Customer Reviews

Gennum nXZEN Plus 5500 Bluetooth Headset Frontwave Extreme

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been through several different wireless Bluetooth headsets now. I have developed ten criteria to help separate the wheat from the chaff when buying a Bluetooth headset. The nXZen is the best headset I have tested so far, but that's not saying a whole lot considering the competition.

Overall, this headset is a worthy contender for the best available right now. With the exception of a few minor grievances, I can recommend the nXZen very highly.

1. Comfortable fit - you need your headset to be comfortable for at least an hour at a time, if not for an entire day. The nXZen has stayed in my ear for several hours at a time. I often forget it's there. (A-)

2. Secure fit - when you nod or shake your head, you don't want to feel the headset wiggling around or shifting its position. If it does, you will constantly be reaching up to check it and adjust it. The nXZen has no issues whatsoever with security. (A)

3. Excellent incoming sound quality - anything less and you will not be thrilled. Nearly every headset on the market today fails this criteria. The incoming sound quality on the nXZen was very good for a Bluetooth headset. (A-)

4. Excellent outgoing sound quality - surprisingly, there is absolutely no relationship between the incoming and outgoing sound quality. I have tested a wide number of these headsets and nearly every one fails either number 3 or number 4. You don't want your callers to ask if you are calling from a wind tunnel, and you don't want an echo on either end. Echo is a major factor with these headsets. With the nXZen, callers sometimes complained that my voice got louder or softer, but no one complained of crackling or other Bluetooth artifacts, and no one has heard any echoing so far. (B-)

5. Noise cancelling - your headset should have some form of noise cancelling technology so that others can hear you when you speak in a noisy environment. The best Bluetooth headsets available now offer DSP (digital signal processing) that filters out the noise, but the implementation of that technology is inconsistent, so having DSP does not necessarily mean you will be happy with performance in noisy conditions. The nXZen has a pretty advanced noise cancellation system that utilizes two microphones, one closer to your voice than the other. It performed admirably in windy conditions. I have used it in a couple of other noisy environments with satisfactory results. (A-) (Note: If I were grading on a curve, it would get an A+, because I have never tested a better DSP headset).

6. Sound isolation design - The noise cancellation is helpful for outgoing sound quality, but for incoming sound, I believe that the earpiece should fit INTO the ear canal, completely blocking out outside noises so that YOU can hear your CALLER clearly. I have tested too many of the other variety, and have been disappointed by the maximum volume being too low, and also by the fact that others could sometimes hear what my caller is saying when they are standing close to me while I use it. I have a pair of Shure E5C earphones I now use for my iPod. These are inserted into the ear canal, and I can assure you from personal experience that this is the most effective means of solving the incoming sound problem. An in-ear design completely isolates the incoming sound, meaning I don't have to turn the volume up very high and can hear even in a very noisy environment. It also helps with the secure fit issue above. The nXZen does use a sound-isolation earpiece that fits into my ear, however it does not fit as well as it could into my ear canal. It has a fixed angle, and for me the angle seems incorrect. If they had put that earpiece on a swivel it would have been perfect. They do offer a range of different ear pieces; one of them is adequate, just not perfect. (B+)

7. Fast connection speed and solid connection - when your phone rings, you need the headset to react quickly. Many headsets do not, so you sometimes miss calls because of your headset's slow reaction speed. This can often be the fault of the phone's Bluetooth implementation, not just the headset. Also, you want the connection to your phone to be stable. Many headsets drop off frequently and must reestablish a connection or even be re-mated to the phone. Again, this sometimes is the fault of the phone, but not always. The connection speed of the nXZen was OK, it usually takes 5 - 8 seconds to establish a connection. Once a connection is established, the "reaction time" was very fast. (B+)

8. Excellent battery life - you want your headset to need charging as infrequently as the phone itself. In other words, you want it to last at least all day, then you just need to remember to charge it when you charge your phone. I have used the nXZen all day for several days now and have yet to use up the battery on any given day. I have recharged it each night. This meets my criteria very well. (A)

9. Low battery indicator - you want to know if your headset is getting close to being out of juice. I have not experienced running out of batteries yet on the nXZen. I will update when that happens. (No grade yet.)

10. Features - you want to be able to initiate calls from the headset, and you want support for voice recognition if your phone offers that, so that you can literally dial and end calls without ever touching your phone. I don't have voice dial on my phone so I have not tested that feature. I am happy with the function of the buttons and the ease of use. I have initiated and ended calls with the multifunction button, which is easy to locate and use with the headset on. So, so far this is an (A).

I plan to test the Plantronics 645, which has not yet been released but is due out any day. Also of interest is the Jabra JX-10, which I have not had my hands on yet. I would say these are the only two other headsets worthy of testing right now. I have not tested any other headset that scored even a C+ on my criteria.

It has become clear to me that some headsets do better on certain phones and worse on others. My tests have all been done on one phone, my new BlackBerry 8700c. This headset is an A- overall. I'm keeping it!

Let me start this by saying, I'm a frequent business traveler and heavy user. I've been using "The Boom" for all of my calls. It's wired but is so good that know one ever knows I'm not in my office. However, the wired headset is getting old and cumbersome.

On with the review.

my phone is a Treo 700w. I read several reviews stating the 700 wasn't compatible with the nxzen. I email the company and asking them and received an answer the next day - that it was compatible with any 1.1 or 1.2 Bluetooth comparable phone. So, over the past month, I've tested the following headsets:

1. plantronics 640 2 stars (a tremendous amount of static)
2. plantronics 510 3 stars (a little tough hear not good voice)
3. Jabra BT800 4 stars (liked this not secure on ear, big)
4. Jabra Jx10 4 stars (excellent but outgoing voice so so)
5. Logitech HS03 3 stars (hurt my ear but not bad)
6. Gennum nXZEN 5 stars (of what's available the best)


As much as I love my "Boom" it's become quite cumbersome traveling as much as I do and I felt like the newer generation of Bluetooth headset should offer decent quality and I could give up the wired headset.

(I was disappointed in the overall performance of all the headsets. I think or thought we should be at a point, from a tech stand point, where we could have a good headset.)

My first call was to my wife, who is the ultimate critic, as the old saying goes "if momma ain't happy then no one's going to be happy". I called her from the car, with the radio on. With every other headset listed above she immediately said turn the radio off. This time she didn't mention it. I ask her if she could hear it and she "no". So I changed radio stations and turned up the volume and again she couldn't hear it. I spoke with her all the way to my destination without a single complaint. Later in the day, I called her standing at the entrance of an ER (I'm put in hospital software) with an exhaust fan going. She never made a comment. When I ask her about the environmental noise she said she couldn't hear it. My wife has given me grief over my headsets since I started trying to find one that worked. The only two that has met her standard is (1.) the boom {wired} and (2.) the nXZEN and I promise you I purchased every wired headset on the market. Anyway, I made my first conference call yesterday and didn't have a single complaint in regards to them having trouble hearing me.

For the record all of the above headsets worked pretty good in a quite environment. The Jabra Jx10 had the best outgoing audio, with the rest close behind, in a quite environment. The plantronics 640 had the worst "static" of the headsets but was the most comfortable. You couldn't put your phone on your belt and carry a conversation. Most everyone I spoke with said the same thing, "you sound like you're on a headset".

The Pro's:
* It has the best out bound audio in a noisy environment of any Bluetooth headset on the market.
* The battery life is very good. I didn't run the battery down with a day of normal use. Unlike the plantronics 640 I had to charge, more then once, over the course of the day.
* I haven't gotten the "Bluetooth static" like the others with the 640 being the worse.
* It's comfortable and secure but the in the ear design, which I prefer, can be a little intimidating. Some softer ear gels would go a long way. It goes INTO the ear canal. Whereas the 640 was ultra comfortable followed by the Jx10, comparatively speaking.
* Before I purchased the nXZEN I emailed customer service twice and got a response by the next day. So I feel that's a positive.
* It comes with a USB travel charger! (1 less large cord to carry).

The cons:
* Occasionally the callers voice has seem muffled. You can adjust the audio with a graphics equalizer that comes with the software but I haven't done that yet.
* It's not as responsive as the Jx10 as far as working with the Treo. It's taking up to 6 seconds to connect to an outgoing call
* The same thing with incoming calls
* The controls are confusing at best, hold the pinch, press the side etc etc.


All in All the positives far out weigh the negatives. This is the best Bluetooth headset I've found. The most important feature to me is the noise cancelling option. That's a must with any headset, especially if you do any business with your phone.

I had to give this headset about a week to grow on me. Forget about the other Bluetooth headsets you may have had, the 5500 is a different animal. In-ear audio, harder button pressing, small form factor are just a few things. Superior range is a nice feature. I have found that I leave this headset on ALL DAY. I wouldn't call it plush comfortable, however, it is barely noticeable and I forget I have it on. The nice thing with the in-ear design is the fact that you can hear if you are gettting a call in a noisy environment. The beeps and buttons do take a little getting used to, but give the nXZEN PLUS 5500 a chance and I think you will like it.=]

I have worked in the cellular telecom sector since 1996. I have tested and owned a plethora of phones and headsets in that time. I have been buying and trying Bluetooth headsets since they first hit the market several years ago. I have never found just ONE that I have been completely happy with, and this headset is no exception. For $150 I would expect top tier performance. What I got was mediocre.

I use this device with a Blackberry 7100 series phone. I am used to wearing earphones that fit into the ear so I adjusted to the fit of this headset quite easily. I think the fit and appearance are great. My beef with this headset is that I quite often would hear what I call "bluetooth static". It is a staticy, cracking, popping sound when the bluetooth connection is weak. It was not constant with this device, but it happened enough that I was extremely disappointed. I also had many complaints of people not being able to hear me speak or that I was "breaking up". I tried using all of the adjustments through the "equalizer", but it did not help the performance.

It's not a horrible device, but certainly no better than average. I actually prefer the Cardo Wireless Scala-500 headset for $35-$50. Audio is fantastic, talk time is the best out there, and it is extremely lightweight. For the money, you will not find a better bluetooth headset.

This Bluetooth is the absolute best for sound rejection when talking. In loud airports, loud buses, loud car, everywhere. . . I am heard clearly with essentially no background noise. I first tried it in my loud Jeep and my wife was amazed to hear me for once. I then turned on the radio, she still heard no background. I CRANKED up the radio, I couldn't hear her, but she heard me just fine. The only drawback from this unit is it doesn't have as good of sound at my end. Oh it comes with an equalizer, but you must have a PC with bluetooth on it (does this exist?). I've owned 2 Jabra's, including the BT500. They had exceptional sound quality my direction, but absolutely no noise rejection (no one could hear me outside of a quiet room)! I loved the Jabra's because they slipped on the ear easily. It took a while to figure out that this is best put on by holding it horizontal, putting the loop behind the ear, and then folding the unit down on the ear. Otherwise, it is a hassle. The up and down noise controls are a little poor. They work, but need to be reprogrammed so that each time you push them, they control the sound, rather than holding them down. Bottom line, for me, I must have the customers able to hear me and this comes through with honors. Oh, and it comes with a 1 year warranty. I had to call the mfg to get this info as it wasn't on webpages.

I've been using it for a month now and am very impressed. I work around high pitched electronic popwer equipment and was able to talk using the headset without the caller hearing the noise of the equipment. My phone is an LG VX8100. I sometimes have to use the phone to connect to the headset but this only seems to happen when I have connected the headset to another device.
Had some problems with the volume when using it with the other ear piece to listen to music on an MP3 player. The corded earpiece volume was noticebly higher, connected using the graphic equalizer software and was able to correct the balance.
Using a Zoom bluetooth dongle plugged into a Dell Laptop, could also connect the headset and use it for VOIP calls using Skype. Oh the freedom of being without cords!

The Gennum nXZEN stands out as the most advanced headset on the market, using a dual microphone array and substantial DSP horsepower to reject ambient noise and enhance sound quality. It is an unambiguous improvement over less advanced on-the-ear headsets in the same price range, but falls far short of long-boom headsets that put the microphone next to the user's mouth. Implications that one could be heard over construction equipment and factory floors are somewhat overstated.

The headset suffers a bit in comparison to similarly priced headsets in terms of build quality. The UI is quirky and a bit hard to master. The "stereo corded headphones" option doesn't make sense to me. The noise-isolating in-ear protuberance may cause comfort issues, doesn't seem to be much of an improvement over headsets that simply offer sufficient volume adjustment (which is a common failure) and makes the headset hard to put in a pocket without scraping off bits on extraction.

This earpiece is a combination of amazing sound cancelling technology and terrible user design. On the plus side, I can talk while taking my car through a car wash. The noise of the wash is so loud that I can't even hear my own voice, but the person I'm talking to can hear me clearly, and was surprised to learn I was in a car wash. Truly amazing.

What's truly sad is that this incredible noise cancellation is built into a bluetooth headset whose controls are user hostile. The buttons don't work as described in the manual. It's nearly impossible to successfully answer a phone call with the headset. The multi-function pinch button cycles between answer, hold, transfer to phone, and back to hold, another transfer, then disconnect. It's a mystery. This is my fourth bluetooth headset, but is the only one with which I've had any difficulty. I eventually concluded it was unusable, after two weeks of struggling, and purchased the Plantronics 650 headset. It was an easy trade-off: the Plantronics offers no noise cancellation, but at least I can answer the phone!

In addition to the poorly designed buttons, there are many small usability issues. I do a lot of voice dialing. There is no tone to prompt me to say the name. I have to guess when the phone is ready - a hassle while driving. The volume controls are very awkwardly placed. I can't control the headset volume from my cell phone - an unwelcome first. To hang up the phone requires three beeps. Yes, it takes about 3-4 seconds of pushing a button to hang up a call. Not fun in a stick shift. However, don't dare push the button and release too early - you'll call the party back. Answering and hanging up would be easy if the big round button worked as described in the manual, but it doesn't. It's not that the big button is broken - I use it to turn the headset on and off. It just doesn't work as described in the manual.

Lastly, I've tried contacting their technical support, and have received no answer.

I've work in telecommunication for over 30 years. I rely on my cell phone for my work. I'm very disappointed in the NxZen Plus 5500. The sound quality both sending and receiving are extremely poor. The controls do not function as advertised. After dropping numerous important calls, over several days, I got so mad I turned it off and went back to a much cheaper Nokia. The Nokia cost me $45.00 and works like a champ. The NxZen cost me more than $125 and is pure junk.

This headset was incredibly disappointing. It does have good noise cancellation for the listener, but for the headset user, the volume was variable and volume controls are difficult to operate while it is in my ear. The earpieces came off almost immediately and were therefore easily lost. It was expensive but cheaply made. Feel ripped off.