Sony DR-BT50 Stereo Bluetooth Headphones Review

The availability of stereo Bluetooth headsets has been steadily increasing this year, helping to bring prices down. In particular at the top end last month’s arrival of Nokia’s noise-cancelling flagship set, the BH-905, has led to significant drops in other premium closed-back designs. Motorola’s high end S805s have been selling for a steal recently on some sites  but today I’m going to focus on Sony’s DR-BT50, which for some represented the pinnacle of stereo Bluetooth headsets until Nokia recently crashed Sony’s party.  I’ll make comparisons to the S805 along the way.

First impressions

Sony debuted the BT50 at a whopping $229 but it’s now available for a around $129 or so at several e-tailers. The cans are based upon Sony’s celebrated Altus MDR-D777LP, so they carry a promise of good sound delivery. They also bring practicality, being foldable.

Physically the BT50s are extremely light, feeling like about half the weight of my Motorola S805s. The BT50’s earpads are also thinner and the buttons are smaller; more on this later. Like the S805s the Sonys sport a full set of music playback controls as well as a mic and call management.

Pairing was straightforward with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 and subsequent reconnections have gone perfectly, as has also been the case with my Motorola S805 and S9HD headsets. The days of fiddly Bluetooth connections are hopefully now well behind us!

Put them on already!

The BT50s feel great to wear and the slim earpads enclose the ears comfortably. The pads are so soft that it’s easier to wear sunglasses with the Sonys compared to the S805s, which is important if you live in a sunny part of the world. Having said that, this not so much a failing of the S805s but rather a comment on how soft the BT50’s earpads really are.

I mentioned earlier that the controls on the BT50 are small and when I first saw them I wondered how I would find them when the cans were on my head. The power and call pickup buttons are fine but the playback and volume controls are, frankly, tiny. Worse still the playback control is a flick-touch rocker switch controlling play/pause/stop and track navigation. The S805 seems like a Tonka truck in comparison, with its large finger-friendly controls.

Listen up

In use the BT50’s buttons were actually easier to locate than I had feared, although the playback rocker is too easy to nudge causing a track skip when you’re trying to depress it to pause. The call pickup button is a decent size, as is the power button, so these present no issues.

Once the music is playing the BT50s simply shine compared to most other Bluetooth headsets, trumping the S805s for both bass and mid-range although sometimes the top end detail seems to suffer at the expense of the solid bottom end frequencies. It’s not that reproduction is too overly bass heavy, but the current consumer trends favor bass and consequently the BT50s will find plenty of fans in this regard.

When a call comes in pressing the call accept button pauses music playback and answers the call. I could hear callers very clearly and they could hear me well both indoors and outside. Call quality was definitely superior to my S805s.

In order to use the stereo music and playback functions you’ll need a device supporting the A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles. Check your specs on your device manufacturer’s website. A2DP provides music playback support and AVRCP provides remote control of playback functions.

The BT50s felt both light and snug even for lengthy listening sessions and that included time wearing sunglasses. When I was finished listening I found that the folded BT50s fit perfectly into my jacket pocket.

Some room for improvement

On the downside the BT50s are picky about placement and like to have a decent line of sight to the originating device. They are far less tolerant to obstacles than the S805s and this results in occasional cut-outs unless your BlackBerry is in a shirt or jacket pocket fairly high up on your body. This issue is not unique to the BT50s, my Motorola S9-HD suffers from a similar weakness.

The BT50s must have a decent size buffer however because it takes a while for the cut-out to occur. As a result I found I could walk around normally with almost no cut-outs with my Bold in my top pocket. Part of this issue could also be attributed to the Bold, which I’ve found to have a below-average strength Bluetooth transmitter compared to other phones I’ve used.

The other niggle is that Sony fitted the BT50 with a proprietary charging port rather than a mini-USB connection.  This means needing to remember to take the charger when you travel, rather than simply a USB cable to charge from a laptop.  Accessories these days should be rechargeable via USB.

Stereo stars or falling stars?

Overall I can give the Sony DR-BT50 a solid recommendation at its current street price. Most listeners are likely to be very happy with their sound quality and they felt both practical and comfortable for extended use on my ears, although as ever your mileage may vary depending on your head and ear shape so try before you buy if you can!

Note: I also published an edited version of this review on BerryReporter here.

Link to Sony product page here.

Neil Berman

www.theonbutton.com