| Headphones: | Nokia HS-12W | Plantronics Pulsar 590x (where x is either A or E) | Plantronics Pulsar 260 |
| Compliance report: Microsoft Bluetooth Stack-based Windows Mobile devices: HTC Wizard bepe/KTamas AKU3.2; the MS BT stack and the additional A2DP hack as is explained here | (+, both HS and A2DP) | (+, both HS and A2DP. The latter is of pretty bad quality, of course.) | HS. A2DP refused to work, as with the Trinity / P3600. |
| HTC Trinity (P3600), Dopod ROM version 1.23.707.6 (02/08/2007); note that it’s mono by default (UseJointStereo = 1)! | +; note that unlike with the Universal / Wizard (with the given BT hacks / ROM versions), the Trinity requires some additional hacks to sound virtually indistinguishable from the Widcomm BT stack; the easiest way to do this is by just completely removing the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Bluetooth\ A2DP\ Settings key from the Registry. This will not only take care of the mono sound (by just eliminating UseJointStereo, which action, then, will default to stereo), but also helps avoiding situations when the MaxSupportedBitPool value (which defaults to 30 and, therefore, causes audible quality loss) would cause quality loss. If you don’t want to do this all by hand, get HTweakC (the excellent, free, highly recommended HTC tweaker tool for all Trinity / P3600, Wizard and TyTN / Hermes users) and select the “Medium” , “High” or “Excellent” quality setting (40/48/58 for the BitPool value). | Low quality; tweaking doesn’t help | A2DP wouldn’t even connect, only HS works - as with the Wizard |
| HS | +; albeit the sound volume is decidedly lower than with the 590A (but still much higher than the 260) | + | + |
| Dell Axim x51v A12 AKU2.3 MS BT stack, A2DP | + | Awful sound quality | Even worse than with the 590 |
| HTC Universal, Helmi_c (V1.1), MS BT stack, A2DP | + decidedly better sound quality than with any Plantronics; no back-connection needed; pausing / resuming works OK | + (low sound quality; needs a back-connection) | + (unbelievably bad sound quality with a lot of aliasing, even worse than with the 590A; needs a back-connection) |
| HS | +; number displayed; number only, no clock / no name | + | + |
| Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox N560, MS BT stack, ROM version v302 (21-02-2006); A2DP | Everything OK, except for resuming, which most be done with the mode changer (and not the Pause button), effectively reconnecting. There is some small high-pitch noise with strong bass – the cause for this may be both A2DP problems or, more probably, problems with overdriving the tiny earbud speaker. | awful A2DP quality; after pairing, answer NO to the dialog, otherwise, it'll always use HS and you won’t be able to switch to A2DP. | even worse than with the 590A – plain awful. |
| (HS: mike / non-stereo sound transfer only) | The mike is working OK when the headset is set as the default sound device and HS is activated | OK (without needing to explicitly switch to HS mode) | Unable to use the mike even when no A2DP is allowed - it'll reconnect as A2DP |
| Widcomm/Broadcom Bluetooth Stack-based Windows Mobile devices: Widcomm 1.5 / 1.6 (WM2003(SE)) compliance - Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 with the A2DP add-on as is explained here | + | + | + |
| HP iPAQ hx4700 WM5 2.01 (factory-default Widcomm 1.7) | + | + | + |
| Dell Axim x51v, hacked Widcomm 1.7 A2DP | + | + no problems at all | + |
| Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox T830, factory-default Widcomm 1.7 (ROM version v802 (19-09-2006)), A2DP | Everything great, even resuming after pause | + | + |
| HS | no mike; no caller name (just the number); otherwise, OK | no mike; otherwise, OK | no mike; otherwise, OK |
| HTC Wizard with the hacked Widcomm 1.7 stack; NO headset support! | + | + | + |
| Other (non-Windows Mobile) devices: Sony-Ericsson T610, HS | +; no number / no clock, let alone name | + | + |
| Palm Tungsten 3 + Softick Audio Gateway 1.09 A2DP | +, nothing special; can’t connect back; AVRCP works with Pocket Tunes | +, nothing special; can’t connect back; AVRCP works with Pocket Tunes | +, nothing special; can’t connect back; AVRCP works with Pocket Tunes |
| Nokia 5300, v03.92, 13-10-2006 RM-146; A2DP | +; note that song titles are NOT displayed (it should be compatible with Nokia A2DP phones!) | +; everything works EXCEPT resuming after a pause; next skips a song; previous either don’t step back (with one press) or skips two songs if you press it twice. | +; the same problems as with 590A, except that it will step back one with Previous as is supposed to. Reconnects between songs with very annoying beeps. |
| HS | +; number / clock / name; even the existence of missed calls and new messages | + | + |
| Samsung YP-T9J | + | + | + |
| Redial and voice dialing: Activate last number redial? (double short press of the call button / button on the wire); the Wizard-related tests are done with the MS BT stack | +; tested with: Universal, Wizard, Trinity. Note that it needs to leave A2DP mode first – this is really annoying, as you have to cycle through the Radio to reach the headset mode. The only exception is finishing a call and relying on the headphones’ automatically resuming music (without explicitly going back to the Audio mode); then, the hotkey will still initiate calls. However, AVRCP won’t work then at all. | +, works OK on both the Universal, Trinity and the Wizard in A2DP mode. | +, works OK on both the Universal, Trinity and the Wizard in A2DP mode. |
| Voice dial (tested with Microsoft Voice Command 1.6 coming built-in in the Trinity Dopod ROM) | + | + | ? VC starts on the PDA but doesn't seem to receive the commands - it just times out |
| Battery, recharging: Battery life: continuous playback at loud, street-level volume | Between 7(.5) and 8 hrs; officially no A2DP battery life is stated: “8 hours of talk-time or up to 200 hours of standby time”; that is, the official data is underestimated | started to beep after 11:10 and shut down itself at 11:25; officially “up to 10 hours”, which is, therefore, a little bit underestimation | Started to beep at ~6:32; switched off completely at 6:37; officially stated: 7 hours (that is, official data is overestimated) |
| Full recharge time | about 1:18; officially stated: “up to 2 hours depending on the charger” (overestimated) | 3:09 – that is, much longer than one would expect. Officially, it’s two hours only, which is a severe underestimation | 1:20 |
| Battery meter? | On-screen with five different states, gives a much better estimation. Too bad it’s not displayed while in radio / A2DP mode; you must switch to the “main” mode (by leaving the radio / A2DP mode) to see it. This is a minor annoyance – still a much better solution than that of the two Plantronics. | Three states only (one, two or three red blinks at startup) | Three states only (one, two or three red blinks at startup) |
| Separate A2DP source / HS support: T610 + Widcomm BT stack test | Very bad: absolutely no support for two devices – it can connect with only one at a time. Incoming calls just won’t work – the phone won’t force a connection with the headset. | While it, thankfully, does support the two-source setup, it doesn’t mute / pause the A2DP source when there is an incoming call but disconnects it instead. This means the music will play on from the speakers of the A2DP source (if any), which can’t really be avoided particularly with the MS BT stack (or the Palm OS + Softick Audio Gateway) , where the sound volume set on the PDA has a direct effect on that of the connected stereo headphones too; therefore, you’ll want to keep it close to max. Not to mention you’ll need to manually (fortunately, by just pressing the Play/Pause button) reconnect to the A2DP source after this. This is certainly a very annoying bug. | See with 590A |
| HTC Universal (MS BT stack Windows Mobile) + Widcomm BT stack test | n/a (no support for distinct devices) | Seamless: supports the two-source mode and has no problems auto-resuming the music on the A2DP source when the call is ended | See with 590A |
| Volume: Voice call volume | Can be very high – excellent on the Wizard, the T610, the Nokia 5300 and the Universal. Note that this wasn't the case with the HTC Trinity, where it was definitely more quiet than the 590A. Also, some people reported other voice quality problems (with the Wizard with a custom WM6 ROM) for example here. | Between the two alternatives | Not very high compared to even the 590A, let alone the Nokia. You may run into problems in a noisy environment with a quiet party. |
| Volume steps | 10 (1 is still audible, 10 very strong); no LQ issues, unlike with the Pulsars. Note that with the MS BT stack (unlike with the Widcomm one), the BT sound volume also depends on the system volume. Fortunately, should you forget to pause your (AVRCP-capable! Non-AVRCP-capable players will go on playing) player will be automatically paused when you disconnect (power down or switch to Radio mode) the Nokia. This also applies to the Widcomm BT stack, where, on the other hand, this isn’t that much an issue as, there, the BT sound volume is independent of the system volume setting, unlike with the MS BT stack. | 16 (that is, in this regard, clearly better than the Nokia); exhibits the same switch-to-LQ behavior than the 260. | 16; frequent volume change will result in a temporary quality degradation by autoswitching to lower BT speeds, which is particularly annoying with these headphones because it takes comparatively a lot of time to get out this LQ state |
| Feedback, responsiveness: Audible feedback: button sounds | No button feedback except for non-working functionality (for example, by the remotely controlled player, non-supported AVRCP) and when reaching the maximal volume level (then, the beep is quite strong). Otherwise, the usual BT feedback sounds - fortunately, not very loud. | Soft beeps – fortunately, not loud, unlike with the 260 | Loud, annoying beeps all the time when operating the buttons, which can be a problem |
| Ringtone? | The “classic” (see for example the ringtone in the Nokia 2110) Nokia music – played as local Midi. The phone ringtone is also played back while connected. | Not very cool, “digital” ringing sound, with the phone ringtone in the background | See 590 |
| Visible feedback | No LEDs – backlight LCD panel instead. | The blinking, very strong LED is really annoying particularly in the evening / at night. It can’t be switched off. (Also see “Plantronics Pulsar 590A, Unusable due to blue blinking light!”) | Its blinking LED can’t be deactivated either from software; however, you can just hide the dongle / turn it to hide the upper part to get rid of the blinking. Furthermore, it’s definitely less bright than that of the 590. |
| Responsiveness: buttons | Good. Note that, as the main radio / A2DP switcher does some BT connecting / disconnecting in the background, it must be operated with some patience. It’s not unbearably slow, though. | No problems here at all – instant next / previous song, off/on, volume control etc | The Power button is pretty slow to react (unlike with the instantaneous 590 and the ~3sec Nokia) – you need to keep it depressed for at least ~4.2 seconds (while the LED is light up) to switch it on (powering down is faster). Also, at the beginning of calls, the person with the headset will only start hearing the other party at after 1.5-2 seconds (while his or her voice gets heard at once), unlike with the other two headphones, which don’t sport such an annoying bug. Otherwise, quick and responsive, albeit a little bit slower than the 590. |
| Responsiveness: data rate change back to HQ mode after it switching to low-quality mode and, then, back. This only applies to better, fallback-capable BT stacks (in the test, I’ve used the Widcomm one); the MS BT stack doesn’t support “falling back” to lower bitspeeds to extend range (which means the range with the MS BT stack is much more limited than with the Widcomm one). | A bit faster than with the 260 | A bit faster than with the 260 | With Widcomm (tested with the x51v and the HTC Wizard): about 40-50 secs; gradually got better and better (every 15-20 seconds an audible quality increase) |
| Misc: Release date | Early 2006 | 590A and 590E released early and Autumn 2006, respectively | Autumn / Winter 2006 |
| Weight, size | 48 grams / 1.7 ounces; 2.9 x 1.0 x 0.7 inches | 97.7 grams (3.45 ounces) | 25g |
| Auto-connect at powerup | X51v (Widcomm): +, HTC Universal (Microsoft): +; you will need to press the Mode button once (but not before – then, it’ll switch to radio mode) the headphones show they’re connected to the last-connected device (by showing its Bluetooth name). This takes about 12-13s. | X51v: +; Play/Pause/Stop button must be manually pressed (can be pressed right after powerup, don’t need to wait) after powering on to make a real connection; with this, ~3-4s. N/t with MS BT stack because of the vastly sub-par quality. | X51v: +; unlike with the two other headsets, it connects automatically and no button presses are needed; ~17 sec after starting to press the Power button. N/t with MS BT stack because of the vastly sub-par quality. |
| Audio quality | w/o equalizer: too little bass, a little too articulated highs; with some (!) bass boosting and high cutting, it becomes pretty good. Certainly, of course, bass-wise, not as good as the 590 | Excellent basses; it’s pretty weak at highs though. The latter can be easily fixed by using source-side equalizers. | See with Nokia; a little bit less bass; needs heavier high cutting |
| Dongle? | No dongle included | 590A comes with a pretty usable, albeit pretty “lagging” dongle (the 590E doesn’t) | No dongle; however, it’s fully compatible with the 590A dongle, which is a big plus |
| Range | OK, about the same as with the 260 | A bit better than the other two | OK, about the same as with the Nokia |
| Earbuds connect via… | Built-in | (Built-in) | A detachable: 2.5mm jack. Note that it isn’t compatible with other 2.5 mm headphones: only the right earpiece works with them. (And, when you connect the headphones that comes with the 260 to a standard 2.5mm sound source, only the left earpiece will work). This IS a big problem because, for example, there are some 2.5mm headsets that are better than the one that come bundled with the 260: for example, the one that comes with the HTC Wizard. Ironically, this is because the Wizard factory headset is severely limited in highs, compared to the Plantronics one – that is, the latter is pretty unbearable without doing some sound source-side high reduction. You won’t be able to use these headsets directly but using a wire converter. Note that the 260 comes with a 2.5mm - 3.5mm cable to connect the unit to a (for example car) stereo. There, however, aren't 3.5 headphone converters known (as yet) - you'll need to manually solder one if you really need it, which will add a lot of bulk. |
| Built-in FM radio? | Radio (Broadcast) Data System (R(B)DS), stereo, Japanese bands (76 to 90 MHz) also supported; 20 stations programmable; list cannot be edited (for example, deleting individual radio stations from the list) | - | - |
| Charger type (note that the factory chargers are about the same size and weight with all the three headphones.) | Nokia’s AC-1, ACP-12, and LCH-12, used with many other Nokia phones (but not with, say, the 5300) – that is, generality-wise, between the two Plantronics solutions. No environmental protection. | Proprietary – the worst. What is more, the power input on the headphones faces up and isn’t protected against the environment (water etc) – very bad solution. | Mini USB with built-in environment protection (rubber door) – without doubt the best! |
| Doc comprehensibility, quality | Good | Acceptable: might be too terse for a newbie. They also have an “interactive BT pairing guide”. It is highly outdated: the only Pocket PC it sports is the non-A2DP-enabled 8125 / T-Mo MDA (HTC Wizard) and the “Other PDA” only lists a Palm OS one. That is, there’s absolutely no for example A2DP setup guide. | The multilingual leaflet coming with the unit is even worse and terser than that of the 590A - it only contains HALF a (small) page of usable information. Really bad! What is more, Plantronics’ homepage doesn’t list the unit at all, not even in the doc page advertised in the leaflet. Very-very bad, Plantronics! |
| Notable reviews | The Unwired’s review; some other remarks here | Here; also check out the blog for more related remarks & links. I also recommend the PDAMania.hu roundup here (second part; the first can be found here). The English summary & comparison chart of these reviews can be found here | A Norwegian one; C.Net very short news item. Amazon.com currently doesn’t have it in stock and amazon.de only has one review |
| Cons | Can’t be connected to two devices at the same timeno detachable headset, unlike with the Pulsar 260no advanced caller / SMS sender name or clock display features with neither the Widcomm nor the MS BT stacksmusic title display not compatible with even the Nokia 5300expensive | Windows Mobile A2DP quality-wise: while certainly better than the 260, it’s still of low quality when operating with the MS BT stackblinking, very strong LED – you just can’t get rid of itlong recharge time | Windows Mobile A2DP quality-wise: DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED FOR MICROSOFT BT STACK OWNERS!VERY annoying beeps when using any buttonstakes it longer to regain higher sound quality after falling back to ~180 kbps than with the two alternateswhile the headset is detachable, the 2.5mm jack is NOT standard and you can’t use a standard 2.5mm headset in lieu of the supplied one! |
| Pros | Windows Mobile-wise: Compatible with the MS BT stack, WM5 AKU2/3 and WM6 alikeradioif you use the neckstrap, it's highly unlikely you'll ever have the chance to cut the wires because little of them will be exposed - that is, it's pretty sturdy and dependable on the long runstainless steel case with quality, strong plastic on the back - feels MUCH better than the cheapo plastic of the 260caller / SMS sender / clock compatible with Nokia phoneskeylock, unlike with the two other devices (not that it’d be THAT easy to get the buttons pressed by mistake on the 260…) | Best sound quality with Widcomm (but, of course, NOT the MS BT stack) stellar battery lifeno fragile cablessturdy, at least in my opinion (it's been behaving very good in my practice) - some people state the opposite even the most advanced 590A model is cheaper than the Nokia headset, let alone the “Economic” 590E. | much lighter than the Nokia headset but still has a comparable (albeit about 16% less) battery lifevery cheapstandard USB chargerdetachable headset & direct (car) stereo input connectivity |