Sony Mdr1rbt Premium Bluetooth Over-The-Head Style Headphones (Black)

Sony MDR1RBT Premium Bluetooth Over-the-Head Style Headphones (Black)

• Listen wirelessly to compatible Bluetooth audio devices.
• NFC easy connect for quick and simple Bluetooth pairing with a tap
• 40mm Liquid Crystal polymer film diaphragms (5-24Hz)
• Enfolding structure delivers wrap around comfort and an improved acoustic seal for improved bass response
• Comfortable ear pads deliver powerful bass response and long-term comfort

Buy Now : Sony MDR1RBT Premium Bluetooth Over-the-Head Style Headphones (Black)

Brand : Sony
Category : Electronics,Headphones, Earbuds & Accessories,Headphones & Earbuds,On-Ear Headphones
Rating : 3.8
Review Count : 181
SalesRank : 0

Sony MDR1RBT Premium Bluetooth Over-the-Head Style Headphones (Black)

• [Update - Feb 2013: For whatever reason, the BT connectivity problems using iOS 6.1.2 on a iPhone 4S seem to have disappeared. Not sure whether the problems I was having was due to interference, what was running on my iPhone at the time, or a combination (or something else), but no problems anymore. I guess if I get the same problem again in the future, I\'ll just restart the iPhone and see if that helps. Sounds great, and great to use a headphone without wires!][Update - Feb 2013: Well, unfortunately iOS 6.1.2, at least on an iPhone 4S, has created all kinds of issues with this Bluetooth headphone. Skips, pauses, etc. It worked PERFECTLY with iOS 5.1. Hopefully, Apple will fix this, but if you plan on pairing these with an iPhone running 6.1.2, do so at your own peril. On the other hand, I highly doubt it\'s a problem with these headphones, as opposed to the iOS update Apple pushed out.]I was hesitant to order these because some of the early impressions seemed lukewarm, but I decided to give them a try. After two days of using them to listen to music and watching a movie on my iPhone 4S and iPad (3 Gen), I like them so much that I kept them over a pair of Sennheiser Momentum headphones, which also are great headphones for their intended application. There aren\'t that many reviews of these on the web yet, so I\'ll go into more detail here because I\'m really impressed with the MDR-1RBT.Bluetooth headphones have had a mixed record to date (including the Parrot Zik), but these easily exceeded my expectations. Unless you are expecting audiophile-level sound (in which case you ought to be looking at a full-blown home rig, not something to be used with a portable device), the balance of convenience and sound that the MDR-1RBT provide is remarkable. It is hard to overstate how liberating it is to not be tethered by a cord. I can get up and walk around the entire first floor of my house (i.e., not line of sight to the connected device) without losing the signal, although at the far end (25-30 feet or so), through two walls, the sound does start to break up. No cord to get in the way or get tangled, but I\'m still able to control the music and volume. Just really nice to experience (even if, in all candor, that is a real 1st-world problem). They worked fine as a Bluetooth headset for my iPhone; no problem hearing the person on the other end, and I could hear myself well enough to not feel disconnected from the conversation. But I don\'t plan on using these much if at all as a phone headset (although it is a nice option to have if somebody does call in the middle of listening to music).Connectivity - I tried these with an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1, an iPad (3rd Gen) running iOS 5.1, and an iPhone 4S running iOS 6.01. Other than the hassle of having to manually forget the Bluetooth pairing with one device to switch to another (and maybe I\'m just not doing it right), zero problems with connectivity. I didn\'t even have to enter an access/device code to get the MDR-1RBT to pair with any of these devices. There have been some comments in other reviews about the Bluetooth connection stuttering/skipping when playing music and having some latency issues when watching video. I had no issues with stuttering/skipping on any of these devices. I thought, once or twice, that I may have missed the first second or so of the first song when I started to listen to music on my iPhone, but it was very hard to reproduce. Once you start listening, you can skip back and forth through different tracks and albums, and miss nothing. In terms of the audio to videos, I couldn\'t sense any latency issues. If there\'s a delay between the video and audio, it is imperceptible to me. Indeed, had I not read of this issue in one review, it would never have occurred to me to be a problem after watching a 3 hour movie. One note: As with my bluetooth headset, when playing music (using A2DP protocol, as I understand it), the volume control on the headset is independent of the volume control on my iPhone (or iPad). So what I do is turn the the volume on the iDevice very high (close to max, actually), and then use the volume control on the -1RBT to adjust the volume to my liking. It can get plenty loud enough for me, but I don\'t listen at high volumes.UPDATE - I was able to experience some skipping, and it appears to happen very occassionally when I give my iPhone plenty to do (e.g., listening to music through the Bluetooth connection and surfing the web simultaneously) or unlock the phone while listening to music. But it doesn\'t happen if you are just listening to music or watching a movie. It\'s absolutely not an issue for me, but I did want to note it.Comfort/Ergonomics - Other reviews are almost unanimous that the new -1R series of headphones (-1R, -1RBT and -1RNC) are some of the most comfortable full-size headphones made. I have to agree; they easily are as comfortable as the Momentums, which surprised me. Even though these are full-size/circumaural headphones, they are relatively light (although 50% heavier than the Momentums, which are real lightweights), do not exert a lot of clamping pressure, and are very comfortable. I had no issues using them with glasses. (At the other end of the spectrum, I tried out the Beyerdynamic T5p\'s for about a month, and although they are touted as a comfortable headphone, their size, weight and earpad shape made them just tolerable in comparison, particularly with glasses.) The -1RBT earpads are larger than the Momentums, which are in-between circumaural and supra-aural, so my ears fit inside them completely. Depending on the shape of your ears, they may touch the driver frame (i.e., not enough depth). The -1RBT is supposed to have deeper earpads than the -1R, but it still happens because the earpads themselves are so soft. I didn\'t find it a problem at all; others might.Sound - I was surprised at how good these sound. They struck me as balanced, with less bass emphasis than the Momentums, but also less treble presence. Mids were very nice, particularly on vocals. In all, more detail and clarity than I had expected. To be clear: They sounded good enough that I kept these as a day-to-day headphone for use around the house, because the wireless advantage was so great. But, to me, they didn\'t sound quite as good as the Momentum, and not nearly as good as a custom IEM that is more than double the price. (And for comparison, the detail, space and clarity of the T5p\'s or my custom IEMs blow these away, although the T5p is bass-light unless, apparently, really well-amped.) My sense also was that the dynamic range of the music was slightly (to more noticeably, in some cases) compressed when compared to a wired headphone. (This actually may be a plus for some folks.) None of this should be a surprise given the wireless/Bluetooth connection, but folks shouldn\'t be misled. When I first heard the, my thought was, \"Wow, these sound really, really good compared to what I was expecting.\" It was not, \"Wow, these sound as good as if not better than the best wired competitors in this price range.\"Build-quality/design - My view is that Sony made these very comfortable, with easy-to-use controls once you figure out where the various buttons are. So in that sense, A+ because everything else wouldn\'t matter if they were uncomfortable or difficult to use. The details are nice, too: for example, when folded flat, the frames of the ear-pieces touch, and there are these little rubber bumpers on the frame in those spots to prevent wear. And they are nice to look at. But in terms of luxury materials and over-engineering, some might be disappointed. Probably little metal other than the headband (even the dark chrome-like eadpad frame is plastic); the padding is pleather, not leather; switches are plastic and the start/stop/forward/back switch is somewhat flimsy feeling; with time, the cover for the USB charging port and the wired headphone cable is either going to break or fall off, etc. Compared to the Momentums, which really focused on luxury materials and finishes, the -1RBTs fall short. On the other hand, the material choices probably kept these headphones as light as they are (so I\'m fine with them), and all the electronics packed into these headphones had to be taken into account for the price point. My view is that these are 2-4 year headphones, because by then, the technology will have moved forward enough to obsolete these, or something will have broken down, or the battery (which is not user-replaceable) will have reached the end of its useful life if you use the headphones regularly. $400 is not cheap for a pair of headphones, however...Why - For $400, you start entering the territory of some really great headphones (e.g., Sennheiser HD-650). And I do think that the sound from a very-good headphone in the price range is going to sound better, objectively and subjectively. Also, it\'s hard to beat the simplicity of just plugging in a pair of headphones to your music device and pressing \"play\"; with these, you have to turn them on (and pair them, if you haven\'t already), remember to recharge them on occasion, etc. But you don\'t buy these headphones because you want the best sound, you should buy these headphones because they offer more than acceptable sound (very satisfying, actually) in a WIRELESS headphone that works great wirelessly. Whatever sonic sacrifices may have been required before with a Bluetooth headphone, those sacrifices are sufficiently minimized with the MDR-1RBT to make them a worthwhile tradeoff for the convenience of a wireless connection. If you don\'t want a wireless headphone, there\'s no reason to even consider these. But I would bet that many folks would be surprised by how enjoyable a good wireless headphone is. I was.
• I have the MDR-NC200, the V-Moda Crossfade LP, Klipsch Image X-10, UE TripleFi 10 and the Monster Turbine IE\'s (all from Amazon). I bought the MDR1BT because of the raving reviews from CNET and other audio sites on line. I have purchased these cans (the most I\'ve paid so far) and they are the best sounding headphones I\'ve ever tried in my life. They fit amazingly well and are comfortable. They are not on ears like the NC200, they do not fit shallow like the V-Moda LP (even when extended all the way, they are nice and large and the cups fit over my ears without exposure, which means no sound leakage.The Bluetooth connection to my iPhone 5 is hassle free and connects effortlessly without any issues. Sound from Bluetooth connection as compared to wired is about the same. Having a wire-free listening experience is pure bliss. The bass oomph factor is certainly higher than any of the other headphone/earphones I have. Nonetheless, the bass does not drown the rest of the treble, mids and etc like the way it does on my NC200. You can hear every note crystal clear, hear every cymbal clash, background notes VERY clearly. These sound so much better than everything else I have tried so far.Call quality through these headphones are great, but not perfect. Although they are not active noise canceling, they are passive. They still block out much of the outside noise. Thus, it feels like you are talking louder than you normally have to because you cannot hear your voice too well and gets drowned out. Otherwise, the call feature with Mic is a welcome feature and I certainly see myself using it more often.There are volume control, play, rewind, fast forward buttons on the right side along with the call button. The Play/REW/FF rocker works very well and is easy to locate. You get the Power switch on the left can and hold on to it to turn the bluetooth on. A chime sounds to inform you that they are on. Same thing when you shut it off. Another chime to inform you that it is off.The supplied 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable is the same as my NC200 with gold plated plugs on both ends. However, the 3.5mm port on the left can is not recessed in and so you can use any other 3.5mm - 3.5mm cable. I have a media bridge cable and it works flawlessly. The mediabridge looks much better and looks more like OEM than the thin cable Sony supplies. I also used the Mic infused cable from the V-Moda and it the controls work very well.I have used these every day for a week and have not charged the unit through the Micro USB cable yet, but I suspect the battery will last quite a long time.For a $400 pair of cans, they are not of high quality. Certainly, they are better quality than my NC200, but the V-Moda uses better materials. These are mostly plastic with a metal band, but they are sexy. I also expected these to be made elsewhere. I looked at the back of the box to note that these are Made in China and not Japan. I expect cheaper items to be Made in China, but not for a near-top-of-the-line models like these. They should have been made with more metal and not more plastic.In addition, sound skips on Bluetooth quite too many times. Sony recommends that the iPhone or the music source should be kept up to 3 feet. I keep my iPhone in my pocket and that certainly does not exceed 3 feet. The sound constantly skips. Perhaps I will give it a little bit longer as these may be a defective unit in that regard. If it continues, I will return to get another pair.Otherwise, these are a amazingly good looking, excellent sounding headphones. They are certainly made well and are packed with features, but I wish they used better materials. If you want a great sounding set, these are amazing. However, if you need a set with better materials, there are certainly better choices especially from other brands.PROS:+ Best Sounding Headphones that I own+ Sexy and well built+ Bluetooth for wireless music listening bliss+ On headphone controls with Mic for calls+ Can be used as normal headphones without Bluetooth+ Instant pairingCONS:- Mass use of plastic- Made in China (expected Korea or Japan) for a $400 pair of headphones- High Price- Music on Bluetooth Skips at timesUPDATE 4/1/2014:I use this with my Macbook Air every day. Sound is just as great and it proved to be as durable as the first time I got it. I took it on 2 inter-global trips and they perform amazingly well. I must say it is money well spent.

Location:

Share :