Following on from my recent initial findings on the Nokia BH-905 headset from Nokia, here I will share my experiences with this great headset in detail with you all, from listening to music, film soundtracks, voice, hands free, and of course, that all important ANC (Active Noise Canceling).

I may well be late bringing my review to the table, seeing as the Nokia BH-905 headset was released several months ago now, but with many people asking me for my own personal experiences on this headset over at Nokiausers, and twitter, here goes, with particular areas covered in detail as requested. However, I will not be covering what most, if not all reviews of the BH-905 have already covered, as these can easily be found available from many sources, including Nokia’s own website, which details the BH-905 technical specifications, including Nokia’s partnership with Wolfson Microelectronics to add its 10-microphone “feed-forward” active noise-cancellation technology to the headset, that’s 8 mics for capturing background noise, 2 for your voice (see image below), and of course, the bundled accessories with this particular headset.

The first question I was asked by one of my twitter followers was “How Much did you pay for your BH-905 headset, and where did I buy them from?“

Well, as many of you will know, my first hands on with the BH-905 headset was back in September of 2009 whilst at Nokia World when the headset had just hit the market place the month before, and had a Retail price of €285 Euros before tax and subsidies.

In answer to the above question, I paid just £129.99 GBP plus £7 shipping, but this great price was due to my actual pair of BH-905′s coming from an ex-display deal.  You too can pick up some great deals around the Internet, with places such as Play.com €194.99 Euro with free delivery, and Mobilefun.co.uk £159.95 plus £3.50 shipping. Then of course, there is good ole eBay, but buyer beware, always do your homework before purchasing from eBay, common sense is vital in checking out sellers history, feedback, and delivery costs before committing to any transaction.

The most popular question I get asked about the Nokia BH-905 headset is “How is the sound quality, is the bass good?“

Now this would seem like an easy question to answer, but its not considering the various types of music, quality of music recordings, and sources, however, I have tested various sources of music, including full sized MP3 files, and all other formats, and can report the sound quality at low to medium volume is very good, clear, crisp, and quite comfortable listening.  With the volume up full, depending on the recording, and source, the quality starts to drop in many cases with the BH-905 struggling to perform, and this in turn is the same experience with bass sadly.

My other Nokia Bluetooth headset, the BH-604′s handle the bass, and sound much better, although the level of volume is not as loud. The BH-604 peak volume appears to be set a little lower than the BH-905′s, thus producing mush better high end sound quality, including that all important bass line, with you actually feeling your ear drums vibrate with quality bass.  Sadly the BH-905′s do not reward you with this pleasure, and although they do produce good bass up to medium volume, they just seem to struggle as you crank up the volume.  Maybe its due to the size of the actual headset speakers, or as mentioned earlier, the output peak being too high. Remember, the BH-604′s are much bigger too, and of course are the type which go over your ear, whereas the BH-905 sit on your ear face.

Whilst talking about sound quality, another question that I was asked was relating to this was, “What is the sound quality like with the BH-905 using wired connection, and is there a noticeable difference from listening to music over Bluetooth?“

Listening to music via wired connection removes any control via the BH-905 headset itself, thus being, you can only control the music playback volume via mobile device, or laptop they are connected to, and not the buttons on the headset.  With the BH-905 headset switched on, as soon as you plug in your wired connectivity lead, they force the headset to power down, however, the ANC (Active Noise Canceling) is still powered solely for use whilst wired. You cannot use any other buttons, or handset functionality either wired. As for sound quality, I actually didn’t notice any different between the two connectivity options, and that includes no noticeable fuss either whilst using Bluetooth.

Correction on above statement. BH-905 music controls work via wired cable when plugged into a nokia handset (without adaptor connected). Thanks Leod_UK (Random Thoughts of a Techie)

As a side note relating to the wired connection, I found that connecting the BH-905 headset to my MacBook that I was only receiving partial sound quality of any music, very tinny, including voice / lyrics missing from playback. After a quick mention about this finding on twitter, a few of my followers who had already reviewed this particular headset mentioned a problem with the connector rings on the jack plug, and that it is cured by attaching the 3.5mm AD-63 adapter to the existing 3.5mm jack plug on the one end of the wired lead.  Looking closely(see image above) at these jack plugs reveals there being two connecting rings on the AD-63 Adapter, whereas on the lead plugs themselves there are three connecting rings.  This may in actual fact not be a problem, but something related to play back functionality of 5.1 stereo or THX  sound.

“How comfortable are the BH-905 headset to wear?” is another question asked a few times.

If you wear glasses like myself, you may find the BH-905′s uncomfortable with prolonged usage / wearing, especially if using the headset to watch a two hour movie for example. As the BH-905 sit on the surface of your ear, they do tend to gently clamp themselves to your ears too, kind of like gripping feeling, which aids securing them to your head. Hope I explained this ok, as its kind of difficult to put into words.

Clamp is possibly the best way of explaining how they stay in place once fitted, with the padded head band merely acting as a bridge between the two parts.  I have a skin head haircut, (see images below, also showing wear angle) so this fitment may well differ from hairstyle to hairstyle, including the comfort of the fit also. If you don’t wear glasses, then I would imagine, these will be very comfortable, although I would not recommend you use them to go jogging.  Walking outdoors yes, but running may dislodge them from their position due to weight distribution, and of course, Gravity;).

Just for comparison, here’s my ugly mug wearing my BH-604′s

ANC (Active Noise Canceling), “How good is ANC, and does it stop wind-noise?” This is yet another question that many people asked me via twitter, and the Nokiausers forums.

The actual functionality of ANC is, in my experience just right, and does exactly as advertised.  I have been experimenting with various background noises, and sounds whilst ANC is switched off, and then again with the same background noises, and sounds at the same volume with ANC switched on, and the result are quite pleasantly surprising. Example 1 – I can be sat in front of the TV with the news channel on, sitting at a distance of 12 feet from TV, and the TV volume set at 48%, with the BH-905′s being worn, but ANC switched off, no music playback mind, the TV volume is reduced a little due to the muffler, padding of the ear pieces themselves. Then when switching on ANC, and watching the TV, and observing the news readers lips, you get quite a surreal feeling as the ANC kicks in around 2 seconds after activating, and you can no longer hear the newscaster.

Turning the TV volume up, it wasn’t until I reached 72% in volume, when I started to hear the newscasters voice. Remember, I’m not playing any music through the BH-905′s at this point, just simply wearing them to check the ANC.  With the TV volume still set at 72%, starting to playback my music via BT from my N97 at medium volume, I can no longer hear what the news reader is saying on the TV. Adjusting the TV’s volume upwards, whilst still listening to my music, I was able to get to 90% volume on the TV, sitting 12 feet away when I started to hear the news readers voice in the background of my music playback.

ANC does also handle, and successfully blocks any background music as well as voices too, and carrying out the previous tests, replacing the news channel with the music channel, MTV, my results were similar, although not quite as good, but for sitting just 12 feet from the TV, ANC works very well indeed, in fact, you will probably find yourself at some point, getting in trouble with the wife when she’s talking to you when your wearing these, and she thinks your ignoring her. I’m taking from experience here   Wind noise is greatly reduced, and only having tested this whilst walking, and on a pushbike, its fair to say, ANC works as intended in this respect.

“What’s the Build quality, size and durability of the BH-905′s.?“

The headband padding is, whilst looking great, is minimal, with the hard metal inner band being felt quite easily.  This area when compared to the BH-604′s appears improvised, with the leather outer only covering the exterior area, with a cheap feeling nylon inner, the part that makes contact with your head / hair.

Design wise, and construction is very similar to the BH-604′s, sharing that unique angled poised arm from headband to ear pieces, both sharing the same hinged mechanism too.  Again, this area on the BH-905′s feels inferior to the hard solid feel of the same area on the BH-604s has, thus reflecting maybe a possible cost compromise from Nokia in this area.

Where the actual ear pieces connect to the hinged plastic parts, these areas, although feeling firm, I can see this being the BH-905′s weak points, especially if you accidentally park your backside down on them.

Moving away from the plastic, cheap feel of the BH-905′s, and onto the ear pieces outer sides.  These are beautiful looking, with lush brushed aluminum framed with chromed outer rings. the right hand ear piece boasts the usual controls, Stop, playback/pause, fast forward, and rewind, then, in addition to these, and found on the lower black plastic circumference you will find the volume rocker switch, wired female 3.5mm jack, and small status led indicator.

ANC is located over on the left hand ear piece, with a dedicated on off switch. (Note, switching off the BH-905′s by pressing, and holding the “stop/hangup” button does not switch off ANC (if on), this has to be switched off separately, and has this characteristic solely for wired usage (Thanks CJ)). I have already accidentally left ANC switched on for several hours without noticing, so you have been warned, also ANC does not work as well with a low battery.:)

So that’s about it, I have answered the many questions friends, and potential buyers have asked me about the Nokia BH-905′s, and hope that you too have found these helpful.

Micky’s Star Rating (out of 10), I give the Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth ANC Headset an 8/10.

Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. My Long Awaited Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth Headset has Landed
2. The Nokia BH-214 Bluetooth Headset Solution
3. Test photo from the N97 while out today. Taken whilst listening to my tunes via bluetooth headset
4. Review & Hands On with The Nokia N85-1 Copper Handset

Tags: Reviews

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 08:18 and is filed under NOKIA, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.