Review: Insignia Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
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.
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17 Comments on “Review: Insignia Bluetooth Stereo Headphones”
Hi there. I’m trying to pair this headphones to my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.4.11) and all I get it is as a headset. Do you know how can I fix the problem?
I’m assuming that you mean you are able to pair it like a single ear headset gets paired to a phone. I’m not sure how that works, but I was able to use the pairing wizard to pair them to my MacBook Pro running Leopard (10.5) using the Pairing Assistant which gives you a choice of what you are pairing. I would guess, without verifying this before I type it, that 10.4.11 doesn’t support A2DP. There may, however, be an aftermarket enabler which you could use, though I don’t know of one personally.
Thanks anyway.
Hi, I just recently bought these NS-BTHDP insignia wireless headphone’s for one sole reason..For my PS3! But they dont work because I cant here my PS3′S sound
Since I don’t have a bluetooth enabled MP3 player such as the Insignia PMP, this headset is of little or no use to me. It doesn’t work with Windows Media Player that I can figure out. I was able to get them to work with my cell phone, but I don’t think you should wear them while driving.
This doesn’t work with most devices are there. Blackberry, bluetooth-supported notebooks, MP3 players… I tested several A2DP supported devices and the audio could come and go. A competing product works well and doesn’t have any of these issues.
I bought one tonight, it it most certainly works GREAT with my BlackBerry 8830.
However, I get the worst God awful sound from my MacBook (tiger)
Even though you have built in bluetooth or not into your computer or PS3, that may mean you still have to buy them with the USB dongle in order for ‘em to work?
No. They will work if whatever you are connecting them to supports A2DP, that’s the stereo part of Bluetooth. If your device’s Bluetooth doesn’t support A2DP then all you’ll get is mono sound through both ears.
i can’t make work them into my ps3, pc , or htc smartphone and i dont know why, i bought 2 bluetooth adapters for my pc an they didnt work if someone know something about please x3hx@hotmail.com help me
x3hx, I’m sorry but I’m not a PS3 guy (nor am I an XBOX or Wii guy, so don’t start trying to convert me). It appears that its been rather well known that the PS3 doesn’t support A2DP and there are a number of requests on the internet for the feature. Here’s one;
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&message.id=2011970
I don’t know which HTC handset you have, but it also probably doesn’t support A2DP, which is required for Bluetooth stereo to work. Now, I personally don’t have any experience with getting A2DP to work on a PC, partly because I’m a Mac guy and it already works on Macs, but I did find this adapter:
http://www.buy.com/prod/Anycom_USB_200_Bluetooth_USB_Adapter_CC3023/q/loc/16626/202239675.html
Hope that helps!
I can’t believe that this guy is comparing a wireless headphone system to two wired units, (especially BOSE!) and then complain that the sound quality is less then average. Newsflash industry journalist!, but the iPod’s set are earbuds and the Bose set are over-the-ear. Of course they are going to sond better! I bet this is the type of guy that would test drive a Ford and complain that it doesn’t handle like a Ferrari. For the money I paid for them I am completely satisfied. They work perfectly with my MacBook Pro and my Blackberry Curve 8330. My only complaint, and it’s minor, is that you look like a tool when wearing them as they stick out abnormally far, but i’m sure that as technology advances we will see slimmer headphones.
Just got a pair for Christmas. They worked (notice the past tense) great with my Insignia ipod, but it didn’t last long. After I got it synced with the ipod and listened to three or four songs, I decided to turn it off, only it wouldn’t. I couldn’t even get it to sync again with my ipod. It is just stuck on and won’t do anything. It is going back to Best Buy tomorrow.
I agree with Justin.
I can’t tolerate ear buds for any length of time and really don’t need Bose quality with MP3′s on my phone.
Got them for $29 (new) on ebay and they sound about as good as a $20 wired over-the-counter headset.
The Bluetooth functionality has to cost something! Anyone who expects more is unrealistic. They are what they are: decent for the price.
They worked perfectly with my (cheap) Samsung phone.
I do wish there were a wired option as well, so I could use them for piped audio on airplanes.
(Don’t scare me Amy. I can’t take them back to Best Buy if they go bad!)
I bought these last night and so far it’s 50/50.
The teething pains of getting it paired and all the audio outputs on my Dell desktop were overcome in less than 30 minutes.
Here is the interesting part, sound from Windows Media Player is actually pretty good. Closing that and opening World of Warcraft (WoW) and Team Speak and the sound went down hill fast. The game sound was bearable but poor. Team Speak on the other hand was annoying for the others on the line, I could hear them just fine. The poor outbound quality continued even after WoW was closed. What actions can I take / where can I go to learn more??
Thanks!
That’s a great question and I unfortunately don’t have an answer for you. My guess would be that there’s a level at which the various versions of Bluetooth radios work with. As far as I know, only the Bluetooth 2.x support A2DP, and I’m suspecting it only works really well when you pair 2.1 + EDR radios together. I have a two year old MacBook Pro and I use Bluetooth for a mouse and keyboard. When I try to add the headset to the mix, it kills everything. If I play audio alone, it sounds terrible. If I play it on the Insignia PMP with Bluetooth it sounds okay.
I’ve passed your question along to my PR rep at Best Buy, so we’ll see if he can get an answer out of his tech guys.