Comments on: Review: Motorola MOTOROKR S9HD Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:57:31 +0000

Douglas Murray,

I tried the Jaybirds. The concept is awesome, the execution–not so much. I really wanted to like these things, but could never get them to fit right. If Jaybird had made the earhook part with some form of memory wire core you could adapt them to your ear shape. Unfortunately Jaybird seems to feel you shoud adapt your ear to fit the device! Anyway, hope you have better luck than I did.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:49:26 +0000

I bought a set of the S-9 HDs to replace my dying S-9s. Here’s a quick review:
Sound Quality. Calls were loud and clear both ways. Motorola seems to have improved the noise isolation in the microphone circuitry. Callers didn’t seem to hear as much background noise as compared to the old design. Listening to music was a different story. The equalization was totally wrong out of the box when using Windows Media Player on a Smartphone. Bass was overdriven, the midrange was muddy and highs were practically non-existent. Using Core Media Player I was able to fine-tune the EQ to my taste and the sound was actually pretty good. The bass was still overemphasized a bit, but I was able to get pretty good sounding midrange and the highs were fairly bright.
Function. After working out in the gym and outdoors with these for two months I started to experience the sweat-induced random beeps and volume changes. This was just like the three previous pairs of S-9s I’ve owned. I even removed the rubber tips and gently cleaned both the tips and the outer shell of the ear buds after every workout session and placed the headset in a container filled with desiccant beads to speed drying. As with the S-9, the company still hasn’t addressed the underlying design flaw. The speaker and the printed circuit board (PCB) that’s housed in the ear bud shells are not shielded from moisture. The salt in perspiration penetrates and quickly corrodes the electrical connections inside the shell. I wouldn’t recommend these headphones to anyone with an “active lifestyle.” If you sweat much while you’re using them, they probably won’t last more than 6 months. It’s too bad, the basic design was sound. Motorola just needed to take that one little extra step and use a moisture barrier on the PCB and the problem would have been solved.

By: J. Bosworth

J. Bosworth — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:36:05 +0000

Meh. I just got a pair of these for my new Palm Pre (which, btw – is a great device…). My first bluetooth headset, I don’t know if shitty sound quality is par for the course, but I was left disappointed in the overall expanse and richness, of the audio quality (informally tested over several types of music). I’ve had cheap earbuds that sound much better (not to mention the Sony DJ headphones I use constantly at work, and which these were to be a replacement). Additionally, and maybe more importantly, I just can’t get them to fit right. Granted, I am larger than most people, but when I shift my head up, the buds tend to pop out. which is annoying. To end. A trip back to Best Buy to see what else they’ve got is in my future…

By: Dwight

Dwight — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:38:26 +0000

Sweat is still a problem with the S9-HD as with the S-9!!After the first use my headset went bad – sound/button problem because I used them while sweating. I used them when working out and like so many complaints I found after doing a google search, only the volume down button worked. Plus, my charge was only lasting 1 hour. I tried using the headphones a few more times but it is pretty pointless to use them when the sounds is so low that you need complete silence all around you to hear anything.
I tried using mine in the gym and when bicycling.
Evidently, you can\’t let any sweat get on the headphones, or the buttons go bad. Even though the box says these are sweat-resistant and they have a David Beckham limited edition, which is targeted at sports-minded people, these things don\’t stand up to even mild sweat!! Do a google search to see how many complaints there are about these headphones. This sweat problem has been around since the S9 and the problem is still not fixed in the S9-HD version! Don\’t they field-test these things or don\’t they care about quality control at the factory in China where these are produced??? Plus, see the YouTube video which shows one recommended work-around by spraying the headphones with hairspray before using, in order to creat a type of protective sealant against any form of perspiration.
Additionally, Motorola support is pretty useless. After making it through the voice-activated call-screening system I received \”help\” from a tech who really didn\’t seem very keen in helping me. My problem is that I bought my headsets when back home in the US, but I live and work overseas. Motorola, for being an international company, does not provide INTERNATIONAL support!!!! When I repeatedly asked to speak with his supervisor, he refused and said they have no supervisors available. After the 5th request to speak with a supervisor I gave up on that idea. He finally relented from my insistence and told me that they will ship me a replacement product to a relative\’s address in the US (great… now I have to wait until December to have my second pair break within a few days!!).
I will repeat the refrain of so many others. DON\’T BUY THIS PRODUCT and avoid the hassles of dealing with poor product quality and poor support.
By the way, in my google search I came across so many complaints of people replacing these headphones between 3 and 13(!!!!) times!!!!

By: Dwight

Dwight — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:38:02 +0000

Sweat is still a problem with the S9-HD as with the S-9!!After the first use my headset went bad – sound/button problem because I used them while sweating. I used them when working out and like so many complaints I found after doing a google search, only the volume down button worked. Plus, my charge was only lasting 1 hour. I tried using the headphones a few more times but it is pretty pointless to use them when the sounds is so low that you need complete silence all around you to hear anything.
I tried using mine in the gym and when bicycling.
Evidently, you can’t let any sweat get on the headphones, or the buttons go bad. Even though the box says these are sweat-resistant and they have a David Beckham limited edition, which is targeted at sports-minded people, these things don’t stand up to even mild sweat!! Do a google search to see how many complaints there are about these headphones. This sweat problem has been around since the S9 and the problem is still not fixed in the S9-HD version! Don’t they field-test these things or don’t they care about quality control at the factory in China where these are produced??? Plus, see the YouTube video which shows one recommended work-around by spraying the headphones with hairspray before using, in order to creat a type of protective sealant against any form of perspiration.
Additionally, Motorola support is pretty useless. After making it through the voice-activated call-screening system I received “help” from a tech who really didn’t seem very keen in helping me. My problem is that I bought my headsets when back home in the US, but I live and work overseas. Motorola, for being an international company, does not provide INTERNATIONAL support!!!! When I repeatedly asked to speak with his supervisor, he refused and said they have no supervisors available. After the 5th request to speak with a supervisor I gave up on that idea. He finally relented from my insistence and told me that they will ship me a replacement product to a relative’s address in the US (great… now I have to wait until December to have my second pair break within a few days!!).
I will repeat the refrain of so many others. DON’T BUY THIS PRODUCT and avoid the hassles of dealing with poor product quality and poor support.
By the way, in my google search I came across so many complaints of people replacing these headphones between 3 and 13(!!!!) times!!!!

By: nimrod1313

nimrod1313 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:41:17 +0000

Comfort and good sound BUT they constantly cut out. The only place they work well is in the car. When I’m at work , in malls and office buildings or just outside they tend to cut out about 10x/minute ! I’ve took the first pair back but second pair doing same thing. I’ve also pairing it with 3 differnt devices (iphone,ipod,blackberry) but each time the same thing. I usually wear my phone on my belt however if I put the phone between my shoulder blades then the “cut out” stops … not very practical. I WILL BE RETURNING HEADSET !

By: Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:01:25 +0000

These just aren’t that great. They do not fit very well. One ear piece sits perfectly in my ear, however causes the other one to only semi-fit. This makes it much louder in one ear and not the other. I wanted an A2SD headphone set to use while on my motorcycle, and these are not cutting the mustard. My glasses either push the right earpiece farther from my head or push it into my temple causing pain (bearable). My iPhone 3G 3.0 was in a case on my left hip and the reception kept cutting out, even while I was off the motorcycle and walking around Best Buy (looking for another style of A2SD headphones) they kept cutting out.

If you can get them to fit for you, the sound is pretty good. Volume is a little low for my taste.

These have been worn for several hours for 2 days and never got comfortable or fit well for me.
I will definitely be returning these and look into something like the Jaybird in ear style.

By: Motodiappointed

Motodiappointed — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:53:13 +0000

Had this unit for < 1 week. Frequent, intermittent silences with a BB Storm (i.e. BT signal is still recognized with fastfwd, etc., but no sound when music is playing – can see that it is on the device). At times (and initially) works flawlessly, and is wonderful (convenient, fits well, great sound). The unpredictability and lack of info on how to deal with the above mentioned problem renders this unit useless. BTW, scanning the web finds references to this problem with other A2DP phones.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:30:30 +0000

I have the S-9 and also went through three sets due to sweat. I just dissected my current set when the buttons all became non functional. I’ve found the problem. The touch buttons are connected to to a tiny printed circuit board inside the earbud section (behind the speaker). This connection is a surface mount solder joint and is completely exposed to the atmosphere. All that salty sweat gets in there and corrodes the connection. I gently pried the connection apart and reassembled the headphones. Now, although none of the buttons work I at least don’t get the spontaneous volume changes and random button-press beeps! I will be ordering a new S-9HD this week…

By: Darrell

Darrell — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:51:07 +0000

Just bought em a while ago and though the sound quality is worth more than the 100 dollars they ask I still think that there is a bit of scratchy noise that comes through but hey what can you expect its a wireless headset for your ipod. I just cant wait until they size down the bluetooth plug-in. It is worth the buy. Everything you buy shall have problems and people usually cry to much when things are not perfect.

By: David S.

David S. — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:05:41 +0000

So to use the wireless bluetooth stereo function of the headset with an iPhone or other apple product (including the iPhone 3g) you are going to need a special Apple adapter (D650). If you have an iPhone 3g, the new version 3 software that will be distributed this summer will allow you to use stereo bluetooth headphones without the D650 special adapter, but you would have to wait until then.

Believe it or not I actually didn’t test it as a bluetooth microphone, but I will try that later for you and get back to you.

By: Banz

Banz — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:56:30 +0000

Does it have a mike so that I can have a conversation on my iPhone? I presume it’s compatible with the iPhone 3G…

By: mdfitalia

mdfitalia — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:08:30 +0000

The larger earbuds do get annoying after a while, and when I switch to the smaller, the sound deminishes. I also wear goggles in the lab all day which get in the way of the earpiece. I think I’ll switch to the Plantronics ear bud with extra wire stereo bud.

By: becky

becky — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:00:14 +0000

wow this is really great.this look like the perfect wireless solution for mobile to listen music or making and receiving calls.i think its worth buying it.

By: David S.

David S. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Actually, I have been using them for another two weeks now since I wrote the review. In the gym I haven’t been having any problems at all, buttons are hard plastic now so there is no functionality loss.

By: Clymmer

Clymmer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:40:47 +0000

How’s the sweat resistance after a few workouts? That was the bane of the old S9′ existence. Sweat excessively (running/cycling/lifting/jumping rope etc.) & the buttons act possessed or unresponsive. I went through three sets of these things last summer.

Hopefully, Moto has this taken care of in this model.