Sandberg? I have to say I have never heard of them, today, though I am reviewing a unit from them, something I tend to like reviewing now, could say I have an obsession. Get to the point, I am reviewing the new Sandberg Bluetooth Stereo Headset Pro RRP £48.99.
The box and its contents
When I see the word pro, for me it means quality, exceptional, this is not what you see when you see the outer packaging, to me is screams keep away from me, I am cheap. It’s all plastic with a little bit of cardboard, I would not say it was cardboard, it’s more like thick paper. Then again has this headset been created and marketed towards the gamer, or to the professional mobile individual, I guess aesthetics do always mean the product will not sell.
Looking from the front of the product, you will instantly know that this headset is for Bluetooth devices, just due to the name of the product. They claim the headset is foldable for easy travel and finally has great sound with Neodymium units (Neodymium units are the active part within headphones, the bigger the better for lower frequencies and power). The package also says its double quality tested, I have tried to find out what this means, but have been unable to. The best thing about the front design, you can see the product in all its glory, front and sides.
Moving to the back of the product a brief description of the product in 6 different languages and the boring technical information and contents.
- Bluetooth & Charging:
- Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR
- Supports NFC
- Supports A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
- 10m wireless range
- Bluetooth frequency range: 2.4 GHz-2.4835 GHz
- Up to: 10 hours playback / 13 hours talk time / 250 hours standby time
- Charge time: Approx. 5 hours
- Charging input: USB DC 5V
- Battery: Rechargeable 380mAh Li-polymer battery
- Earphone:
- Frequency range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Impedance: 32 ohms ± 15%
- Sensitivity: 100 dB ± 2 dB
- Driver unit: 50 mm Neodymium
- Microphone:
- Frequency range: 30 Hz – 16 kHz
- Impedance: 2200 ohms
- Sensitivity: -54 dB ± 2 dB
- Directivity: Omni
The headset is very easy to remove from its casing, and it feels like the product is well protected from any possible movement and may be from any accidental ‘oops I dropped it’ during transit. Under the headset is a compartment that includes a USB Charger Cable, MiniJack M-M connection cable and finally a user guide.
Let look at the design
The Sandberg Bluetooth Stereo Headset Pro is an over-the-ear unit, mostly black in colour with brushed metal, encased around the head piece and on the external ear cups. The Sandberg name is etched on the metal band around the head piece. On the right ear cup and the controls for the headset, volume up/down forward track/backwards track and answer/disconnect the call.
The ear cups are well padded with a nice soft leather touch to them, with a very small, not so generous padded headband, I personally would appreciate more padding on the headband and also bigger ear cup, as I felt they were a little too small. When the headset is not in use, or you are planning on travelling you are able to fold up the headset for easier storage, this is a nice touch since these are meant for mobile use.
The sound and software
No software is required to run this headset, you just need a Bluetooth device to connect up to. There is software built into the headset in the form of some basic controls and of coarse Bluetooth connection pairing. If you hold down the Phone icon button for a little longer than 3 seconds the headset will go into pairing mode, and they way you will notice this is by seeing a red and blue blinking lights.
The headset supports Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR and NFC technology for easy connection, works up to 10metres before the signal starts to stutter. There is also a built in microphone well hidden within the right ear piece.
Personal usage
First I tested it out with my MSI GS70 Gaming laptop, which lucky for me has Bluetooth connectivity built into it, I did have some issues connecting, however, after I resolved these issues (Laptop drivers, nothing to do with the headset) I found the headset worked rather well, as long as my Laptop was not doing anything that required more power, as the sound would start to stutter, this happened a lot, even when just playing music and my laptop was just downloading. When the sound was coming through ok, there was plenty of base and it was a pleasant experience.
The headset shines through more, when using the device with mobile handsets, there was no drop in sound quality, no stuttering and I was able to use the headset upstairs while having a bath, while leaving my mobile downstairs, rather impressive if you ask me.
Using the headset witn my mobile phone was just as easy to setup either via NFC or Bluetooth, sound was perfect when it was streaming however, the music would still cut out once in a while. Answer the phones was as simply and click and connect, however people said they could not hear me that well when i was outside, inside it seems ok.
Final thoughts
Let go over the issues I had and work this one out based on my personal opinion, Earcups are a little small, needs more padding on the headrest, the packaging looks a little cheap, did not work great with my laptop, those are the negatives I found.
Positives now, connecting up the headset is easy and fast, does what it says on the box, sound quality is great, works fantastic with mobile devices and great for travelling thanks them folding down to a smaller form factor.
Now it’s the scoring 4 negatives and 5 positives based on my personal use of the headset, so its not perfect and its not bad its just over average, does what’s on the box with nothing extra. 3.5/5
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
