I seek the holy grail, I do. I seek a time when there are no more wires. How is it that the people in Star Trek do it? You don’t see any cables connected to anything, even in the original series (though the massive Tricorders do have shoulder straps). What we appear to be missing from today is the concept of wireless power. We either need to foster these induction-type recharging stations or force our scientists to come up with power supplies which last for years instead of weeks.

Until that time, we have Bluetooth. When Insignia, an internal brand of the Best Buy stores, offered me a pair of Bluetooth headphones and their new Bluetooth PMP, I said yes. Why not. I hadn’t tried Bluetooth stereo yet and I really like the idea of ditching as many cables as I can. Of course, the rechargeable headphones are recharged via cable, but that’s another matter. Overall, I like the headphones, but there are some aspects of it which are disappointing. Read on for more details.

To put it bluntly, the sound quality is around, if not below, average. The stock headphones that come with the Apple iPod are far better in quality. I’m betting that these are based on Bluetooth 1.1 and not the newer 2.0 or 2.1+EDR Bluetooth formats.  I was actually a little surprised when I first connected them to the Insignia-supplied player. The connection process was easy enough, and they certainly worked right away, but the audio quality was low.

I embarked on a quest to find the truth. I am, after all, an industry journalist. In order, I connected the headset to my Apple MacBook Pro and the Nokia N95 8GB. In each of these cases the headphones continued to perform under my expectations. I compared them to my iPod headphones and a pair of Over-The-Ear Bose Noise Suppression headphones and in each case the Apple and Bose headphones were markedly better at recreating spacious, deep, and clear audio within their respective capability ranges.

I should note that the Nokia N95 8GB does not have the same output quality as Apple products, but it was an adequate enough test to see how each headset operated on various devices. I’d also like to indicate that neither the Apple nor Bose headphones are wireless. I don’t see, however, how being wireless should automatically reduce someone’s expectations. We have 802.11n wireless, and we don’t assume that it will be any more or less capable than the equivalent wired solution (if there were a wired network that operated in that speed range).

Otherwise, the headphones, especially priced at an easy to swallow US$49.99, are far superior to standard Bluetooth earpieces for mobile phones. Very nicely, they include a microphone hole in the front of the right earpiece, and you hear the mono sound through both ears. I did not get a chance to test these while driving, since wearing stereo headphones while driving in California is illegal (Wimp!).

The audio and call controls are also included on the right side earpiece. I found these a little difficult to locate while wearing the headphones and somewhat hard to press once I got used to their locations. Overall comfort is fantastic. Even though they are heavy, they didn’t drag on my ears and I’ve been able to wear them without discomfort for more than 2 hours, or the equivalent of the length of a movie.

One thing that did bother me was the Mac connectivity. I have an Apple BT keyboard (the sexy slim jobber) and a Kensington BT Trackball Mouse which are connected all the time when I’m at the desk. When I try to add the headphones to the mix, my entire system slows down, the audio connection goes in and out, and my mouse almost stops working. I have a distinct feeling that this is not an issue sourcing from the headphones, but from Bluetooth itself.

Additionally, despite my ability to connect to the headphones in Mac OS X 10.5.1 without the addition of any software, I was unable to connect the headphones in Windows Vista Ultimate on the same computer via Boot Camp. I found that odd, seeing as how the two OS are using the exact same hardware.

I’m not impressed with the Insignia NS-BTHDP Bluetooth headphones since they provide the audio quality afforded typical single ear headsets, but complicate matters by nudging up against headphone laws in various states. If, however, you’re looking for a decent pair of headphones on the cheap, don’t really care about sound quality, and can deal with the hard to locate and actuate buttons, then the NS-BTHDP is what you’re looking for.

written by Tyler Regas