Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sony Wireless Stereo Headset Bluetooth (DR-BT22iK)






- Picked it up from Fry's for $60 when it was on sale.
- a2dp compliant.
- Only one thing to charge (the actual headphones) since the dongle draws power through the iphone 3g connector (it doesn't seem to drain the iphone battery much). Unfortunately this also means you can't charge the phone while using the dongle.
- Pairs fine as a headset to the iphone directly for answering calls (mic is also built into the headphones). It seamlessly lets you answer calls using the controls on the headset and also pauses your music when taking a call and resumes after hanging up.
- All the controls work fine with the iphone (play/pause, next/prev) though you do get the usual warning that this device isn't designed for the iphone. Just ignore it. It works just fine with the iphone.
- The dongle is quite small. It does have a very annoying bright blue led that flashes twice every 5 sec while in use. Nothing a little electrical tape can't fix. The other advantage of having an ipod specific dongle that connects to the ipod connector is you don't have this extra transceiver to hold like with the maxfun which connects to the headphone jack. If you are listening to audio it's not a big deal. But if you are watching video podcasts then having to hold that extra bluetooth transceiver with the maxfun does get quite cumbersome.
- Sound quality isn't too bad. Bass is very good. Treble is a bit muffled. Using the treble boost EQ setting helps quite a bit. Actually the maxfun headphones had better treble (though worse bass).
- Headphones are pretty comfortable. There is minimum pressure on your ears/head.
- Battery is suppose to last 10hrs. The headphones has it's own wall wart for charging. I wished it used mini usb.
- Range is pretty good. Just don't put too many walls between you and the dongle.
- The manual actually shows you how to remove the batter from the headset.

Highly recommended. You gain quite a few conveniences by having a device designed specifically for iphone/ipod. I really like having the controls built right into the headset. Sound quality is acceptable. If a2dp support ever gets added to the iphone you should be able to just drop the dongle which would be awesome. It's a bit pricey but not too bad if you can get it on sale.

UPDATE: 7/15/09
- I've been using these at work daily for 5 hrs or more at a time. I would still prefer a little less pressure but overall these are the best out of the bunch I've tested. You can now find just the headphones + charger (new, oem packaging) for around $30 shipped on ebay.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great review - thanks for all the info and detailed descriptions! I was unsure if this unit would work with my IPhone 3G, but you have alleviated my fears and encouraged me to buy this great unit.

Cheers from Australia,
Andrew

ARogan said...

Glad I could help. I've been using it a few times a week for the last month, and I still really like it.

buy dissertations said...

I think most users have heard about Bluetooth, and although this technology was designed originally for a much wider application, it is today used largely for voice transmission