 Overview
The BT20NX is not an MP3 player in itself.
Instead it is a set of in-ear headphones with accompanying bluetooth
receiver. The idea is that the BT20NX networks your existing devices, in our
case this will be our mobile phone. Thus the BT20NX effectively relieves us
off the burden of having to carry a phone AND an MP3 player.
The main unit
comes as one complete device with the headphones, neckstrap and bluetooth
receiver all joined together. In the box you will also find a charging
cradle.
 Specification
Capable of telephone calls using built-in
microphone on receiver
Remote operation for Play / Stop / Pause / Next / Previous
Volume control
Headphones: EX 9 mm / Stereo
Built in Microphone
Bluetooth® version 2.0 A2DP / AVRCP / HSP / HFP
Battery life: 11 hours (100 hours in standby mode)
Charging via cradle (supplied)
Dimensions (W x H x D): 22 x 51 x 30mm
Strap: approx 0.35m
Cord: approx 0.4m
Supplied accessories: AC power adaptor, battery charging stand, ear pieces
Weight 37g
Features
The BT20NX features Sony's popular,
high-end, EX series headphones attached to a rubber like neckstrap. In the
box you get 3 different sized ear buds so getting a good fit is possible no
matter what your ear type. The neckstrap isn't adjustable but there is a
small rubber ring on each side that can be used to adjust the slack on the
headphone wire.
The main part of the BT20NX is the
bluetooth receiver which contains a square "jog stick" which operates volume
up and down, play, stop and next/previous track. Also on the main unit is a
small mono microphone to allow phone calls via the device itself.
Effectively this makes the BT20NX an acceptable hands free kit for in-car
use.
Performance
The BT20NX is very easy to setup - if you
have the right type of phone. Unfortunately it requires the A2DP bluetooth
profile which is still relatively new. Luckily I have a Sony Ericsson K800
which fulfills this criteria and thus was used for the product test.
T he
first thing I needed to do was to pair my phone and the BT20NX. This was
achieved by turning on my phones bluetooth feature and holding down the
power button on the 20NX until the blue and pink lights on the front flashed
a set number of times. The whole process taking no more than a couple of
minutes. Once paired, the setup does not need to be run again.
Once paired, the BT20NX will initiate the
music on the phone, so you wont have to keep digging into your pockets to
get the thing going.
Sound quality was excellent with nice
frequency response and a good thick bodied sound to the music. Note that the
output is greatly determined by the source bitrate, a highly compressed song
will sound stuffy with a lack of separation. The various sizes of supplied
ear buds gave a nice snug fit that eliminated a great deal of the outside
noise and kept the earbuds firmly embedded in my ears throughout the entire
session.
Whilst there was no distortion, I did find
that I had a lot of problems with breaks in the connection, to the point
that it would have been unusable should I have been casually listening to
music. The problem seemed to occur when the phone or device was covered by
my clothing. Given that the neckstrap keeps the device about chest height, I
found that having it hang outside of my top it would jump and fly all over
the place, so this did cause me some distress. However, as I trained I found
that my concentration and focus was on my parkour (and the strange man
looking at me) and not the music, thus rendering the output of the BT20NX
mere background noise and the breaks in sound went unnoticed.
The lack of a fast forward/rewind and a loop facility was also a bit of a
downside for me. There is no screen so track selection is done from memory
although most of todays phones that facilitate MP3 playback will allow you
to setup pre-defined playlists.
Summary
The BT20NX tries to improve the
interoperability of our day to day devices. However, its size is very
similar to that of a small MP3 player, such as a
MobiBLU Cube ,
so ends up being something that really doesn't give a lot. If you use your
phone as you MP3 storage device or you're not too concerned about hearing
the music whilst training, then the BT20NX becomes a cheap Ipod Shuffle
(Clip on version).
However, if you like to actually listen to
your music while you train, then I wouldn't recommended the BT20NX.
Pros:
- Great sound
quality (when it gets through)
- You can take calls whilst using the device
- Selection of earbuds to chose from
Cons:
- Requires a
device that supports A2DP
- Connection drop out
- No smaller than a small standard MP3 player
Available at Amazon UK for £29.01
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