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Page 2
Reference Sound of Cell Phones without the Headset
The reference sounds are provided to give you a basis for comparison against the Headsets (better or worse) and the quality of the recording equipment.
I have tested the HP HW6510 along with the Blackberry 7100t and the Sprint PPC-6700. I was curious how the handsets influenced the sound quality so I have taken the Flamingo and the Plantronics V510 and paired them with each phone and recorded audio from a quiet environment using each headset with the corresponding three handsets. The differences aren't great but they are noticeable. The interesting thing is that the two Microsoft OS phones are using two different Bluetooth stacks, the HW6510 uses the Broadcom/Widcom stack and the PPC6700 uses the MS WM5 stack. The Blackberry is using the latest version of its firmware, version: 4.0.2.49 that is supposed to improve the audio and uses Bluetooth 1.1 where the others use Bluetooth 1.2. Interestingly, to my ears, the PPC6700 gives the highest pitch to the voice and the 7100t has a slightly scratchy sound compared to the others. In sound quality, the HW6510 comes out on top. I'm not sure how much is due to CDMA vs GPRS, since CDMA voice quality is generally, not as good .
Sprint PPC6700
HP HW6510
Blackberry 7100t
Below are sound recordings of the built in Lexus unit, the Plantronics V510, the FlaminGo and the Plantronics M3000. All were recorded under nearly identical circumstances to test noise reduction capabilities. The Lexus recording was not made at highway speeds and one of the V510 recordings was similarly made nearly stopped. The others were made at 70 - 80 mph with the air conditioner on high on grooved pavement. All were transferred to the PC with identical setting and the same mic.
BMW
at 80 mph (new recording method used)
Lexus at 70 mph
Plantronics V510 Stopped
and slow
Plantronics V510 at 70 mph
flamingo
Stopped
flamingo
at 70 mph
Plantronics
M3000 Stopped
Plantronics M3000 at 70
mph
I think you will agree that the M3000 is the clear winner for road noise
reduction and the V510 is the clear winner for wind noise reduction.
The V510 is the over all winner when taking both into account. One item
that has recently been brought to my attention is ringer volume. The M3000
has the best ringer volume followed by the V510 and the flamingo has the lowest
ringer volume. The flamingo starts very softly and increases in volume
with each ring up to a maximum level. The maximum level is still lower
than the others. While I had no difficulty hearing it at even the low
initial level some users have complained about this.
|
Top Three Bluetooth Headsets July 2005 |
|||||||||
| Manufacturer/Model | Sound Quality | Noise Cancel | Wind Resistance | Comfort | Ease of Use | Build Quality |
Connect ivity |
Overall Score | Comments |
| Plantronics V510 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8.00 | Light & pocketable |
| Plantronics M3000 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6.86 | Heavy & uncomfortable |
| Cellpoint flamingo | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7.29 | Great on the neck lanyard |
| Scale 0-10 | |||||||||
| 0-3 Very Poor | |||||||||
| 4-5 Poor | |||||||||
| 6-8 Good | |||||||||
| 9-10 Excellent | |||||||||
Adding sound posts here so you don't have to search for them:
Plantronics
M3000
Tekkeon
ET2000
Bluespoon
AX
Bluespoon
AX-7100t
Bluespoon
AX-7250
BS Digital
BS
Digital-7100t
BS Digital-V3