgot to say that with Bluetooth earphones one would need an emitter too, something like a small brick smaller than half the size of a matchbox, coming in different shapes, cheap.

Also, forgot to say that recent in-ear bluetooth headphones tend to be lighter weight than first models even if they include battery and amp and receiver... Mono can go as low as 5g a piece. Stereo Etymotic ety8 is 1/2 oz (14g) a piece.

[Ervin Farkas]

Hi Alexandru, sorry for the delay - been on vacation.

How would you rate the quality of the sound on the Sony? I am very tempted to buy one (would pass my Bluetooth to my wife, she lost hers), although reviews show occasional difficulties connecting to devices other than your cellphone.

[And hi again from another Romanian... sort of... a Hungarian from Targu Mures, now US citizen. Glad to see a few fellow Romanians around on the forum].

[Alexandru Petrescu]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

Hi Alexandru, sorry for the delay - been on vacation.

How would you rate the quality of the sound on the Sony? I am very tempted to buy one (would pass my Bluetooth to my wife, she lost hers), although reviews show occasional difficulties connecting to devices other than your cellphone.

[And hi again from another Romanian... sort of... a Hungarian from Targu Mures, now US citizen. Glad to see a few fellow Romanians around on the forum].

I don't own the HBH-DS970 but the HBH-DS200 which is more recent and features this plug so one can plug any pair of wired phones. The sound quality of these is very fine, works ok playing music 128kb mp3 stream. I can't compare with high-end audio since I don't own high-end audio. I don't use the HBH-DS200 for monitoring camera sound, but for listening music from other devices. This is a nice unit, check reviews, takes calls, sounds good, however doesn't have a volume up/down button (but you have to press long time play for same effect) and doesn't power on usb, but some sony proprietary.

For monitoring camera sound I use a sony dr-bt22 headphones I think it's so called, paired with a very small ebay bluetooth emitter originally made for ipod seems. There's a delay though. Very noticeable delay between the sound directly perceived by ear and the sound perceived from the headphones.

For difficulties connecting to other devices: having experimented with many bluetooth devices of many sorts (not only audio) I can assure that not any single unit is capable of working seamlessly with all other units, always some manipulating is necessary, although some times you _can_ hop in the car and moving the reachability of your handheld phone... but not the ongoing call... sort of... end of deviation.

The single important thing is the PIN code though. The smallest bluetooth units come with a builtin PIN code that can't be changed. So for example if my bluetooth audio emitter is PIN code 1234 then my bluetooth headphones must have the same (some have 0000 by default) otherwise they won't pair, nothing to do.

There are many varieties of these bluetooth audio devices and one should carefully consider requirements before buying, because very quickly it can get not used, for example if battery/power is proprietary , or if PIN code is not what the peer expects, or too big, too small, etc.

For Tg Mures: ok...