Customer Reviews

Insignia Stereo Bluetooth Headphones NS-BTHDP

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I got these because they were cheap and because I have an Insignia NS-8V24 PMP and figured they would work well with it. Note that there are two versions, one with the USB Bluetooth adapter and one without. The one without is widely available, the other, not so much (and costs more). You only need the adapter if your PC or laptop does not already have a bluetooth device built in. My Insignia player has bluetooth built in.

Setup: Super. Worked well right away. I just followed the instructions (hold the on/off button for 7 seconds, turn on player and use search, select, done). Once paired, they worked great. The headset buttons can be used for play/pause, next/previous, ffwd/rew, and volume +/- and everything worked well. The buttons take a little practice to find by feel, but have raised markings and after awhile I got the hang of it. They do require quite a firm press, so you won't accidentally active one while adjusting your headset or anything.

Sound quality: In my opinion, excellent for a bluetooth set. Certainly as good as your average wired set. There was nice presence and stereo image, no noise, crisp percussion, decent bass (not boomy, thank god), in short, very pleasant. I am very happy with the sound quality. They have plenty of volume, nice S/N ratio, good overall sound. I compared them to a wired set I like (panasonic) and they were very comparable. This set has a more open sound to me which I actually like. (While they may not be as good as your best set of cans, they are perfectly fine. And no damn wires!)

Bluetooth functionality: I have not yet tried the combo phone/music setup, just using with my player for now. The connection is solid and the range is great. I tested up to 40' away or more with no problems which exceeds the 33' stated. I left my player downstairs on the charger and walked upstairs into a bedroom. There was a drop out when I passed behind a wall and fireplace (metal liner probably) but that was it, I had full sound all the way upstairs and in the bedroom, no problems at all. This is far better than I expected from a bluetooth set.

They support bluetooth 2.0 and 1.2 and A2DP, AVRCP, and HSP -in short everything you could want,e.g. full stereo hi-fi sound, device control, hands free operation (i.e. voice dial if your phone supports it). Pretty good feature set that touches all the main bases.

Nits: This is my first 'behind the head' style set and it took me a bit to get used to them. But after awhile I think I've adjusted. The "frame" is sort of cheap, plastic looking, but seems OK (pretty much like most sets of this style I've seen). I pulled and twisted a little and nothing came apart. ;)

Reasonably comfortable, but could be a little better. I still find the small, lightweight over the head phones the most comfortable. That said, a 3 hour session was no problem though I did need a bit of a rest after that. (The over the ear part is the issue for me, it causes some discomfort after awhile.)

Overall, I would certainly recommend these as a great BT set for the money if you can still find them. I was pleasantly surprised.

Update 9/18/08: The model listed here comes without the USB key. I got the model NS-DTHDST which comes with the USB Bluetooth key which adds Bluetooth capability to your laptop or PC (it comes with the drivers and software on CD). I installed the sw on my laptop and it went well. Paired easily. Now I can play MP3's on my laptop and listen w/o wires, also DVD's, -all audio goes to the headsets when connected automatically (well, within my limited tests so far, anyway). Sounds great.

This headset also has a built-in mic so you can use it with cell phones -or the laptop. I assume you could use this as a gaming headset, but I haven't tried it.

If they were over the head instead of behind, they'd be perfect. I'm getting used to 'em, but I still prefer the over the head style.

Sound quality and bluetooth range are average. Is pretty light and confortable. Battery life sucks though. Built-in controls are excellent (works perfectly with iTunes under OS X). In terms of bluetooth pairing up, it's a little buggy sometimes (requiring a restart etc)

• The Good - Great Stereo sound on my Verizon XV6900 White Smartphone (Verizon Wireless)
• The Bad - Not as good as my old headset Motorola Bluetooth Headset for Cell Phones and Music - Black (HT820)
• The Ugly - Sound quality

I had my old Bluetooth headset, similar in style to the BTHDP, stolen from me at work. I went to a Best Buy store to pick these up for around $58 some dollars, thinking it would be a great deal since my old ones were around $99. Unfortunately, some times you really do get what you pay for.

• BAD •

I have had a lot of complaints from people who say they get a bad reverb on their side when talking to me. There have been many times that when I talk on the phone, it gets choppy, so I do not hear every word. It has gotten so bad that many times I have to stop my connection and just talk on my speakerphone.

Also, while the battery is better than any BT mouthpiece I have had, it is poor in comparison to my other BT stereo headset. There is suppose to be a warning when the battery is low, and while I have heard it a rare few times, more so than not I end up pressing talk on my phone to find my headset is not sync with my phone (due to it being dead).

Pairing this up with my Gateway P-7811FX laptop, I have terrible sound. The sound is in such a low bandwidth that there is absolutely no reason to even attempt to use for music from my laptop. The fact the sound is wonderful with MP3 songs on my phone indicates this could be more a driver issue than headset.

Another problem when listening to music on my phone, and increasing for voice calls, is a rattle sound heard in the left speaker. It is a sound one would hear if they cranked up the bass extremely loud and put a piece of tin foil over the hole of the bass. The problem does not always happen, and I was able to recently get this noise to spot by pounding the earpiece with a battery a few times, possibly knocking something... unloose? :) This tells me the construction of the unit on the inside is not the best, or at least, not for the one I have.

As for the touch buttons (vol, play, forward, back) I found for the most part this worked, but gets a "bad" since one thing that does not seem to work, is after I press "play" to pause music playback, pressing "play" again to resume activates voice resonse instead. Since most people are going to use this for a mobile phone, I imagine they will have the same problem.

• GOOD •

Music on my phone sounds wonderful. I very much enjoy using my phone as a MP3 player when doing snow. My ears even get slight protection from the wind. The biggest problem I had with my old headset was the foam covers would screw off a lot. Eventually, one of them got lost and I had to use the hard plastic. These do not have the same problem. The foam ear buds are not going anywhere (unless my son should get a hold of them). Also, I find it is comfortable. Now keep in mind, the behind-the-head fit is not for everyone. Some people, especially those with long hair (mine goes half way down my back), will not enjoy this design. I find many times attempting to take this off when my hair and headset get caught up, and I lose a hair or two.

Another thing, while some people have had pairing issues, I have had none (or it was phone/computer related). The pair-up process was simple: hold the power button until it flashes rapidedly, tell the device to search for BT devices, put in 0000 passcode, lather, rinse, bake, and serve.

• OVERALL •

Doing some research, I see even my old headset that was $100 is way cheap now. With that in mind, I really cannot recommend this headset to anyone. I will continue to search for a nice BT headset that really takes advantage of what this technology has to offer.

PRO
• easily paired with my phone and computer
• longer battery life than normal BT earpieces
• great stereo sound on XV6900 as MP3 player
• one touch answer (standard with most BT headsets)
• USB rechargeable
• unlike former headset, can use while plugged into USB to charge (a plus)
• better volume than any headset I have used before (see "rattle" under CON)

CON
• horrible phone quality both in and out (XV6900)
• shorter battery life than previous stereo headset
• bad sound quality on Gateway P-7811FX laptop
• unable to really crank sound many times without rattling noise (some songs and calls not all and the song does not require heavy bass to happen)
• "play" button while in Media Player does not resume music, it activates voice command (and if this feature is not on your device, there is a good chance this will then work)

Yes, it's true, they've had boomboxes and portable tape players since the 80s. But never before has mankind been able to stand up from their all-in-one digital counterpart (computer) and head to the bathroom to perform an act as old as mankind while hearing Viva la Vida. Not to mention "Rudie Can't Fail" by The Clash.

I don't know what was not working about those other reviewers' situations or technical specifications, but these headphones worked well for me with one hitch, which would be much bigger for other people but means nothing to me-- it seems as if I can't operate both the cell phone headset function and the stereo audio function at the same time. I have yet to fully experiment to see if I can get it to work, but as is the audio is working wonderfully, and the range is very good. I haven't even experimented with the range much, either... the bathroom is just outside of my room.

Anyway... if you want a great deal on wireless headphones, this comes highly recommended. By the way, my incompatibility with simultaneous stereo and headset functions might be because I use the KENSINGTON 33348 Bluetooth USB 2.0 Adapter, it might not be the headphones's fault.

I bought these wanting to use them with my new HTC6800 phone. They would pair up with my phone and worked great for about 1 week. After that they wouldn't connect automatically, I would have to re-pair them with my phone daily(sometimes several times a day). They would not allow me to answer the phone. I could hit the button to answer the phone, which it would do, but then I had to take them off and pick up the phone to be able to talk to the person that called me since they headset didn't work correctly. This continued for about a week after which time I was not even able to power the unit on. I have given up and am now back on the hunt for a new set of WORKING bluetooth headphones. I didn't even mention the fact that they wouldn't pair with my dell or ibm laptops using the bluetooth dongle that came with it.

I was a little skeptical about these headphones at first. I gave them a shot, since they were pretty cheap online. When I got them, I was a little confused as to how to use them, but luckily, they come with a manual. In a little over a minute, I was hearing music off my PC from the headphones. The sound is surprisingly good, obviously, it's not gonna be the best, but it's nowhere near bad. Seriously, if you're thinking about going wireless, then look no further than the Insignia Bluetooth Headphones! Oh, and don't forget the Bluetooth adapter if your gonna use them with your PC or MP3 player.

I gave it 3 stars as it could be my computer but this ended up in Goodwill bin. I could not count on my laptop to find it. Again it could be operator error and I like things simple.

The Bass is amazing, I put them on and just melted into my music. It goes loud enough to drown out all the country music in the stores and at work and on top of that the shape is perfect for hiding under my hair, no one knows I'm wearing them. I had bought the GOgroove SolaceAIR before this and the difference is astounding! So pleased with this purchase!

"Gail's Hubby" I bought my wife a new cell phone for christmas 2008 and got these headphones for her with the phone. She perfers earbubs, so she gave them to me. I linked them to my BlackBerry with no issue. Went in to the audio set up in my phone and messed around. When I went to close audio settings I received a warning that moving the set points with this type of device could cause long term hearing damage.... to which I laughed. Had I only knew. I have owned alot of headphones in my time, but nothing comes close... even the Monster headphones I checked out at bestbuy last weekend was no more to me in sound quality. Christmas 2011 will be three years and these things just keep going. I can charge them overnight and use them all day at work with no issue. Sound quality is tight, and they have great range. They were more in 2008 when I bought them and I would pay that and more to replace them whenever that time comes.

Quite simple and works awsome! As described I had to fix one little piece of plastic but that WAS detailed in the product description, and the sound and range of these are fantastic!