Sony DRBT50 Stereo Bluetooth Headset
by Sony
List Price:
Our Price: $116.28
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Category: Speakers
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SonyBrand: Sony
Edition: Electronics
Model: DRBT50
Color: Black
Publisher: Sony
Studio: Sony
Music Label: Sony
Product features:
- 40mm headphone driver units with neodymium magnets
- Auranomic design on the earpiece
- Standby time of approximately 200 hours
- Rechargeable function
- Remote control within the earpiece
- Auranomic design on the earpiece from w/in the earpiece
- Stand by time approx 200 hours
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony DRBT50 Stereo Bluetooth Headset
Customer Review: Wireless headphone with good sound quality
Summary: 5 Stars
This headphone is the first bluetooth device that convinced me that bluetooth can be truly useful. Wireless keyboard and mice did not really change the way I use the keyboard and mouse, except they increased frustration. This headphone did change the way I use headphones at home, office, coffeehouses and elsewhere. I have many headphones, including Bose Quiet Comfort, Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones, a few more circumaural and a couple of canal type earphones. I do appreciate the advantage of each product I bought, but this headphone has the unique advantage of wireless and high audio quality, and so is the one that I use most often.
If you are looking for a headphone with good sound quality but also with the convenience of wireless connection, this headphone is probably the best available product at this point (note: still true as of Oct 2010). The sound conveys sensitive details as well as dynamic bass and rich vocals. It tends to be a bit bass heavy depending on the source, but, it is so without any of the cheapness. The sound is pretty close to neutral, natural, and not too dissimilar to Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone or Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones with CCAW Voice Coil. I usually listen to music encoded in AAC or MP3 at 192 kbps VBR or higher, but for these sources, I can use this headphone without noticing "degradation" compared to wired headphones. (This headphone is good enough to tell if the source file is 128 kbps or 192kbps with fairly high confidence.)
The wireless connection via bluetooth is pretty reliable as long as you are not too far and also there is no wall in between. The actual range seems to vary depending on the host device. However, there are some very occasional sound drops. The sound may drop or become choppy for a brief while but it comes back. It gives you blank silence without unpleasant noise.
The background noise level is pretty low. I can enjoy very quiet piano like Chopin Nocturne or Satie in good digital recording. The noise floor is certainly low enough to tell analog recording sources immediately.
The headphone is easy to use, but you probably need to open the booklet to see how to pair it with the device (push the power button for 7 seconds or longer). It works great with iPad and iPod Touch's built-in bluetooth, and also with iPod 5th gen with an external bluetooth adaptor Sony Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for iPod (Black).
MacOS Tips: the pairing and setup with MacOS Snow Leopard and Leopard was easy. However, when using this headphone with MacOS 10.5 or 10.6, I strongly recommend to choose this device through bluetooth menu explicitly as stereo device. Also, I recommend to go to Bluetooth Preference pane, Advanced, and uncheck "Prompt for all incoming audio requests" (and perhaps best to uncheck all, possibly except for the very top item, if you need it). This minimizes the risk of sudden connection loss (audio connection is lost, and the headphone turns itself off, all of sudden during use).
This headphone frees me up. I can listen to music or podcast late at night and still clean up my room, fold laundry, lay on couch and read magazines, etc. Wired headphones, no matter how long the cord is, annoyed me enough to keep me at the desk. This is great for home, office and many other situations. I work in a photographic darkroom, where I have to walk around in a small, dark room with monotonous labor and lots of thinking in between. Music and podcast are essential material, but loudspeakers don't work very well because I walk around all the time, and there are noise sources like ventilation fans, an air conditioner, and running water. This headphone is great for darkroom work. I tried to put an iPod in my pocket and use wired earbuds but they were terrible. This headphone uses a head band that's tight enough for the headphone not to slide down while walking or light labor.
Another nice thing about this headphone is when working with a laptop computer in a library or a coffeehouse. The headphone cable between my head and the laptop is not a big deal but surprisingly annoying. Also, when the computer operates without a wire, it is so nice to use a headphone without a wire.
The strength of this headphone is the sound quality and convenience; the "headset" function should be laughed at once and forgotten. I wouldn't use this thing for telephony. It is inferior to some other headsets designed for that purpose alone. This is because the microphone is located inside the right earcup, not close to the mouth. Also, the bluetooth connection has to operate in different modes between "headphone" (high quality stereo sound but with longer latency) and "headset" (low quality sound but shorter latency) mode. For this reason, when you pair this device with a computer for "headphone" use, I recommend to ignore the headset use and pair the device just for the "headphone" function alone, if possible. This simplifies and reduces the confusion every time you use this headphone on the computer. Otherwise, when you choose the output audio device, the options for headset use keep coming up and this can be confusing and annoying.
I also have several critical comments.
The headphone has controls for fast forward, rewind, folder/playlist, volume and power. In my view, the most important control is pause, but this is not easy to use without inadvertently touching other functions. The usability engineering is also not there--these control buttons are small and located very nearby, and they are very easy to hit by error. Ideally, volume, pause/play, ff/rew and folder controls should be located on different sides of the headphone so that blind operation can be done error-free.
The shape of the ear cups is too narrow oval and pinnae are pressed a bit. Bose Quiet Comfort is a bit more comfortable for long hours of use... (only if Bose QC 2 were wireless...) However, the Bose has annoying bass boost (both the music and the wire/case microphonic noise) that makes me tired acoustically. DR-BT50 does not have that.
The charger is a proprietary one that comes with the headphone. Why not mini/micro USB? Also, why doesn't the headphone function while the charger is plugged in? The headphone is completely turned off, not even in the standby mode, while the charger is plugged in. You'll have to turn it on and establish the connection with the device again when you take the charger off.
The headset functionality (with the microphone, but with a lower audio quality mode of the bluetooth connection) is probably a useless marketing gimmick. If I were to use this as a headset, I would need an external microphone that plugs into this headset. The internal microphone does a very lousy job.
I want this headphone with a better noise isolation, like Sennheiser HD-280 Pro. This headphone blocks external sound just a bit, but not as well as HD-280. This headphone would be a lot more useful with either passive or even active noise cancellation, especially when using in subways/trains/busses, kitchen, and noisy offices.
Description of Sony DRBT50 Stereo Bluetooth Headset
Experience the wireless wonder and amazing sound quality of the DR-BT50 stereo Bluetooth headset. The DR-BT50 stereo Bluetooth headset features 40mm driver units that deliver crisp treble and dramatic bass for superior audio accuracy. And an auranomic inner earcup design creates an excellent fit and allows for enhanced audio quality. This rechargeable set of headphones also provides you with approximately 17 hours of music playback time on a single charge, so you can enjoy your favorite music even longer. Remote control of play, stop, fast forward and rewind on the earpiece is included for your convenience.Digital Cameras and Photo Categories
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