Customer Reviews

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've been using the Nokia BH905's daily at work for over three months and spent enough quality time with them to post an honest review. I practically live in a noisy computer lab eight or more hours a day and noise canceling headphones was a mandatory check box in my purchasing decision, wireless was another. I was constantly catching and breaking the audio cable on my Sennheiser PXC 250's and JVC HA-NC250's while moving around the lab.

First of all, I really like the Nokia BH905's. They work well with my Blackberry Bold for music and phone conversations, and all of the control functions on the headset work. I also have an application that reads my email over Bluetooth which is a nice convenience. It's too bad that a Blackberry app doesn't exist that can read the caller ID or I'd really have it made! Noise cancellation is awesome, the best I've ever had in a pair of NC headphones, but unfortunately it does nothing to help the person at the other end of the phone hear me better in a noisy environment. That really isn't a big deal, I can step out of the lab easy enough.

The BH905's come with a nice leather storage case complete with battery charger (for the non replaceable battery inside the headphones), an audio cable for corded connections, and just about every kind of adapter you could possibly need. No point elaborating much further on this.

Now as much as I like these headphones, I do have a few complaints. For one they look really dorky on your head. It's like the headband was designed around a piece of cauliflower. If you have a cauliflower head then your in luck! But for the rest of us, well...we look ridiculous wearing these headphones. And because the headband bows out so much, they weren't staying on my head very well. I wrapped a couple of black Velcro strips around the top of the headband with the poky side facing outward. This makes them stick to my hair which helps a lot.; your mileage may vary. Still, they are very comfortable to me, and I can wear them all day long.

Another complaint I have is the sound. Mids and high's are great but bass is noticeably lacking. These are not audiophile headphone like Nokia makes them out to be in their advertising videos. If you've seen these videos you know what I am talking about. I've tried increasing the bass a few db's on some of my music but the headphones just made the music sound distorted or unnatural. According to Nokia's specs, the low frequency range is 15Hz. I tested their claim by generating a 15hz MP3 file with Goldwave and BH905's could not reproduce it at all. I'd say that the low end is more like 80-100Hz. In comparison, my Sennheiser's and JVC's can reproduce the 15Hz sound file. Sound quality is the same whether a wired or wireless connection is used.

One final complaint I have is the price. $150 is an excellent price, $200 is a fair price, anything more than that is too much. At the moment the BH905's don't have any real competition. Sure there are cheaper headphones with similar features but they're not the same quality. Until someone comes out with something that is more-better-cheaper than I'd say that the BH905's are the best you can get right now.

The bottom line is that I am reasonably happy with them, I can't imagine not having them (at work), but they could be so much better.

I've been keeping my eyes out for high-quality A2DP headsets that would allow me to cut the cord to my iPhone and provide high-quality audio. It's a tough find; few of the good noise-reduction sets support Bluetooth, and few of the Bluetooth sets provide high-quality sound. After some research, I decided this was the best on the market (in fall of 2009).

Pros: Comfortable, great noise reduction (wonderful on an airplane), excellent sound over A2DP bluetooth, iPhone 3GS range is impressive - over 30 feet with no sputtering, kit includes all kinds of wired connections if you choose to not use Bluetooth, nice leather case.

Cons: Bluetooth call quality might be better. Some said I sounded like I was in a tunnel. Expensive.

Overall: Not perfect, but the best the market has to offer if you want high-quality, bluetooth audio with noise reduction.

I have been using the Nokia BH-905 every day for about 9 months and many different situations and setups, here you are my experiences. This is probably longer than a usual amazon.com review, but I haven't found a good thorough review about the BH-905 on the net, so here it is.

Nokia E63 phone + Nokia BH-905 (daily usage):
Bluetooth connection: good sound quality both as headset and music listening. BH-905 buttons control all functionality.
Wired connection: good sound quality both as headset and music listening. BH-905 buttons controls calls, and play/pause/forward/volume, as I would press the buttons on the phone.

Palm Treo 680 phone + Nokia BH-905 (I tried, but didn't use often)
Wired connection: headset mode caused echo at other party, call buttons control call. I didn't try the music. 3.5 -> 2.5 headset adapter needed.
Bluetooth connection: headset mode was reduced volume, but no echo. The bluetooth menu is a pain to use on my treo, and it only has Bluetooth 1.1, so limited. I didn't try music.

Dell D620 and E4310 laptop Windows 7 + Nokia BH-905:
Wired connection: stereo 3.5 converter needed to convert the headset cable into audio cable (if you are not aware, a 3.5 mm headset cable phyisically fits into a 3.5 mm stereo audio socket, but audio will be distorted without the proper adapter). Good sound quality.
Bluetooth connection: after pairing, the required drivers were installed automatically (default Win7 drivers). Buttons control play/pause/forward/back in most applications.
There are two modes: headset mode and headphone mode. This can be controlled in the Control Panel/Sound menu. Headset mode enables the microphone, but lower audio quality, headphone mode is hifi sound, but no microphone. Play/Pause/Forward/Rewind works in Windows Media Player (but not in VLC player). Sometimes the wireless connection was completely gone after a standby, and my laptop needed to be restarted.

Desktop Computer Win XP with Hama Bluetooth 2.1+EDR USB + Nokia BH-905:
Wired connection: same as above.
Bluetooth: altough I could pair the headset, there were no drivers to enable the headset/headphone modes.

Notes on Bluetooth connection and pairing:
- 8 devices can be paired with the Nokia BH-905.
- When the Bluetooth is turned on the BH-905, it tries to connect to the last device used. So to make it find the a new device (that I have previously paired with), it is good to disconnect it from the last device used, and make sure only 1 audio source has the bluetooth enabled.
- If the BH-905 doesn't find the device I want, I just press Volume Down+Forward+Call buttons on the headset to reset the bluetooth connection, and then it works fine.
- Audio quality is about 80% compared to the wired connection. However, I found this was really good enough for me, so I just use it via Bluetooth when possible.

To make good use of the Bluetooth functionality, you need Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (or 2.1+EDR) on the host device. The audio quality and connection stability over bluetooth is first limited by the bluetooth standard and on the bluetooth stack of the phone/computer. Ex. I have seen many complaints in forums about the Nokia E900 (connection and audio problems), BH-905 buttons don't control the functionality on the iPhone 3G(S). I think the best host is a Nokia Symbian phone with a polished firmware (E71, E63, N97, N97 mini, etc.).

Noise reduction:
Airplane: Airbus A320 near the wings: listening to music and watching movies was good with the headset. I tried my Etymotic passive noise canceling earbuds, too, but they don't block the noise enough for watching movies. So noise canceling makes watching movies from no-go to a good experience.
Train 1: RER and Metro in Paris - this a noisy environment. Blocked out noise quite well, great for music listening from my phone over bluetooth.
Train 2: TGV train - this is a high speed train in France. There is excessive noise sometimes, phone call was almost not possible with my regular headset. The BH-905 reduces environment noise also for the microphone, so the other party has clearer voice. I made several conference calls: the headset transforms from no-go to acceptable.
Train 3: Old train - the noise canceling was disturbed by the sudden noises, and was late, creating sound bumps. Here it didn't work.
Bus: the low frequency engine noise was canceled, but not the high frequency sounds. In general I found better with noise canceling.
Office/home: humming noise of computer and air conditioning was well blocked. Talk and other office sounds were reduced by the good cushioning (but not by the active noise cancellation).
When there is no environment noise, turning on/off noise cancellation doesn't make much difference, so I turn it off.
Car/Taxi: engine noise is canceled. Radio and irregular traffic noise is blocked to some extent by the good cushioning, but not canceled.

Notes about noise cancellation:
- Active noise cancellation (ANC) can only reduce low frequency stable sounds. High frequency sounds cannot be canceled, and rapidly changing sounds (like loose windows in a bus). It works for: plane, bus, ventilator, air conditioning, distant traffic. It doesn't work for: talk, nearby traffic, people activity. It will block the drums from a music, but not the singing. If you haven't used active noise cancellation headphones before, I suggest you read the Wikipedia article on noise cancellation (the headphones use 1 dimensional active noise cancellation), so you have adequate expectations.
- There is a 1 sec delay after turning on ANC on, but it was no problem for me.
- ANC works both in wired and Bluetooth mode.
- When the battery is empty (therefore ANC and Bluetooth cannot work), the headset still can be used over a wired connection as a normal headset.
- There is a small static when the ANC is on, but is acceptable. But I can only here it when there is no music, when I listen to something, I cannot here it anymore.

Build quality and comfort:
In general I find the Nokia makes excellent hardware, and the BH-905 fits my expectations.
The build quality is excellent. The headband is metal based, with leather cushioning. The earpads are leather covered and are very soft to the touch. Several hours of watching movies and listening to music and talking on the phone was no problem. I used several times this headset for 6h train trips in Europe, and it is great.
The cables have just the right length (shorter headset cable, and a longer audio extension cable), all connectors are gold plated.
The carry case is strong enough to protect the headset. It is rather large (I wish it was smaller), but the cases from Bose, Sony, etc. of similar sized headphone are of similar size.


Experiences in general:
- Before, I didn't listen to music and watched movies that much on the go. Somehow, the BH-905 transformed my behavior. Now I take it always with me, despite the bulk.
- The BH-905 is the easiest to be used with one Bluetooth device. When I want to switch between devices, I need to pay attention to disconnect from the "old host", turn off all other bluetooth sources, and then connect it to the "new host". The connection has to be controlled always on the host device (phone, laptop, music player), and the bluetooth experience largely depends on the quality of the Bluetooth implementation of the host device.
- I didn't think wireless headphones are such a fun thing to use. I used analogue FM transmitted AKG wireless headphones at home, but they were painful even for watching TV. But Bluetooth audio listening on the go is really good, my headset on my head, my phones in my trousers pocket, and I can freely take on-off my backpack, take on-off my coat, etc. At home, it just gives freedom to get up and walk around and still be connected to the music source.
- Sound over Bluetooth is good for audiobooks, phonecalls, skype, etc. but is not sufficient for music. This is not a fault of the headphone, this is a limitation of Bluetooth. I stick to the wired connection for music and movies indoors, or when I don't really need the flexibility of Bluetooth.
- The headset also works as a general Bluetooth headset, with noise reduction for the microphone. It doesn't do miracles, but works. I find myself to prefer the original cheap Nokia wired headset that came with my phone.
- The play buttons are great on the headset to control playback of the PC or of the phone, it works over wired, too, for Nokia phones.

There is the new Nokia BH-905i available now. The differences are in the carrying case (smaller, separate pouch for adapters), and slightly modified curving of the headband. In fact, I like the casing of the original Nokia BH-905, as it gives direct access to the adapters and cables, no need to fiddle around with yet another pouch.

Unfortunately, the plastic broke at one place, but I could easily fix this with a cable tie (2.5 mm wide, just make an amazon search for it, 2-5 USD for a 100 pcs pack). See uploaded photo.

Based on reviews, iPhone 4 and this headset don't work well together. I think this is can be more a limitation of the iPhone 4's Bluetooth implementation, as all devices I connected the BH-905 with, worked fully without issues. So if you have an iPhone 4, look elsewhere.

The Bose headphone have slightly better noise cancellation, but in general, they are much less practical - lack of full set of cables, an extra accessory needed to be used as headset, only wired mode, doesn't work without batteries. This Nokia provides about 80-90% noise canceling performance of the Bose system, but is much more practical.

The only improvement I could see is when there will be a Bluetooth standard with sound quality sufficient for HiFi music, or when a new generation of noise canceling will block more noise out.

In fact, this headset became my main headset, I use it all the time, both on the go and at home.
Worth every penny.

I bought these to finally cut the wires! I use them primarily with my Mac Air and my iPhone. The music is deep, rich, wonderful. The noise cancelling can rival my previous headphones (Bose Q3 which I dumped because the wire broke and I had to buy another for $50!).
Anyway, the drawbacks are that the phones are not completely functional with the iPhone. Forward and Backward buttons are useless. You do go right back to music when a call is finished and that is impressive. Less impressive is the round of touching needed to reconnect each time you start a new listening session. This is minor though, compared to the sheer joy of the sound quality, freedom from wires and ability to block out the world!
I deem them as completely worth it!!
I'm sure others will find the price a bit high, but I got what I wanted out of these phones. I'd like complete functionality with the iphone, but meh.

UPDATE -- 6/2011 I continue to use these headphones regularly and have never had a problem with use, connection or quality of product or sound. Highly recommend!

This review is strictly about use of these headphones for good old fashioned audio listening (but without wires...) I do not use the microphone feature or with a telephone. I wanted an excellent, comfortable, reliable wireless/bluetooth headphone for use with my laptop and other audio/musical devices.
--The range of the connection is strong -- I can walk into an adjacent room and still hear clearly.

--These headphones are *very* comfortable. I have worn them for hours and they fit nicely and firmly without a pinch, squeeze or slip.

--The noise cancellation feature is very effective on auto, train, plane, or around loud people who sometimes seem louder than the former.

--Battery life is excellent and recharge time is fast. You get a warning beep if battery is about to go.

--The storage case is low-profile but protective and fits well in a laptop bag or other type of tote.

--Audio quality is excellent. Movies and MP3s all sound crystal clear and I have heard notes in classical pieces that I'm not sure I'd heard before.

--Synching to my devices was quick and easy -- no glitches.

--Size is not massive, but these are not earbuds either. For what they are I'd say they are fairly low-profile (not bulbous..somewhat narrow on the sides). It will be obvious that you are wearing headphones (which might be good if you use microphone feature with your phone so that the person beside you does not think you are talking to them as sometimes happens with those little ear-finger deals).

These are not inexpensive but if you want a sturdy, comfortable, easy to use set of bluetooth/wireless headphones you cannot go wrong. I was tired of fooling around with cheap products that didn't fit, broke, sounded marginal, were wired, etc... I could not be happier with this choice. I am very critical about audio/electronic devices and after many, many months of regular use I have not found a flaw based on my use/needs.

Updated Feb-17.2011: Soon after giving up on having these serviced, and because it was too late to send them back, I fixed the broken ferrule by strapping the band back together with a tie-wrap. The phones now look really nerdy, like cliche adhesive tape around a glasses nosepiece. Then yesterday the other small plastic ferrule on the left-hand side broke off -- now it's a symmetrical ugly fix. Other than the breakage, though, these phones have kept working flawlessly. I traveled overseas about 100,000 miles last year without a phone-hitch, and I use them almost daily @home to listen to movies / music / audio books. Also sometimes use Skype w/o a problem either on my iPhone (4, with iOS 4.1 -- all controls are functional), my netbook, or the desktop, although only on Bluetooth as I can't get these to work as wired telephony phones no matter what kind of phones <--> PC audio adapters I use. If you're looking to get a pair of these, I would go with the newer BH-905i: part of the redesign may reduce stress on these little cheap plastic parts in the headband that gave me trouble.

Updated Nov-16-2010: A small plastic ferrule just broke off the sliding bit on the headband. Still functional sound-wise, but the Nokia BH-905 phones will have to go back for repair :{ However, first contact with Nokia repair produced the run-around as they pointed back to Amazon. Docked one star today from my rating.

On a positive note, iOS 4.1 and up seems to work much better with these than did previous versions.

I purchased these to replace / upgrade a 4-year old pair of Sony MDR-NC11 Noise Canceling Headphones noise-reduction earbuds (~$90) that I'd worn out. Here's what I found.

First, I charged the BH-905s. It took only about 1.5 hours for the power light to turn green. Next, I plugged in a Cirago Bluetooth BTA6210 v.2.1 EDR Class 1 Micro Bluetooth Adaper BTA-6060 Bluetooth USB 2.1 dongle to my PC (Ubuntu 10.04) and started BlueTooth discovery. Pressing the multifunction key on the BH-905 brought up the flashing blue light of discovery mode, and the PC found the phones immediately. It automatically paired without having to set a code. The phones then appeared in the Sound Preferences Output panel where I could select them.

The BN-905s fit quite comfortably. I wear glasses so full ear-enveloping type headphones (aka Bose) are not very comfortable. The BH-905s however are very nice. I was surprised the the noise reduction worked so well without a firm seal all around my ears.

I played with the noise reduction for a moment and was very impressed with the level of suppression of ambient sounds such as the drone of computer fans and traffic noises. The old Sony NC-11's, on the other hand, get most of their noise suppression in the mid-range frequencies from the tight ear-canal seal while the noise suppression circuitry does a fair job with lower frequencies such as found on an airplane. In the noise suppression arena the BH-905s are so far beyond the Sony's that there's little basis for comparison. I'll update, after my next flight, about airplane ambiance. The case is a little large, by the way, but there should be room for it in my normal technology-packed carry-on.

Playback of several selections from my collection of ripped CDs was very good, equally so with the CA-143U cord by the way. As others have noted these are not studio-quality phones, but the sound is well balanced although slightly weak in the bass (I agree, 15 Hz is a stretch). A little boost a low frequencies perked the bass up a bit. The old Sony NC11 phones, in contrast, have much more high frequency response along with a more energetic bass, but together his produces an uneven impression that always had me scrambling with equalizers to level it out. The mid range on the BH-905 sounds slightly off to my senses, but I have yet to fine tune for this. Could be my old ears, too.

The first small problem I encountered was with my iPhone 4 (iOS 4.01). Before trying to pair with Bluetooth I decided to try a direct cable connection (as would be the case on an airplane). The CA-143U cable terminates in a 4-conductor mini jack, the same as Apple puts on their terrible give-away ear buds. When used with the BH-905s this jack puts the iPhone into a telephony mode that does not playback music at all well, horribly actually. This may be the source of some other's complaints. Inserting the AD-63 adapter plug seems to signal the iPhone to go to high-quality audio mode, and now the sound was identical to playback with the cord (or with Bluetooth) from the PC. This effect of the plug adapter for the ipHone isn't documented anywhere I could find. Also, watch out for case interference with full plug insertion (i.e. for anyone with the iPhone antenna 'fix').

Next, I tried to pair the phones with the iPhone Bluetooth but at first could not get the phones to go back to Bluetooth discoverable mode. After a few attempts (including learning how to clear all pairings), I found that the time required to hold the multifunction button to start discoverable mode was more than twice the time needed at first. Apparently once there is one Bluetooth device paired the remaining seven require this longer button press. A short 2-second press activates Bluetooth; a longer press makes it go discoverable. Again, not really well described in the manual.

As others have noted, the playback control buttons are not functional over Bluetooth with the iPhone, nor do they work with my PC (granted it's not Windows 7 / XP...). I didn't try them with the iPhone and the CA-143U cable yet.

Telephony works just fine with the iPhone; initiating a call, starting voice command mode, hanging up, etc., work well. The microphone audio quality is useable but so-so compared to, for example, my Motorola H700 Bluetooth Headset [Motorola Retail Packaging] Bluetooth ear piece. But, the Moto sure doesn't play audio!

So, overall the BH-905s are an excellent choice for someone (like myself) who moves from listening on a PC to using a smartphone for music / telephony, and appreciates very good sound quality with just short of amazing noise reduction.

These headphones are a nice investment. I must admit I am a loyal NOKIA customer & I LOVE my gadgets. The headphone have a wonderful feel and aren't to bulky for the fem female who knows & loves her stuff. If you are looking for the ultimate Stereo/ Bluetooth Headset with in the $200 - $300 range give these a try. Nokia stands buy any/ all of the items they make. So need to fret when it comes to laying down this type of money on a Headset. I owned everything from cheap to expensive headsets/ bluetooths & these are on point. Customer Service is excellent as well. You will find that some people say that when talking in high noise areas, it sounds a little muffled, Other then that I have no regrets. Works well with my Blackberry, Nokia N900 & iPod Touch. Enjoy!

I am a bit of a headphone addict. I'm always looking for something new in headphones to rock my musical world. That said, I'm far from an audiophile or a headphone snob. I'm a middle-aged rock-n-roller, with significant hearing loss and really bad tinnitus from a military blast. I just use my cellphone mp3 player now with music either ripped from my 1,000 CD collection (gathering dust) or subscription content from Rhapsody. So I'm not rocking high-end 'loss-less', high bit recordings. All this said, I am always looking at least halfway decent fidelity. I love a wide range of music from rock to folk to jazz to new age. I just like GOOD music, well-recorded and catchy.

I can't do IEM's. My ear canals just won't tolerate them for more than 10 minutes. No matter how comfortable they are purported to be, they end up hurting and my inner ears begin to 'itch' and generate wax like crazy. So for me it's cans. Since I use my phone as an mp3 player it's nice to have headphones that have the three prong connector so I can take incoming calls. I also like an external volume control because of the horrible disparity in volume from 'old' music and 'new' music. Bluetooth sets are nice because they have volume control built in along with the added ability to play/pause/ff/rew. I've been hoping some nice 'high end' bluetooth cans would become available as everything I've tried has been a disappointment.

So when I saw these announced I was excited. I waited a while so the price point would drop some and finally pulled the trigger last week using overnight shipping for the first time. The cans look really good, really well-made. They are relatively light and comfortable for short term wear. The case and accessories are top notch - one of the best set ups I've ever seen. Major kudos for Nokia there.

But on to where it matters. Performance. While these certainly sound much better than most bluetooth headphone's I've tried, they are a far cry from the 'excellent' quality that cnet reviews touted. (Those people must so be on the take over there from the things they call out as great sounding!) So the sound quality was a bust for me. Strike one. I should note in fairness that the noise canceling was very good. This is the first set of NC phones I've ever tried and I was impressed with that function. I don't travel too much so I really don't need NC. I bought these more for the BT capabilities.

Another annoyance was the hookup time. While the phone found and connected easily with the headphones, it would only join up in handset mode (which sounded terrible) and only after three or four minutes finally hook up to stereo headphone mode and sound better. Other BT headphones I have tried have never had this problem. Also like other BT sets I've had, the connection would occasionally just get lost and then come back (with the same annoying delay.) So that is strike two.

Last up is the design. OMG. Who is the freaking moron that designed these things? And more over, how the heck did it get past so many people? It's hard to see from the angle of the photo (which is probably why they use this angle) but the sides of these phones have a curve to them that is nothing short of idiotic!!! I listen to music primarily at work and while I'm not a vain guy, I also don't want to look like some dork. With these on you look like some sort of alien dweeb waiting for the mother ship to land, or worse, the next Star Trek convention to begin. Strike three.

Add all this up along with the high price and it is game over for me. They are going back. I'm going to stick with my Sennheiser PX100s or Koss Porta-Pros. The purpose of this review and it's low score is not to belittle any of the previous reviewers high marks, but rather to give an intelligent opinion from someone who just did not find them to be what they were touted to be, nor what I hoped and expected. YMMV. The search for some decent BT headphones continues!

Bought Nokia 905 via Amazon. It came from J&R Music in New York. After couple weeks, it stopped working and I called Amazon. They asked me deal directly with J&R Music. I call J&R Music. They had no more items left in Stock but were ready to send me another make by charging $250 more.

1. Of course, I was left with no choice but to call Nokia for help. They asked me to send these headsets back to their factory which I did. After 6-weeks, they sent me Nokia 905i (cheaper version) saying that they couldn't fix their OWN headset.

2. After 2-weeks it stopped working again. I called them and same story. Sent it back to them and got another Nokia 905i back after 8-weeks. Again the same message that they couldn't repait their OWN product and sending me the new ones.

3. After 1-day it has stopped working. This time I decided to write this review on Amazon because everyone in this transaction felt free to abandon the customer in cool fashion.

With the state of irresponsible product design by Nokia and continued sale by many resellers on Amazon without any answerability, I am not sure if I could trust new online methods of buying anything without testing.

I purchased a Nokia BH-905 headset in December 2010. The sound quality was great, but there was something loose in the right earpiece, and I could hear it rolling around. I called Nokia customer service and they advised me to send the headset to the repair facility in Huntsville, Alabama. I received a "refurbished" headset about 10 days later.

The replacement headset had a different problem. The sound was great on Bluetooth wireless, but the wired connection sounded like it was only one channel coming from the bottom of a barrel. I called Nokia customer service, and they advised me to return the headset to the Huntsville repair center to the attention of the quality manager, which I did.

Four weeks passed with no response, so I sent a letter. Two more weeks passed with no response, so I called the Nokia customer service center. After three phone calls, all they would do is offer me a refund on my original purchase price. They explicitly refused to reimburse me for the expense of sending faulty Nokia products to their repair center twice, never mind the inconvenience and time wasted.

Nokia does not stand behind their products, and they do not care if they have disatisfied customers.

I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER NOKIA PRODUCT, AND I SUGGEST YOU AVOID NOKIA PRODUCTS AS WELL.