By Jayanta Ghosh
Best Budget Buy
High-performance and world class accessories maker STK Accessories, a division of the UK-based Santok Group forayed into the Indian market with a line-up of Groovez in personal audio market. BTHS800 a Bluetooth headset is a part of Groovez series by STK with which the company tries to give a perfect blend of quality, functionality and accessible pricing.
Design and features:
The new range for Bluetooth headphones by STK has a folding design that allows you to compact storage and comes with its own hard shell case. The earmuffs are thick, well padded and sit firm against your ears, blocking out ambient noise. The headphones are covered in a tough hard white plastic coating which feels expensive and solid. Comes in two colors, black and white. We got a chance to review the white one which looks nice and reflective and shiny. The plastic is very hard and is slightly inflexible. On the outside of the ear pieces are solid easy-to-use buttons. On the edge of each ear piece is a stylish dotted silver/chrome finish. The headphones easily fold up inwards into a much smaller size, a very useful feature is when you want to take them out of the house or store them. They also come with a useful carrying case. Overall looks-wise it has a trendy look and you won’t find any major flaws in it.
Performance:
These headphones make it possible to enjoy stereo music wirelessly from Bluetooth A2DP devices. Very easy to pair and the headset control functions are easy-to-use for play/pause, previous/next track, volume up and volume down . The embedded microphone allows hands-free conversation from Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and there is an automatic music pause function during incoming calls. The headphones can be charged using the Micro USB charging connection via an AC mains charger or computer USB port, you can also connect it to MP3 devices via the 3.5 mm line-in jack which allows the headphones to be used without turning on the power. Other call control functions include: mute, call transfer, voice dial and call answer/end/reject. The audio quality is very impressive, gives you very clear output and the microphone works well. Battery life is very good too. Few things we didn’t like are the rigid ear muffs that are somewhat inflexible and can cause you a little discomfort for long hours of listening. But in this price point, this is one of the best budget buy option available in the market right now.
Pros: Design, good looks, easy-to-use, affordable price
Cons: Slightly inflexible
Specs:
Supports: Headset and Handsfree Profile, A2DP, AVRCP, APTX, AAC
Bluetooth: V4.0 Class 2
Range: 10 metres
Working Band: 2.4G ISM Band, 2.402-2.480GHz
Transmit Power: Class 2, Max4 dBm
Reception Sensitivity: -88dbm (typical)
LED Indicators: One Blue and One Red
Dimensions: L155mm X W45mm X T58mm
Weight: 250g
Battery: Rechargeable lithium polymer
Talk Time: Up to 12 hours
Music Playback time: up to 8 hours
Standby time: up to 200 hours
