Bluetake are a Taiwanese based outfit and are perhaps better known for their Bluetooth mobile headsets. However this is a logical step and they should have the knowledge to get the BT connection robust enough for use with an Ipod. Before we get into the meat of the review we should point out that while BT420EX's are Bluetooth equipped, they are not only Ipod compatible as they can work with any BT audio device, for example mobile phones, PDA's or other Bluetooth audio senders.

Sitting inside the BT420EX box is the dongle, it is styled to fit well with the white Ipod and connects nicely with your MP3 player almost looking as if Apple shipped it. Once physically connected you'll need to pair the dongle and the headphones, this is a process which is identical to that of pairing a mobile phone headset, you can even set a Bluetooth PIN (4 digit) for security.

Perhaps one criticism is that while having the audio connection on a flying 3.5mm lead makes the 420EX compatible with many MP3 players, as a device it does not dock or mount to the Ipod. Other Ipod accessories like the iTrip have been designed to dock with your Apple and while the Bluetake looks great we worry it would be damaged clanking against the Ipod while on the move.

The headphones themselves measure 100mm x 88mm x 77mm when folded up in 4 section and 150mm x 140mm x 75mm when fully open and locked into shape. The 98 gram weight makes them feel very light in fact they feel a little cheap because of this. But our biggest issue was their sheer size, a supermodel they are not and the ear pads cover the whole ear with the plastic surround covering the pads being even bigger. Having them clamped to our head did feel a bit unusual, not so much uncomfortable just a little self conscious given that most people are using in ear units.

The right headphone has buttons for the volume control which ince4se and decreases in set digital stages, plus it also has the pairing button which doubles as the connect disconnect switch, lastly there is a funky glowing LED that shows connection status. The left headphone houses the power button and also the jack for charging the 3.7 volt 600mA Lithium polymer battery. The battery cannot be swapped as its embedded into the design but it does give a reasonable 6hr usage time.

You can customise the earphones from the standard white and silver to either red, blue, green or orange, which will attract the fashion conscious and the Bluetake's style is not in question, however not all that glitters is gold!

Audio quality should be the key element of reviewing headphones and while the BT420EX i-Phono is a nice looking bit of kit it has to perform, our tests used a variety of musical styles from an Ipod and Zen Micro player, plus a CD player to rule our MP3 compression problems. We have to admit to being a bit disappointed, the Bluetake sound is not poor but it is hardly HiFi either, the definition of classical music is all but gone and the tracks sounded lifeless and flat. This is in part due to the lack of top end reproduction which makes tracks seem more compressed than they really are.

The other end of the frequency scale isn't much better with the bass decidedly tame and slow to respond making heavy rock tracks sound confused and overly soft, strangely volume levels were fine and there wasn't much distortion. Our biggest worry was the constant background hiss a bit like some old RF units LP used to own, this is present while the BT connection is active and therefore we assume this is the noise floor.

Being really honest any audiophile would reject these out of hand for poor audio quality, however most everyday users would probably fail to spot all but the background hiss and even then forgive the units this in favour of the connectivity and style.

Bluetake have also equipped the BT420EX with a microphone allowing the Bluetooth 1.2 headphones to act as a fully functional Bluetooth hands free set and in this role it works very well indeed. The use of the higher 1.2 standard and AFH or adaptive frequency hopping means that the i-Phono is less susceptible to interference than earlier models. It does pose some interesting questions as to what happens if you are listening to your pod and a call comes in. In our tests it was quite a struggle to get the i-Phono to switch over the mobile connection from the Ipod and back again, but it does work with a few persistent jabs to the headset button.

Priced at £110 its not cheap and really for those who need to be wire free, perhaps ideal for those who exercise while using their Ipods and the cables get in the way. of course you best not be too concerned with ultimate audio quality or the Bluetake BT420EX i-Phono will disappoint but as an all round package it does enough to make a decent gadget purchase.

Specifications -

Diameter: 30mm
Frequency Response: 20Hz ~ 20KHz
SPL (Sound Pressure Level): 115±3dB @ 1KHz
THD (Total Harmonic Distortion): 5%
Impedance: 32Ω ±15% @ 1V, 1KHz
Power Rating: 1mW (Normal) / 3W (Maximum)

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), Headset Profile (HSP), Hands-Free Profile (HFP), Serial Port Profile (SPP)

Published - 21/05/2005

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