Review: Plantronics Discovery 925 BT Headset – Can You Hear Me Now?

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OK.  Confession time.  When I first read about this headset, I truly had no intention of reviewing it.  I had just finished reviewing the Plantronics Voyager 855 BT Stereo Headset, and I had quite frankly been terribly disappointed by one of the centerpieces of the headset, AudioIQ.  AudioIQ is Plantronics’ version of isolating your voice from the background noise in your environment.  Theoretically, this makes it easier to be heard amidst the wind, traffic, and mobs of people interfering with your call.  On the 855s, the AudioIQ feature simply did not work.  Call quality was abysmal. 

When I saw the 925’s, I was in no rush to test them out.  AudioIQ was a failure, and I had a number of other Bluetooth headsets in my queue, waiting to be reviewed.  In fact, this review was initially assigned to Tariq. 

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.  I had a conversation with our contact at Plantronics.  She told me that I was not the only one to criticize the abysmal performance of the Audio IQ feature in the 855’s.  As a result of that criticism, they had made substantial improvements, which I would be able to see in the 925s.  I immediately contacted Tariq and asked him to let me handle this review.  I mean, anytime a company tells you that your major complaint has been fixed…well, that always warrants a second look in my book.

So, what do you think, folks?  Will the AudioIQ feature finally live up to its name?  Or will this just be a repeat of my past experience?  This is a critical component of the Plantronics’ Bluetooth headset line.  Without a workable solution, I doubt they will be able to last long in the fast paced and evolving world of BT headsets.  Let’s take a closer look and see whether the improvements will make a difference.

All right.  I am not going to leave you in the dark any longer.  I tested the Audio IQ in two different environments.  First, I tested it while walking through a busy crowd.  The noise was loud and the acoustics were terrible.  I called my house and left a voicemail for myself.  Remarkable.  When I listened to the voicemail later, I was stunned by the crystal clarity of my voice.  Sure, I could hear the crowd, but more as a far-away sounding murmur.  You never would have been able to tell how loud it really was in that room.

The second test I conducted involved my good friend, the train.  As I have said in this space before, I walk passed the train engine every day.  It is one of the loudest environments I have ever encountered.  If I am walking with someone, we usually just stop talking until we have hurried past.  So, while walking past the engine, I called my wife.  She reported hearing what sounded like muffled, underwater sounds in the background, but my voice in the foreground was crystal clear.  Given the environment, in fact, I would say that it was easier to hear me using the headset than if we had just been walking next to each other and talking.

I have to admit, I was thoroughly impressed with the improvements Plantronics made to the Audio IQ.  This was the weakest part of the 855, and the reason I concluded that that headset was great for music, but lousy for phone calls.  With the 925, Audio IQ has set a new high water mark for noise isolation.  Sure, it did not isolate all of the background noise.  But I really would not have expected that.  What I expected was for the headset to be able to distinguish my voice from other sounds, and appropriately amplify my voice while filtering other noises.  In that context, I have to say that Plantronics simply nailed it with this one.

Now that you know how well you will sound on this headset, let’s go ahead talk about what you will hear.  I have always been impressed by the quality of Plantronics’ speakers.  I think this is the fourth Plantronics headset I have reviewed, and I don’t think I have ever found any criticism of the sound quality piping into my ear.  The 925 is no exception.  In fact, it exceeded my expectations.  The sounds coming from the headset were as crystal clear as a wired headset would have been.  I noticed very few of the crackles, pops, hisses, and other typically telltale signs of a Bluetooth headset.  I will say, however, that I was disappointed to find the AudioIQ did not extend to the earpiece, only the microphone.  As such, in loud environments, I still found it difficult to hear the call, even though I could be heard perfectly well.

Now that is all well and good, but let’s be honest here.  No matter how good a headset sounds, no one will ever want to use it if it looks terrible.  I mean, who wants to look like they were assimilated by the Borg with some hunk-o-plastic and a blinky blue light hanging off their ear?  Well, Plantronics has thought of that as well.  With the 925, they have eschewed the hunk-o-plastic look for a more refined “VFrame” design.  Like many headsets today, Plantronics is trying to give their headsets as much form as function.  Headsets today are as much a fashion accessory as a good pair of cuff links or gold necklace.  I really liked the Plantronics VFrame design.  It was unique and refined, without interfering with the performance of the headset. 

Which brings us, inevitably, to the blue light.  I truly never understood why Bluetooth headsets had to have a blue light on them to show they are connected.  Who is this information aimed at?  Plantronics really needs to improve their use of the blue light on the 925 (it is kind of hard to see, but the light is on in the picture above.)  Essentially, the whole back end of the headset is a giant light.  It will light up blue when a connection is made and red when the connection is dropped.  Fortunately, the light turns off when the headset is in standby mode.  But watch what happens when you make a call.  Holy blinking blue light, Batman.  That thing will blink blue the whole time your call is in progress.  Again, my question is why?  The headset is stuck in my ear, and I am talking on it.  I certainly do not need a blue light to tell me I have a call in progress.  Likewise, I do not think anyone around me cares whether I have a call in progress.  So, I really do not understand who is intended to benefit from the message conveyed by the blinking blue light.  I wish Plantronics would just drop that blinking light from the repertoire of their otherwise fantastic headsets.

Likewise, the controls were well placed and easy to use.  Only two buttons were required on this one, with the main control button being large and easily distinguished.  This is important, because who wants to feel around a bunch of tiny buttons when you are controlling something you cannot see, which is hanging off of your ear?  On the 925, the entire rear portion is the call control button.  Almost everything you need to do will be controlled with this button.  The only other button on the headset is the smaller volume button.  It is located on the rear of the headset.  It is not nearly as easy to find without looking, but then you really do not need to use it on a regular basis.

Of course, the final factor in any headset is the comfort level while wearing it.  I think Brandon put it best when he reviewed this headset over at JAMM.  He noted that he spent five minutes searching the house for his headset, only to find it resting comfortably in his ear.  That says an awful lot.  I have never lost a headset in my ear.  I always seem to have that tickle that says, “hey, you have a hunk of plastic dangling off your ear.”    I was also leery of the hookless design.  I have used a number of headsets like this, and much of the time, they end up dropping to the ground…repeatedly.

I have to admit, though, that Brandon was right.  I will note that I had a bit of trouble getting the headset initially positioned in my ear.  Once in, however, it was light, comfortable, and very secure.  Now, I did not do jumping jacks with it like Brandon.  I thought about it.  But I never really do jumping jacks.  What I usually do with a headset is walk… a lot.  So, I took a walk with it. 

The biggest problem I tend to have with headsets, short of them falling out, is that they shift while I walk, meaning they are not positioned properly in my ear, making it difficult to hear.  No such problems here.  I was extremely impressed by how well the headset sat in my ear, without moving.

The only thing we have not discussed at all is the battery.  According to the materials, this battery is rated for 5 hours of talk time and 7 days of standby, which is pretty impressive.  Now, I am not sure if I actually got this because I spent too much time testing the charger (which I will get to in a minute).  Though, I will say that the headset got bumped in my bag once and spent several days on standby while I was out of town, and still had plenty of battery life left when I found it probably three days later.

I was disappointed, however, to find that Plantronics has once again included their own proprietary charging adaptor.  This one is annoyingly close to a micro-USB adaptor, but dissimilar enough that one would not fit another.   One of my big pet peeves is having to carry around an extra cord to charge my Bluetooth headset.  I wish Plantronics would just include a more standard connection for this.

On the other hand, Plantronics has taken a very unusual step with this headset.  The 925 includes a carrying case (recognizing that a lot of people are like me an keep their headsets in a pocket when not in use), but that is not the remarkable part.  Inside the case is a battery.  Yup, you heard that right.  Anytime the headset is sitting in the case, it is charging, which is just amazing.  The battery in the case is really impressive.  Anytime the headset is in the case, it is being charged, and I kept it in the case most of the time.  Yet, I only had to charge the battery in the case once per week or even less.  Nice.  This is a fantastic solution, which will allow you to leave the charging cable at home during short trips.

Looking back at this review, I realized I have written it backwards.  I was so excited to tell you about the AudioIQ features, that I jumped right into that, and saved the preliminaries for later in the review.  I have to say, I have been more impressed by this headset than almost any I have tested.  One reason could be that I had lowered my expectations somewhat after the 855 review.  So, I was doubly excited to see Plantronics redeem the AudioIQ feature with this one.  It looks great and sounds even better.  What more can you ask for in a headset?

What I Liked:

• AudioIQ worked great (finally)
• sound quality was excellent
• sat in ear well
• charger in case

What Needs Improvement:

• non-standard charging adapter
• giant blinking blue light when talking

Where to Buy: Plantronics

Price:        $149.95

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