When people hear about Bluetooth headsets they automatically associate it with cellphones, the most popular device in the modern world. Consequently, the Bluetooth Headset is the most popular cellphone accessory. Rather than Bluetooth headphones or bluetooth stereo headsets, we'll be covering Bluetooth headsets most commonly used with cellphones, which is the mono kind. It can also be used for both making/receiving calls and listening to music.

There are 4 factors that determine the sound quality of Bluetooth headsets:

The Bluetooth headset speaker

The quality of the speaker of a Bluetooth headset only partly determines the sound quality of the sound received from the caller. Even so, cheap Bluetooth headsets with no decent bass and midrange responses guarantees that you hear tiny sound from the caller and from music sources.

The Bluetooth headset microphone

This the largest factor of sound quality and user experience when it comes to taking calls because you only hear from the other side what the microphone picks up. It's a one sided affair when it comes to sound quality. The one who receives the call will likely experience clear sound when the call is using a Bluetooth headset with a good microphone.

Surrounding Environment

Also a large factor of sound quality, the condition of the surrounding environment (whether it is windy, noisy, etc) affects (in most cases) what the caller on the other side hears. You will definitely get a better sound quality when the caller is in a quite environment than when he/she is driving the car with windows open.

Noise Cancelling Technology

In headphones noise cancelling technology is specifically used to reduce the volume required to listen to music. The use of noise cancelling technology in Bluetooth Headsets is relatively recent.

Also called Digital Signal Processing or DSP, they differentiate (or attempts to) between voice and background noise with varying degrees of success. Ultimately, the more microphones used the better the separation of noise and voice and hence better sound quality.

This technology has greatly improved over the years and it only keeps getting with more sophisticated technology.

Bluetooth Technology

Created in the late 1990's, Bluetooth technology was designed as a low cost, low power and short range alternative to wires. With generally less than 1 Mbps data transfer speeds, sound quality suffers and audiophiles would rather used wired headphones to listen to music.

Nevertheless, the convenience of having no wires makes it a standard for connecting small devices like cellphones, laptops, printers and other devices.