Andrea Electronics - Leading developer of hardware and software microphone technologies.

Andrea Electronics has been in the audio device market for over 75 years designing products which have reached a wide audience, and that many of us have used regularly. During these years, Andrea Electronics has expanded their product offering from televisions to military audio systems and space mission equipment development. In more recent years, Andrea Electronics has embedded state-of-the-art microphones into many laptops, created top of the line headphones for voice recogntion, and further developed their ever-developing variety of headsets.

The BT-201 is one of 23 headset offerings which Andrea Electronics currently produces. These headsets range from the affordable $14.95 NC-121 Monaural Headsets, complete with noise cancellation, to the more specialized $149.95 Superbeam SB-405. The BT-201 offers military-grade noise cancellation and wind suppression technology. This is designed to improve your listening and speaking experience when playing in loud rooms or in front of a fan (as many players do). In addition the device comes packed with 4 different ear cushions, each of which which allow for varying levels of outside noise, and two ear clips with varying thickness.

The device requires an initial charge of just over 2 hours using the included USB cable and A/C power adapter. Aside from the initial charge, I have not had to plug the headset in once during use for at least 5 hours of talk time. The battery on this headset lasts long enough to get the job done and then some, which is great if you are like me and take an entire afternoon out for gaming.

I initially tested the headset’s call quality, as this is most common use for video gaming. The BT-201 worked well with my Motorola Bravo and my girlfriend’s LG Xenon. The quality was excellent, even with the low quality sound the phone normal sends. The BT-201 sound was far and away superior when compared to the phone’s internal microphone. Just be sure to keep the microphone at least 1 inch from your mouth, as the noise level does have a tendency to drop when it’s too close. This is not dramatic by any means, but for optimal placement I recommend a placement of about 1 inch away from your mouth.

After testing the quality on the mobile devices I tried using the headset with my PS3. The mic quality was phenomenal and the sound quality was on par with my Sony PlayStation Bluetooth Headset. Finally, I tried the headset with the OnLive MicroConsole. The headset worked just like it did with the PS3: Great microphone quality and a solid sound make this headset worth using for OnLive. However, the headset did have a touch of static when you sit too close to the MicroConsole (which is believed to be caused by the interference caused by the MicroConsole itself and not directly from the BT-201). While playing Red Faction: Armageddon on the MicroConsole, the headset worked well. The call quality was clear and reliable.

It is strange to use a Bluetooth headset that has a boom mic., but I got used to it rather quickly. The microphone features wind suppression and 20dB of noise cancellation, which is great for those situations where you are playing in a room with other people. Despite music playing in the background, my friends could hear me crystal clear while playing NHL 12 on the PS3. This is very unusual for me since, when using my standard Sony PlayStation Bluetooth Headset, the background noise often overtakes my usual mumbling.

Ultimately, Bluetooth headsets cannot provide the high quality sound that many headphones bring, but that is what you expect when using an earpiece. If you are in the market for a quality Bluetooth headset then I would recommend Andrea Electronics’s BT-201. The headset retails for $49.99, but can be found for $34.28 at Amazon.com. This headset might not be in the $20-$30 range that most Bluetooth headsets are these days, but I recommend the extra cost if you can afford it. Overall, I feel these are great multifunction headsets that won’t break the bank, yet can still improve the quality of your gaming experience.