Wireless Headphones with Iphone 5

By CW, 12 May, 2014

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hi,

I'm looking for a good quality wireless headphones with my iphone 5. Would anyone give me some recommendations?
I've browsed through the Apple store and found Beats Studio Wireless Over-Ear Headphones. Is it good and with quality stereo sound? Can it answer calls wirelessly? Any other suggested brands?

Thank you.

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Comments

By Elena Brescacin on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 14:53

hello
you talk about headphones so I'd suggest you Logitech h800 you may find them on amazon
they are very good headphones, working both Bluetooth and wireless through a USB small dongle on your computer.
you have a switch. Completely down, the headset is off. in the middle, it's bluetooth, extremely up, it's wireless (computer).
you have play-pause which works also as answer/reject calls, closing calls pressing the play-pause long
then you have mute microphone, volume up, volume down and prev/next track controls.
I find them the best headset I ever tried, it has a microphone that can be hidden behind the pad so it does not annoy you when you don't use it
unfortunately i found it for 100 dollars, maybe in some resellers you can find it less
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Headset-Tablets-Smartphones/dp/B005GTNZUM/

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 14:53

In all honesty, I have used quite a few headsets which are Bluetooth. My experience is that using an IPhone or IPad with anything less than Bluetooth 4.0 is essentially not usable.

Even when using Bluetooth 4.0 headsets, I have experienced a great deal of lag and unresponsiveness when compared to a wired headset.

I don't know if this is isolated to me. Believe me, I wish I could use a wireless headset. When I say I have tried a few, I mean I have purchased every major release over the past two years, tried it out, and returned them due to unusability.

One that was not too bad was the Anker Bluetooth 4.0 stereo headset. This is different than the one they are selling currently. The one I am referring to is a fully stereo headset (not mono). In that case, the lag was not so bad, but my smaller ears couldn't hold them in place.

The headset was unfortunately discontinued, but you can find it on Ebay. ANKER Bluetooth 4.0 stereo headset. What made it so usuable in my opinion was the implementation of APT-X which is used to send out more information between device and headset. You can find headsets with it, but not too many.

Hopefully, Bluetooth 4.1 can resolve my lag issues as its profile is meant to utilize a much wider band frequency pushing and pulling more data between device and headset.

Strangely, when using these headsets with a PC or MAC, there is no lag. That could be because computers usually use bigger (maybe more) antennas so the connection is more solid.

Another one I have been looking at is the LG Tone Ultra. This is very new and actually uses APT-X, but is regulated to Bluetooth 3.0.

As stated, maybe my issues are isolated to me. But the Anker was solid and the LG looks pretty good. so hopefully, beyond being wordy, this has helped in some way.

By dvdmth on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 14:53

I am also interested in a pair of Bluetooth headphones which I could use with my iPad. However, I have no idea how to find a pair that will suit my needs. I have been using a set of wired headphones for a few years now, and I am really happy with them, except for the wire. If I could find some Bluetooth headphones that are exactly like the wired set I have, only without the wire, then I would be happy.

The reasons I like the wired headphones I have are as follows: The band goes over the head instead of behind it, which I find to be much more comfortable, and I can also use them while lying down. The part that goes over the ears is also designed to be comfortable for long-term listening. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the sound quality is ver good for listening to music, especially for a model that only cost me about $30 to purchase.

As a birthday present, I received a pair of Bluetooth headphones, which excited me at first. I used them for a few days, then put them away and went back to the wired pair I have been using. The Bluetooth headphones I received were designed to go behind the head instead of over it, which I just could not get used to. They were also uncomfortable on my ears and had a tendency to slip down while I was using them. The sound quality, though decent, was nowhere near the level I was used to. Finally, there was a noticeable lag in the audio coming from the iPad, as well as a lag when pressing one of the buttons on the headphones themselves. These two lags combined to cause a delay of well over a second between pressing the Pause button and having the audio actually stop. I can accept some lag in Bluetooth, but not that much.

I would like to know if anyone here can suggest a Bluetooth model that will satisfy me. In summary, I cannot have a band behind my head, they need to be comfortable on the ears, they must sound great for music, and the latency needs to be as short as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions?

By Chris on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 14:53

Hello.

I am very interested i the Logitech H800 headset that was discussed here.
What does the quality of the headset microphone sound like when plugged into a mac or other computer with the USB receiver?
I'm pretty sure the bluetooth microphone sounds horrible, since bluetooth has to switch to that really low quality mode for microphone input that puts everything in mono and lowers the sample rate.
Speaking of bluetooth headphones for your iOS devices, I will just say if you want bluetooth headsets, don't use them as microphones because they're horrible as microphones both for listening and the actual quality of the microphone is really poor.
Anyway, I just want to know if the microphone on the h800 sounds pretty good when using the USB receiver.
Also, does the headset stay in stereo when using the microphone with the USB receiver.

Thanks.