This is sort of my first review, so please bear with me. Suggestions and brickbats are welcome
My good old Motorola S9 died in an experiment a few months back and I was hunting for an alternative stereo Bluetooth headset ever since.
After using S9 for 4yrs, I kind of made up a list of features that I wanted and stuff that I had to avoid, so I took some pretty good time to finalize one.
Eventually my search ended at Philps Tapster, touch sensitive stereo Bluetooth headphones.
http://www.flipkart.com/philips-shb7...CCWPEDX6VWJCRA
It had all the features that I was looking for
Time for some pics before I start blabbering again :head:
Packaging and Contents
Now back to the topic, I'll start with the Packaging, It was literally like unearthing a mountain and plucking out a rat.
The contents of the pack were the usual S/M/L earbuds and a pair of optional ear-hooks for the paranoid souls, a micro USB charging cable and a carrying pouch.
The case was a bummer, I was expecting a hard case like this, but instead got a soft case. I liked the hard case so much and it had cable management too.
I might use one of my IEM's hard case instead.
Design and usage
Build quality is very good, has that premium look. But it's a smudge magnet and with a couple of swipes the surface becomes dirty.
I had my doubts about the cable that runs in between, but it's pretty strong and would take some abuse hopefully.
Fitting them on ear was easy, plug in & twist, viola they just stay like an IEM,
which means that using the correct earbud size is the key or else you might need the earhooks.
Sound isolation was good, but sometimes they keep moving out a little, although not too often.
Even with wild headbanging and jumping, they were still in place and I hadn't even used earhooks till now.
I'm amazed by the tiny details that the designers in Philips put into this little thing.
Firstly the touch surface is not activated until they are plugged into ear,
I don't know what sensors they used, whether proximity or accelero, will dig on that at leisure.
But here's how it works
Now coming to the USP of them, the Gesture controls.
Coming from a S9, I know how hard it is to use the buttons sometimes, every-time I try to change a song, my ear hurts.
Thanks to Tapster, I don't have to worry about that anymore.
Each earpiece has different set of gestures, so here's how it works
On Left Earpiece.
On Right Earpiece the gestures do different functions depending on the usage(Calls/Music)
No wonder why they got many product design awards for the Tapster, they deserved it.
The touch surface is sensitive and takes sometime to get used to, I initially had issues when changing volume,
it registers my input as a tap and used to pause music or stop music if I try to change track.
But now I'm quite used to it and these things happen rarely.
Sound Quality
Coming to the big question, Sound Quality, I know I can't expect much from a wireless set, So I used them with no expectations and I was quite happy.
It felt okay until compared them back to back with my other audio gear, then I realized how good these were.
As with any IEM, perfect fit and isolation is the key here.Once you get that right, the first thing you notice is it has crystal clear mids and the bass is tight and punchy and highs are good which could have been better( I'm spoilt by AD700 and KSC75 here )
The sound-stage is very good, during movies there were situations where I removed the plugs to check if the sound was coming from the neighboring room. I played the scene again only to realize that the background chatter was excellently presented by the Tapster.
Coming to the EQ modes, natural mode is the normal mode which is activated by default, once you activate Dynamic bass, what I observed was, sound stage is compressed a little and the bass is like 10x without killing the mids and highs. Which is really good.
Call Quality
Multi paring mode is good as well, I used it with my laptop to watch movie and simultaneously connected to phone as a headset. Unlike the other Samsung mono headset I had, setting up multi pairing is cake walk in this.
I never intended to use them for making calls but to test it I did some calls and asked their opinion about the call quality. The reply was disappointing, almost everyone pointed out that I sounded tinny and like a robot, while their voice was crystal clear to me.
I asked my friend to call me using the tapster and then I realized that the microphone is the culprit here, I'm still trying to figure out how to use it right because even my mono headset had a better call quality. I will update on this after a week or so.
Battery life and Range
Battery life was good as well, they claimed 6hr battery life is achieved. Charging is via micro USB port which is neatly hidden behind a flap on right earpiece. It was so neatly integrated that I mistook it for power button first time.
It took some two hours to charge completely.
The biggest advantage is that you can use them while charging unlike my S9, I dunno how many headsets can do that.
Range is okay, just like any bluetooth 2.1 device. No disconnections till now.
Conclusion
At current price and comparing it with the features and convenience it offers, for me its a great deal.
Build quality is excellent, Sound quality is good, battery life is good for 160mah cell.
Supplied case is a bummer compared to the hard case they bundle in other markets. But it's not a deal breaker though.
Call quality is something which is worrying me, I have to check it again if I plugged them correctly or if the mic is defective.
Other than that I'm quite happy with the purchase.
Update 1
Here's the update on the call quality, It turns out I inserted them too deep and the microphone was blocked and the noise suppression computing added a cocktail mix to my voice.
So I moved the earpiece out a little and adjusted the fitting so that there was sufficient gap between microphone and my skin.
This time I made calls again and asked about the call quality, got positive response from each of them.
Then I connected them to my laptop and tested the mic quality by recording a sample using the tapster's mic.
I tried to emulate both situations, first I put on the earpiece in a way that mic is blocked and recorded a sample, it sounded tinny and almost unrecognizable.
Then I adjusted them a little with gap b/w mic and skin and recorded a sample again, this time everything is crystal clear.
One more thing I noticed was, ambient noise also affected the Call quality significantly, which is common with any noise suppression technique,
more the noise, more the noise suppression processing which makes your voice tinny even after background noise is cut.
Thanks to the noisy fan in my hostel room, I experienced that first hand.
My good old Motorola S9 died in an experiment a few months back and I was hunting for an alternative stereo Bluetooth headset ever since.
After using S9 for 4yrs, I kind of made up a list of features that I wanted and stuff that I had to avoid, so I took some pretty good time to finalize one.
Eventually my search ended at Philps Tapster, touch sensitive stereo Bluetooth headphones.
http://www.flipkart.com/philips-shb7...CCWPEDX6VWJCRA
It had all the features that I was looking for
- No fugly band hanging behind the neck, which is a PITA while traveling or when you are using it on bed.
- Gesture controls and no physical buttons.
- Pretty small form factor for a Stereo bluetooth(Though Plantroics Backbeat GO beats it when it comes to size)
- No earhooks needed(Though you have an options to use one)
Time for some pics before I start blabbering again :head:
Packaging and Contents
Now back to the topic, I'll start with the Packaging, It was literally like unearthing a mountain and plucking out a rat.
The contents of the pack were the usual S/M/L earbuds and a pair of optional ear-hooks for the paranoid souls, a micro USB charging cable and a carrying pouch.
The case was a bummer, I was expecting a hard case like this, but instead got a soft case. I liked the hard case so much and it had cable management too.
I might use one of my IEM's hard case instead.
Design and usage
Build quality is very good, has that premium look. But it's a smudge magnet and with a couple of swipes the surface becomes dirty.
I had my doubts about the cable that runs in between, but it's pretty strong and would take some abuse hopefully.
Fitting them on ear was easy, plug in & twist, viola they just stay like an IEM,
which means that using the correct earbud size is the key or else you might need the earhooks.
Sound isolation was good, but sometimes they keep moving out a little, although not too often.
Even with wild headbanging and jumping, they were still in place and I hadn't even used earhooks till now.
I'm amazed by the tiny details that the designers in Philips put into this little thing.
Firstly the touch surface is not activated until they are plugged into ear,
I don't know what sensors they used, whether proximity or accelero, will dig on that at leisure.
But here's how it works
- Once you plug earpiece into your ear, you get a beep tone indicating the activation of touch surface,
each earpiece has it's own sensor I guess coz the surface activates independently. - During calls, if you remove any earpiece, call is automatically transferred to phone,
while playing music if you remove both the earpieces, music automatically pauses
and when you put them back in ear, it resumes music automatically,
you don't have to touch anything. Cool ain't it. - As I mentioned earlier the touch surface is activated only when they are on ear,
if you hold them in hands, there is no chance of accidentally gesturing anything since the touch surface is not active.
Now coming to the USP of them, the Gesture controls.
Coming from a S9, I know how hard it is to use the buttons sometimes, every-time I try to change a song, my ear hurts.
Thanks to Tapster, I don't have to worry about that anymore.
Each earpiece has different set of gestures, so here's how it works
On Left Earpiece.
- A forward swipe will goto next track.
- A reverse swipe will goto previous track.
- A single tap will stop the playback.
- A double tap switches b/w the two EQ modes, Natural and Dynamic Bass.
On Right Earpiece the gestures do different functions depending on the usage(Calls/Music)
- A forward swipe will increase the volume and the reverse swipe will decrease the volume, which is common to calls and music.
- A tap during the music works as a Play/Pause button. During the call a tap will answer the incoming call.
- A double tap will redial last number for outgoing calls and it works as mute during the calls.
- A tap and hold activates voice dial for outgoing calls or it will put the call on hold/reject during incoming calls
No wonder why they got many product design awards for the Tapster, they deserved it.
The touch surface is sensitive and takes sometime to get used to, I initially had issues when changing volume,
it registers my input as a tap and used to pause music or stop music if I try to change track.
But now I'm quite used to it and these things happen rarely.
Sound Quality
Coming to the big question, Sound Quality, I know I can't expect much from a wireless set, So I used them with no expectations and I was quite happy.
It felt okay until compared them back to back with my other audio gear, then I realized how good these were.
As with any IEM, perfect fit and isolation is the key here.Once you get that right, the first thing you notice is it has crystal clear mids and the bass is tight and punchy and highs are good which could have been better( I'm spoilt by AD700 and KSC75 here
)The sound-stage is very good, during movies there were situations where I removed the plugs to check if the sound was coming from the neighboring room. I played the scene again only to realize that the background chatter was excellently presented by the Tapster.
Coming to the EQ modes, natural mode is the normal mode which is activated by default, once you activate Dynamic bass, what I observed was, sound stage is compressed a little and the bass is like 10x without killing the mids and highs. Which is really good.
Call Quality
Multi paring mode is good as well, I used it with my laptop to watch movie and simultaneously connected to phone as a headset. Unlike the other Samsung mono headset I had, setting up multi pairing is cake walk in this.
I never intended to use them for making calls but to test it I did some calls and asked their opinion about the call quality. The reply was disappointing, almost everyone pointed out that I sounded tinny and like a robot, while their voice was crystal clear to me.
I asked my friend to call me using the tapster and then I realized that the microphone is the culprit here, I'm still trying to figure out how to use it right because even my mono headset had a better call quality. I will update on this after a week or so.
Battery life and Range
Battery life was good as well, they claimed 6hr battery life is achieved. Charging is via micro USB port which is neatly hidden behind a flap on right earpiece. It was so neatly integrated that I mistook it for power button first time.
It took some two hours to charge completely.
The biggest advantage is that you can use them while charging unlike my S9, I dunno how many headsets can do that.
Range is okay, just like any bluetooth 2.1 device. No disconnections till now.
Conclusion
At current price and comparing it with the features and convenience it offers, for me its a great deal.
Build quality is excellent, Sound quality is good, battery life is good for 160mah cell.
Supplied case is a bummer compared to the hard case they bundle in other markets. But it's not a deal breaker though.
Call quality is something which is worrying me, I have to check it again if I plugged them correctly or if the mic is defective.
Other than that I'm quite happy with the purchase.
Update 1
Here's the update on the call quality, It turns out I inserted them too deep and the microphone was blocked and the noise suppression computing added a cocktail mix to my voice.
So I moved the earpiece out a little and adjusted the fitting so that there was sufficient gap between microphone and my skin.
This time I made calls again and asked about the call quality, got positive response from each of them.
Then I connected them to my laptop and tested the mic quality by recording a sample using the tapster's mic.
I tried to emulate both situations, first I put on the earpiece in a way that mic is blocked and recorded a sample, it sounded tinny and almost unrecognizable.
Then I adjusted them a little with gap b/w mic and skin and recorded a sample again, this time everything is crystal clear.
One more thing I noticed was, ambient noise also affected the Call quality significantly, which is common with any noise suppression technique,
more the noise, more the noise suppression processing which makes your voice tinny even after background noise is cut.
Thanks to the noisy fan in my hostel room, I experienced that first hand.
