Customer Reviews
Uncomfortable, lousy sound 
2008-10-02
I really wanted to like these but ended up returning them. First, they cauliflowered my ears....ouch!! But the real deal killer was the sound...normally I would say, "Hey, not bad". But I also have a pair of Plantronics 590Es that I bought 2 years ago. Yikes!! The Plantronics utterly destroy these Sonys...the Sony equalization is a disaster that ruins your music...I think they are doing high frequency filtering like Dolby B noise reduction. Nevermind that the Plantronics are also almost 1/3 the cost. So I ended up ordering another pair of Plantronics. Funny, I have had bad luck with Sony headphones over the years....they want too much for this kind of junk.
Solid handsfree headphones 
2008-09-20
I hemmed and hawed for months trying to decide on a pair of Bluetooth Headphones. I listen to Rhapsody all day at work and wanted to stream audio from my laptop to the headphones. I had been using corded headphones and got tired of dragging the cord around. I only wish that I had bought these headphones sooner. I opted for the Sony's and not the el-cheapos because I wanted them to sound great and work well. These headphones certainly do that and I am not disappointed. My biggest complaint about these headphones is that you cannot use them while they are charging.
The Good-
Comfort:
I prefer over-the-ear headphones because the sound is superior to over-the-ear. The headphones are very lightweight and comfortable. I wear them everyday for several hours.
Sound:
The sound from these headphones is amazingly good. I am very, very picky about audio quality and at least when the headphones are in high quality transmit mode the quality will be hard to discern from wired headphones. I think this is because the quality of most laptop headphone jacks is the limitation. I do occasionally get skipping when I work in the lab (lots of high frequency RF around). And the range in high quality mode is good but not great.
Microphone:
You can use these with your cell phone and the mic is ok. My voice sounds a bit processed and computerized.
Pairing:
Pairing is easy and supports multiple devices. I have my headphones paired to my cell phone, my PS3, and my laptop.
The Bad-
Windows support sucks as usual:
The biggest bad is not really a Sony issue but a Microsoft issue
(surprise!). If you want to stream audio to these headphones from your PC, you will have problems. It turns out the the Windows (XP or Vista) driver does not support streaming audio via Bluetooth (how typical for MS). You need a driver that has A2DP support(Advanced Audio Distribution Profile). So if you want to stream audio you need to pay for a 3rd party driver (19Euros ~$30). I bought mine from BlueSoleil and it works ok. I had to pay for the driver in Euros which sucked. So if you are on a budget and want to stream from your PC, you'll need to factor in the driver cost to ANY Bluetooth headphones you buy. Sure would be nice if Sony provided a driver with the headphones.
Buttons:
The buttons are a bit clunky to use. I haven't yet gotten the hang of the volume button. I don't use the file buttons and the file buttons are too close to the volume button. It's a bit annoying if something is too loud. It can take a while to turn down while you fumble with the volume button.
Other:
As I said at the top of the review, you can't use these headphones while they are charging. This is probably my biggest complaint. While battery life is decent, if you use them a lot, you will forget to charge them. It would be nice to plug them in and use them while they charge.
Overall-
Overall these headphones are great and I highly recommend them. The sound quality is good. They are easy to use and the battery life is decent.
Great for listening, terrible for speaking 
2008-07-30
I've had very poor performance when it's being used as a headset rather than as just headphones. Many times the person on the other end of the conversation will state that they can't understand what I'm saying.
When used to listen though, they're excellent. Comfortable padding, good audio response, etc.
Sony really should do something about the audio; something like the voice tube on the Plantronics could help a lot.
Wireless headphone with good sound quality 2008-07-27
This headphone is the first bluetooth device that convinced me that bluetooth can be truly useful. Wireless keyboard and mice did not really change the way I use the keyboard and mouse. This headphone did change the way I use headphones at home, office, coffeeshops and everywhere. I have many headphones, including Bose Quiet Comfort and some canal type earphones. I do appreciate the advantage of each product I bought, but this headphone is the one that I use the most often, and the one I take with me in my bag the most often.
If you are looking for a headphone with good sound quality but also with the convenience of wireless connection, this headphone is probably the best available product at this point. The sound conveys sensitive details as well as dynamic bass and rich vocals. It tends to be a bit bass heavy depending on the source, but it can be adjusted if your music player has an equalizer. I usually listen to music encoded in AAC or MP3 192 kbps or 256 kbps, but for these sources, I can use this headphone without noticing "degradation" compared to wired headphones. (This headphone is good enough to tell if the source file is 128 kbps with fairly high confidence.)
The wireless connection via bluetooth is pretty reliable as long as you are not too far and also there is no wall in between. The actual range seems to vary depending on the host device. However, there are some very occasional sound drops. The sound may drop or become choppy for a brief while but it comes back. It gives you blank silence without unpleasant noise.
The background noise level is pretty good. I can enjoy very quiet piano like Chopin Nocturne or Satie in good digital recording. The noise floor is certainly low enough to tell analog recording sources immediately.
The headphone is easy to use, but you probably need to open the booklet to see how to pair it with the device (push the power button for 7 seconds or longer). The pairing and setup with MacOS Leopard was very easy.
I think the strength of this headphone is the sound quality and convenience, and the "headset" function for telephony is inferior to some other headsets that are designed for that purpose alone. This is because the microphone is located right in the headphone, not by the mouth. Also, different modes of the bluetooth connection are used depending on whether "headphone" or "headset" function is used. For this reason, when you pair this device with a computer for "headphone" use, I recommend to ignore the headset use and pair the device just for the "headphone" function alone. This simplifies and reduces the confusion every time you use this headphone on the computer. Otherwise, when you choose the output audio device, the options for headset use keep coming up and this can be confusing and annoying.
This headphone frees me up. I can listen to music or podcast late at night and still clean up my room, fold laundry, lay on couch and read magazines, etc. Wired headphones, no matter how long the cord is, annoyed me enough to keep me at the desk. This is great for home, office and many other situations. I work in a photographic darkroom, where I have to walk around in a small, dark room with monotonous labor and lots of thinking in between. Music and podcast are essential material, but loudspeakers don't work very well because I walk around all the time, and there are noise sources like ventilation fans, an air conditioner, and running water. This headphone is great for darkroom work. I tried to put an iPod in my pocket and use wired earbuds but they were terrible. This headphone uses a head band that's tight enough for the headphone not to slide down while walking or light labor.
Another nice thing about this headphone is when working with a laptop computer in a library or a coffeeshop. The headphone cable between my head and the laptop is not a big deal but surprisingly annoying. Also, when the computer operates without a wire, it is so nice to use a headphone without a wire.
I also have several critical comments.
The headphone has controls for fast forward, rewind, folder/playlist, volume and power. In my view, the most important control is pause, but this is not easy to use without inadvertently touching other functions. The usability engineering is also not there--these control buttons are small and located very nearby, and they are very easy to hit by error. Ideally, volume, pause/play, ff/rew and folder controls should be located on different sides of the headphone so that blind operation can be done error-free.
The shape of the ear cups is too narrow oval and pinnae are pressed a bit. Bose Quiet Comfort is a bit more comfortable for long hours of use... (only if Bose QC were wireless...)
The charger is a proprietary one that comes with the headphone. Why not mini USB? Also, why doesn't the headphone function while the charger is plugged in? The headphone is completely turned off, not even in the standby mode, while the charger is plugged in. You'll have to turn it on and establish the connection with the device again when you take the charger off.
The headset functionality (with the microphone, but with a lower audio quality mode of the bluetooth connection) is probably a useless marketing gimmick. If I were to use this as a headset, I would need an external microphone that plugs into this headset. The internal microphone does a very lousy job.
I want this headphone with an active noise cancellation. This headphone blocks external sound a bit, but not as good as canal type earphones, and also not as good as active noise cancellation. This headphone would be a lot more useful with active noise cancellation, especially when using in subways/trains/busses, darkroom, and noisy offices.
Now, the next generation iPod touch and iPod Classic had better come with bluetooth.
Great for watching movies! 
2008-07-17
I purchased the Sony DRBT50 Stereo Bluetooth Headset in mid June, 2008. I have used it many times and have enjoyed it very much. I also purchsed the Sony HWSBTA2W Bluetooth wiresless audio transmitter/reciever at the same time. I installed the transmitter/receiver at the output of my stereo surround sound system so I can watch a late night movie without disturbing others in the household. It works great. There is no delay between the actors speaking and my hearing the words, which was one complaint/review I read before I purchased the headset, and this true for both DVDs and DirecTV movies as well, no delay at all. The range is great, about 30 feet unobstructed, less if there is a sheetrock wall. In my home I also have a wireless computer router and portable telephone in the 2.4 Ghz frequency range and so far have experienced no interference at all. The headphones allow you hear sounds and sound effects in the movies that I did not know were there before and are quite comfortable to wear for long periods(typical movie length). I can definitely recommend this set-up to anyone.
Great product and service. 2008-06-27
Sony's worldwide reputation for creating unique, attractive, high-quality, advanced technology products rests on a long line of innovations embraced by people from all walks of life. With a diverse product lineup serving a variety of lifestyles and industries, Sony continuously strives to introduce new products and technologies to meet changing market needs.PRODUCT FEATURES:Over band type wireless Bluetooth Stereo headset compatible with Stereo Bluetooth devices (A2DP) such as mobile phones;Mobile phone headset functionality with in-built microphone;Volume control and Skip tracks (FF/RW) on the headset;Complete cord free style;40mm driver unit capable of reproducing vocal and instrumental sound with vivid clarity;24bit DA converter for high quality sound;Luxury ear pads for comfortable fitting;Folder changing function for Walkman's connected with WLA-NWB;17 hours continuous playback time (600 hours on waiting time);Full battery charging in approx. 2.5 hours.
Outstanding Sound Quality 2008-06-22
I am a former musician and have spent a lot of time in recording studios. The sound quality of this headset is as good as most of the studio monitor headsets I have used. Plenty of volume and the range of lows and highs is excellent. I listen to everything from rock, country, jazz and classical. I also listen to a lot of latin music and many headsets don't handle the whole spectrum of music as well as these. I highly recommend these for anyone concerned about quality of sound. The range is great also. I can leave my Blackjack II in the living room and go anywhere in my place (a little over 1100 sq. ft.) with no loss of signal.
Compatibility Issues 
2008-06-06
Great sound when I could get them to work, and very lightweight. In the end I had to return them because they would not stay in stereo mode, but kept reverting back to mono. Not sure ift it was defective headphone or incompatibility with my cell phone.
Great Wireless iPod Headphones 2008-06-05
I bought this for my son to use with his ipod and he says it has the best sound of any headphones he has ever used. He has tried bose and said these are superior. You have to purchase the transmitter separately but it's worth it.
Yeah, it's OK 2008-05-31
Bluetooth will never bring you the sound quality of cable... This headset is comfortable but gets easily parasited in a work environment.
Not saying it's Sony's fault, but let's face it, we live in a wireless world and Bluetooth devices are very sensitive devices.
If you can, stick to a regular audio jack ah!
