The Logitech Z906 Surround Sound speakers come from a long line of successful speakers released by Logitech over the past decade. The Z906 have some significantly large boots to fill, since the Z5500 were a spectacular set of PC speakers released 6 years ago. So let’s see if new Z906 speakers live up to our expectations.

6 Speakers

The 5.1 speaker system is THX certified, so rest assured there’s some level of audio quality that’s good enough for large rooms. Speaking of which, at 500W (RMS) the entire setup is powerful enough to rock any mid-sized room. Each of the satellites is rated at 67W, while the 8-inch subwoofer itself takes 165W of that power to pump out a very decent amount of bass. Of course, that all depends on the position of the subwoofer in the room.

Like most PC based speaker systems, it’s the subwoofer that takes all the inputs. While normal for such class of speakers, I was actually a little disappointed that the input ports were not in the main control panel. Although, to be fair, the control panel is rather slim and lightweight, so it would’ve been awkward to have so many wires coming out of it, but more on that later.

Connections

On the rear panel we have the place for 5 separate audio sources. Input “1”is for PC, “2”is for RCA, “3 & 4”are Optical and “5”is Coaxial. Apart from that all the 5 speakers and the control unit also plugs into the back of the subwoofer, along with the power being routed through it as well.

The 5 speakers look the same, except the rubber feet on the center speaker are on its side, which is the orientation it’s meant to be kept in. Each of the speaker also has a small hole for you to plug in stands or wall mounts if you so desire. I will say the speakers look rather bland. There’s no sense of excitement, they’re simply designed to be functional, not evoke any other emotion. And this is sadly the case with the entire Z906; nothing looks great, just good enough.

Central Console

Coming down to the central console, as I mentioned earlier it doesn’t have any sort of input; its primary purpose is to show you which source is being played and how it’s being decoded. Depending on your input source, you can have natural Dolby Digital 5.1, direct DTS or 3D Stereo (upconverted from 2-channel sources). There are two more options where you can upconvert from normal 2-channel sources; being 4.1 and 2.1.

Another cool feature of the central console is to show which of the 5 speakers are currently active, so you know what decoding process is being used. This also helps when tuning the speakers (adjusting the volume level of each), although, that’s easily done because only one speaker a time is being played when tuning.

Setting Up

Setting up the system depends on how many inputs you’re going to connect and how large your room is. The supplied cables are 6 feet for each of the satellite speakers, and depending on how well hidden you want them, the setup process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to over half an hour.

Once setup, the only thing left to do is adjusting the volume on each channel, which takes barely 2 minutes. After that select your source and you’re good to go. The only thing you need to be mindful of is the decode selection. Obviously your Bluray player, consoles and PC have 5.1 and DTS decoding built-in, so need to worry about that. Any 2-channel source, like your TV for instance, needs to be used with the 3D decode method to get full virtual surround sound. This is where things can get a bit spotty, as the surround speakers output 2-channel upconverted sound in a somewhat muffled and muddy way. But that’s to be expected given the low fidelity of the source.

The Sound

Coming to actual audio in 5.1 or DTS format, this is where the Logitech Z906 truly shines. Everything is crystal clear, with the satellites speakers packing a nice, punchy bass themselves. Of course the subwoofer provides the vibrating boom you’d expect. I was genuinely surprised at the audio quality and how high the audio can go without the sound ever cracking. Then I remembered they were THX certified, so of course the experience would be nothing less than stellar.

If you’re a fan of Logitech speakers and have used them in the past, or just want to upgrade your existing setup, the Z906 present a great opportunity. Sure they may not look as flashy as some other speakers out in the market, but they are simple to use and easy to setup. The sound quality is really impressive and hooking up to 6 sources is definitely a big advantage in today’s world where we want to connect all of our consoles and media players to on source.

The Sennheiser HD 429 is one of those standard all round daily usage headphones you can take everywhere and use with all of your modern devices without needing specialized equipment. Looking at it from the outside, it seems simple, but reassuring in its size and build quality. Indeed the experience, once you put them on your ears, is equally impressive, so let’s take a look at the HD 429 in more detail.

Taking a closer look, the Sennheiser HD 429 has an all black plastic body with leatherette cushioning on the headband and the circumaural ear cups. The headband itself has a respectable amount of extension, while the ear cups pivot on both the X and Y axis, allowing for an incredibly easy fit.

On the outside the ear cups have a rubber textured finish with the Sennheiser logo imprinted in bold white. Inside the leatherette cushioning easily sits over the ears to give you sound isolation from background noise.

And then there’s the 10 ft. cable that extends from the base of the left ear cup. In all honesty I wish that Sennheiser would have either allowed for dual cable options like on the HD 439 (4ft and 10ft.), or at least chopped off the length somewhat, perhaps to 6 ft. At 10 feet, the HD 429’s cable is uncomfortably long, especially if you’re planning to use it with your smartphone or any other MP3 player you’re going to keep in your pockets. And unless you bunch the cable with a rubber band or metal wire, they will likely get entangled into a messy puzzle which will take you a good 3 to 4 minutes to get rid of.

Putting on the HD 429 you do get some sound isolation, but not much, because the leatherette cushions are a bit too thin for such a heavy duty job. This means that if you’re planning to use the HD 429 in a public place, especially somewhere like the Metro, you really have to crank up the volume.

With a frequency response of 18 – 22k Hz, the Sennheiser HD 429 provide very clear and distortion free sound. The dynamic range from the highs to the mid-range is very clear and pleasant. The bass, however, surprisingly underperforms with a rather flat response. You honestly have to use an equalizer in your device of choice to be able to push the 40mm neodymium dynamic transducers to give you an adequate level of bass.

At the end of the day if you can live with the extra long cable and don’t mind the low bass response (unless you use an equalizer or external amp), the Sennheiser HD 429 provide exceptional audio quality for the money. They’re comfortable, easy to use and just a pleasure to listen to.

The recently launched Monster iSport Immersion headphones are designed for those people who have an active lifestyle; working out in the gym, going for jogging, playing sports, etc. So basically not me. However, for the sake of this review I decided to give some of those things a try, to better test out Monster’s claims.

The Monster iSport Immersion come in a box that looks like some pharmaceutical product, like a heartbeat monitor or blood sugar level reader. Despite Monster’s best intensions, having some surfer dude on the cover with some woman on a treadmill doesn’t give the iSport an attractive look. Judging a book by its cover is never a good thing, but I guess in this case we can make an exception.

Design

So the Monster iSport’s main highlight is the ‘SportClip’ mold that fits the in-ear headphones snugly in your ear. The idea is that the SportClip will fit with just enough force that while moving around, the earphones won’t pop out. They have provided 5 different ear sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL) for both the SportClips and the in-ear pads.

You’d think that given this much variety I would find something that fit my ears, but sadly that was not the case. No matter which sized SportClip I tried, nothing fit no matter how much I fiddled around. The earphones just kept on slipping out as soon as I started moving about. Eventually I had to use the iSport without the SportClip; just using them like any other in-ear headphones.

There is a secondary level of customization with the Monster iSport, in that the ‘OmniTip’ nozzle swivels around for further directional control. An interesting idea that, especially given the target audience and how much they would want having a proper fit of the headphones.

The last important point about the Monster iSport is the ControlTalk in-line remote control, although this is a common feature in most earphones targeted towards iPhone users. Basically the in-line remote has volume controls as well as play/pause button. Holding the play/pause button will activate voice control on iPhone 4, or Siri on iPhone 4S.

Usage

Unfortunately, the in-line remote control, thick as it is, turned out to be very irritating when I wore shirts with collars. The height of the ControlTalk down the left earphone’s cable was designed to be just near your mouth; sadly this is also the place where the in-line remote would continuously graze against my collar so that every time I turned my head around the cable would snag.

There are two things that I really appreciated about the Monster iSport Immersion headphones. The first was the flat cable that allowed me to easily wrap the iSport around my iPhone 4. Turns out these cables don’t get tangled up like pretty much any headphones I have ever used. Well, not much anyways.

Audio Quality

The second thing I really liked about the Monster iSport was the audio quality itself. Having just plugged in the earphones without the SportClip I had decent sound isolation, I can only imagine that with the SportClip the effect would be better.

As far listening goes, I can say that pretty much every genre sounded good on the Monster iSport. From the highs to the lows, the sound was powerful and filling. Although I won’t go so far as to say that the audio was as crisp with a deep bass, as is the case with the Sennheiser Adidas CX 310 Originals.

It’s hard to recommend the Monster iSport Immersion headphones unless you get a chance to try them on. Without the SportClip, the iSport is just another pair of in-ear headphones of which there are many others, and better verities out in the market. If the earphones do fit you properly (move around a bit to make sure) and the slightly off placement of the in-line remote control is not an issue, then the Monster iSport headphones are a good buy.

In this generation of mp3 players, streaming radio stations and headphones that make you look like a Martian, I’m glad that there’s still a company that believes in manufacturing some good quality stereo systems. Panasonic have recently revealed a range of high quality and compact stereo systems for those who still believe in enjoying CDs as a way of winding down. I’ve been given the task of checking out the Panasonic SC-HC37 stereo system to see just how it measures up. In short, my office was a 90’s disco for about 2 hours last evening.

Panasonic have always had a sharp eye on producing devices that not only look good but also function well in the home environment. The SC-HC37 is no exception, exuding a sleek and stylish appearance and almost blending into my desk where I had set it up. The entire unit is very stylish in appearance, with a shiny piano-black finish and a light grey automatically sliding glass panel in the front that hides the CD tray. What’s delightful about this unit is that it also has a hidden iPod / iPhone dock in the front, as well as support to play music through a hidden USB port at the top. You get a tiny remote control with some basic options on it, which I’ll come to later on. At the top are a series of buttons that replicate most of the commands on the remote control such as switching between the CD, iPod, and FM modes, as well as volume control and skipping tracks.

One of the neat features is how the front panel slides away to allow you to load in a CD or an iPod – if you’re loading a CD it slides to the left, if you’re attaching an iPod it slides to the right. Furthermore, when accessing the iPod dock, the panel slides back and the iPod dock slides out, just begging for your iPod or iPhone to be plugged in. I found the dock base to be a bit wobbly at times, but I think this was done intentionally in case you inserted the iPod in too roughly.

Choosing a mix CD of songs from Guitar Hero, the music quality from the SC-HC37 is absolutely breathtaking. Both bass and treble are reproduced faithfully thanks to the nano-sized bamboo speakers concealed behind the glass fittings. From rock ballads to soft piano music, ever note flowed effortlessly out without distortion. My only quip is there didn’t appear to be any shuffle or repeat mode on the remote control or the player, so you’ll need to press play again if you want to replay a CD when it finishes.

Switching to the iPod mode instantly turns your iPhone or iPod display on, but if your device is locked then good luck – you won’t be able to browse your library until you eject the dock, unlock the iPod, and then put it back in. This is of course down to Apple programming and is nothing against the SC-HC37. You can use the up and down arrows on the remote to choose either songs, albums, or artists to scroll through, and then play the song you wanted. It’s enough when you just want to skip through tracks or pause the music, but anything like queuing songs or searching for tracks will require you to eject the iPod dock and get hands-on with your iPod. Lastly, there’s an FM mode that is activated if you hook up an FM antenna to the back of the device. There was very faint static in some of the radio stations I tuned in, but I’m putting this down to the crappy reception in my office.

As mentioned before, the unit sounds absolutely brilliant thanks to the Direct-Vocal Surround technology, and is more than capable of producing enough volume for an average-sized living room. If you so desire, the unit can also be wall mounted for an ultra-sleek look, but just be a little extra careful with ambitious people who want to rush over and plug in their own iPods. In short, the Panasonic SC-HC37 is a sleek stereo system with a big set of lungs, and will blend in stylishly with almost any room it’s placed in.

I’ve come to realize that there are few things in life I hate more than untangling cables, specifically headphone cables. Whenever I grab my iPod I spend a good couple of minutes weaving in and out in an attempt to make sense of this matted web of wires. The same goes for my phone’s hands-free; I prefer not to look like I’m on an episode of Star Trek with an in-ear Bluetooth headset permanently embedded in my ear, so I go old fashioned with a cabled one. So naturally I was intrigued when I got my hands on the Jabra Halo2, a sleek and lightweight Bluetooth headset that was just begging to be ‘paired up’.

Jabra have been known for producing quality headsets and car speakerphones, so the Halo2 borrows much of Jabra’s signature build quality and design. The headset comes in a sleek black finish with smooth silver edges near the ear pieces. From afar it almost looks like you’re wearing a hair band, in part due to the device’s slim appearance. The inside of the Halo 2 is lined with velvet and felt, which helps to cushion the device when you’re wearing it, preventing it from pressing down too hard on your ears. Sadly the velvet lining is a magnet for dust and dirt, and heaven help you if you’ve even got a slight case of dandruff.

Jabra have kept the Halo2 as simple as possible – there is a button on the right ear cup which lets you answer or reject calls, and you can slide your finger up and down the side to adjust the volume or double-tap to change tracks. There are two small indicators on the inside that indicate the battery status as well as Bluetooth connectivity, along with a cleverly concealed micro-USB port for charging and connectivity. Switching off the headset is as simple as folding it up again, making it ultra portable and easy to carry around. My only concern was that though the headset build quality was excellent, I was a bit worried about the hinges where the devices folds up. I think that if you’re in a hurry to pack up the headset, you might just damage it, so I would exercise caution when packing it away.

The beauty of the Halo2 is how ridiculously easy it is to set up and use. By simply unfolding the headset the device turns on, and can be instantly paired with any Bluetooth device. Even if you don’t have a Bluetooth phone or mp3 player, the Halo2 includes a handy cord that connects the micro-USB port to a standard 3mm jack. You can also connect the headset to a PC USB port using the provided cable to instantly turn the Halo2 into a pair of high quality stereo headphones, without the need to connect to your PC’s audio port.

So the Halo2 may look great, but how did it sound? Well here’s where things were a bit flat for me. While the headset does sit quite comfortably on your head, there’s a good amount of sound that can be heard by anyone standing close to you, which is a bit disappointing. And even with the volume on my iPhone and the headset set at max, it wasn’t as loud as my in-ear headphones, but to be honest I don’t think that many people will be walking around with their music at full blast. I skipped through several tracks from classical music to rock, and found that the Halo2 was able to playback all of them without any loss in quality; the only exception is that the bass wasn’t as prominent as I would have liked it to be.

Connecting the Halo2 to my phone to make a few phone calls, I found that I was able to hear my caller properly, but they were having a bit of difficulty hearing me at times, especially when there was a sudden strong gust of wind and the headset decided it would be great to replay that blowing noise in the background. Battery life is quite good, clocking in at just under seven hours of non-stop usage on a full charge, connected to my iPod and Blackberry simultaneously. The micro-USB connector on the headset gives it an advantage that you’ll no doubt be able to find someone with a USB cable or charger nearby in case you need a recharge.

The Halo2 is a decent bit of kit, but it’s not going to blow you off your feet. While it does give a fairly respectable run as a pair of stereo headphones, there are slightly better headphones available on the market that can shine just as brightly. Add to that the fear that you quite possibly might break the thing in two if you’re not careful, and you’ve got a headset that while compact and lightweight, has a little further to go to become a complete success. If you’re looking for a portable wireless no-fuss headset, than the Jabra Halo2 will no doubt please you. If you want something a little more hardcore, then give this one a miss.

World renowned audio and video manufacturer Bang & Olufsen showcased three new products this weekend at the Big Boys Toys exhibition in Dubai.

The first was their Beolit 12 Portable Sound System with Airplay support. This tiny sleek box provides a total of 120 watts output power with a 2.1 stereo system, 2 x 2″ tweeters and 1 x 4″ woofer. Despite its small size, the unit is capable of some powerful performance that can easily fill a mid-sized room.

Also on show was the BeoVision 12, the company’s latest 65″ plasma TV. With a design that just oozes sophistication, the BeoVision 12 offers a discreet and slimline appearance while still providing a perfect surround sound experience thanks to an integrated centre channel loudspeaker directly underneath the screen. This was the first time the TV was making its debut, and it wowed people with its stunning looks and picture-perfect quality.

But clearly the show-stealer was the massive BeoVision 4 TV coupled with the intelligent BeoLab speakers. The massive TV clocked in at nearly AED 580,000, so start saving now. The BeoLab speakers were absolutely phenomenal, and are capable of running a series of initial tests to optimize sound performance no matter what kind of room they are set up in. It does this by emitting a series of low frequency sounds and then picking them up with a retractable microphone. The system even detects what kind of floor surface the speakers are placed on, and compensates accordingly to provide a true cinema experience through just two speakers.

The system was also paired with the Kaleidescape system, which allows you to store your Blu-ray and DVD collection on a central server, which then allows the content to be accessed through various rooms in the house. The difference is that the system takes a legal digital copy of the disc you insert, and will only play back the content if the original disc is in the system. Essentially you are encouraged to just insert your discs and then completely forget about them. The system also integrates with an iPad app that provides full control for your audio and video as well as other appliances such as lighting.

With the Monster brand name, people have two things in mind: great quality and great (as in, not really) price. And the Clarity HD Model One speakers certainly live up to that legacy.

As the name suggests, the Clarity HD Model One were designed for clear sound reproduction across all spectrums, with the idea to make any genre sound good. Apart from great acoustics, though, Monster also designed the Clarity HD Model One to have easy connectivity with a myriad of personal and professional audio devices, as well as ease of use.

So let’s start things off with the packaging and see what we get inside the box. Apart from the two speakers, there are two power cables with different socket pins. The power brick is built inside the right speaker itself, so all you need is one thin wire plugged into an electrical outlet. The left speaker draws power and audio source from the right one, so there’s a thick DIN cable that’s roughly 15 feet long.

Then there are 5 iPod, iPod Touch and iPhone compatible brackets that allow you to connect your choice of iOS device easily on top of the right speaker. Finally we have the miniscule remote control which is mostly useful for just powering on/off the Model One, apart from volume control. The playback controls only come into effect when you have an iOS device connected to it, though.

The bookshelf sized Model One measures 16 x 9 inches, and weighs about 5 kgs each. However, the speakers actually felt lighter than that, thanks to the perfectly placed inlay handles on top. Apart from just requiring two cables, the handles make the Clarity HD Model One the most portable bookshelf speakers on the market.

Now as far as connectivity and controls go, the Model One have it all covered. As mentioned earlier, the top of the right speaker has the Apple connector dock, which is used to connect any iPod and iPhone for music playback. The power and main volume control are just in front of the Apple dock.

Behind the right speaker we find the majority of connection ports. There’s a standard 3.5mm input jack, a pair of stereo RCA inputs, and finally ¼” TRS connectors to directly plug in your musical instruments.

Move to the top and you’ll see the port for the optional Streamcast Bluetooth adapter, which has a built-in AAC decoder and is aptX compliant as well. While not available for sale right now, the Streamcast Bluetooth adapter will allow superior Bluetooth audio playback from devices up to 30ft away.

Just above the wireless adapter is the High Frequency dial which allows us to switch the 1-inch dome tweeters’ response from -2db to neutral to +2db. For the most part I was happy with just the neutral setup, but for movie watching I would recommend -2db as the high frequencies don’t interfere with vocal tracks.

What sets the Logitech apart, however, is that it can quickly ‘switch over’ from being a desktop headset using wireless connectivity, to a Bluetooth headset, which can then be paired with a smartphone or a tablet device. But is it a ‘one headset to rule them all’ then?

Design
Call me spoiled, but I find the Logitech h800 extremely bland and boring. In fact, its appearance is quite deceptive, and can be taken as one of the knock-off brands if not for the properly spelled ‘Logitech’ sticker on the sides.

That’s not to say it does not serve its purpose. The Logitech holds all of its controls on the right ear cup, with the volume rockers, play/pause and the microphone mute button embedded on the center. The inner right-edge has a switcher that changes the headset’s connectivity from wireless and Bluetooth, and a slider to change sound tracks if you are using a media player. The controls might seem crammed but they are quite evenly spaced out and are intuitive to use. If you have used similar headsets before, you shouldn’t have much problem adapting to the Logitech’s ways.

The Logitech h800 also have found a very innovative place to hide the microphone, which is straight under the right ear cup. While we still prefer the Steelseries’ hide-it-inside-the-earcup way of doing it, the Logitech design is functional and works quite well. Unfortunately, the microphone does not auto-mute when it’s shoved back up, the lack of which can be potentially dangerous if you happen to forget to do it yourself. So thread carefully, you must.

Comfort
I usually find the on-the-ear design to be painfully uncomfortable. The ear-cups lay flat on your ear, and the padding has to be just sturdy and soft enough to not hurt. The Roccat Kulo and the Asus HS-W1 failed in doing so and I had little hope from the Logitech h800 to be any more comfortable. It certainly didn’t look to be, at least.

The Logitech are comfortable, surprisingly. It doesn’t claim to have the softest, highest-quality premium padding. It just uses basic foam material on its cans and the headband, and I have to say, it fits in snugly. It does heat up after a while, but that’s normal given that headsets don’t float in the air. Yet.

Performance
The Logitech h800 switches between wireless and Bluetooth connectivity quite smoothly, allowing you to ping-pong between your PC and your music player easily. There is a bit of a delay between picking up connections, but that can be chalked up to a limitation of the technology than the headset itself.

The h800 is a general purpose headset and provides adequate power and performance for its purpose. For music, the headset is quite loud and clear, but lacks the fulfilling, wholesome punch that premium sound drivers provide. My test tacks consisted of various Hindi movie songs, ranging from mild-rock to full-on bhangra to what can be best described as ‘masala-pop’ music. The sound felt compressed and hollow, with the treble falling flat on most occasions. The bass was muddy and sometimes overly done, giving more hollowness to the soundscape.

For gaming, I tried it on two experts – Counter Strike 1.6 and Modern Warfare 3. Here, too, it felt weak, with many effects being ‘left out’ or ‘buried’ under the more prominent ones. It provided decent positioning feedback in Counter Strike, however. Not ‘surround’ by any means, but did the job just fine defining between left and right, which was good enough for my experienced fingers.

Conclusion
For appox. AED 380, the Logitech h800 are a decent buy, especially since it can negate the need to have multiple devices for your music player and your PC. It does lack power but is adequate enough to be a portable solution that is sturdy and can last a good number of hours before it needs a recharge.

Celebrity branded headphones are nothing new, with Dr. Dre’s Beats Audio headphones being one of the most popular example.  Recently, the Marley Family announced a line of headphones inspired by the legendary artist’s vision of “One World, One Love”. As such, the headphones are designed with recyclable materials, and proceeds from the sale of all Marley’s products go to the 1Love.org charity. Of course, special attention is also paid to the sound quality as well.

Now let’s get down and dirty with the Positive Vibration on-ear headphones. The first thing you’ll notice about the Positive Vibration is how colorful it looks, a really standout design from the plethora of headphones out there.

You can see a lot of Reggae and Jamaican influence in the design aesthetics, with the colorful cloth headband and braided cable. There’s a lot of vibrancy (no pun intended) to the headphones; they feel special in that easy-going, focused on simple music kind of way.

Looking more closely, or at least when handling it, the Positive Vibration feels very stiff; as if all these materials were simply glued together without secondary thought to comfort. The only adjustments you can make are the earcups which can be extended up or down on metal clips. There are no indents, so you’ll always end up guessing the right length at which the headphones fit on your head. The earcups themselves are foldable, so that they can be easily transported in the supplied pouch.

Each of the earcups is connected using a visible springy coil in colorful orange, further adding to the unique appeal of the Positive Vibration. The braided cable itself is fairly thick and straight, making it one of the least tangle-able cables I have seen on headphones. The 3.5mm gold plated jack itself has a very low profile, making it excellent for connecting to smartphones that have their audio out jack at strange angles.

Bluetooth headsets are quite cheap and widely available nowadays, but they don’t seem to be very popular as you would expect in this part of the world. However, Jabra’s new Supreme headset might help tip the scales in favor of safer driving. The Supreme comes in a box with the headset readily on display, and despite its bulky looks it is quite light. The reason why it’s so bulky is probably due to all the technology thrown into headset, and it certainly is one of the most advanced I’ve ever used. Taken from the Jabra website the Supreme comes with the features listed below:

• Active Noise Cancellation technology removes ambient noise for the user wearing the headset
• Noise Blackout™ 3.0 dual microphone technology
• HD Voice* technology for superior sound quality
• Voice Control and Voice Guidance for hands-free operation
• Multiuse™ – Connects to 2 Bluetooth devices simultaneously
• Streams media with A2DP.
• Interchangable soft ear cushions for all-day comfort

The contents of the box include the headset itself, manuals, a wall charger, a microUSB cable, a car charger, 1 extra ear gel which is shaped differently to the default one for a better fit, and a larger ear hook for a better fit for those with larger ears. The ear hooks themselves can be worn for both left and right ears. While I liked the bundle I have a huge issue with the provided wall charger, it’s too short! It’s almost comical really; if I connected this to an actual wall socket the headset would be left hanging by the cable. The microUSB cable itself is short as well which can also be an issue when using the included car charger. On the whole those are the only real gripes I have with the bundle.

Turning the headset on is very simple, you extend the arm (the long stick thingy) and you will hear a female voice telling you it’s “on”. Initially it will start in pairing mode and will give you instructions on how to pair your headset to your phone. The instructions are quite clear but generalized. It expects you to know how to activate your Bluetooth and how to search for the headset. Once your phone finds it, you will either be asked to enter the headset’s passcode (which is 0000) or it will automatically connect. It will tell you that it is connected and subsequently whenever you turn your phone’s Bluetooth on and have authorized the headset to connect automatically, that same female voice will tell you so.