OMIZ OMS600 (1 GB) MP3 Player

[Update: MacOS X Leopard now supports A2DP and "just works" with this headset. The Mac sees both the Headset (Mono audio/mic for Skype etc) and Headphone (A2DP Stereo) as separate devices. After the usual setup, simply put the OMS600 into the headphone mode and pick "Use Headphone" from the Bluetooth dropdown menu on the Mac, and the internal speakers mute, and the Headphones play. It worked over a 10 foot range walking around a room crackled a bit at the limit and dropped the connection if I went too far away.]

Stereo Bluetooth Headsets are an emerging technology. This one is harder to setup than most because of its extra functionality. There are also compatibility issues between the many versions of Bluetooth devices. However its extra features do work well, and its a comfortable and good sounding headset.

First the negatives on this product: it doesn't work at all with MacOS X, the configuration fails to complete and loops forever requesting a pin number. MacOS X supports basic BT headsets, but not A2DP stereo. I think it gets confused by the OMS600 that has both these features. In general A2DP is an immature technology, it doesn't work well on Windows and the Treo doesn't support it either. A lesser issue is that the USB interface used to load files onto the SD card is very slow, it takes 10-15 minutes to load an entire album. The microphone on the headset is a small hole on the left earpiece, this works, but its not as good as headsets that have a boom, you have to speak up to be heard over background noise.

The positives:
Comfort and build quality: They seem quite well built and robust, fit well enough and are light and comfortable for extended wearing. They have good audio and are capable of going very loud without distorting. Battery life seems fine, I haven't run them flat yet.

FM Radio: allows preset channels to be programmed in and easy switching between them. FM reception is OK for local strong stations, and sound quality is good.

MP3 player: the display shows the folder name and track file name, works well and sound quality is excellent. There is no EQ control, but the balance and range seems fine. The regular size SD card works but sticks out, there is a smaller size SD card that would probably fit better, I haven't tried one.

Phone headset: I got it to work with the Treo 650 as a phone headset, although the Treo is not on its list of supported phones. After pairing with the Treo, you have to hit the play button on the headset (by feel!) to listen to an incoming call after you hear a ring in the headphone, and it does switch back to your FM or MP3 session once the call ends. To make an outgoing call you have to start the call on the phone, then push the play button on the headset.

Skype headset:
I got an IOgear 211 USB Bluetooth adaptor for my Dell laptop with Windows XP sp2. This comes with widcomm drivers, and you have to disable the Microsoft drivers since they don't support headsets. You also need to get a Skype plugin from skypeheadset.co.uk, it connects to the headset when Skype makes a call. Its cheap and it *just works*, I couldn't make the headset work with Skype without it. The skypeheadset plugin doesn't yet support A2DP.

A2DP stereo bluetooth headset:
This doesn't work as well. I did get it to work to listen to iTunes on my Dell, with excellent sound quality, but the connection dropped fairly often and I had to reconfigure to make it work as a Skype headset. It didn't automatically switch.