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.

Our tipster also said that the headset fits directly into the charger, and when docked, the two look like a stone. Hence, Jabra Stone. The ultimate test, of course, is how well the Stone fits onto your ear, since that's where it counts. [Thanks tipster!]

Update: Here's a second pic from another tipster. Thanks guys!

Electric Pig says that the headset will have noise cancellation (as does many of the headsets out now), and it won't need a boom mic (again, same as a bunch of other Bluetooth units you can buy now). So what's special? Besides the "soft rubber padding", we have no idea until the 20th. [Jabra Stone via Electric Pig]

The 6400 has a standard Bluetooth range and looks exactly like a Bluetooth headset from Jabra, whereas the 9400 looks like a receptionist's headset that you can take around your house at up to a 450-foot range.

They both have dual-microphones for noise cancelation and both have the touchscreen to quickly switch between a cellphone, VoIP or landline connections. Both will be available later in the year for $200 each. [Slashgear]

There's not much difference in thickness from the earphones to the headband and there's only one noticeable button (the volume uses a capacitive touch strip. They don't foldup in the most graceful manner, but they don't feel like they'll break either. As for sound quality, Jabra wasn't demoing the tech, but being as small as they are, I wouldn't expect Sennheiser quality here.

The NOISE BLACKOUT feature on the JABRA HALO STEREO BLUETOOTH HEADSET allows you to vanish

loud patrons

around you, so you can communicate effectively while impressing cleverly. The headset warmly embraces Bluetooth 2.0/A2DP for most excellent music listening, and features touch controls so you can easily express salutations to others or explore the variety of your music library.

The lightweight 3 oz. folding design means you can also take these on the go, so you can easily impress cleverly from anywhere. If you're not clever enough for a wire-free experience, you can use a cord, though maximum impressiveness may decrease.

My proposition to you is for you to give me your bank info, so I can pull $130 dollars from your account, give it to Jabra, and I can deliver to you your very own JABRA HALO STEREO BLUETOOTH HEADSET so you can impress cleverly.

Jabra HALO stereo headset featuring Noise Blackout™ technology (MSRP: $129.99; Available: May 2009)

The Jabra HALO is a wireless Bluetooth stereo headset that allows users to enjoy wireless music and answer phone calls in crystal clear stereo sound. Featuring A2DP technology, the Jabra HALO gives users the ability to seamlessly connect to any Bluetooth music-playing device - and all 3.5 mm music playing devices - including mobile phones, Mp3 players, laptops, and TVs. In addition, ensuring that users won't miss phone calls while listening to music, the HALO fades out music to allow for incoming calls. The HALO features a lightweight (only 3 ounces!) over-the-head design with a foldable headband – small enough to take it wherever you go. The HALO also has the versatility to switch between wireless and wired connectivity if a device doesn't support Bluetooth stereo (A2DP) technology. The device also features Zirene® Power Bass for audio enhancement.

It also features Bluetooth 2.0 compatibility, the ability to connect to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously, 230 hours of standby, 8 hours of talk time, and 7 hours of music playing. Available for around $72. [Jabra via Newlaunches via Ubergizmo]

The musical combo can pair with more than one Bluetooth device simultaneously, so you can listen to your music from your PMP, whilst being confident you will not miss that important call about picking up more milk before you return home. The battery will supposedly allow 32hours of talk time, 26hours of speaker time and an unbelievable 600hours on standby.

That is all well and good, but did anyone at Jabra stop to think that this might not be such a great idea? Anything that serves as a headset probably is not going to be pumping out the kind of volume you would need in, say, a set of speakers. The reverse obviously stands too. Sure, Jabra may have thought of a way to control the sound output when in each form factor, but that has only occurred to me now and I'll be damned if I change this paragraph on account of the said revelation. The BT8030 will set you back a steep $235, at that price you could probably buy two independent devices that do each job better. Remember, more is better. (Specifically with regard to gadgets. This rule is not so apt when applied to life partners etc). [Technabob].

Jabra 2007 Innovations [Le Journal du Geek]

Jabra BT8010 Stereo/Mono Bluetooth Headset [slashgear]

The headset is pretty average. Push button answering and calling system, noise reduction, ear hook, included leather pouch and a Vertu-esque design. Doesn't look that bad, but I'm not one to wear Bluetooth headsets as a fashion statement—as long as it gets the job done I'm happy. – Travis Hudson

Vertu Aerius Bluetooth Headset [Sybarites]

This Bluetooth adapter can connect wirelessly to any Bluetooth stereo headset or headphones. It provides 10 hours of music streaming and 250 hours of standby time via a rechargeable battery. It will be available in August for $75. Travis Hudson

Jabra Bluetooth for Ipod coming in August [MobileMag]

Anyway, Jacob Jensen is the designer of this $180 bauble from Jabra, which is light as a feather, supports Bluetooth 1.2, and it will give you six hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby. Plus, you can either hang it from your ear or use the ear hook. Either way, you'll have the best-looking Bluetooth earpiece at the geekfest. – Charlie White

JabraJX10 - bluetooth headset [Fosfor Gadgets]

Slew of Jabra Bluetooth and Corded Headphones On Display At CTIA [Mobilewhack]

By the way, Jabra is also offering Bluetooth adapters for MP3 players including the A120s for players with 3.5 mm jacks, and the A125s for iPods.

CeBIT 2006: Jabra reveals new products for music lovers [Tech Digest]

This Bluetooth headset gives you six hours of talk time and (allegedly) 100 hours just sitting there waiting for a call. It's light, too, weighing little more than a half an ounce. Best of all, if you don't like any of the included patterns and colors, you can make your own covers at the Jabra Web site.

Jabra's colourful headsets arrive [Shiny Shiny]