|
I ordered the Blue Ant X5i from Shopcell - an Amazon market place vendor. I highly doubt their product warranty means anything to them or - or even if they will stand behind it. - send it back to the seller.".When I mentioned the description says - brand new and it arrived in new packaging his answer didn't change.
My first step was to call "BLUEANT" customer support (North America). Then I asked about their product warranty - I even have a product warranty card - he said, "call the seller first or return it to them.". While the product was delivered promptly enough, alas - it wouldn't even switch on.
At this point - it became pretty obvious that he'd lost all interest in the call and wanted to just get me off the phone. After a moderate wait I was able to get a live support rep. We went over diagnostics, but within the first minute of the call, his question was "How much did you pay for this product.".When I answered $30 on Amazon.com - his response was " Must have been refurbished.
What kind or condescending product support/warranty is this - product support has no business asking about product price. Their product support and brand standards are probably just like their product - substandard and indifferent
The headphones aren't as comfortable as I'd like them to be. Very good bluetooth product. After about an hour and a half of wear, they become uncomfortable, even irritating. The headphones work well with two other bluetooth items on my HP HDX laptop. It will connect directly to the laptop, however to get stereo sound, you have to use the add-on piece that plugs into the headphone jack of the computer. Takes a little getting used to. I probably would by this product again, but not at the price listed.
Setup was a breeze.The blue tooth works perfectly with my AT&T Tilt phone. At work, I listen to my MP3 player (Samsung P2) for 5-6 hours a day. I love this product.I did a lot of reseach before settling on this stereo-bluetooth/wireless-headset.I have had it for about 1 month and have used it considerably. It puts the music on hold and answers everytime with no problem. It is comfortable (as much as anything can be on your head for that long). It connects very easily and holds the connect perfectly up to about 8-10 meters before begining to drop out. Callers dont even know I am on a hands free device.The stereo music is crisp and clear with great seperation. I definitely would recommend this unit to anyone.
Pros: Relatively inexpensivefairly small form-factorgood sound qualityA2DP compatibility w/ PDA cell phone (Treo 800w)*** adapter for use w/ PC or any product w/ 3.5mm stereo output jack (including old Treo 650 using 2.5mm - 3.5mm adapter cable)Cons: Only problem I have had so far is that it does not automatically reconnect to adapter - have had to repair every timeadapter battery seemed to need to be recharged every time I go to use it (average of 3-5 days between uses so far), but headset battery life has been excellent (haven't needed a recharge in 2+ weeks of moderate use).*** The adapter is the reason I bought this over other models, particularly the Cardo Scala stereo bluetooth headset that was my second choice (I have used an older Cardo Scala monaural bluetooth headset w/ good results, and still chose the BlueAnt stereo headphones).I have not had issues w/ sound quality that others reported in these reviews - I listen to everything from Jazz & Blues to Classis Rock, Hard Rock, Industrial, and Heavy Metal (of many different subtypes), including downloads off the 'net (w/ sometimes lower quality settings), and it gets good sound quality across the spectrum, and decent bass quality.For the price, I don't expect them to rival a $200 pair of closed-ear studio headphones. But they are as good as or better than anything that comes w/ a cell phone or walkman/portable cd/dvd player. And the wireless bluetooth convenience, and collapsible design, along w/ the included adapter make these a good find, in my opinion.
There is only midrange sound and the vocals are distorted. I love the idea of having the iPod in my pocket without wires strung out to my gourd, but these just didn't make the cut for me. Midrange sounded "muddy", if that makes any sense. The monaural is for, of course phone calls. Every selection was disappointingly unredeeming in every way.I found them acceptable however, for watching video on my iPod touch.
Treble boost sounded the best, but still higher end frequencies were just dull. I expected much better for $80 headphones.I am no audiophile, but still these are unacceptable. The stereo mode lacks bass and to a greater extent, treble. The transmitter "puck" is exactly the same size as one of the headphones. There is a lack of treble and bass.
I like music too much too listen to it through such "less than mediocre" phones.I didn't test them for phone use. I watched several video podcasts and I didn't find the minutely slight delay between picture and voice to be disturbing as others have related. I couldn't bear to sully "Shine on you crazy diamond" with them. I played them from my iPod touch using different EQ settings, but none could fix the awful sound.
Vocals that I understand through my cheap wired Sony phones were unintelligible. They take the same battery, so if you're using them as a cell phone headset, you have a spare battery to keep with you. They sound awful. It was detectable because I read the reviews and was looking for it, but I quickly forgot about it and enjoyed the podcast.I REALLY wanted to like these, and I tried to come up with some reason for keeping them, but I just couldn't find one. I have been waiting for a portable wireless headphone set for a long time, and jumped on these even after reading some bad reviews. There is one great feature to them. I tried lower volume on the iPod - higher on the headphones as well as higher on the iPod - lower on the headphones. That kind of utilitarian forethought is awesome.
There are two modes of operation: monaural and stereo. They were quite comfortable to wear, and didn't feel flimsy or cheap.Hey BlueAnt, if you fix the sound quality on this model, let me know. I actually couldn't distinguish the words. No amount of tweaking would find a sweet spot were they sounded good.I listened to different selections: Jazz, electronic, techno, classical (solo violin and solo cello), rock, hard rock, and one of my standards for testing audio: Pink Floyd - Coming back to life (Live, from the album "Pulse"). It's smaller than I thought. I'll buy a pair the very same day.I registered to return these to Amazon just before writing this.
|
