Bluetooth Stereo Headsets

My new phone, a Motorola V3xx, purchased a week before all this iPhone mania, supports A2DP for stereo listening over Bluetooth, so I went shopping for some stereo headphones. There is additional opportunity for techie satisfaction here as I've been pondering for months--if not years--the prospect of wireless headphones for my home theater. I often like to watch old movies late into the night, or just catch John Stewart before turning in. In either case, the television is on much later that everyone else in the house's bedtimes. So not only would I need a Bluetooth headset for pairing with the music-phone, but also a transceiver to act as a base for the home theater receiver output.

I started with Fry's, to get a sense of what was out there, to be able to look at the size of the thing and some instant comparison pricing. My list of features is essentially what I named above, but of course it would be great to also have phone answering features. Now I don't get a lot of calls, fewer if everyone who ever calls me is within the house, and fewer still if they're asleep. But I occasionally work at home, forwarding my office phone to my cell. Working at home is a great time to listen to music, streamed from the home theater or from the laptop. Being able to hear an incoming call is pretty important in that situation.

There were a few interesting models of stereo bluetooth headsets with microphones on the shelves at Fry's.
One was Plantronics Pulsar 590A: enabling anything with a 3.5mm jack (iPod, home theater headphone jack). The price was $90 less than that shown on the Plantronics site. This comes with a bluetooth "hockey puck" transeiver, for plugging into line-out devices, a Bluetooth bridge, as it were.

There's also a little confusion over the downline model for Plantronics, the Pulsar 590E. It isn't clear if it is the same

headset as the 590A, but simply without the transceiver. As it is going for $77, that appears to be a big discount.

On the other hand, the Motorola Data Sheet describes the "590 Line" and the only call-out is that the "E" doesn't

come with the transceiver. So I'm inclined to believe that "E" is for economy--no transceiver.

It appears the hockey puck is battery powered, the data sheet says nothing specific about charging the hockey puck or a power supply for same. I couldn't find in the data sheet if the transceiver has recharge capability, or if it just holds batteries. Without a plug-in solution, it wouldn't be good for home theater. I also wonder about having to re-pair with the puck. If it is battery-powered then it probably has a temporary pairing profile.

The Plantronics one looked like it had the best phone support as it had an extendable boom mike to put the microphone right at your lips rather than a bud hanging lower.

And then there's the Motorola HT820, which was considerably cheaper, $90, but again no transceiver. Motorola does have one, the DC800, which goes for about $65. This puts the two together above the Plantronics bundle.

I almost got--but then didn't get--the Motorola, because Fry's didn't have the "Home Stereo Adapter", DC800.

This is the combo that I want, so I can use my bluetooth headset for watching TV at night in silence.

I've confirmed that the DC800 has a power supply, so it is good for the home theater.

I found a bundle on Amazon that makes the pair $133, which is about $15 more than the Plantronics 590A bundle.

What I couldn't tell at the store (and I haven't read the data at the links above) is if you can use these headsets for "chat" mode on a PC, that is, does the bluetooth headset shim both the Windows microphone driver as well as the headphone driver.

I also read a review on Amazon of the Motorola set that there is a delay if used during gaming or watching

video (0.5 sec is a lot). I don't know if that applies to all Bluetooth headsets, but this would be a deal-killer for me

I'd go insane if lip-sync were out on all television/movies I watch.

Naturally this all assumes your PC has bluetooth. Or you'll need yet another dongle, maybe the PC850 by Motorola.

Others that I saw at Frys:

This Jabra model, for $110, or $40 less than the Plantronics 590A, but no transeiver.

There was a Creative Labs CB8100, but it was headphones only with no voice/call support and pretty pricey.

The MOTOROKR S9 was also available, about the same price as the other call-enabled headsets, but it has

this behind-the-head+earbud design that I'm not sure I could hang with. Hard to tell where the microphone would

be, but there isn't anything forward of the ear, so it can't be that good. I think it also has worse battery life. If you

like in-ear buds rather than over-ear cups, this might be better.

Another very-lightweight, on-ear, behind-head configuration was the Nokia BH-501:

This uses the standard Nokia AC3 charger--I must have 1/2 dozen of those for various phones over the years.

Then there was one Motorola (model I forgot) which looked like a typical 1-ear "borg" Bluetooth earpiece, but then it

had another one, smaller, in the same box. I assume it xmitted wirelessly between the two halves. The obvious

benefit here is that you could use the one-earpiece for driving or when the headset would be inapropriate. What

wasn't obvious was: recharging, delay between units, battery life. These may be old stock (and therefore not A2DP)

because they're not even listed on Motorola's site. They're kind of like this Jabra set. But I'm pretty sure there was no wire between the units (or some damn clever and intentionally deceptive packaging). Though this one looks like the second plugs into the first, so you can still have that one-ear configuration.

Going even smaller, there are lanyard+earbud models from a couple of manufacturers. Sony Ericsson has these.

Jabra has this one, the BT320s. Very interesting, you can use your own earbuds (probably wouldn't power bigger drivers) with it. So if you like the feel of your in-ear Shures or other $100 earbuds, you can keep them. You'd pair it with this transceiver. And here's one that pairs with your phone, but plugs directly into your music source (and has longer battery life). Okay, that last one was a bit off-topic, because it isn't really a wireless headset anymore, just a phone set inlined with some wired earbuds.

So it seems there are lots of choices; this would be an area where it would be great to be able to try them out

for sound quality, latency, and fit/feel. I'll probably start with the Motorolas as the sweet spot in features (transceiver

station, durable design) and price.