Our man Vincent may be married to his iPhone, but he’s rather promiscuous when it comes to Bluetooth headsets. He’s always searching for the gold standard in hands-free, and while so far he seems to be leaning toward the Gennum NX6000 that hasn’t stopped him dallying with SoundID’s SM100 EarModule and Apple’s own Bluetooth Headset. The latest beauty to wink at him and get him all flustered is BlueAnt’s Z9 which, despite weighing only 0.35oz and measuring just 1.5-inches in length, packs dual microphones and noise-reduction technology
Vincent spoke with BlueAnt Senior Vice President Peter George the other day and was told that the Z9 is as good as, or better than, the NX600 – now there’s a challenge! We should hopefully have our review model here by Friday, so we’ll be putting that claim to the test.
The Z9 won a Innovations, Design & Engineering award at CES 2007, for its patented Voice Isolation Technology; the software can differentiate between your voice and the ambient noise around you, suppressing what’s in the background while keeping your speech clear. There are two modes to choose from, “Standard” and “Max” depending on how loud your surroundings are. You can also flip between up to three paired handsets on-the-fly, making it handy for those of you carrying multiple devices, and it has different ringtones for known and unknown contacts.
BlueAnt are claiming up to 5.5hrs talktime or 200hrs standby for the Z9, with a MRSP of $99.95.
Vincent has been searching in every far-flung corner for the best Bluetooth Headset of 2007, and so far he’s got his shortlist down to four:
- Gennum NX6000
- SoundID SM100 EarModule
- Jawbone
- Plantronics Voyager 520
I know he’s excited to see if the BlueAnt Z9 makes that list!
Better have a good review. I’m thinking of getting this one. It looks great and have read alot of good things about it. Also which make sense there is a built in clip so no need to shove it down in your pocket. I’ll be looking forward to the review
Brian
How come the B&O Earset 2 didn’t make the short list of the best bluetooth headsets. It is expensive but better than Jawbone or any of the other noise cancelling headsets. The Z9 is supposed to have two microphones to help with background noise. If it’s anywhere as good as the Earset 2 (which also has 2 mikes), it might be a real bargain. Someone will need to compare the two of them.
I’m actually waiting to get a B&O review unit – they’re seemingly rarer than hen’s teeth. I agree, though; if the Z9 can match or exceed the supposed sound quality of the Earset 2, it’ll be a comparative bargain.
[quote comment="6594"]How come the B&O Earset 2 didn’t make the short list of the best bluetooth headsets. It is expensive but better than Jawbone or any of the other noise cancelling headsets. The Z9 is supposed to have two microphones to help with background noise. If it’s anywhere as good as the Earset 2 (which also has 2 mikes), it might be a real bargain. Someone will need to compare the two of them.[/quote]