Sony SBH80 Bluetooth Headset

I've purchased at least 3 Bluetooth headsets and have been been generally happy with them but never got the perfect mix of quality and functionality. I've owned the SB50 52 and 40 models. Two had OLED screeds for notification which were helpful but I discovered a true Bluetooth headset needs to be comfortable and practical and have quality sound above all. I found I rarely used the OLED function in previous models and found the clip on of the main unit along with the ear bud cord to be less than comfortable and constantly suffered slippage, and either the main unit clipping off or the ear buds falling off.After continuing to search for the perfect Bluetooth companion for my Xperia ZL smart phone I noticed these which are not widely available. Specialty online stores like Amazon and Ebay were the only place I could find them. My biggest fear was the quality of the sound coming out of the ear buds as they looked small and the wire attached looked thin but went with the reviews claiming they sounded excellent. The price was high but decided to take the plunge and give a try for myself. I'll break down my review in segments.DESIGN:As for as design goes, they are definitely beautiful but have an odd look to them since there is little out there that resembles this design. Really light, love how they stuck to the silver button theme their Z smart phone line have on both ear bud controllers. The design is ingenious.... the left side has the silver pause button with the volume rockers on either side of it. It's very easy to find the buttons on touch alone which does not require you to lower your head to find them. Very easy to control music without looking. On the right ear bud cord there is a controller for the phone which looks exactly the same except it has a little phone imprinted on silver button. This button allows you to answer and hang up and also has volume rocker. Never had such an intuitive Bluetooth headset which requires no effort to control music or phone calls. The design is also ingenious because it provides perfect balance on both cords avoiding that uneven feeling a lot of smart phone ear buds come with when the control is always located on one side. To add to the balance the main body of the headset is a plastic body you rest on the back of your neck. It's heavy enough to stay in place but not heavy enough for you to notice it. This portion includes the battery, NFC function and led light for charging. I will definitely preface this by saying this Bluetooth headset is NOT for work outs. It is for normal everyday use. It stays in place but if you're active it might not be the best headset for you. So far I've warn these doing everything from computer work to cleaning to even bike riding but I would not test it beyond that.SOUND QUALITY:Bar none best Bluetooth sound I've heard. These beat my previous sony Bluetooth models and my dedicated wired smartphone ear buds form Sony which cost 70 bucks. The base is deep with crystal clear sounds. I'm seriously in heaven. Normally sound does not have anything to do with the base unit but I have a feeling this one does have something to do with it along with ear buds themselves.BATTERY LIFE:I don't have complaints with this category but do have wishes. The constant use time is anywhere form 5 to 7 hours and this is if you are playing music consistently without stopping. Standby anywhere from a week to 3 days. To charge fully about 2 hours. Not too bad but I would prefer at least 10 to 12 hours of constant use. Certainly not enough to not give this wonderful product a five star rating. It also has a wonderful feature on Android that shows you the battery life and estimation of use and standby time. It's located in the slide down menu which is easy to see quickly but I would recommend to Sony to include a widget for the lock menu to make it even easier to view battery levels.CALL QUALITY:Sound quality is amazing on my end but i have had issues with people hearing me. Small glitch but these do do the job just fine.FUNCTIONALITY:As I said before not OLED screen on these and pretty much no notification light but it does vibrate with texts and phone calls. The point of this headset is it does not rely on visual notifications as the purpose of this is to wear it without knowing it is even there. most comfortable headsets I've ever warn, they almost feel attached to your body that is how comfortable the feel which of course what they are arming for.Yes I am a Sony Fanboy but cannot express how wonderful this product is, quality sound and one of the most functional products I've ever warn. So good my wife is getting annoyed with the fact I wear them everywhere. I simply forget I have them on sometimes. Great Job Sony!

My mobile is the Nexus 5. Please see my other review for the Jabra ROX also.Pros:- Great sound quality, audibly better than Jabra ROX with or without the latter's Dolby Digital app. Bass on the SBH80 is superb. I'm a believer on aptX technology, this is my 2nd gadget embedded with aptX.- Great telephony sound quality on both ends but sound isolation is so good that I am still not used to hearing my muted/muffled voice this much.- More secure fit - even without any 'wings' like the ROX, my SBH80 fits tightly inside my ear canals each & every single time, but YMMV.- Nothing protrudes from behind - its main body rests onto the back of my neck with nothing sticks out unlike the ROX, which can rub against collars.- Better button control - better tactile feel except with its main power button, which has a design flaw of too minimal 'click' allowed, unlike all its other buttons which feel just fine.- Its earbud cables are super thin but for a reason - their higher flexibility allows you to move more freely without dislodging the earbuds. ROX cables are too rigid although they should last a lot longer than the Sony. Think of the ROX which is built like a hummer.- Seems to have longer battery life than ROX, which is unexpected as ROX's BT4.0 should enable lower battery usage. Hm... Also, charging time is much quicker than ROX.- Better isolation than ROX from exterior noise. You can hear your chewing sound louder here, but not your own voice during telephone calls as mentioned below.- Sound reproduction is less sensitive to precise orientation of earbuds unlike the ROX. You move the ROX a tiny bit and bass is altered. You yawn and your bass is cut in half. Not cool!- Less expensive than the ROX.Cons:- My own voice during telephone call is muffled (due to its great sound isolation from the outside world) is quite weird. I tend to yell as a result. I could hear the other party well and he can hear me very well though.- The aforementioned power button which is hard to push accurately, hard to feel if it's pushed in or not. Don't even think about pushing this if you wear gloves.- Very difficult to pack due to its large and 3D form factor. Without a carrying case, I dare not travel with these. Its arms look like they can be deformed permanently if not handled with care, uncool.- Not water- or sweat-proof. This is strictly for urban use.- USB charge port has a very rigid door that doesn't swing open wide enough, as a result, it's quite unfriendly to insert USB cable to charge it.- Scuffing sound present whenever tiny earbud cables rub against clothing. But this happens with the ROX too, albeit less severe in the ROX case.- Surface texture should be smoother than this rubberized type now, smoother texture will get caught in cloth material less likely.- Initial power on sound effect is confusing and unnecessarily complex. Did I just turn it on only or did I also turn on its pairing mode?- No battery indicator of any sort, unlike the ROX's verbal indicator.- No docking / securing of earbuds onto arms or among themselves.Conclusion: I'm returning the Jabra ROX and keeping these as I don't plan on using these for sports use any way.UPDATE: Late-Jan, '16: I've been using the SBH80 w/ new Nexus 6P with no issues for 2 months until a few days ago when these just dropped the range from the normal 30+ feet to less than 3 feet (first time ever in almost 2 years). I reset these. I unpaired then re-paired them. Nothing worked. Just to make sure it wasn't my phone's fault, I tested my Nexus 6P w/ a Bluetooth dongle that I connected to my car & connection range/strength is as good as ever. Seems like these SBH80's antenna just got kinked/broken or something. I've been using these (light duty) for almost 2 years so I won't drop its stars lower than 4. But I'm filing an extended warranty coverage w/ my credit card now. I'll choose another brand of BT stereo headset but will always compare their sound quality & other functionalities to these Sony's, which I'm totally fine with especially when I listen to my music at lower volume these days (so should you if you wanna keep your hearing).