Share this
Mister Wong
Linkarena
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Jumptags
Upchuckr
Simpy
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Netscape
Furl
Yahoo
Blogmarks
Diigo
Technorati
Newsvine
Blinkbits
Ma.Gnolia
Smarking
Netvouz
Folkd
Spurl
Googlize this
Blinklist
Wikio
E-mail
 |
Price: $80.37
Closer Look:
The packaging for the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset comes in a nice clear plastic case so it’s easy to see the headset part of the product before opening the package. The front window displays some of the specs and features of these stereo headsets and the bottom suggest some of the devices that you could connect them to. The back of the package says about the same thing, just in over a dozen languages, the top does however display a diagram of the button functions of the headset.
Included with the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Head set is an abundance of items such as; a USB to mini USB adaptor for charging from your PC and a 5 volt adapter to charge from a wall socket and a European adapter for those that like to travel. Also there is a Bluetooth dongle to allow any audio device to transmit via Bluetooth. There is also a RCA stereo cable for connecting your dongle to your TV or stereo Amp, an instruction manual, a spare set of ear pads, and an easy to use travel case for storing your headset.
The headset themselves are easy to use with ear hooks that easily and comfortably sit on the back of the ear. The controls on the right ear piece I found simple and easy to use. Whith a simple touch you can skip songs from the ear control the pause/mute function worked great when connected to phones and the provided Bluetooth dongle.
Let’s take a look at the specs and features:
Specifications:
| Frequency range | 2.4~2.4835GHz |
| Frequency response | 200Hz~16KHz |
| A2DP/AVRCP | Yes |
| Talking time | 6.5hrs |
| Standby time | 200hrs |
| Distance | 10M |
Features:
|
Now let’s do some testing:
Testing:
To test the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset I thought that I would try a large variety of things, from attaching it to my PSP and going for a walk, wearing it while I work in my shop, syncing it to my Voiis Bluetooth Stereo, which is connected to my TV’s audio output, and connecting it to a Blackberry Storm. Throughout all of this I will be using it for a variety of uses. I will be using them for gaming, watching movies and TV, using them as a hands-free headset for talking, but mostly for listening to music.
Well let’s start where I normally start and that’s with the hands-free function. For this I found that when making a call with the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset the voice was nice and clear and easy to understand. However I found that calling someone that was wearing them was a little different, while they were very clear I found that the voice was very soft and a little on the quite side, so I would say it’s not the kind of head set that you want to be wearing to the mall, but people might look at you funny with you just talking to your headphones anyways. I do have to say that the easy, one touch ability to accept incoming calls was a nice function.
Bass:
For music I found that the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset worked great while having more bass depth then I thought they would have, don’t get me wrong they're not like high end “can” style headphones for bass depth, just more than I thought they would have.
Mids and Highs:
For vocals I found that they were good and clear, I found that I was realizing that I never heard the correct words to songs that I thought I knew well. When it came to mid-range such as guitar I found that it wasn’t as clear as it could have been, I still enjoyed using the headset, and I just felt that they fell short of being as clear as they could have been in this area.
TV/Movies:
For TV and movies I found them to work great. For action oriented movies I found that it didn’t feel as epic and intense as I enjoy but still felt that they worked really well in this area. While using the Genius BT-03A I found that I picked up on things that I hadn’t noticed before. Such as when ground and walls where getting shot up and being able to hear bits of gravel landing on the ground, and hearing people talking in the background and other subtle sounds such as this. For everything else I found that the sound was clear and functioned well across a large variety of genres.
Gaming:
For gaming I have to say that it was downright awesome. The sound I got was loud and clear and I found it to be quite enjoyable. I mainly used them while playing fallout 3, and in particular the new “the Pitt” expansion. While playing, I prefer the sneaky rouge type character; I found that everything felt intense. While sneaking around trying to creep up on Trogs I never had noticed how much noise I was making and how well I could find the little buggers by listening to the subtle noises that they would make as they walked about and ate. Whenever someone would find me, I found that the gun shots rang out nice and clear and added a sense of urgency and feeling that I was the character while being shot and hearing bullets wiz past my head. For this I have to say that I felt they worked great.
Ease Of Use:
While going for a walk I found that they worked alright. While I had to rearrange which pocket my PSP was in to get a clear signal, I still found that they worked just fine. Being able to walk about without the cable that would normally connect to the audio device flapping around was quite enjoyable and felt that anybody that jogs would really enjoy the ability of not having this stupid cable in the way.
Range:
Something else I had tried was connecting the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset to my Voiis Stereo in order to see what kind of range I could get with these little guys. Whenever I used the provided dongle I found that I got not much more than 15' away but with the voiis Stereo I was able to get up to 60' away with a broken line of site.
Now let’s get to my final thoughts:
Conclusion:
So over all how did I feel they words? Providing clear, high end stereo audio, easy to use controls, fewer wires, Bluetooth connectivity, and coming in at a whopping 3.5 oz I felt that these more than compensated for the few flaws that I felt they had. In the end I thought that the Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset is a great but, while some customer reviews I read had more negative things to say I would have to disagree with them. For me I had an average battery life of about 6.5 hours, and with a charge time of 2 hours I felt it wasn’t a bad trade off. As far as the ear pieces go, I do have to agree there, that sometimes if you don’t have them on just right they can be a little annoying but you work and get the feeling and place them properly on your ears, after that I found that they were actually pretty comfortable
Would I recommend this product? I can’t find a reason not to. While the price might be a little steep for some, retail can be up to $120, they are still a great headset. Being able to plug the provided Bluetooth dongle into a radio, an mp3 player, or any audio output instantly and gives it a huge variety of uses. When paired to a phone I felt that they where alright, for this I found that if you used them it was fine, for the other person maybe not so much, but in the end it’s up to you if you use it for this purpose. While some hardcore gamers might find that these are a little lacking, I think most recreation gamers would find them quite adequate. In the end I have to say that The Genius BT-03A Bluetooth Stereo Headset would be great for just about anybody.
Pros:
- Few Wires
- Easy To Use Controls
- Good Sound Quality
- Huge variety of Uses
- Comes With Stereo RCA Cable, 5V Wall Charger, and European Outlet Adapter
Cons:
- Out Going Voice A Little Quite
- Some Music Not as Clear as It Could be
- Could Have More Comfortable Ear Clips
