Thanks, Bob! :)
Gennum nX6000 Bluetooth headset
$124.99 at Amazon at the time of this review
I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Gennum NX6000 to evaluate. I have been in search of a Bluetooth headset with excellent noise cancellation capabilities, such as the Aliph Jawbone. I was impressed with the Jawbone’s noise cancellation capabilities but found that it was not comfortable for me to wear. I had heard tales of others modifying the Jabra eargels to work with the Jawbone but I never was able to do so.
CellPoint Connect AB recently acquired the Gennum line from Genn. CellPoint is a publicly listed Swedish company (www.aktietorget.se; CPNT) with headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Miami, Shenzhen, China and Burlington Ontario, Canada. The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets wired and Bluetooth-enabled wireless headsets/earphones.
Features
• Powerful DSP performance
• FRONTWAVE® Extreme noise cancellation
• Digital Voice Isolation with dual-mic pickup
• Amplified outgoing voice and incoming audio
• Ultralight comfortable and secure fit with either ear
• Removable ear loop, compatible with eyeglasses
• Fully supported hands-free Bluetooth profiles
• Quick power-up and auto-connect to handset
• Low battery indicator/signal
• Multi-device Bluetooth pairing
Specifications
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Weight 10.9 grams, Length 37 mm, Height 26 mm
• 120 MIPS DSP performance
• Talk time up to 6 hours
• Standard mini-B USB charge port
• Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
In the box, the Gennum comes with a small AC charger with swing out prongs which you connect your (included) USB cable to, two ear loops, three ear buds, and an owners manual and quick start guide. I was happy to see that the headset port on the nX6000 is a mini-USB, which is located on the top of the headset.
Design
The Gennum nX6000 is one of the smallest Bluetooth headsets on the market and certainly the smallest that I have heard of with superior noise cancellation technology. It is 1.5” long and 1” wide and weighs less than 11 grams! The dual mics are located on the front plate, with the USB 2.0 charging port and LED light located on top of the headset. One side has the volume up button and the other side has the volume down and multi-function buttons.
Gennum utilizes DSP technology that they have tested in noisy environments such as construction sites. The nX6000 also has the dual-mic array which helps isolate the users voice from ambient noise in extreme noisy environments.
Pairing
The nX6000 easily paired with my Sprint PCS Mogul. It automatically goes into pairing mode the first time and you simply enter the PIN 0000. If you need to pair it again or with a second phone you will need to turn the headset off and then simply hold the multi function button until it lights a solid blue. The nX6000 can be paired with up to 3 devices, but can only connect to one at a time.
Using the nX6000
When wearing the headset in your right ear, the button to increase volume is on the upper front (right) side of the headset. The volume decrease button is on the exact opposite side (upper rear/left) and the multi function button is located directly below. Adjusting the volume during a call can be visibly seen on the screen of my phone. The Gennum nX6000 has a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery that you can charge either by AC charger or mini-USB cable. The LED light turns red when charging and blue when the headset is fully charged.
The nX6000 offers audible alerts when the battery runs low. The talk time for the headset is 6 hours and standby time is 90 hours according to the manufacturer. In my test, the talk time was over 5 hours and standby about 2.5 days.
The Gennum nX6000 supports most of the common phone services including answering/ending calls, rejecting calls, last number redial, voice dialing and muting/unmuting calls as well as some advanced features such as conference calling and call waiting if your phone and service support those services using the multi-function button.
Fit
The nX6000 is comfortable and so lightweight that I could easily wear it all day without discomfort. Its small size makes it less obtrusive than many other Bluetooth headsets on the market. I was happy to discover that it could be easily worn without interfering with my eyeglasses. I did find that it feels like it should fit in further/more securely in my ear. The headset tended to flop around a bit, though I had no problem with it falling out. It can be worn with or without the ear loop and includes two different ear loop sizes and three different ear bud sizes.
The LED is very unobtrusive. It is small and located on the top of the headset.
Sound Quality
In order to test the quality of this headset, I used the K7.net messaging service. Through K7.net, you can get a free phone number (with a Seattle area code) that accepts voice messages and faxes. These messages and faxes are then emailed to you as attachments. For all of the following samples, I simply dialed my K7.net number, and saved the audio file attached to emails sent to me by the system. (I must give credit to Marianne, aka macgirl, who turned me on to K7.net).
This first sample is the baseline of my Mogul without any headset used while driving in my car with and without the radio on. You can hear that it's loud and pretty clear. I may not have turned the radio on as loudly as during the other tests but it was close. I was surprised to hear that I did not hear the radio much, especially when I was talking.
Reference - phone only
The next call is using the nX6000 while driving in the same area, and I opened the window and turned on the radio. The noise cancellation worked quite well, as expected, but the voice quality sounds a bit tunnely.
Gennum NX6000 Test
For reference purposes I have also included a test call using a borrowed Jawbone (thanks Brian) while driving in the same area, and I opened the window and turned on the radio. The sound quality was still loud but a little bit muffled. No background noise could be detected.
Reference - Jawbone
Summary
Overall, I have found the nX6000 to be my Bluetooth headset of choice. With its small size, light weight, unobtrusive LED and excellent noise cancellation I have found none better. There were times when the person on the other end of the call said I sounded a bit choppy. I am not sure if that was a phone/Sprint issue or a nX6000 issue but tend to think that the problem is on the Sprint side. The headset is not inexpensive and if you don’t need the superior noise cancellation you can probably find other headsets for less money.
Related reviews:
New Jawbone bluetooth headset review
Southwing SH505 bluetooth headset review