Krisse has been trying out the Nokia BH-500 adapter, which takes any standard 3.5mm stereo headphones and makes them A2DP and Bluetooth-compatible. Here's the illustrated review.
Read on in the full article.
Making your favourite headphones wireless
A excellent review from Krisse as usual!
I wonder can the usb dongle be used to connect the phone to the computer for syncing it ?
Has anyone tried this with a N95? I find the headphone socket hisses quite a bit and I wondered as the audio routing must be different via bluetooth whether this improves it all? Thanks.
Nice little toy, but I still like the old fashioned wired stuff. Krisse, you really love those ducks, aren't you? 😉
I've got this. It's great.
The USB dongle is only a USB audio adapter. You can't use it for anything else.
There is less/no hiss on the headphones over the BH-500, compared to the same headphones plugged into the N95 directly.
"Nice little toy, but I still like the old fashioned wired stuff."
Well, I think the idea of this accessory is so you can combine the best of both old and new worlds.
Major drawback of course is that A2DP is a very new standard so most phones don't support it yet. I wonder if support could be added through firmware updates? Does anyone know?
"Krisse, you really love those ducks, aren't you?"
Anything to relieve the monotony of grey, black and white devices. 😉
If they ever made a phone that was bright yellow and orange, there'd be no need to bother with the ducks.
Which Symbian phones support A2DP?
A cursory glance finds the N77, N95, N91 (8GB version only?), 6120 and 5700. Are there any others?
The sound quality of the N95 and BH-500 is superb - only problem is that in weak 3G signal areas music playback does get interrupted, even with the latest firmware on the N95. Highly recommend the BH-500 😊
"only problem is that in weak 3G signal areas music playback does get interrupted"
Erm... how does a 3G signal affect bluetooth playback? Or are you streaming music over the internet?
"Which Symbian phones support A2DP?"
Nokia's been a bit unclear about this, some of their compatibility lists differ from others so I'm guessing the shorter lists haven't been kept up to date. The BH-500's official page has the N91 8GB, N95, 6110 and 5700, as well as non-Symbian phones like the 5200, 5300, 6085, 6131, 6151, 6280, 6288, 6300 and 8800.
Sony Ericsson also has Symbian A2DP phones including the W950i, P1i and M600i.
Motorola's new Z8 Symbian phone has A2DP.
From the pattern of recent releases, it seems likely that by 2008 all new bluetooth phones will have A2DP support. The Nokia 5200 costs less than 150 euros sim-free, so this clearly isn't an expensive technology to incorporate.
"Major drawback of course is that A2DP is a very new standard so most phones don't support it yet. I wonder if support could be added through firmware updates? Does anyone know?"
I can be added through firmware uppgrade. My Nokia 6280 didn't have when I got it but A2DP was added in firmware v 5.92. I haven't tested it because I dont have any stereo blutooth headset.
Hi all,
I used the BH-500 (now sold) with a 8800SE and the sound was indeed very good quality and was certainly not lacking in volume either. They certainly give much louder volume and quality than offered by the SE HBH-DS970 and their size is also much better with no pendant banging into your chest whilst moving. Although to be honest for me and for now i still prefer to use a totally wired solution but this is just my preference.
Marc
Thanks for that, Jonek. So potentially all recent bluetooth phones could have A2DP added through firmware updates?
"Although to be honest for me and for now i still prefer to use a totally wired solution but this is just my preference. "
Just out of interest, what advantage did you see in wired over wireless, if the headphones themselves are identical? I suppose the fact you don't have to charge the thing is one difference, but were there other important factors?
@krisse, the BH-500 is superb. The N95 can't multi-task, ie play AAC with variable 3G coverage.
"The N95 can't multi-task, ie play AAC with variable 3G coverage."
The whole point of S60 phones like the N95 is that they can multitask. The N95 even has two processors, one for phone functions and a completely separate one for software applications, so it's hard to believe that phone reception would affect applications at all on the N95.
I just don't see how signal reception could possibly affect the music player, even on non-smart phones. Why would a changing network signal make any difference to the phone's offline functioning?
If this is happening, it has to be a bug in the firmware, or else due to some other application that actively uses the 3G connection.
@krisse
off topic. Please check N95 forums and you will see its not just me having problems. Many 3g phones have had problems with 3g 2.5g switching, eg HTC Universal and some P990s...
😊 This sounds like a great gadget! I was just thinking the other day, it would be great to have something to connect the phone to a regular stereo set over bluetooth, as a convenient way to take your music with you when you're going somewhere. This sounds like it would just do the trick!
I might just have to get it before our next holiday trip
i hope this isn't too much to ask but would AAS be able to do an A2DP sparring contest between some of the popular A2DP headsets such as the BH500, Motorokr S9 & HBH DS-970
The BH-500 is much better than the HBH-DS970 but the DS980 could a different story 😊
I'm wondering whether this could be used also in n73 me? Anyone has has tried this?
Unregistered wrote:i hope this isn't too much to ask but would AAS be able to do an A2DP sparring contest between some of the popular A2DP headsets such as the BH500, Motorokr S9 & HBH DS-970
Have a look at my posts in relation to Motorokr S9 with N95