Jawbone were the first company to really do anything with noise cancellation with their original headset and since then they’ve been facing some stiff competition from the likes of Jabra and Motorola. As three of the biggest names in Bluetooth headsets I thought I’d put the latest creations from each of them up against each other to see how well they performed, so I got my hands on a Motorola HX1, Jawbone Prime and a Jabra Stone and put them to the test.

Jawbone Prime, Jabra Stone and Motorola Endeavour HX1

Controls

As nice as the Jabra Stone and Jawbone Prime look, the fact that they have no physical buttons does make using them a little tricky. Both the Prime and the Stone only have one ‘does all’ button and neither of them are as easy to find as the answer button on the Motorola HX1 – especially when you’ve got it on your ear and are concentrating on driving. Turning the headsets on is a case of holding down the answer button on the Prime and the Stone, whereas the HX1 has a sliding power switch that makes it almost impossible to turn the headset on accidentally

When I made my test call I found that the volume level was a little low when using the Prime, and it wasn’t until I went to adjust the volume on the headset that I realised it doesn’t have any volume controls. This for me was a big disappointment. Quite often when driving I leave my phone in the back pocket of my trousers or in my bag, so to have to adjust the volume on the phone isn’t always possible and seems like a big step backwards.

You can adjust the volume on the other two headsets, the easiest by far is the HX1 as it has a dedicated volume button on the side of the headset with raised markings that let you know which is volume up and which is down. The Jabra Stone was a little unusual to adjust as it’s touch sensitive. Slide your finger up to increase the volume, slide it down to decrease it. It worked well, but there was a slight delay which meant that the volume jumped up rather than gradually increasing and meant that I needed to turn it down again.

Motorola HX1 has physical volume controls

Call management is the same on all of the headsets, with each supporting last number redial, voice dialling, answer/reject/end. It’s worth mentioning here that the Motorola HX1 is the only headset with voice prompts. This is where the headset speaks to you to let you know what it’s doing. It will confirm when it’s connected, which phone it’s connected to, provide pairing instructions and let you know how much charge is left in the battery.

Best Headset for controls and ease of use:  Motorola Endeavor HX1

Speech & Audio Quality

To test the quality of the microphones and noise cancellation, I made a test call while driving with the stereo on to my own voicemail. This meant that I could listen to each one back myself, rather than making someone suffer three test phone calls. It also meant that I could listen to the audio back through the same headset and test the audio quality.

First up was the Motorola Endeavor HX1. Even though this is the largest and most expensive headset of the three I wasn’t expecting much from it. I’ve used Motorola headsets in the past and have never really been that impressed by them, but I was amazed by just how clear the HX1 was (with Stealth Mode turned off). When I listened back to the call it was clear and sharp, no interference and you really wouldn’t have known that I’d left the voicemail using a Bluetooth headset. The noise cancellation worked brilliantly. I had the radio on quite loudly in the car and you couldn’t hear it, in fact you couldn’t hear any engine, road or wind noise either. Just my voice, loudly and clearly.

Motorola Endeavor HX1 Bluetooth Headset

I made a second test call from the HX1 with Stealth Mode turned on, but didn’t find it to be all that great. To be honest I could barely hear what was being said, but that might be because the headset wasn’t positioned correctly. Given how well the headset performed without stealth mode, I’m not convinced that you’ll ever need to use it.

The second headset was the Jabra Stone, I noticed straight away that it’s a lot lighter and smaller than HX1. It’s a comfortable fit, even if it doesn’t feel as snug as the Motorola. The headset seemed noticeably quieter than the previous headset and I had to turn it right up to hear the call. Audio sounded a little more muffled than on the HX1, like the microphone was further away. You could still hear bits of the radio in the background as well as the hum of the engine, although this wasn’t loud enough to disturb the conversation.

Jabra Stone Bluetooth Headset

Lastly was the Jawbone Prime. Of the three, this was the one that I was expecting to be the best, but was surprised to find that it was the least clear of the three. My voice sounded a little distorted and almost robotic at times. You could still hear the radio and some road noise in the background and instructions given to me by the network before leaving a message also sounded a little muffled. The volume level was also quite low, and as mentioned before, the lack of volume buttons meant that I had to adjust the volume on my phone – not ideal when driving.

Jawbone PRIME Bluetooth Headset - Black

While some of them were a little muffled, it’s worth pointing out that even though the sound may not be 100% clear, you can still hear every word that is said, unlike standard bluetooth headsets that don’t have dual microphones and noise cancellation. Any of these three will be a massive improvement over previous generations of Bluetooth headsets.

Best Headset for audio and speech quality: Motorola Endeavor HX1

Comfort

If you’re buying a Bluetooth Headset, chances are you spend a lot of time in the car. As you’re likely to be wearing your headset for long periods it’s important to get one that’s comfortable. Of the three that I tried, none of them really stood out as they are all as good as each other. The Jabra Stone is the lightest and as it sits over your ear you could easily forget that you’re wearing it, but the fact that it can only be worn on the right ear might not suit everyone.

Jabra Stone - Moulded for your right ear

The Motorola HX1 and the Jawbone Prime can both be worn in the ear or over the ear. I prefer over the ear as there’s less chance of it falling out. The HX1 did seem to fit a bit better than the Jawbone though. More of the headset sits in your ear canal and with the added weight it just feels more solid and sturdy. The Jawbone Prime is still a good, comfortable fit and stayed in place even with the ear hook removed.

Best headset for comfort: Jabra Stone

Extra Features

Motorola Endeavor HX1 – The HX1 features Bone Conduction technology and is activated when you turn on ‘Stealth Mode’. This is where the headset detects vibrations in your ear canal and then converts this to sound. Designed to be used in extremely noisy environments, Stealth Mode turns off the two standard microphones and instead relies on sounds that it picks up using Bone Conduction.

Jawbone Prime – The original Jawbone headset only worked if the Voice Activity Sensor was touching your face. If it wasn’t, then the audio quality was a bit hit and miss. With the Jawbone Prime, they’ve done away with the need for it to be touching your face and added an extra microphone and improved the software to help separate your voice from any background noise.

Jawbone Voice Activity Sensor for improved audio

Jabra Stone – The Stone doesn’t make as much of a song and dance about noise cancellation as the other two do, instead they focus more on the style and the touch sensitive controls. The Stone was named because of how it looks when it’s docked in it’s charging base. As well as being a standard charging port, it doubles up as a portable charger for your headset. It can charge the headset 3 times before it will need to be connected to a power supply and is a great way to keep your headset safe when it’s in your bag.

Best headset for extra features: Jabra Stone

Charging & Battery Life

Battery life on all three headsets is pretty good, but in order to get the times listed below for the Jabra Stone, you’ll need to charge it using the portable charging base – without it you’re only looking at 2 hours of talk time and 60 hours standby. Both the Motorola HX1 and the Jabra Stone uses the standard Micro USB charger where as the Jawbone Prime uses it’s own unique connection. If your phone also uses Micro USB for charging you can use your existing mains/car/USB charger with both the Stone and the HX1. The headsets come with the following charger in the box:

• Motorola HX1 – Mains Charger
• Jabra Stone – Mains Charger
• Jawbone Prime – USB/Mains Charger

Best headset for battery life: Motorola Endeavor HX1

Summary and Pricing

If you’re still undecided on which headset of the three to go for, here’s a quick summary of all their main features.

	Motorola HX1	Jawbone Prime	Jabra Stone
Price	£89.97	£76.97	£79.95
Talk Time	7 hours	4.5 hours	8 hours*
Standby Time	240 hours	192 hours	288 hours*
Weight	13g	10g	7g
Left/Right Ear	Either	Either	Right Ear only
In Ear
Ear Hook
Multipoint
Volume Controls			Touch Control
Dual Microphone
Additional Sensor	Bone Conduction	Voice Activity

Price wise there’s currently just over £10 separating them and in terms of spec and features they’re all pretty closely matched. Taking everything into consideration, I’d personally say that the Motorola Endeavor HX1 outperforms the Jawbone Prime and the Jabra Stone. The HX1 is the more expensive one of the three, but the better quality audio and increased battery life make it worth the extra money. Motorola have had a tough time over the last few years and it’s great to see them producing some great accessories again.

Best headset overall: Motorola Endeavor HX1

Prices correct as of the date of this post. Pricing and availability are subject to change

Up until recently my answer would have been that the main differences were size, weight and battery life. While that’s still true for most headsets, advances in headset technology have meant that there is now something else to consider when choosing a Bluetooth Headset – Noise Cancellation.

Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headsets

Now, you might be thinking that noise cancellation is nothing new, and technically it’s not – noise cancellation has been around for years and in a number of formats. From simple design changes such as foam covers over the microphone to clever software that makes your voice clearer, but the newer generation of Bluetooth headsets go one step further. Most of the latest noise cancelling headsets have 2 microphones built into them, one that picks up your voice and another that picks up background noise. Software in the headset then analyses the sound from both microphones and any sounds picked up by both microphones are removed so that your voice comes through clearly.

Not all Bluetooth Headsets currently have this feature, and trying to find the ones that do out of the 140 that we sell will take you some time, so to help you along I’ve listed below our top 10 noise cancelling headsets. Most of these headsets have the dual microphone technology, although a couple of them have some other clever technology to cut out back ground noise.

Jabra BT530
The BT-530 is a fantastic Bluetooth Headset from Jabra that packs in a lot of features at less than half the price of the latest Jawbone Headset.  As well as having 2 noise cancelling microphones, the Jabra BT530 has intelligent volume controls that will automatically increase the volume when you enter a noisy environment. The Jabra BT530 is a multipoint headset that allows you to use the headset with two mobile phones at the same time. For more information about multipoint, read our post on ‘What is Multipoint’.

Jabra BT530 Noise Blackout Bluetooth Headset

Plantronics Voyager Pro
Like Jabra, Plantronics specialise in Bluetooth headsets and their latest headset, the Voyager Pro is one of their best. It’s a lot smaller in reality than it looks in photo’s and rather than being worn in the ear, the Voyager Pro sits over and behind your ear, making it extremely comfortable – especially on long journeys. The Voyager Pro has two microphones mounted in the boom microphone and as well as using the technology described above to filter out background noise, the Voyager Pro has 3 layers of Wind Shield protection and Audio IQ technology to enhance the sound even further.

Plantronics Voyager Pro

iVoice GX-7
Despite iVoice being relatively unheard of, the GX-7 is an excellent little bluetooth headset. At just 42mm long and weighing less than 9g it’s one of the smallest and lightest headsets you can get, but that doesn’t mean it compromises on features. The GX-7 has dual microphones and echo and noise reduction software to eliminate background noise and automatic volume control that increases the volume when you enter a noisy environment. What makes this headset really special is that it supports caller ID, not by way of a screen on the headset, instead it calls out the callers name or number when a call comes in.  The GX-7 comes with a USB charger that can be used to charge the headset in the car, at home or using your PC/Laptop.

iVoice GX7 Bluetooth headset

Jawbone 2
Jawbone changed the way that noise cancellation in bluetooth headsets worked. Jawbone’s work slightly different to other noise cancelling headsets, as they use a ‘voice activity sensor’ to help make your voice stand out. This sensor needs to maintain contact with the side of your face as it picks up vibrations as you speak. It then uses this information with the sounds picked up from the two microphones to eliminate almost all background noise.

Jawbone 2

Jawbone Prime
Jawbone Prime is almost the same as the Jawbone 2, but adds multipoint and it doesn’t rely on the voice sensor making contact with your face.  The other technologies in the headset have been improved so that you still get excellent results even when the headset isn’t touching you. When it is making contact it gives the noise reduction a boost, improving the audio quality further. Jawbone Prime are available in a wider range of colours too. Named ‘Ear Candy’ the Jawbone Prime is available in Black, White, Yellow, Brown, Red, Green & Purple.

Jawbone Prime

Blueant V1
BlueAnt make several very clever Bluetooth Headsets and the V1 is incredibly small when you think of how much is packed into it. While the V1 is promoted more for its voice capabilities, the BlueAnt V1′s noise suppression technology is excellent. It has dual microphones as well as wind noise reduction and echo cancellation.  The BlueAnt V1 is a multipoint headset so you can use it with 2 phones at the same time, or have it connected to your PC or games console and quickly and easily take calls from either device. The V1 keeps controls to a bare minimum, with most functions being controlled by talking to the headset. If you get stuck, just ask it for help and it will talk you through most functions!

Blue Ant V1

Blueant Q1
The BlueAnt Q1 has everything in it that the V1 has with a few extra tweaks and improvements. You can store speed dials in the headset which allows you to quickly and easily call people without having to touch your phone. The noise cancellation technology has been improved too.  While it’s not as tiny as the V1, the new shape of the headset helps reduce wind noise and the dual microphones can cope with wind speeds of upto 10mph. The Q1 is also a multipoint headset and can be used with 2 devices at the same time.

BlueAnt Q1

Nokia BH-602
Nokia don’t currently make any dual microphone headsets, instead they rely on Digital Signal Processing to improve the qualilty of the audio. The BH-602 stands out from the rest of the Nokia range as it’s the only headset with automatic volume adjustment, so while it’s not going to do as much as the other headsets on this page to make sure that your voice is heard by callers, you won’t need to fiddle around with volume controls when you walk into a noisy room.

Nokia BH 602

Motorola H15 Moto Pure

Motorola haven’t done much in the way of new handsets in the last 12 months, but they have managed to produce some great accessories. The MotoPure H15 is a compact Bluetooth with a fold away microphone that will answer calls automatically when you unfold it. As with most headsets here it has dual microphone technology to help eliminate background noise. The MotoPure H15 comes with a handy charging desk stand that will charge the headset, but keeps the headset accessible for when a call comes in.

Motorola MotoPure H15

Motorola Endeavor HX1

The Motorola Endeavor is due to be released in the next few weeks and is different to any other noise cancelling headset. It features a stealth mode which can be activated as and when needed to really make sure that you’re heard. When the stealth mode is activated, a sensor mounted on the part that sits in your ear uses true bone conduction technology to relay only your voice while knocking out the most extreme noise and wind for a revolutionary premium headset experience. The HX1 is a multipoint headset that can be used with 2 devices at the same time and has voice prompts for ease of use.

Motorola Endeavor X1

If you’ve not seen the headset here that does what you want, take a look at our full range of Bluetooth Headsets. If you’re looking for a Bluetooth Headset that will allow you to listen to music in Stereo using a Bluetooth Headset, then take a look at our Guide to Stereo Bluetooth Headsets on the Blog or view all Stereo Bluetooth Headsets on the main site.