Stream music files from your A2DP-supported phone over Bluetooth, and the receiver will pick it up, and play through the speakers you've connected via the supplied RCA or 3.5mm cables. It'll detect a Bluetooth-enabled phone from 33-feet away, and as it's only $50 it could solve some of your audio problems fairly quickly. No, sadly it won't label your iTunes collection properly. [iPodnn]

About a month ago, Jabra sent a little bag out to its regular reviewers. Inside was a stone—a literal, polished stone—and that was it. It was a cheesy PR stunt, the kind we see all the time, but when I got the headset itself, it made sense. The Jabra Stone, when docked, is a near-seamless pebble, broken only underneath, at the headset's hollowed-out ejection point. It's a stunning headset, actually, which sounds weird coming out of my mouth. (Or fingers! Who's counting.)

The Stone's specs are appropriate to its pricepoint: it'll pair in regular and A2DP modes for voice or music listening, respectively, has a minimalist status display, a noise-cancelling mic, volume controls—though here they're managed with a touch-sensitive shell rather than buttons—and a charging dock. The claimed talk time is two hours per charge, and the dock is good for three extra charges. Standby time is a respectable 12 hours 12 days.

And to be honest, aside from eking out a little extra battery life over competitors' products, there's not a whole lot a company can do to make a Bluetooth headset technologically interesting. What they can do, and what Jabra has done with the Stone, is focus on style and feel. Bluetooth headsets look dumb, and they're awkward to wear. The Stone is a headset designed with these thoughts in mind—it looks as not-dumb as a headset can; it feels as not-awkward as a piece of plastic in your ear conceivably could. It's self-conscious, almost embarrassed for what it is.

Long-term testing might bear out some initial concerns about battery life and the practical convenience of carrying around a slippery little battery rock, but my first impressions were uniformly positive. The Stone paired almost instantly with an iPhone, a Pre and a Hero right out of the box, sound quality was clear, and three ears of varying shapes and sizes found the angled earpiece plenty comfortable.

The Stone will be available at AT&T stores from November 8th, priced at $130 right alongside the Platronics Voyager. From the looks of it the Voyager edges out a win on battery life, but the fact that Jabra's put even the tiniest bit of sex into their newest piece goes a long, long way. [Jabra]

The Problem

Honestly, there are plenty of reasons to be uneasy about Bluetooth headphones: They run off battery power, so you need to be mindful of keeping them charged; they're often styled strangely to accommodate the necessary wireless hardware; they're more expensive than equivalent wired headphones; and most of all, they sound like crap. Or, so you've heard. You know, from other people, not with your ears. The colloquial "heard." Er, you know what I mean.

Perhaps even more than choosing the best Bluetooth headphones, the point of this little exercise is to figure out if A2DP, the technology, is even worth your time. After all, it isn't really worth going to the trouble and expense of untethering your headphones if they barely qualify as headphones. So first, some background:

The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile, or A2DP, is an umbrella term for the modern Bluetooth audio profile, meaning the standards by which Bluetooth devices send a receive audio. It complements the Headset Profile (HSP), which takes care of low-quality mono transmissions, like those to single-ear Bluetooth headsets, to provide the capability to listen to music without too much distortion. And that's the crux of the A2DP problem, both real and perceived: It's better than mono Bluetooth, to be sure, but is it as good as a wired headset? Or more realistically, is it close enough that it doesn't really matter?

Since A2DP audio is encoded and recompressed at the source, leading to (sometimes drastically) differing audio quality betwen devices, I paired a number of sources—an iPhone 3G, an HTC Hero, a unibody Macbook Pro—with a veritable stack of headphones to see if the end result, the sound that actually hits your ears, is worth the trouble. Here are the best five:

The Headphones

(Click the chart to enlarge)

Sony DR-BT50

Street Price: $125

The only cup-style headphones included in this roundup, the Sonys serve as a sort of reference for sound quality, features, fit and comfort. Also: impracticality. If you're planning on using a Bluetooth headphones as they're generally understood to be intended, you're probably not looking for bulbous headhuggers like this.

That said! They've got by far the bassiest, clearest sound of the lot, and the included controls, though they can take a while for your fingers to map out, are more complete than any others. Using these headphones is a joy compared to most others, but only in a situations where they're appropriate: Sitting on a sofa? At a PC? I don't really know. Whatever they're meant for, the lack of a USB charger corroborates the theory that they're not really intended to be that portable.

Far and away the best, most balanced sound; moderate noise isolation

Wider set of controls than any other headphones, but probably more than you need, or your handset even supports

They're too big to exercise or travel with

Motorola Motorokr s305

Street Price: $40

Something about this headset is immediately alarming. It feels cheap, it comes with very few accessories, it even looks a bit dated—it sort of feels like you've accidentally been handed a stray accessory, dropped out of a Motorola Rokr box, yearning to be reconnected to its parent phone. But seriously, give it a minute.

You could find plenty of things to complain about with the s305s, but hell, I just don't want to: With these cheap, stripped-down headphones, Motorola shows that they understand the draw of A2DP better than anyone else. They sound fine—solid mids, relatively clear highs, adequate bass—without sounding overequalized; their fixed fit works well enough on most heads, without sacrificing weight or durability; they connect with ease, and offer minimal, though adequate, controls; they charge quickly via USB, for a playback period that'll outlast any workout session. And most of all, they're very, very cheap.

Minimalist: easy to use and set up

They're gloriously cheap

It feels light in the hand and on the head; it also feels a bit flimsy

Jabra Halo

Street Price: $120

Nobody's going to dispute the Halo's stylishness, especially in this company—most of these headphones looks like they were designed in the late 90s (Why? No really—this doesn't make any sense) and many come in form-factors I haven't seen since I carried a Discman. For what it's worth, the Jabra's matte black, ultra-thin headband take on Bluetoothery is eye-catching, and there's nothing expressly wrong with it.

Nor is there anything terribly wrong with the sound: It's abundantly clear, though not very bassy—something that could be pegged as much on the sometimes awkward fit of the Halo's earpads as on their actual drivers. I had the most pairing issues with the Halo, but they all mysteriously resolved themselves eventually—par for the course with Bluetooth, and less of a concern than you might think, since one they're paired to a device, they're paired to a device. Controls, aside from volume, which relies on a jumpy touchpad on the earpiece, were simple and intuitive. The price, I guess, is the only real kick in the balls from Jabra's headphones: The street price is a hefty $120

HEADPHONES FROM SPAAAAAAAAACE

They're comfortable, and it's easy to forget you're wearing them

Too expensive for what you get

Logitech Freepulse

Street Price: $90

Logitech's gone all-out with the Freepulse, and you'd be hard pressed to find a hardware feature—aside from USB charging—that these things don't list on their spec sheet. They've got by far the most versatile Bluetooth transmitter, meaning that they can be paired with just about any device comfortably. Controls are subtly built into the earpieces, but once they've been explored, they're easy to reach and utilize during exercise.

I found the fit to be a bit strange, since these particular headphones, despite looking like a traditional wraparound headset, actually hang on your ears by means of floppy little rubber loops. They're secure enough, sure, but they don't exactly cram the drivers against your ear holes; hence lack of great bass. Oh and hey, no mic! These things aren't cheap, so, uh, what the hell?

Best Bluetooth transmitter of the bunch—fits just about any device

They fit everyone fine, but nobody particularly well

At this price, where's the mic?

iLuv i222

Street Price: $60

In a lot of ways, the i222 is a cheaper, newer equivalent to the Freepulse: Its design looks newer, albeit a little Bluetooth-headset-y, its feature set matches the Logitech's almost point for point, and, crucially, it has a mic, because almost every A2DP-enabled playback device is, let's face it, a phone.

Interestingly, the iLuv's battery life trumped even the most expensive headphones in my limited testing. My main cause for concern is a generally plasticky feeling: I can already see multiple areas of concern on the headset, and online reports go some way to confirming my worries about durability.

Tons of features for the price, including a Bluetooth transmitter

Build quality is a concern

Post-Game

If all these evaluations sound a little bit tentative, that's because they are. Each headset evaluation was underscored by a fundamental discomfort with A2DP because, well, it's not that good.

Don't get me wrong, it's better than I expected, and a far sight better than you might predict if you were weened on Bluetooth earpieces. But the sound is flat, lacking in bass range and sacrificing detail on higher tones. And even if these headphones are specifically tuned for playing back Bluetooth streams, the few that include direct line-in support, like the Jabra Halo, give you a ready-made comparison between wireless and wired sound. Spoiler: It isn't all that flattering for the ol' toof.

This casts A2DP headphones in a different light, not as a viable, wireless, futuristic alternative to regular headphones, but as a degraded, battery-hungry, expensive compromise. You buy them because you need something wireless—that's it. There's no other reason.

The Winner

As such, the headset I'm most comfortable telling people to buy is also the cheapest. There will be people who'll want something else—the Sonys are the best bet for, say, a PC gamer, and the iLuvs are an obvious choice if your music-listening devices don't actually support Bluetooth. But more than anything, I see A2DP headsets as a way to listen to music during a run, or on cable-averse exercise machines, as a way to listen to a charging device while you wander around a room, or as a way to merge your everpresent Bluetooth headset with your earbuds.

For this, the Motorola s305s fit the bill: They're light, functional and simple. They sound fine. They look OK. They sync with almost anything. They win because they do as much as you can ask of Bluetooth headphones, and they do it on the cheap.

I was really torn between which of these three are my favorite, because this one inspired by R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" is very special:

As is this Orca-colored pair for "Would You Be There," aka the Free Willy theme:

The contest received over 8,000 proposed song-inspired designs, and these were among the handful of winners that were actually made into working headsets, which are on display in Nokia's flagship store in London. More to be seen at: [CR Blog]

NWA-A720
• 4, 8 and 16GB
• Windows Media DRM compatible
• MP3/AAC/WMA/L-PCM audio
• h.264/MPEG4 Video
• 2.4-inch LCD
• Comes with EX-Headphones
• 36 hours of battery life

The NWA-A820 is exactly the same as the A720, but comes in a 16GB version with Bluetooth 1.3 A2Dp on board. The NWZ-A820K is also exactly the same as the A820, which includes the Bluetooth 1.3 A2DP streaming, but comes with a pair of Bluetooth headphones. However, the 820K is only available in an 8GB model.

SONY UNVEILS NOISE CANCELING AND BLUETOOTH WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY ENABLED WALKMAN VIDEO MP3 PLAYERS

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26, 2008 - Sony today unveiled three new Walkman® video MP3 models that for the first time in the United States support noise-canceling and Bluetooth® technologies.
All three NWZ-S710F, NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 Walkman® players also support common audio formats, including MP3s.
"Achieving the highest audio quality is one of our top priorities when designing our players," said Steve Haber, senior vice president of the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics.
High-Quality Audio and Video
The new Walkman® video players offer great video resolution and brightness, along with high-quality sound and an extended battery life. They come with Sony's EX series in-ear-buds with 13.5 mm drivers that passively block out ambient noise and help create a better listener experience.
Sony's clear audio technologies are also included and significantly improve sound quality when playing back digital music files. They fill in the high tones that can be lost during file compression, enhance the bass, minimize distortion and maintain a consistent channel signal.
The devices have a standard user interface that makes it easy to enjoy songs, videos or pictures. For exceptional image quality, the video players have a large Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) LCD screen that displays video at 30 frames per second. QVGA is a display mode for small screens in which the resolution is 320 pixels vertically by 240 pixels horizontally.
The battery life is up to 33 hours of music playback for NWZ-S710F models and up to 36 hours for NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 models. The battery life is also up to nine-and-a-half hours of video playback for the NWZ-S710F model and up to 10 hours for the NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820 models.
Integrated Noise-Canceling Walkman® Players
For business travelers or families who want to keep the volume down and the audio quality high, Sony has created the NWZ-S710F series of noise canceling Walkman® players.
These Walkman® players have a built-in noise-canceling system that can reduce up to 75 percent of the ambient noise. Five clear audio technologies are built into the device to create sound clarity that maintains the same quality of the original source.
Because the system diminishes intrusive noise, listeners can avoid turning up the volume. Travelers can turn on the noise canceling feature and get peace and quiet even without listening to music.
The compact and lightweight NWZ-S710 players have a 1.8-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). They include an FM tuner with 30 presets that make it convenient to listen to the radio on the go.
With or Without Wires
The NWZ-A720 series has a bigger 2.4-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). Incorporating the design ethos of both the previous A and S Series Walkman® players, these models have a slim body and a sleek industrial design.
With the same look and feature set as the NWZ-A720 series, the NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series adds Bluetooth® technology. This technology eliminates the inconvenience of wires while streaming tunes from the MP3 device to headphones or other devices with Bluetooth® technology. It also makes it easier to listen to music virtually anywhere, anytime: in the living room, bedroom, office or even outdoors.
These Walkman® players have a 2.4-inch QVGA (320 by 240 pixels) LCD screen (measured diagonally). For NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series, users can manually delete videos directly from the devices' internal memory without connecting to a PC.
For fitness enthusiasts, the NWZ-A820K Walkman® player comes bundled with both the EX-series earbuds and the DR-BT21G Bluetooth® wireless technology enabled headphones. With a wireless behind-the-neck style, the DR-BT21G stereo Bluetooth® headset has built-in remote control features that play, pause and forward tracks. Fully charged, this headset offers hours of listening to music, watching videos or hands-free talking while connected to a compatible cell phone.
These devices use Bluetooth® Stereo technology with Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) to deliver high-quality sound. The Walkman® players support multiple digital music devices and accessories, including headphones, headsets and speakers with Bluetooth® technology.
Consumers can check whether their Sony device is compatible by visiting www.sony.com/bluetoothstereo.
Sony's Open Platform Means More Choice
The Walkman® players support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online. The devices support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC, linear PCM and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.
The Walkman® video players store up to 3,800 songs on the 16GB models, 1,850 songs on the 8GB models and 925 songs on the 4GB models, for songs an average of four minutes in length at 128kbps in the MP3 format.
All of the new players are compatible with most subscription music services. The new players are Certified for Windows Vista, meaning they have passed a series of compatibility tests including Plays For Sure verification.
To help manage digital music libraries, the new Sony Walkman® video players come with Microsoft Windows Media Player 11. This familiar interface makes transferring music very intuitive.
Pricing and Availability
The NWZ-S710F series of Walkman® noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different capacities and three colors:
• The NWZ-S716F player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in silver, red and black and will cost about $150.
• The NWZ-S718F player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and will cost about $200.

The NWZ-A720 series of Walkman® video MP3 players come in three different capacities and two colors:
• The NWZ-A726 player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink; and costs about $150.
• The NWZ-A728 player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink and costs about $200.
• The NWZ-A729 player has approximately 16GB of internal storage, comes in black, and costs about $300.

The NWZ-A820 and NWZ-A820K series of Walkman® Bluetooth® wireless technology enabled video players will initially be available in the following configurations:
• The NWZ-A828K comes in black, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $270.
• The NWZ-A829 comes in black has approximately 16GB of internal storage, and costs about $320.

Presales have begun for the new Walkman® models online at www.sonystyle.com/walkman and at Sony Style stores. The players will be available in March across the country at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide.

Samsung announced that the PMP will actually receive three updates over the next four months. The first update is set for December and will include the Bluetooth 2.0 cell compatibility, as well as AAC playback. The second set of updates will be available in January and will feature games—titles TBA—and additional functions. The final update hits in March and will feature improvements that Samsung will decide based on market research. [Samsung]

As for regular call functionality, there's AudioIQ noise reduction on board, as well as a few custom earbuds sizes and additional hooks for customizaiton. It lasts up to 7 hours talk time, 5 hours of music listening time, 120 hours of standby, and weighs 10 grams (15 grams with the stereo cable). Price? $149 in October.

This is actually a pretty good idea, allowing you to look somewhat normal with the standard headset, but plug in when you want to rock out to music. Best of both worlds, you could say (if you wanted to be a dork and work in a reference to how Bluetooth headsets are Borg-like). [Plantronics]

Connect your iPod via a cable and it'll show you iPod menus and give you voice control over all your music. If you don't have an iPod, there's a 3.5 mm stereo jack to plug in any MP3 player. Neat stuff, and a great way to avoid those awful FM-based iPod-to-car-radio links. No pricing or availability yet. – Charlie White

Product Page [ALAC GmbH, via BlueTomorrow]

Finally, Wireless Speakers for the Enthusiast [TrustedReviews]

– Louis Ramirez

Sony CMT-U1BT [via SlashGear]

You'll probably feel like a tool wearing this in the car—not to mention that it may be illegal and unsafe to cover up both your ears while driving—but the headset is useful at home or in the office.

Available later in August for $139.95.– Jason Chen

Product Page [Plantronics]

Press Release [PR Newswire]

The R35 has playback controls right on the Bluetooth receiver for volume, play, pause, and next/prev track. The end of it works as a clip so you can fasten it to your shirt, tie, pants, or nipple. The R35 has six hours of playback time and 150 hours of standby, plus it's available in black or white to accessorize to your phone. Grab it from Korea for 89,000 KRW ($93). – Jason Chen

i.Tech to present clip-type Bluetooth stereo/mono headset [AVING via Mobile Mag]