A great idea or just another pointless use of wireless technology? I’ve spent a few months using the Sony DR-BT30Q stereo Bluetooth headphones, and thought it might be useful for some people for me to post my thoughts on this desirable gadget and my views on the technology behind it.
Read on for my findings…
A2DP, more commonly known as Bluetooth stereo, still has a way to go before it’s considered mass market. Will it ever get there? I don’t know. What with Apple refusing to allow it’s Bluetooth 2.0 equipped iPhone or Bluetooth disabled iPod Touch to make use of the technology, and mobile phone manufacturers not making a big deal of it in their specifications it could remain a niche market for a while to come. Me? I’m already sold on the idea…
Setup
To enable your device to send audio to the BT30Qs you will need to pair the two devices. Simply hold down the power button on the headphones until the lights on the side turn on to power them up, then hold it down again for 5 seconds to activate the pairing mode. Then take your device, search for a new Bluetooth connection as normal, and enter 0000 as the passkey. Simple!
It makes sense to have Bluetooth enabled on your device at all times so that you can just pop on the headphones and start playing. You will need to press the play button on the right earpiece in order to tell your device to output audio over the Bluetooth connection each time you turn them on, otherwise your music will come out of the speaker.
Features
Obviously the BT30Qs have A2DP Bluetooth stereo support to enable you to hear high quality stereo sound from your Bluetooth equipped device. In addition to this they also support the AVRCP profile so that you can play, pause and skip tracks from the jog dial on the rear of the right earpiece. This is a really useful feature that I found myself making full use of while my phone was in my pocket.
In addition to the playback controls built in, the right earpiece also includes volume control buttons. These do not control the volume outputted from your device, but the volume of the actual headphones output. Changing the system volume on my XDA Mini S (rebranded HTC Wizard) phone also affected the volume output. Think of it as being the same as plugging your iPod (or other less common player) into your hifi, they both have separate volume controls that you can make use of.
Of course the 30Qs also feature the standard Bluetooth handsfree profile allowing you to use it to make phone calls with. On my XDA Mini S and also my girlfriend’s Sony Ericsson K800i, when making or receiving a call the music pauses and fades out, automatically resuming once the call ends.
On the side of the right earpiece is a large button (you can see it in the photo above, it’s the large glossy face with the Sony logo on). Pressing this will answer an incoming call or activate the voice dial function on your phone, while holding it down will automatically redial the last number you called.
Sound quality
I don’t profess to be an audiophile, so if you’re looking for an analysis of the finer points of sound reproduction then you may want to look elsewhere. However, I do select my hi-fi kit carefully and can tell the difference between a good pair of headphones and a poor pair.
Thanks to the size of the speaker the BT30Qs have a nice, rich sound with an even tone. Obviously they can’t help low bitrate files from sounding like a mess, but I haven’t heard any headphones that can.
If you listen hard while there is no sound between tracks you can sometimes hear a very small amount of hiss. I have never been able to hear this during standard playback and truly believe it’s not a problem. This seems to only happen when the volume on the player is low and the volume on the headphones is high. Turning up the volume on the player and turning down the headphones reduces this.
During calls the quality is perfectly good enough. A little more treble would have been nice, but having the audio coming out of both earpieces really helps. I think that the microphone could be a little more sensitive, a couple of times my friends had a little trouble hearing me properly. Mostly it’s fine though.
Comfort
As you can see in the photo, the BT30Qs consist of two separate earpieces connected by a cable. This cable is able to extend from and wind back into the left earpiece. To put the ‘phones on you simply pull them apart to extend the connecting cord and slide them onto your ears from above. This is quick and easy, and while they feel a bit strange to begin, you soon get used to the weight and the way they sit hang on your ears. The choice is yours whether you want to let the connecting cord hang slack behind your neck or to press the auto wind button on the side of the left earpiece to wind it in and have it wrap around the back of your neck. I generally chose the latter.
One nice thing I have found is that when not using the headphones I can hook the arms around each other to make them stay together when hanging from my neck instead of swinging randomly. This makes storing them while out and about with mates really easy and convenient.
Battery Life
Sony advertises a life of 11 hours while listening to music or making phone calls and over 100 hours while in standby for the BT30Qs. I was able to spend 7 hours listening to these at work, 2 hours in the gym and another 7 hours the next day at work before they died on me. This included pausing them for short amounts of time (when people were rude enough to call me on my work phone) and a couple of quick phone calls.
Charging the BT30Qs takes approximately 3 hours. One thing to note is that the headphones power off and cannot be used while charging. This seemed a little strange to me, but the charge time is short and I have not found the need to use them while I have them plugged in when I’m sleeping.
Value for Money
The RRP for the BT30Qs in England is about £70. I was lucky enough to grab a pair from play.com for the incredible price of £17.99 a few months ago. I decided to buy my girlfriend a pair for her birthday in March but unfortunately they had disappeared from the site. I was still able to find them for a pretty good price from Amazon marketplace, and Google product search shows some attractive prices. I would consider anything around the £30 mark to be a bargain for these.
Conclusion
Having got used to using the BT30Qs every day while at work, the gym, shopping and commuting I have really become attached to them. They work well, with no bugs or glitches. The sound quality is good enough for me, while the built in playback and call controls have proved to be very quick and easy to use. The battery life isn’t really an issue as I charge them every night along with my phone and other gadgetry. I can’t think of anything that needs improvement beyond a slightly more sensitive microphone.
Would I recommend them to a friend? Well I bought a pair for my girlfriend, and she’s impressed with them!
