Logitech Wireless USB Bluetooth Headphones for PC's - A Cautionary Tale

On paper, the features of Logitech's Bluetooth Wireless Headphones for PC make these ‘phones appear to be near-perfect for listening to anything wirelessly on your PC. They work almost as well as Logitech claims, decent wireless range, the best sound quality I’ve ever hear in a set of wireless headphones, good battery life, and the ability to control your software media players with controls on the headphones themselves. Unfortunately, they have a couple of near-fatal flaws that make them unacceptable for many users. The flaws are so bad that Logitech has pulled these $130 (list) headphones off their website. As I write this review, these headphones are still widely available at many stores, often at closeout pricing (under $40), making them a great value...... IF.... you’re willing to do a little preventative maintenance on these ‘phones before using them. I purchased a couple of these headphones from Woot!.com, for about $25 each, a bargain, but only a bargain because I addressed the flaws before using the headphones extensively. More on my fixes later.

Features

Logitech lists a few key features for these headphones:

Integrated track and volume controls There are buttons located in a circular pattern on the of the right earpiece to start and stop playback and change tracks on your media player, including Windows Media Player, Musicmatch, iTunes, RealPlayer, WinAmp, and a few others I’ve tried.. These buttons work with most media players, as long as that media player is “on top” of your desktop, but with some media players, the buttons are ignored when the players are minimized. The buttons work with Windows Media Player all the time, even if media player is minimized

Battery life up to 8 hours - Logitech’s estimate are reasonable, I get 6-8 hours. The charger will charge the headphones in a couple of hours. Logitech uses the same connection for this charger as they use for their Bluetooth cell phone headsets. The transmitter is USB powered.

Range up to 165 feet - I don’t get anywhere close to 165 feet. The headphones work great in as long as I stay in the same room as the transmitter, and even if I go into the next room. If the signal needs to go through more than one wall it will start to break up.

Bluetooth v1.2 Class 1 transmitter (range up to 100 meters) and Class II (30M range) headphones using A2DP (a Bluetooth protocol for high quality audio)

In the box

In the package you’ll get the headphones themselves, an extra set of foam ear coverings, a quickstart guide, a Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into your USB port, an attractive usb desktop stand for the transmitter (optional) that allows you locate it a couple of feet away from your PC, and a Logitech Music Anywhere software cd.

Setup and Operation

Setup of the headphones is easy…

- Charge the headphones
- Plug the USB transmitter into your PC
- Pair the headphones with the transmitter by holding the connect button on the headphones and transmitter for 10 seconds. After a few seconds more, the transmitter and headphones connect. A LED on the transmitter and the headphones turn to blue, indication the units are paired and are online.
- Adjust the settings of your PC’s sound card to make the Logitech headphones your default audio device.

From then on, the headphones will be “paired” with the transmitter, a 1:1 connection typical of Bluetooth headsets, and won’t interfere with signals from other Bluetooth devices.


Wearing the Headphones and Preventative Maintenance

The headphones weigh a little over 3 ounces. The foam covered earpieces are about 2” in diameter and fit on top of your ears. The earpieces are connected by a plastic band which runs behind your head. I’ve worn Koss headphones with the “behind the head” style band and found them to be very comfortable.

Unfortunately, these headphones are very uncomfortable, the plastic band holds the headphones far too tightly against your ears, the first fatal flaw of this set. Many users have described softening this band by heating the plastic band in boiling water for a few seconds, then stretching the headphones a little further apart by placing them on something a little wider than normal for a few hours to “reset” the band to permanently "wider than normal" position. This means that headphones put less pressure on your ears, and there's lest stress on the band to cause cracking.. This works well, but if you stretch the band too far the headphones won’t fit tight enough against your ear to provide good sound quality.

The “tightness” of the headband also puts an unacceptable amount of stress on the plastic band as you wear it. After a couple of months of wearing the headphones, I noticed they were becoming more comfortable, and I hoped it meant the headband was loosening up. Unfortunately, the headband had developed a large crack in the middle of the band were the stresses were highest, the second flaw these headphones exhibit. I did a bit more research and found hundreds of similar reports on the internet. All said the crack will grow until the plastic band breaks completely, leaving the headphones worthless. A few users reported success by finding a way to add additional support to the plastic band, by gluing on an addition plastic strip, or building up another layer of plastic on the plastic band.

To repair and strengthen the support band on my headphones, I took a similar approach using supplies I had on hand. I wrapped the band with a couple layers of self-adhesive fiberglass mesh tape, tape I use used for repairing wallboard. I wrapped 1/2 “ wide strips around the plastic band covering the crack and about 2” on either side, similar to how you would wrap the handle on a baseball bat or tennis racket. I then coated the inside part of the head band with polyurethane glue (Elmers Ultimate or Gorilla glue work well). The polyurethane glue filled the gaps in the mesh tape, and formed a tight adhesive seal against the plastic band, a layer of polyurethane reinforced with fiberglass threads. After the glue dried, I sanded it and added another layer. It doesn’t look great, but the headphone band is now much stronger.


Logitech Music Anywhere Software

If you install the software on your PC, which is not required, it allows you direct audio from Windows Media Player (and some other media players) to your wireless usb headphones while directing other sounds to your speakers or wired headphones. Without this software, all of your audio either goes to the usb wireless headphones or to your speakers, and whenever you want to switch from usb wireless headphones to speakers, you have to adjust the audio properties on your PC. Logitech says the Music Anywhere fully software supports Windows Media Player, WinAmp5 and MusicMatch 9 and 10 fully, and provides limited functionality with iTunes 4 and Real Player. Though I like the software, I really wish it supported PowerDVD and I wish Logitech would continue to support new versions of media players like iTunes.

Fortunately, the start/stop and forward/back controls work with all the media players I’ve tried, as long as that player is the application that you have selected on top of your PC’s desktop. Unless you are using Windows Media player, if the software media player is running behind some other application, then the headphone controls won’t pause or change tracks on your media player. The controls work with Windows Media Player even if that player is running in the background. The volume controls on the headphone are independent of the PC, and work no matter what you are listening to.

Using the Bluetooth Wireless Headphones for PC

Battery life for Logitech's Bluetooth Wireless Headphones for PC is very good, typically 6-8 hours. I use them for listening to music (include DRM encoded subscription music from Yahoo Music), baseball broadcasts from MLB.com, and movies from my PC. Sound quality is very good, but not quite equal to a good set of wired headphones. Frequency response is very good, but highs aren’t brilliant and base isn’t quite as strong as say a $40 set of Koss headphones. The sound quality is much better and much clearer than what you’d get with wireless headphones based on RF technology. Background static or hum is not an issue at all with these headphones.

When you pause your media player, the headphones will stay “online” for 3 minutes, beeping once every 15 seconds. After 3 minutes, the headphones will power down and disconnect from the USB transmitter. To reconnect, you need to turn the headphones back on, and then push the button on the headphones one more time to reconnect. The headphones and transmitter do not lose their pairing when the headphones power down. Though this power-down feature leads to better battery life, it means you won’t want to use the headphones where the audio stops frequently for time periods of more than 3 minutes.

Conclusion

At first glance, these headphones look great. But, Logitech did not test their final design, the poor fit and fragile headband are completely unacceptable in a device listing for more than $100. If you can buy these from Ebay, Woot!, and other resellers who handle closeouts for under $40, they’re a good deal, if you are willing to strengthen the headband or at least modify the “at "rest” state" of the support band by heating and stretching it. Don’t buy these with the hope that your’s won’t crack, there are just too many reports by too many users to discount this problem. If you buy these, you must strenthen the support band, or find a way to loosen its fit to reduce the stresses on the band.

Logitech sells several versions of these wireless headphones, one specifically for iPods, another for mp3 players, as well as this USB model. The MP3 version includes a bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the headphone jack on audio players. All were made with the poorly designed support bands.