Nokia BH-604 review – blinking huge headphones

To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting much from these headphones. Bluetooth headphones seemed like a good item to add to the Reviews page, and the BH-604 looked quite great. I had no idea of the size, the pictures didn't say much, and I didn't bother to read any review. That was better, as I was surprised by the headphones.

One thing I can tell you: they are huge. They are bigger than the Bose QuietComfort3 I reviewed few weeks ago, as they are over-the-ear headphones, or cup-headphones, in other words, your ears go literally inside the headphones.

Being bigger might not mean it's of better quality or much louder. The BH-604 aren't made by Bose, and focus on different things. The main feature of the QC3 was acoustic noise cancelling technology, while the BH-604 doesn't really have any main feature, they are simply Bluetooth headphones...or are they? Well on the box cover you can see a DJ wearing the headphones, which means that they are of the category that is matchable to DJ headphones, and we know that those are of high quality. The question remains: just how good are the BH-604?

Before I tell you about the sound quality, let me summarize the cosmetic and ergonomic details:

Besides being huge, a noticeable detail is the leather section on the top part of the band, which will stay right on top of a person's head, for comfort. The ear cushions are made out of a different material, with which you don't feel their size around your ears, again, this means comfort. It's difficult to believe that such a enormous accessory can feel good around the head.

The headphones themselves have two swivels: one to turn them vertically, and the other horizontally. As they are over-the-ear phones, there is no need to constantly adjust them manually, as you turn the head, they will turn accordingly. So far so good.

Unfortunately there are few items missing. Although the BH-604's 500mAh battery will last a happy 18 hours talk time, 19 hours playback, and two weeks standby, I always recommend a replacement battery, but for this the design would have to change, as the battery on the BH-604 is non-removable. That is not the only problem: in the trial package I got, there was no travel charger or carrying case. This does not happen with the commercial version: a travel charger is provided, alongside a carrying case, if none of these items were provided, it would be unacceptable. Another issue is the lack of a wired connection, if they are headphones, why not include a 3.5mm jack?

There are several controls on the BH-604, and they work thanks to AVRCP (audio/video remote control profile). This is not only included in Nokia phones, but in some computers as well, such as my HP TX1350. You can: Play, Pause, Next, Previous, Fast Forward, Fast Backward, Answer call (multifunction key), and Volume control. There is a LED which flashes depending on what it means to signal: anything from paring the headphones to low battery. The volume control is the only thing that allows to control the volume, changing the loudness from the computer or phone won't make a difference, as the BH-604 receives full sound through Bluetooth. All the buttons are comfortable to press and slide. Yes, slide. The volume control has to be slid up or down depending on the intensity of sound desired.

Now to the most important part: the quality of sound. It's simply great. The noise cancelling technology included in the QC3 isn't needed as they headphones are big and cover most sounds outside, although not as half good as the QC3. Just the quality itself is smooth and it's what you expect from expensive music accessories. The bass is even better, but in my opinion, it's much better when it's paired with Nokia phones on “bass booster” equalizer mode, as the bass is just great. Unlike the QC3, the BH-604 jump in every bass bump, they are smooth and feel great. I have to say that including a bass control would just be great, but not even the QC3 had it.

The sound is also quiet loud, 70% of volume is more than enough for most of us. In both quality-wise and loudness the headphones perform wonderfully, Nokia has really hit the target this time, and the BH-604 are perhaps the best headphones I've tried on, even better than the QC3 as they have a better bass management when connected to Nokia phones.

Advantages: over-the-ear phones; Bluetooth v2.0 A2DP and AVRCP; good bass management; satisfactory loudness; flexibility.

Disadvantages: lack of noise cancelling technology; lack of wired connection.

Rating: 9.5/10