Nokia BH-905 Review: A symphony of sound and silence
Posted by Norman John in BH-905, Nokia
The Nokia BH-905 is currently Nokia’s flagship accessory. In this test we’ll put the BH-905 through its peaces and tell you weather it’s hot or not.
Main advantage:
- Active noise cancellation
- Wide compatibility
- Excellent sound quality
Main disadvantage:
- Price
- not suitable for sports
Sales package:
As No kia’s flagship the BH-905 does not come in a brown paper bag but in a rather big,black and impressive packet. The front shows the only in black available BH-905 as well as the key features. Further information about the product are available on the back. Inside the packet you’ll find a oval leather case which looks really generous. After unzipping the case you can see the BH-905 as well as the other accessories:
- Audio Cable for 3.5mm Nokia AV (~1.2m)
- Extension Audio Cable (~1.7m)
- AV Adapter for 2.5 mm Nokia AV
- Audio Adapter for standard 3.5 mm jack
- Adapter for airplane
- Adapter for 6.3 mm home stereo
- Travel Charger
- User guide
In the leather case you can store all adapters, cables, charger as well as the headset. I’ll talk more about the supplied adapters later.
Pair:
It is very easy to connect the BH-905 via Bluetooth to your mobile phone. You just need to press and hold the multifunction key for around 5 seconds until the blue indicator light start to flash quickly. Then you have to search the BH-905 with your mobile phone as a paired device. If you have found it just enter the passcode ”0000” and the headset is paired with your phone. After done this you will not need to do it again. You just need to switch on Bluetooth on your mobile-phone and press the multifunction key of the headset for 3 seconds and both devices are connected. As you can see it is very easy to set up the BH-905 with your device and after the first time you get connected with the headset within a few seconds.
Connectivity:
One of the BH-905 key advantage is the wide connectivity. It connects not only via Bluetooth to mobile phones but also offers plugs to connect to computers, airplanes and other music players (3.5mm jack) as well as to home stereo set-ups (6.3mm jack). Also devices with a 2.5mm jack are supported. The cable which need to be plug in into the headset is 1,2m and has so the perfect length. Thus, with the Bluetooth and wired connectivity you can connect to every device you like and don’t need any other headset. The Bluetooth connection works within 10 meters quite well and also when the headset and the phone are separated by a wall or a door.
Active Noise Cancellation:
The Nokia BH-905 is the first product to feature patented multi-microphone feed-forward active noise cancellation technology. Ten microphones work in concert. Eight of these ten microphones capture the background noise. So it reduces ambient noise in noisy environments. Switching to Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) you really hear the difference and the silence. Although not every noise is filtered out the ‘coarest’ noise will be reduced and leads so to a much better music and telephony experience. Of course it’s caller-savvy to its core, with the two other microphones dedicated to making crisp voice calls – one mic soaks up your speech whilst the other simultaneously eliminates ambient noise for the listener so your conversations sound much clearer. To activate ANC you just need to slide the power key (on the left side) towards the charger connector. Thereafter the indicator light is displayed green and you can enjoy ANC. In order to deactivate ANC slide the power key away from the charger connector.
Sound Quality and Volume:
As already expected the sound quality is really good and clear. The bass is strong and the volume can be set to really loud so that everybody can be satisfy. However, we recommend not to listen to loud to protect your ears. As Wolfson’s advanced ANC technology does not process the playback audio stream, your music comes through in untouched hi-fi quality stereo. As nowadays almost every mobile phone features A2DP you can enjoy stereo music also via Bluetooth. Anyway, the sound quality is good, weather wireless or wired. During a test call the person on the other side of the line complained that she was hearing an echo of her own voice. Apparantly this was caused by the BH-905.
Design & comfort:
Without a doubt, the BH-905 represents pure luxury. Despite it’s mainly made out of plastic the black plastic along with the silver metallic and plastic make a overall good appearance. Due to the soft ear pads it feels really comfortable and good. Furthermore you can adjust the headset so that it fits perfect to your head-size. When siting, walking or lying it headset sits good. However, when making fast movements it falls of your head easily. So, I’d not recommend the BH-905 for sport activity. Headsets like the BH-503 are better suitable for sports.
Usage & Control:
Controlling the headset is really easy and is just one fingerpress away. On the right hand side, when wearing the headset, you have access to almost all keys. The volume keys, forward key, play/pause key, rewind key and the multifunction key. These are almost all keys you need to control the headset. On the left hand side there is only the power key for ANC. So you can adjust the volume, jump between tracks and play or pause a song with the dedicated music keys. Clicking the multifunction key for three seconds you can turn the headset on, press and hold it for six seconds and the headset is turned off. Of course you can answer a call when pressing on the multifunction key and end it when pressing on it once again. Double clicking on the multifunction key you call the last number dialed. This is a really cool feature I use pretty often. Holding this key for 5 seconds you open the voice commands. Answer, end and redial buttons and voice dialling let you manage your calls easily. The keys are all quite big so that you can control the headphone really easy and intuitive. Unfortunately you need to press the big multifunction and play key in the very middle. Other then that we’re really pleased with the keys.
Batterylife:
The batterylife of the BH-905 is under 24hours with bluetooth at almost the highest volume level. Activating ANC the batterylife will decrease of course. Wired usage is always possible. If you activate ANC then you can listen to music for about 40 hours.
Verdict:
The Nokia BH-905 is indeed a symphony of sound and silence. With a huge range of comparability, a stylish look and Active Noise Cancellation it is the best headset you can get. However, you need to bear in mind the price of almost 200€ and the fact that it’s not suitable for fast movements and sports.
Related posts:
- Nokia BH905i Review – It’s Wireless, Elegant and Excellent!
- Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-503
- Review: Nokia BH-803
- Review: Nokia BH-701
- Nokia N85 Review Part 1: Introduction & Package contents
