Apple is worldwide known for its excellent products not only by its customers but also by other manufacturers. Probably this is their best accomplishment after the excellent reviews of their products. Nowadays customers are more inclined to buy products that are well represented on the market, not only through advertising, but also through linking. It’s all about how universal these products are. Potential customers always look at the bigger picture, making a sale harder than before, because they are playing safe. This is not a bad thing, since customers should look into the products more carefully. By doing so, potential users of devices and gadgets are looking for the highest implementation of these products in the day by day usage. Therefore, in case of a multimedia player, potential users want (while their expensive products need) accessories.
This is mandatory, since customers want to connect their players, to the car sound system, home sound system, important software connection between their products and laptop, and so many other accessories including nice cases. Returning to Apple, their worldwide power was recognized even by Sony, which now delivers an almost complete accessory package for the Apple products, focusing on iPod touch and on iPhone. This article is about headsets made by Sony for the iPod line or iPhone. We all know that in terms of headset, the iPod line lacks something very important, the Bluetooth support and A2DP profile. Apple didn’t seem to care too much of this problem. Therefore, Sony took advantage and created a full line of Bluetooth headsets for iPhone.
Words are made to be spoken but facts are made to be seen. This is how Sony advertises their accessories, or maybe not advertises. How many of you even knew about the full line of accessories for iPods from Sony? I believe the answer would be not many, since Sony is too busy advertising Zune. A complete Bluetooth package is Bluetooth Transmitter plus headset for iPod, since it doesn’t have a proper name I am going to write the model number, DR BT 160 IK (in case anyone wants to Google it). This complete package will enable you to listen to all your playlists from your iPod wirelessly. In terms of design, the headset really looks surprisingly good. Unfortunately, you should be careful not to break it, since the head frame is so thin. Sure, it is also flexible and covered by a rubber plastic, but it is still fragile. The actual earpiece cover is silver with a nice orange frame made out of a metallic plastic, while the “station commands” are made form a thin black plastic with a nice semi glossy finish.
The Bluetooth transmitter (that includes the dock pin used on any iPods, without shuffle) will work well in terms of design with dark grey, silver, black iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod touch. Any other colors of iPod nano with this transmitter will looks not that great, since this device is made out of black matte plastic, while your iPod is made out of anodized aluminum cover with metallic finishes for all colors.
The headset weights about 40 grams or 1.41 oz including the rechargeable battery. Speaking of the battery, you should know that the Lithium Ion rechargeable battery takes about two and a half hours for a full charging, while in continuous playback mode you get about seven hours, and in standby mode 100 hours. You don’t need to worry about calculating the remaining battery life time since this headset has a battery indicator. This package is made out of two important components, the DR BT 160 AS, which is the actual headset and the TMR BT 8iP, which is the transmitter. Keep in mind the transmitter’s code, because if you decide to buy other Bluetooth headset from Sony this will not include the transmitter.
The only complete package in Sony’s offer is this one, DR BT 160 IK. Therefore, always remember to buy beside the headset, a transmitter to, in case you don’t own one yet. Back to this package, you should know that both gadgets are paired directly in the factory making the whole user experience much nicer, since not every customer is an IT expert to do pairing between devices. This headset is perfect not only for indoor listening but also for outdoors activity, one the one hand because of the excellent neck support design enabling hiking, running, or even gym sessions, and on the other hand because of the bullet shape ear bud that will definitely shield off any other sounds allowing you to relax while doing something you love and listening to something you appreciate.
Even more, the reception has a diameter of 20 meters or 60 feet, with a frequency range varying between 2.4000 GHz and the highest 2.4835 GHz, with a modulation of FHSS. Use this headset will running on the beach or in the summer without any worries since it boasts water resistance feature, protecting the hardware as much as any headset can. You will not have any problems not with the weight and definitely not with the adjustable ear buds.
Basically this headset is not just portable but also comfortable not only because of the lack of wires but also because it feels like it belongs on to sit around your neck. In terms of connectivity, the transmitter sports the iPod connector with 30pin, while the headset includes the 2.0 Bluetooth with the enhanced data rate profile including (obvious) the A2DP support and the AVRC on the adaptor. You also get convenient controls such as play, pause, and stop, fast forward and fast rewind, which work extremely well via Bluetooth connection delivering an excellent feedback. Even more, if you are using this headset package with your iPhone then you should know that you can take calls or make calls without any problems since the headset includes a microphone. I guess Sony is really trying to create excellent products even if they are accessories for Apple.
After all if a customer will be happy with a Sony product, it will check Sony’s portfolio for other accessories or devices first. In terms of audio rendering, this headset provides an effective range between 100Hz and 4000Hz, a frequency range between 20Hz and 20000Hz and a frequency response that varies from 6Hz to 23000Hz. The transmitter sports a transmission range between 20Hz and 20000Hz with the A2DP profile in sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz. Sony included in the retail shipping box beside the headset and the transmitter, the AC adapter for the headset, the warranty card and the three addiction ear buds. The DR BT 160 IK, Bluetooth Transmitter plus Headset for iPod package is available for $179.99 price tag, which is a bargain since individually the Bluetooth Wireless Headset DR BT 160 AS costs about $129.99, and the Wireless Transmitter for iPod, TMR BT 8iP costs about $69.99. overall this Bluetooth package is a good purchase, since Sony really invested time and money developing this accessory line for the iPods and iPhones.