Jawbone NoiseAssassin Bluetooth Headset

Cool Yule Rating: 2 stars

Price: $129.99

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Cool Yule Rating: 2 stars

Price: $129.99

Product Web site

Description: I have a love/hate relationship with Bluetooth headsets. I love the convenience, but in most cases I've really hated the sound quality and comfort of most of the Bluetooth units I've tried. That's why the NoiseAssassin caught my eye – the company advertises a sophisticated form of noise cancellation called Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the product certainly looks cool. It's recharged via USB, a big plus in my book, but the user interface is tricky and not something I'd want to use every day.

How did it sound? Great on my end, but the person I called reported a distinct muffling. For best results, the unit must touch the user's cheek; I did that, and the noise cancellation seemed to work well. But the Jawbone would be hard to recommend, especially at this price.

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