BengalBoy Reviews the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Stereo Bluetooth "Multi-Activity" Headset!! The VERY BEST STEREO BLUETOOTH HEADSET for MULTI-ACTIVITIES YOU CAN BUY!!



That's Right!! The VERY BEST!! As those of you who know me well from the years I've been doing this will understand just how significant that statement is when it comes to bluetooth headsets. For years I have been a advocate of the NextLink brand of bluetooth headsets, particularly the Digital Noise Cancelling headset which is still after almost 4 years the best you can buy and use with that technology. Recently the NextLink "Spider" Stereo Bluetooth Headset was offered in Beta form to the GentleMan's Club Members for testing and most all enjoyed it when paired with the "too be included" Toshiba 2.0 EDR USB Bluetooth Adapter. Fantastic Range and Performance. At the time I had the Sony Ericsson P990i, the M600, and a SamSung i300 which the Spider all worked with and did a good job of performing as it should. However, when I tried to use it with the New AKU2 Qtek ROM upgrade on my Universal, I encountered horrible skipping, playback and feature performance. I thought at the time it must be the new ROM experiencing some teething pains, but, then the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Stereo Bluetooth Headset came to me. Since that day my Universal has developed a completely different "iPod'ish" personality and the HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" has become my everyday bluetooth headset replacing my NextLink AX2.



Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Features and Controls.

The HBH-DS970 is a "WalkMan" branded headset and is of the highest quality in materials and construction. Using a 2.0 version bluetooth radio and supporting the "A2DP" & "AVRCP" bluetooth stereo and remote control profiles, respectively, it has the latest in bluetooth headset technology on board. It is a very fashionable ballistic nylon braided yolk with 2 earpieces and 3 different kinds of detatchable ear canal plugs of soft silicone. The ear plug design is joined in the center by the bluetooth control pod, containing bluetooth radio, battery, and remote controls.



On the right ear headset you will find the microphone for phone calls.....



and on the left side you will locate the call/end call button for initiating voice dial or hanging up on a phone call....



The control pod itself is made of a high gloss plastic in black and orange with metalized chrome buttons and switches....

Here you see a "Connection Lock" feature switch..... at the top.... it locks the headset connection to 1 device and will not allow it to connect to another bluetooth device in the area even if it was paired with it before....

The longer chrome switch is the "volume" button and is easily used to raise and lower volume while listening to music or during a call.



At the top of the HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" you will find the "Power/Pairing" button. Press it in and hold it for 5 seconds to initiate pairing and then enter the code of "0000" to pair with your favorite "A2DP" and "AVRCP" bluetooth profile supporting device.



Pairing up with my Qtek 9000 ....





On the opposite side you will find the remote control feature which is activated by a sliding toggle switch. If your device supports the "AVRCP" remote control bluetooth profile, you will be able to remotely move through your music playlist from the HBH-DS970 without having to touch your device.



Finally you have the oversized "Play/Pause" button which also can be pressed to initiate a connection should your HBH-DS970 become disconnected from your device.... as well as the LCD display which provides information regarding battery life, volume, caller ID (Numeric Only) and phone or music status...



The Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Stereo Bluetooth Headset is one very thoughtful and well designed stereo bluetooth headset. Simple controls with a easy layout and intuitive feel.

Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Performance.



My samples are pre-commercial and this headset is not yet released to the public, however, after over a month of use I can confidently proclaim that this headset is "DA'SHIT!!" Yes, it is a lot of cords hanging around but it is very light and compared to the NextLink "Spider", a multi-activity headset which can be used for music listening or just as a very nice bluetooth headset in day to day work and play.



Compared to the NextLink Spider, the HBH-970 "WalkMan" Stereo Bluetooth Headset can be carried concealed on your person very un-obrusively during work. With a collor over the yolk and the left ear piece cord running outside and too your ear, making and ending calls in a suit with dark sunglasses will get you respect as a G-Man or Secret Service..... now try that with the NextLink "Spider"???? Yeah, folks just look at you funny....why is that guy in the nice suit wearing headphones and talking to himself Mommy????



Additionally, you don't have the problem of having both ears involved in a call or closed off to the noise around you during a phone call. Although the "Spider" only plays calls through the left ear piece, the cup is still over your right ear and affects the sound that my brain processes.....particularly while driving in a car, not that safe!!

How does it work??? Shit, this thing has ate up and spat out every single stereo bluetooth phone I've thrown at it....from the obvious Sony Ericsson Products....the P990i, M600i, K790i as well as my hacked iMate JasJar with the Qtek AKU2 ROM a WiZard, my Laptop with the Toshiba 2.0 EDR Bluetooth USB Adapter and a couple Motorolas......hehe... you mean you only see one??? How could I forget to include the other????

Battery performance is also very strong in this headset. The "Spider" can literally play for more than 10 hours of music.... no exaggeration, no shit.... but the HBH-DS970 is equally as strong take a couple hours away at most. I used the HBH-DS970 in Jamaica for 6 hours on the beach solid with approximately another 1-1 1/2 at a pool and still had an indicated 1/3 battery life showing. I've found that in normal use with 4-6 hours of stereo playback being involved...count on 2 days use. If you don't use the stereo playback feature, shit... it could last 4 days or more of just making and receiving phone calls??? By the way, the HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Stereo BlueTooth Headset uses the new Sony Ericsson charging port so if you get one, be aware your old SE chargers will not work with it.



It does exhibit a few bugs though, incoming calls can cause you to lose the "stereo" feature during playback. Either the music is playing and you don't hear it...or the volume is noticeably lower. On my Universal it requires me to reset the device to put everything back to normal and could be the ROM of the phone and not the HBH-DS970, but it is an issue. Also, during the Universals message retrieving cycle, the sound does break up some, but once the Universal has disconnected from the server everything goes back to normal. Range with my Windows devices is not that good either, don't move more than 10 feet away.



Finally, the volume is not loud enough to suit me. Although I understand that this is a ear bud system and not an enclosed headphone design like the "Spider"...it is not quite as loud as I would like it. It DOES, however, playback at a very loud distortion free level tht is probably designed to please the masses and not a card-carrying AC/DC fan for life member.


Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 "WalkMan" Final Verdict!!!



IT'S A WINNER!!



Whether you are using this headset with a upcoming new stereo bluetooth enabled Sony Ericsson Product or a Windows Mobile 2005 device, it is absolutely gonna impress you with its performance, ease of use, clarity of sound and multi-activity personality.

ITS DA'SHIT!!

1. Works well with various operating systems carrying the "A2DP" and "AVRCP" bluetooth profiles.
2. Great Range with 2.0 bluetooth equipped phones.
3. Multi-Activity Design allows you to use this headset daily whether to listen to music or just as a phone headset.

Phew!! Something Smells???

1. Buttons are tiny and can be difficult to use the remote toggle without looking at it directly and having some fingernails to move it.
2. Volume could be louder to suit my Rock'n'Roll Ears.
3. Caller ID should display Contact Name as well as numeric.
4. Why isn't this thing available yet???



And for Long Time Members and Contributors to My Site I have 3 of these "Not Yet Available" Headsets for you to purchase...... No Charger, No Manual, but definitely the "Bleeding EDGE"!!



BengalBoy.COM!! Where the "Bleeding EDGE" Gets the Stuff & The InFo!! While the Babies & The Losers Are ClueLess on the HoFo!!

Looks AWESOME!

Will probably get this as soon as SE release my long awaited P990i...

One question though - I guess you can´t use the P990i FM radio if you only use the HBH-970 as your headset??

Yes and No... The P990i supports the use of a stereo bluetooth headset while using the FM Radio application but you still have to plug in a wired headset in order to open and run it. The wired headset acts as the antenna. My suggestion would be for SE to create a short "whip" to plug into the port for an antenna which would easily conceal and fold into your pocket for the antenna while using a Bluetooth headset such as the HBH-970.

Quote:

Now there's an original idea!

Maybe we could take the standard wired headset (or buy an extra set) and cut-off the microphone & earbuds, leaving just a "whip" for the radio antenna?

When I finally get a P990, I would be willing give this a try!

You say you have 3 for sale BB. How much? :)

2 left for $200. I don't know when they will be commercially available but I'm sure they will probably retail for around $100 maybe more. Nextlinks will go for $150 with Dongle from Radio Shack when its released.

Whats the difference between prerelease and retail versions? Very interested! :)

No packaging, no manual, no charger.....

These units are new, never used, but are not yet available for retail purchase. Software could possibly be tweaked in final version or not.... I don't know... but my unit works pretty flawlessly with a standard cell phone and better than anything available with a Windows Mobile 2005 device when using the stereo bluetooth function.

Its basically a matter of do you want it before the masses? Then you pay a premium and get it first. But to my knowledge I'm the first person to make it available to anyone outside of Sony Ericsson. Finally, I don't bullshit about stuff I review. If it sucked, I would say so. If I use it as my everyday bluetooth headset when I have a Motorola H5, NextLink AX2, Spider and Digital... you can rest assured that it is extremely good and reliable for everyday cell phone use and the best I've used for stereo playback.

Its just a perk for members of mine who come here to see the stuff before everyone else starts to get it and talk about how great it is. You can say, Ho Hum...been using that for weeks or months now.... I'm a expert about its operation....

Received my headset this morning and I will post my first thoughts on it. I am using the KJam with Imates ROM and the A2DP hack. I will be reinstalling the QTEK Test Rom with A2DP to see if the issues I had are ROM related.

Once I got it I paired it and started using it. So here is the pros and cons for now, these could change with the different rom.

Pro's
1. Over the neck style

2. Great sound. This could be one of the best sounding stereo headsets I have used.

3. Front display comes in handy for a noisy enviroment. Quiter enviroments I just listen to who is calling before I answer.

4. Very loud. Max volume is to loud which is a good thing.

Con's
1. I can not control WMP. I have to use the phone to control it.

2. While listening to music, I got a call and while it did switch over when returning I lost the stereo part. Sometimes the sound just came from the phone and never went back to the headset


While I mainly use my ipod for music (more on that below), I use the KJam for XM radio. So the fact that I cant skip between songs isnt that big of a deal. But not going back after a phone call will get to me. Will change ROM's to see if that solves the problem. I didnt have anyone complain about the way I sounded but my next call I will have to ask the person to make sure.



While that was all with the KJam, below is my Pro's/Con's with my iPod. I know the iPod doesnt have BT but I do have a piece made from naviplay which connects to the iPod and adds BT. Most importantly its used with BT stereo headsets. This has became a BIG seller with me. I paired that together this afternoon and went for my daily bike ride this afternoon.

Pro's
1. 1,2,&3 from above still apply

2. This pro for me is huge, but this feature works on all other stereo BT headsets I have used. While listening to the ipod if someone calls me the ipod pauses and the headset switches over to the phone to answer the call. When the call is over it switches back to the ipod and resumes automatically. There are times though when the ipod doesnt pause. I just think switching back and forth automatically is huge plus for me.

3. I can control the ipod from the headset. By that I mean just play/pause and skip between songs.

Con
1. Even though the volume is just right, its at its Max. For me thats a con. It should be louder than I like just in case of very noisy enviroments.


I wanted to test this with my laptop but I recently installed Vista and the BT drivers have not been updated yet to work with Vista. I am still waiting on that so for now no word on that.


Not sure if Mark had this one charged but I started to use it at around 10am and I didnt charge it, no lectures on that. I used until about 4pm and it was still going strong. From 12:30-3:30 it was being used with the ipod so it was non stop on the playing music department. I would like to thank Mark for the oppurtinity to own the headset before its release. Also for you city folk, delivery from the boonies (Alabama) does take an extra day

Mark, that "Un-Identified" feature switch, I found the manual and what it is. I was dying to know as well. Basically if its to the left then it could only connect to one device, your phone. Switch to the right then it connect to multi devices. Basically to listen to music from another device, like an iPod.

Here is the download for the manual

SE HBH-DS970 Manual


Also to add to my mini review.

Works great when connected to a PC. Also I have been asking people how I sound and they said I sound perfect. Didnt even realize I was using a headset. This might be the everyday headset for me. We will see if the wired part bothers me or not in the long run, so far I dont mind it.