PPCG Review: Motorola S9HD Bluetooth Headset
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 I had the opportunity to review the Motorola MOTOROKR S9HD Bluetooth Stereo Headset. It is currently being sold for $84.95 in the PPCGeeks store, which is about $36 higher than the older S9's. I've owned the Motorola S9's for a while now and have been pretty satisfied with them. Just as with the S9's, you can use them to listen to music, and even answer calls in case you're in the middle of a workout and your phone rings.
You can get about 6 hours of listening on a single charge and you also get different sizes of earbuds and a travel pouch, which the original S9's didn't come with. The S9HD's come in a sleek black with two chrome rings and a chrome Motorola icon in the back. The control buttons are easily found near each ear. The power button and mini-USB charging ports are located on the back bump, just as with the S9's. Buy it now in the PPCG Store! The goodies after the break... |
Pairing the S9HD's was easy with the LED on the back bump to let you know when its in pairing mode. It also supports connections to multiple devices, which I didn't try since I didn't have more than one device at the time of my review. The battery life seemed accurate at 6 hours of listening time. Over time, I'm sure this will lessen as the battery wears, and unfortunately, there's no way to swap the battery out.
As with most bluetooth headsets, it says it has a 30ft range, but similar to my S9's, if my phone was in my pocket, the audio seemed to cut out occassionally. If the headset has a direct sight to the source it seems to perform better in this regard.
Now for the goodies, audio quality. The S9HD's feature SRS WOW HD technology, which is supposed to give you fuller bass and better overall quality. You can enable/disable SRS WOW HD by pressing and holding the forward button, and there is a noticeable difference in quality. With the SRS WOW HD on, it performs much better than its S9 predecessor, however, if your device has an equalizer or SRS WOW HD drivers, you may be able to achieve the same quality with the older S9's.
Call quality, on the other hand, was still poor. There's not much noise cancellation, so if you're in a noisy environment people may complain about the background noise. If you're working out though, you probably aren't going to be talking on the phone long, so it'll get the job done for shorter conversations.
Another difference, which I can't vouch for, is its ability to be sweat-resistant. I've never had a problem with the S9's, and I've used them jogging and working out without a problem. People have reported that the S9's have had buttons short out due to sweat, but many people have said the S9HD's don't exhibit that problem.
Overall, for $36 more than the older S9's, I think its worth the extra money, especially if you don't have an EQ or SRS WOW HD technology on your device. The sound quality is improved if you can't adjust it from your phone, and the theoretical "sweat-resistance" is a nice bonus. I also like the sleeker black and chrome look rather than the red in its predecessor.
© 2009, mindfrost82. All rights reserved.
looks pretty sweet, may have to check it out
Been looking for a good stereo bluetooth headset myself, might have to give this a shot.
I went through 3 of the old S9 sets before I gave up on them. Each time either the buttons stopped working or the sound ended up really tinny. I used them for working out (as advertised) and think the sweat got to each of them after about 1 months worth of usage. I now have a pair of altec lansing’s backbeat headphones and so far they’ve lasted 3 months of the same abuse the S9′s only lasted 1 month of. The altec’s are also MUCH more comfortable and dont have a weighty rear like the s9′s to bounce back and forth on your neck.
they don’t seem to pair very well with my touch pro. if i am not sitting still they cut out for several seconds every 10 seconds or so (happened w/ my s9′s and my s9hd’s
). although, they
work extremely well when paired with my laptop.
(if anyone has fixed these problems with a cab or reg edit plz pm me
)
@sprinttouch666 – Check the forums for an A2DP Tweak cab. It sounds like your bluetooth stereo settings need to be tweaked. I have dropouts if my phone is in my pocket, but it works well other than that.