New headphones -- ordered, review coming...
I don't normally like to be the first to buy stuff. I also don't like to pay full price.
But I want to listen to music while I work. I also want noise reduction. And I hate wires.
My Bose QC2s do two of the three quite well. But I REALLY hate wires. I also think dangling wires are dangerous in a shop.
Sooooo... HP released a set of noise-cancelling bluetooth headphones in July, and they're just hitting the stores now. I can't find a review, at all. But I'm buying them from an outfit I trust, so I'm basically just gambling $18 in shipping charges.
I'll post a review as soon as they arrive.
Here's the item:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...eadphones.html
(Best price I could find, and I've done business with B&H dozens of times without a hitch.)
Headphones arrived... nice!
I'll post again after a couple weeks use, but my first impression is that this is a fantastic piece of equipment. The sound quality isn't "audiophile." But I'm using the headphones in a workshop, not in a listening room.
I'll be comparing them to my Bose QC2 headphones.
Fit & Feel: Bose
Perhaps it's because I'm used to having QC2s on my ears six hours a day, but the Bose feels slightly more "natural" than the HPs. (Keep in mind, I've been wearing the HP for the grand total of about one hour.) The HPs aren't uncomfortable, per se, just different.
Noise Reduction: HP
Big surprise. I thought Bose would OWN HP in this aspect. Nope. Because of the "over the ear" styling of the HP, there's less ambient noise to begin with. The Bose "on the ear" style lets a lot of noise in unfiltered.
Sound reproduction: Bose
When you plug the Bose into a MP3 player, the sound quality is good (not excellent). The HPs are SLIGHTLY less hi-fi. Neither one of these comes close to a Grado or high-end Denon. But for playing MP3s (which are the McDonald's $1 cheeseburger of sound reproduction), either one will do.
I listen to mostly jazz and "yacht rock," so I don't push the envelope of bass. Most people prefer more bass than I do, so I listened to some Led Zeppelin so I could report. Bonham still sounds to me like he's beating on his trap with a pair of tree trunks, but this, too, was decent reproduction.
I'll need to revisit sound quality, as there is a break-in period with headphones.
Convenience: HP - (Yes, Bluetooth works -- with some caviats.)
The little Bluetooth dongle linked with the headphones easily enough. HP should have made it clearer when link-up was successful. The two devices just flashed at each other. I was about to turn everything off and try again when the flashing stopped.
I plugged the dongle into the audio-out of this computer, fired up "The In Sound From Way Out" and pressed "play" on the right headphone. The default volume is too loud. The controls are conviently large and soon the funk was at an acceptable level.
If the headphones are in the same room as the dongle, sound reproduction is quite good. As distance and number of walls increase, the music will pause, stutter, and even speed up to "catch up" to the player. For me, that's unacceptable. I'd rather listen to nothing than listen to a bunch of stutter. So the music source will need to be in the workshop. It can be tucked out of the way in a relatively dust-free area, But you'll want it in the same room.
Both the dongle and headphones charge from USB cords. The set comes with a y-shaped, 2-USB cord that simply plugs to the wall for computer-free charging. This also means that I've got YET ANOTHER CORD to bring with me when I travel.
I suppose I prefer this to the QC2's method -- remove a little "easy to lose" battery from the headphones and plug that into a small "easy to misplace" charger, then plug THAT into the wall.
Summary:
In all, the HP works as advertised. Noise cancellation is good (but still more suited to airplanes than a workshop). Sound reproduction is acceptable, and very, very convenient.
I suppose that since the headphones are bluetooth, they could sync with a cell phone. But since there is no microphone, conversations would be one-sided. A mic-in plug should really be included in future models.
The convenience of being able to plug the dongle into any device that has a 3.5mm jack cannot be overstated. This works equally well with an iPod, portable radio, laptop computer or stereo amplifier. I'm guessing airlines won't let you use bluetooth in-flight, so a cord is included for non-bluetooth listening (like the QC2).
Really can't go wrong for $110.
New Headphones -- update, broken!
The headphones lasted less than a month. They have cracked at the top due to the stress of being on my head. (I don't think my head is all that big. Others may disagree. ;))
The plastic strip connecting the two phones is less than 1/8" thick and failed at the top. This seems to me to be a complete design failure. Even if HP replaces the headphones, I believe the new headphones will simply fail after one month.
I have emailed HP. Their website does not even recognize the product. This does not bode well. Their automated support line doesn't even offer "headphones" as a service option, so that too is useless.
They were good while they lasted, but until this issue is resolved, don't pull the trigger...
