Top 5 Bluetooth Headsets

A Bluetooth headset is the ultimate accessory for all those who don’t like the hassles of wired headsets. Here we present before you the 5 most stylish, compact and feature packed Mono Bluetooth headsets which offer superb sound quality and a host of other functionalities as well, all at a reasonable price.

1. Aliph Jawbone 2

Price: $129

The Aliph Jawbone was the king of all bluetooth headsets in its time and the Aliph Jawbone 2 is its worthy successor. It is a super stylish headset with a flawless design. It is very compact and light, 50% smaller than the original Jawbone headset. The Aliph Jawbone 2 has a very elegant design with a diamond pattern and has sturdy build quality. The buttons completely gel in with the design and add to its appeal.

On the technical side, it has awesome sound quality with superior noise cancellation technology which Aliph calls the ‘Noise Assasin’. It very efficiently amplifies your voice and cancels out all ambient noise. It has a very minimal, but functional interface with just two buttons, the ‘Talk’ button and the ‘Noise Assasin’ button, but nevertheless does its job quite efficiently. It also comes with a ‘Voice Activity Sensor’ that is very instrumental in improving the sound quality. It also has an LED indicator which flashes red or white to indicate active calls, charging status etc. It also comes with additional features like voice command support, call waiting support, and a low-battery status indicator. It has a talk time of about 4 hours which should be enough for a day.

Pros:

• Stylish Design
• Great Sound Quality
• Superb Noise cancellation
• Comfortable and Light weight

Cons:

• No Volume Rocker
• Minimal Interface with less buttons

2. Jabra BT 8040

Price: $79

Jabra has been a heavyweight in the Bluetooth headset since quite some time. It has rolled out quite some beauties which have propelled it to amongst the top of the Bluetooth headset industry. The Jabra BT 8040 is its latest bluetooth headset which lives up to its family name. It has a simple yet elegant design and scores high on features. It has a smooth build quality with curved edges. It is slightly bigger than the Aliph Jawbone 2 that doesn’t affect its usability at all.

It features MultiPoint technology allowing you to connect to two devices simultaneously, Volume equalisation and Acoustic Shock protection technology to shield your ears against sudden sound bursts. Also it is probably the only mono Bluetooth headset to support the A2DP profile for streaming music over Bluetooth. It has excellent sound quality with near zero noise interference. It can switch between music and calls very efficiently. It has many more features like auto pairing, voice command support, last number redial, mute, a quiet mode, call hold / wait support and a low battery status indicator.

It comes with an ear tip design which is not very comfortable and does take some time to get used to. It has a Multi Function button in the center and two volume control buttons with a LED indicator at the top. It offers a talk time of about 6 hours.

Pros:

• Clean Design
• Great SOund Quality
• A2DP, Multi Point Technology
• Relatively Cheap
• Good Noise Reduction

Cons:

• Uncomfortable Ear Tip design

3. Blue Ant Z9

Price: $69

What sets the Blue Ant Z9 apart from the other headsets in the list, is the awesome features it offers in the stylish and compact package at the amazingly low price. It has a super stylish and minimalist design which looks awesome in black and has sturdy build quality. It is a bit bulky though. The Blue Ant Z9 is a very comfortable headset with a Multi Function button near the top and volume controls on the right. It also sports a LED at the bottom which indicates different modes. On the back of the phone are the earpiece and the flexible ear hook. The earpiece is a bit too large for normal ear sizes, which makes the earhook a necessity to wear the Bluetooth headset securely.

The Blue Ant Z9 has superb sound quality which is further enhanced by its built in Voice Isolation technology, which effectively drowns out much of the external noise. It offers two modes – Standard and Max, which offer varying levels of external noise reduction and voice amplification. The Standard mode is suitable for normal noisy conditions and outputs totally natural noise while the Max mode is suitable for high noise environments, and outputs a slightly less natural noise with very high noise reduction. It, like most other headsets supports all the standard features like answering, ending, receiving and receiving calls, last-number redial, voice-dial support, transferring a call from the headset to the phone and vice versa, call conferencing, call waiting, call mute, and the ability to turn the LED on or off. The Blue Ant Z9 has a talk time of about 5.5 hours.

Pros:

• Great pricing
• Great design and build quality
• Voice Isolation

Cons:

• Slightly large earpiece

4. Plantronics Voyager 855

Price: $99

The Plantronics Voyager 855 is an extremely sleek, sexy and compact bluetooth headset. It is very small and light in weight. It offers superb sound quality and drowns out background noise effectively. It comes with a detachable stereo cable, using which you can easily switch between mono and stereo modes. It is one of the few headsets that offer this feature, and at this price, it is irresistible. It also has a sliding boom mic which which largely aids in improving the audio quality.

Above the sliding boom mic is the Multi Function button, while the Mute and Volume control keys lie on the right. When in stereo mode, the mute key doubles as play/pause, while the volume keys doubles as track forward/back. Behind the headset, you find the earpiece with a slot to connect an ear loop or to connect the stereo cable to the secondary earpiece.

The Voyager 855 has all the basic features like answering, ending, and rejecting calls, call mute, voice-dial support, and redial. It also supports the AVRCP profile enabling you to control your music via the headset’s controls. It also has a battery indicator and the ability to transfer calls from headset to the phone and vice versa. It has a rated talk time of about 6.5 hours.

Pros:

• Stylish and Compact design
• Stereo Headset Capability
• Sliding Boom Mic

Cons:

• Ill fit due to Boom Mic

5. Nokia BH 902

Price: $169

The Nokia BH 902 is another great product from Nokia, except this time it is not a smart phone but a Bluetooth headset. It is a stylish and sleek headset with loads of features including a cute little OLED display. It has a Piano Black rectangular design with rounded edges. It has volume control buttons and the Answer button on the left side and the Power key on the right.

It is slightly bulkier than the other headsets mentioned here, but more than makes up for it in features. The 1 inch OLED display is a superb addition which increases its usability a whole lot more. It can display Caller ID info, missed and received call lists, pairing status, battery status and with compatible Nokia headsets, even unread message alerts. On the back of the headset, you find a little in ear bud with a flexible ear loop to attach it to your ear. It is very comfortable to wear and feels soft and secure.

The BH 902 has pretty much all the features that you would expect – Call Answer, End, Reject, Call muting, Redial, and Voice-dial support. Other features include Call hold support, the ability to switch connections between different paired devices, and the ability to transfer calls from the headset to the phone and vice versa. It has great sound quality with average outside noise cancellation, meaning it isn’t suitable for very noisy environs. Nevertheless, it is a great headset with superb features. The BH 902 has a rated battery life of 8 hours, more than most others in this list.

Pros:

• OLED Display
• Very Comfortable

Cons:

• Expensive
• Average Noise Cancellation

Note: There are many more options to choose from, excluding the ones we presented above, the primary ones being the Blue Ant Wireless X3 Micro, Plantronics Discovery 655 / 925, Voyager 520, Samsung WEP 700 / 500, Nokia BH 800 etc.