Review: Motorola S805 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

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Stereo Bluetooth headphones, which often go by the technically obscure "A2DP" (the name of the Bluetooth standard protocol they apply to communicate), have been consistently heralded as the next big thing in mobile multimedia, however due to a multitude of reasons they've been irksome to catch on.

Add me to that bunch that has waited awhile to effort it out. But now that Palm has officially added A2DP support to the Sprint 700wx, I figured why non requite a try. Today I'll review the Motorola S805 "DJ mode" BT headphones ($94.95) on three different devices: Palm 700wx, Motorola Q and the HTC-6800.

Given my before reticence with A2DP, I was happily surprised past my experience.

First thing I should point out nearly the S805's: the style is chosen "DJ", hither referring to the over-the-hear, cup style of the headphones. For some people, this style is just not an option, whether you desire them for exercising or you lot want a more discreet form, then DJ is not for yous. Simply I really adopt DJ style every bit it is much more comfy for long-term wear, you tin can sling them effectually your neck when non in utilize or need to quickly talk to someone, and the sound is not shot down your ear culvert like a cannon! The S805's performed well in this regard and were peculiarly comfortable to wearable, not causing ear fatigue over a couple of hours like some other headphones.

Specifications:

17 hr play back; 3 60 minutes charge cycle
A2DP & AVRCP
Music controls: jog dial for volume and tracks; button buttons for telephone and play/pause
Circumaural ear interface i.eastward. DJ-way, over-the-ear
Wired jack to use in all stereo devices

Opening the Box

The S805'due south come up in a rather large box that is well sealed. Upon opening it, I realized the reason for the size: these headphones come with their own protective conveying case. This case is 1 of those in-between hard and soft cases, so y'all can't easily crush your $100 headphones and has an area to secure the included wall charger. The case is a nice touch. Speaking of, these headphones come with a wall charger that powers the device via the mini-USB port, which is great for Moto Q users used to having mini-USB cables for charging and syncing. You also go the standard quick-start guide and larger user transmission.

The S805 can be charged in 3 hours via the wall charger and, the big surprise hither, is the 17 hours playback. I'm honestly not used to anything these days having a 17 hour battery life.

Overall I can describe the S805's in one give-and-take: quality. When you pick them upward and try them on, y'all really feel like you got your money'southward worth.

Usage and Features

I had no issues pairing upwardly with the 700wx, Motorola Q or 6800 -- all went flawlessly and A2DP was enabled without issue. The feature-ready of AVRCP, another ridiculous engineering science term, basically ways that these headphones also have controls on them for manipulating music playback, enabling a true hands-costless music experience. Here I feel Motorola did a fantastic job equally they could have put x buttons on the headphones, making information technology confusing and silly looking. Yet on the S805's, y'all have just ii buttons: one for answering/hanging upwards your telephone and the second for playing, pausing or stopping your music. The other controls are jog dials that are basically the earpiece. You have 1 on each side, ane controls your book and the other volition skip a rails back and forth. This makes manipulation of the AVRCP functions effortless and very intuitive—the learning curve here is very low. All worked without problem on all three devices.

Turning on the headphones is likewise easy: just agree down the phone button for iii seconds and you'll see the blue LED light upward and glimmer. Turning off is the same method, but not the LED is scarlet and paring involves holding the Telephone button for 6 seconds. Although this method works well, honestly I would accept put a simple dip switch for turning the device on and off. I'1000 not a big fan of having to hold down a button and wait for a visual feedback to know they are on or off, although I suppose Moto was simply keeping parity with standard BT headsets which operate the same way. The blue LED will continue to occasionally blink, but the issue is the slow fade in/out style (similar to how a Mac laptop looks in standby) instead of the rapid on/off, giving a nice, calming upshot. Also I'm happy to written report: all LED blinking tin can be disabled if not preferred.

Every bit mentioned earlier, the headphones themselves feel very high quality. They take soft padding for the earpieces, which also happen to turn in for easy storage (they fit easily in my conveying dorsum sans instance) and the overall construction of the device feels sturdy. On the buttons, they have the flake of articulate plastic that goes over them that sort of slides effectually a flake—that's my one quibble, every bit I would take preferred a slightly better designed button, however I don't feel this is a functional problem or something to be concerned about.

Audio Quality & Performance

And so here is the of import part: how practise they sound? In my opinion, remarkably well. This goes for all iii devices tested with, although non surprisingly, the Motorola Q had the loudest volume and probably slightly meliorate functioning—Motorola seems to accept really nailed BT from my experience.

The sonic range is quite even and well balanced, having surprisingly ample bass. I did detect on some tracks, regardless of type of encoding or flake rate, a slight amount of high pitched hiss. This I feel is more owing to the limits of A2DP than the headphones themselves, though I could be wrong. This slight hissing was not noticeable on all tracks and after a few songs, your ears quickly melody it out—it's not something I was concerned with and some friends who tested it either did non notice information technology or were not bothered.

Range is rated nigh xxx feet for these headphones but I easily got 50+ feet from them on all three devices (yes, even the 700wx). I felt the range was truly remarkable, assuasive me to walk into other rooms without any degradation—and that'due south how it was, the signal was basically perfect, and then at about 40 or 50 feet it'll basically only driblet. Battery life was also most the 17 hours of playback, which is more than enough time to last a few weeks for many—or rather your device will power down many more times than these headphones volition.

Taking calls on the S805'south was as well easy: a call comes in, the A2DP will lower the music and so interruption it for y'all answer the call. A minor chime comes over the earpiece and y'all just hit the Phone button to pick up; when finished hanging upwards will restart the music. The audio quality for the phone calls was not as practiced every bit the music which is not surprising, but it was more than acceptable and on par with standard BT headsets, while the microphone worked sufficiently according to those who I spoke with on the phone.

Conclusions

I'll exist honest: I'g never going back to a wired headset. All these discussions about needing a 3.5mm jack instead of the 2.v mm are becoming moot for me and many others as nosotros finally switch to the wireless world of A2DP. I absolutely love using the S805's, peculiarly on the train to the city, where I take full control over the music without touching my phone and where I can sling them around my cervix if I need to order a cup of coffee (they'll also double nicely equally ear muffs in the winter!). The physical quality of these headphones, the case and the audio experience were all more I was expecting. Likewise, all the people whom I demonstrated them for were all equally impressed (nigh were unaware of such technology).

If yous own a WM Treo, Motorola Q or 6800 and you lot're okay with the style, I can definitely say these will work with your device and you'll be pleased with the performance. I besides suspect that since Motorola did such a good job on these, they'll work for years on many other devices without issue.

One matter I'd like to run across in the futurity: Go all out Moto and make them noise-canceling, like PlaneQuiet or Bose for loud environments.

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