• Philips SHB6110 Stereo Bluetooth Headset Review

    Philips SHB6110 Stereo Bluetooth Headset Review

    Prasad Naik, Feb 23, 2011 1715 hrs IST

    A pair of good sounding headphones, with a good design and battery life as well

    Good audio quality, comfortable to wear

    FullSound mode distorts sound, no FF/Rew

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Here at Techtree, we aren't too fond of Bluetooth stereo headsets. Sure, they get rid of the meddlesome wires for us but often the trade-off in audio quality is not worth the convenience. Today we have the Philips SHB6110 Bluetooth headset, which comes with Philips's FullSound technology and aims to improve the audio quality of Bluetooth headsets. Let's see how close it comes to matching that claim.

The SHB6110 has a behind the neck design where the speakers place their weight on your ears instead of on top of your head as in conventional headphones. The neckband has a fixed length but is long enough, so even those with massive heads would fit in just fine. We did not like the way the neckband would interfere with the collar of the shirt. If your shirt has a stiff collar then it would block the neckband's movement and if you move your neck upwards the headphones won't be able to move with your head.



The speakers are circular with soft foam padding. They have rubber hooks that sit above your ears. The hooks have adjustable length, which you can increase or decrease according to the length of your ears for a proper fit.
The right speaker has all the controls placed on it. Before you place the headphones on your ears it's best to memorize the layout of all the keys as there is no way you can see them once you wear it. The top two buttons control the volume. If you press and hold one of the volume buttons it will activate or deactivate the FullSound feature. In the middle is the play/pause button that also answers or ends calls.

Below the button is a status LED and below that are the track skip buttons. Unfortunately, you cannot fast forward or rewind within a track, which is strange as most headsets support this functionality. If you look at the front edge of the right speaker then you will also notice a microphone for calls.

The comfort level of the headphones will depend on person to person. Most people found them to be comfortable although I did experience some discomfort after wearing them for extended duration, where I felt the speakers were pressing a tad too hard on my ears for grip.

We paired the headphones with multiple devices to test the audio quality. The audio quality generally is pleasant with no glaring drawbacks. There is that general lack of clarity that all Bluetooth headphones suffer from but other than that we had little complaints with the audio. Bass freaks will be disappointed with the sound; the bass is there and is sufficiently punchy but not overwhelmingly so. The mid-range is full and satisfying and the treble is pleasant but could have done with a bit more clarity. Overall, good audio quality and it can also go very loud although there is noticeable distortion in bass at very high volumes.

Philips has added their FullSound feature to the SHB6110 but we found it was best when disabled. All it does is add distortion to the sound and we doubt anyone would want that.

Philips claims a battery life of 14 hours for both calls and music. In our testing the SHB6110 lasted for a solid 15 hours of playback.



The Philips SHB6110 is priced at Rs. 3,990. For that price you are getting a good sounding pair of headphones with pretty good design and battery life. Just make sure you are comfortable with the design but apart from that there are few things wrong with it.

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Discussion Board
(11) Comments
Hihey
,Manila, on Jan 24, 2012 04:34 AM
@ranchodas shimla shimla, you dont need to look for a removable battery. If you do that with bluetooth headphones, you will increase the size/dimension of the product just to accept the standard sized batteries. Mine is still working after 2 years. Philips SHB6110 bluetooth stereo headphones real life usage review http://hihey.gjamoroso.com/2010/08/philips-shb6110-bluetooth-stereo.html Max range between iPhone 4s and Philips SHb6110 headphone - How far is the bluetooth connectivity test http://mobile.gjamoroso.com/2012/01/max-range-between-iphone-4s-and-philips.html
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Ranchoddas Sham
,Shimla, on Dec 05, 2011 10:38 AM
Looks like an interesting Headset. But, does it have a removable battery? The reason why I am asking this is because rechargable batteries have a life and if there is a removable battery, we can always go ahead and replace it with a new one whenever the battery dies. However, if the battery is not removable, the whole Bluetooth Device becomes worthless.
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kamal
,mumbai, on Feb 24, 2011 01:38 PM
After reading the article and comments from readers, its wise to listen to people before buying and listening to the headphone! I need a good headphone (with wire not bluetooth) for my mobile phone, to listening to music. Which one is worth, any advice?
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Vishal
,New Delhi, on Apr 15, 2011 08:22 PM
Ya you can try Dell bluetooth headset its i believe is in between Rs 2000-2500. And its good.
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GuruGraptor
,Bangalore, on Feb 23, 2011 07:26 PM
Where we try it before buying it. India is not a place where you can try and buy a Head Phone. Few months ago I purchased Sony Headphones (Neckband model). Within first few minutes of usage, my ears started paining because of the ill fitting. And there is no way to adjust the pressure on my ears. The shopkeeper didn't allow me to exchange with another regular model, complaining that I opened the package. How can one would check it without opening the package :( My loss was around 1000Rs, but Rs 3500 no way i would risk that much.
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Sameer
,Mumbai, on Feb 23, 2011 11:04 PM
When it comes to headphones/earphones, nowhere is it common to get auditioning before purchase. Its true that there is a risk factor but the only way out is to learn from others experience.
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mrr
,hyderabad, on Feb 23, 2011 11:30 PM
In India we dont have consumer friendly policies. In US I guess there is 30-day money back guarantee or something like that where you can return if you are not satisfied. Hope here also we have nice policies like that.
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dude
,kochi, on Feb 24, 2011 05:38 PM
In Russia there's a shop called headDoctor where you can try out the headphones in depth before you buy them. No such thing in india, I'm afraid. However, I did try out some headphones at a Planet M store... and they were cool with it.
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gigs
,aurangabad, on Feb 24, 2011 09:05 AM
get a sony mw600 @ Rs3000. Best deal great sound
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Prasanna
,Mumbai, on Feb 23, 2011 05:34 PM
Which type is the charger ? Can it charge from a cable via USB ????
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Prasad Naik
,Mumbai, on Feb 23, 2011 05:52 PM
The headset has a mini USB port and can be charged by connecting to a PC as well.
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