Fitness centric headphones come in all sorts of styles and shapes, from behind the neck to earclip and hence it takes some time to choose the right one. They have to fit really nicely in to the ear since you are going to jog or work out with them. If there are no issues with the fitness, people get greedy and yearn for additional features. Built-in Bluetooth tops the list because there are no wires between the headset and the player. I got the Sony DR-BT160AS active style wireless stereo headset in my labs for testing and there are two options for it – the $130 BT160AS which has just the headphones and $180 BT160IK which comes with an iPod adapter. The cost is a bit high but the audio quality is awesome which makes it good value for money.

One big disappointment about the Sony DR-BT160AS active style wireless stereo headset is that they are not adjustable and hence you might issues with the fitting. I have relatively small ears and getting this set in to the ears was a problem for me. It didn’t feel too comfortable or secure either. I showed the set to a couple of my friends but they didn’t have any problem with it. I will still recommend you to try the set before buying it. The set has a typical behind the neck layout and the band loops on the top of the ear. The ear buds are located within. There are two modules close to each ear bud and they are triangular in shape. The left mode houses the battery pack and the charging port. The right one has all the controls, pairing button, call answer key and joystick for skipping the tracks and adjusting the volume. The joystick can also be pressed for pausing or playing the tracks. This is a bit awkward but still I found it quite handy.

It is easy to set up the Sony DR-BT160AS active style wireless stereo headset. Just make sure you charge the unit fully before use. I used BlackBerry Storm to test the headset. I put the handset is Bluetooth search mode and held the pairing button on the headset. Finally, I selected the headset from a list of devices and the pairing was done. Once the playback is started from the phone’s media player, the headset gives you complete control over the music. The playback will automatically pause when there is a call coming in.

Sony DR-BT160AS active style wireless stereo headset had good sound quality. I kept the phone about 25 feet away from the phone and didn’t experience any dropouts or decrease in audio quality. So you can easily keep the phone at a distance from you while working out. Music quality is good, the clarity is nice and the mids too sound well. You will also get a reasonable amount of high end detail. I played ‘Ordinary Love’ by Deftones and the music sounded deep, encompassing and rich. I had to push the headset in my ear for a good seal though. The bass thump is not there but you still get it for the low end. Call quality was not spectacular my friends said that I sounded a bit metallic but both parties could still hear each other comfortably. I would recommend this for music enthusiasts but if you want excellent call quality, look elsewhere.

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