Jabra Halo makes its debut

The Jabra Halo stereo Bluetooth headset, open and folded.

(Credit: Jabra)

I was quite impressed with the Jabra Halo stereo Bluetooth headset when I first saw it at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas. It looked thin and lightweight, and promised to be the first wireless stereo headset with dual-microphone noise cancellation. Indeed, it was our cream of the crop nominee for best accessory at the show.

Now Jabra has made the Halo official, announcing that it'll be available for sale in Best Buy retail stores next week. Other features of the headset include multipoint technology, eight hours of talk or music time, Zirene Power Bass, and a 3.5mm cord option in case you can't or don't want to use Bluetooth. It also folds down to a more compact shape. The suggested retail price is $129, which may seem a bit costly, but if the HALO delivers on its promise, it would be well worth it.

[Slick1of2]

I've been looking into a wireless headphone for myself. I like to watch movies on my pc monitor and be in my bed. Sometimes I have to use headphones, so in those cases I have to sit in a chair for 2 hours. This looks cool.

[sfnetgeek]

I got one when I was traveling in Asia a month ago. It woks great as it promises. I even used it there for VoIP calls using my laptop. Works like a charm. It also supports two connected devices connected at the same time. (Only one is allowed to send the audio as a time.) The light touch feature to adjust the volume and skip tracks is so cool. BTW, my wife said it works great as hair-band too :)

I just checked on Best Buy, and it is priced $129.99. The one I got from Asia is about USD$89 without tax and comes with a promotional Parker pan with Jabra logo.

[winexz]

Asia is a big place, could you be more specific?

[jaguar717]

West Asia.

[make_or_break]

Looks nice. Hope it performs as well as it looks; I've been on the lookout for a stereo BT set for a while, and this one might fit the bill quite nicely.

[tomgreensmith]

Will this work with the iPhone? On the Best Buy site it says "no" next to "iPhone Accessory" but their specs have been wrong before.

[tomgreensmith]

Went to the Jabra website and they say it is compatible with all of the current iPhone models.

[msitarzewski]

I bought these yesterday actually, and was super excited. I charged them, put them on my head and played a few favorite tunes. Frankly? The sounds was terrible, but it isn't the fault of the audio coming from the headphones.

It stems from the architecture of the headphones themselves. The over the head style is neat, except that the angle of the actual speakers on the ears is suboptimal. If you push them toward your ears, the sound is pretty good indeed. Without the pressure, the bass is just abysmal.

So bad in fact, I took them back.

I'm sticking with my Rocketfish RF-MAB2 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones from Best Buy. They're $40 less, and sound every bit as good. They also fit snugly against my ears with no discomfort.

By the way, both of these work with my iPhone 3GS. The Jabra web site even says so.

Cheers.

[dmorgen518]

The design resembles that of a pair of Bang and Olufsen Form 2's.

[rickbroida]

Just got a pair. Sound quality is terrific, but the volume controls are terrible -- and sometimes the controls don't work properly with my iPhone 3G.