Kyocera Bluetooth Stereo Headset TXCKT10161 Review

A review of the Kyocera Bluetooth Stereo Headphones.

Pairing

First step: pairing. The process was relatively painless - all you do is press and hold the “multifunction” button for about five seconds (until the LED flashes both red and blue), and then you instruct your mobile phone to search for a new device. Note that the headset flashes blue after about three seconds, so you’re supposed to keep holding it down for the extra 2-3 seconds.

After the passkey exchange, you’ll have the option to automatically connect the TXTCKT10161’s to your phone if its switched on within range. This feature worked well, although there’s a slight lag of about 3-4 seconds while the connection takes place. All in all, no problems on this end.

Ease of Use

The buttons on the TXTs are pretty self-explanatory - there’s + - volume keys, a fast forward/rewind/pause button, and the multifunction on/off/pairing mode/answer calls button. Everything functions as expected.

Sound Quality

The Kyocera’s produced okay sound. Compared to a set of standard headphones (Sony G52’s), music was noticeably more hollow and tinny sounding. In certain instances there was also a some low white noise static. I couldn’t seem to reproduce this consistently, however.

Note that I don’t have any benchmark A2DP headphones to really compare these to. For now.

As for actual phone call quality, voices were a little quieter than expected, but sounded clear. No complaints from the other side either.

Range

Music was consistent within a range of about 20-21 feet (6 meters), with 2 obstructing walls. After that, sound was just plain intermittent and dropped every few seconds. At times, the headphones also attempted to speed up the music with generally hilarious results.

Comfort

Kyocera’s stereo headset is heavier than your typical set of over-the-ear headphones, but in my case I didn’t feel them dragging down on my ears. Then again, the design of the earhook’s a little weird - instead of rotating vertically to allow space to put on the headset, these rotated outward and as such didn’t feel like a tight fit.

// July 16th, 2007