Sennheiser Bluetooth Headset for iPhone

I just took delivery of my new Sennheiser MM100 Bluetooth headset. It cost ¥19,800 from the Apple Online Store. Sennheiser are a very well-respected professional audio device company, and the comments on the online store were very positive. So after some ums and ahs I clicked Buy.

They seem to work as advertised, and I had no problems pairing them to both my iPhone and my iMac. The sound quality seems to be excellent, although I usually try to reserve judgement on the sound until I've used them for a week or so.

I can't comment on battery life yet, but according to the manual they will handle 7.5h of continuous audio, 9h call time, and 220h (about 9 days) of standby time. Not bad!

I think the thing I am most impressed by is how comfortable they and light they are. I was expecting it to be awkward to put them on, but they're a lot easier to wear than other wrap-around headsets I've tried. I jumped around a bit and they didn't fall down or even move. The over-ear plastic part starts to irritate the top of my ears a little bit, so I'll try some different angles and see if it improves. I don't seem to have any problems wearing them with glasses, either, which is a relief.

I'm not really used to wearing large headphones (I have always bought earbuds until now, but I haven't found any good Bluetooth earbuds yet), so to me it looked kind of weird in the mirror. We'll see if it gets funny looks on the street...

One more thing I noticed is that the blue indicator LED on the right side reflects on the inside of my glasses, so I can see a little blue flashing light in the right periphery of my vision. Ironically, this has actually helped with the setup, as I didn't need to take them off to check what the indicator LED is doing! I wonder if this would be distracting enough to be dangerous. It's probably only noticeable in a dark room, so hopefully it won't cause me to crash my bike!

Anyway, just a first look for now. Not ready to give my recommendation yet, but so far it seems pretty good.

Update 1: The next/previous buttons don't work with iPhone, so there's no way to skip forward or back via the headset. Not a huge deal, but disappointing given that iPhone does support this with other headphones.

Update 2: I've been using the MM100 in anger for more than a week now, and it's still on its first charge! The battery life is incredible.

Also, after listening to Björk's Homogenic and others, I am completely satisfied in the sound quality. This is by far the best bass I've heard on casual earphones, which is pretty amazing considering how light they are. The high end is bright and sharp, and the mid tones are warm and have nice depth. The only problem is that since the earpieces are not sealed at all (as I'm used to with earbuds) sound from outside is clearly audible, so in noisy settings you don't get to actually enjoy the full depth of sound they provide.

I find that maximum volume is not very loud (a European thing?) and I tend to use them at this level or just below.

Given the beautiful sound quality for music, the crappy sound quality for phone calls is inexplicable, and inexcusable. First, ring tones are so overdriven and distorted that they all sound like they're being played with a bad electric guitar. Second, the sound of the other person seems to drop in & out, kind of like using a speakerphone. I haven't tried being on the other end of the call to see what I sound like yet.

As for the wear, I still find it can irritate the tops of my ears after long usage, although I usually don't notice it until I take them off. Otherwise, they are extremely light and comfortable to wear. They do look a bit funny though. One guy commented that I look like the flight controller on the Death Star.

I find the controls work fine and are not intrusive. The volume is controllable from both the headset and the iPhone, so you can reach for whichever is convenient at the time. The lack of next/previous is a disappointment, but so far hasn't produced more than one "aargh!" moment, thanks to the iPhone's lock screen home-button-double-click iPod controls.