Bluetooth headsets are typically a far cry from headphones when it comes to features and sound quality. Most headsets are monoaural earpieces made for making cell phone calls, but even stereo Bluetooth headsets tend to be little more than earbuds with plastic connecting them. True headphone-sized Bluetooth headsets are few and far between, but Logitech offers one up with its Wireless Headset ($69.99 direct). It's an on-ear stereo Bluetooth headset with a flip-down boom mic and a comfortable design. It lacks the power of a pair of wired headphones, but it is a well-made headset that lets you make calls and listen to your movies and music wirelessly and comfortably, without sticking anything inside your ear.
Design
The headset is almost Tron-like, with a smooth white-and-light-gray design broken only by two dark gray rings on the cups. Hinges between the headband and the cups let you fold up the headset, making it just slightly larger than a pair of folded sunglasses. The microphone flips down from the top of the right ear cup, and it stays almost completely hidden when not in use. The right cup holds all of the useful buttons and connections; a micro-USB port on the bottom lets you charge the headset, a Power switch and Mute button on the back let you turn the headset on and off and mute the microphone, and the dark grey ring hides volume control. These are the only controls, and the lack of a Pause/Play button or a way to accept calls is hard to miss. If you want to pick up a call, you need to actually handle your phone. Pairing is simple, though. You can pair up to eight devices with the headset by holding the Mute and Volume Up buttons for a few seconds.
Performance
Voice quality is excellent for making calls, but not quite good enough for any serious recording. Again, it's an issue of the limitation of Bluetooth. The headset uses the same hands-free profile used in other Bluetooth devices used for making calls, so the voice and audio quality isn't as good as the audio streamed through A2DP, like movies and music. It's still more capable of picking up your voice than the average tiny Bluetooth headset, thanks to its larger boom mic. Voice quality is very good, with calls coming through clearly most times. The microphone picks up voices well, though like most Bluetooth headset mics, it falters in wind. Like all Bluetooth headsets, it's not recommended for gaming; to use voice, the headset needs to function through the HFP profile, which means its audio quality won't be nearly as goos as the A2DP profile it uses to play back music and movies. If you want a headset for playing games or voice chatting on your PC or game console, look at our roundup of gaming headsets, which use either wired or non-Bluetooth wireless connections.
For music, the Logitech Wireless Headset sounds clear but weak, due to its limited size and power. With the volume cranked up all the way, music from Testament to Powerglove didn't sound appropriately ear-bleeding, and while the midrange sounded crisp, treble notes felt flat?exactly what you can expect from most Bluetooth earphones. In Powerglove's "Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man," the opening riff felt full and satisfying, but the strings felt weak and distant, and when the familiar, video game-inspired tune kicked in, it lacked the satisfying weight of drums and guitar the song carries. This feeling carried through in The Knife's "Silent Shout," where the headphones reproduced the song's heavy, flat bass notes without distortion, but also without any power.
This is a trait we've seen in all stereo Bluetooth headsets, and while it's compounded by the Logitech Wireless Headset using an on-ear design instead of an in-ear one to focus and isolate the sound, it's not unexpected. Both the Novero Tour ($79, 4 stars) and the LG HBS-700 ($69.99, 3.5 stars) offer similar sound quality at similar prices, but with in-ear earpieces. For a less expensive alternative, the Samsung HM3700 ($49.99, 5 stars) is a convertible stereo Bluetooth headset, but you have to deal with some cables if you want to listen to music in stereo, because of the nature of the device.
The Logitech Wireless Headset suffers from a lack of power and controls, but it's still a comfortable, clear way to listen to music and take calls on your smartphone or tablet. Logitech has framed this headset as an accessory mainly for enjoying your iPad and similar devices, and at that it excels. It's not loud enough or offers enough hands-free control to be a good walking-around headset or gym headset, but if you just want to kick back on your couch and play with your tablet, it's the most comfortable option out there.
More Bluetooth Headset reviews:
??? Logitech Wireless Headset
??? Plantronics M50
??? Bose Bluetooth Headset Series 2
??? Plantronics Voyager Pro HD
??? Plantronics Marque M155
?? more
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