Installation & Build Quality

We made a commitment some time back to introduce a series of reviews on various headphones and accessories. While we haven't yet opened up "Headphonaholics" we have started down the road of evaluating basic headphone designs and listening to a number of units to determine what it is that makes a pair of headphones – in this case headphones – effective and good performers. The Logitech Wireless Headphones for PC (kind of like calling your dog "Dog" isn't it?) appeared to be exactly the sort of item we wanted to evaluate for those looking for a convenient way to listen to music, unencumbered, while at their PC. MP3 listening and gaming have exploded in the past several years and I haven't met too many people who like to be encumbered by wires – at least not at their PCs. The question on my mind, of course, was whether the wireless systems would perform in a manner that would make them a good value in comparison to their wired counterparts. Possibly more important, however (and more appropriate) is how they fare against other

Packaging & Installation

The Logitech Wireless Headphones for PC arrived in a nice retail package that showed off the major components of the Wireless Headphones. Installing the headphones consisted of plugging in the USB music transmitter and charging the headphones fully before the first use. WindowsXP handled the rest, installing all of the necessary drivers and making the experience a flawless one with no hitches. The headphones show up as “Logitech Music Anywhere USB” under the sound playback device and you can easily change this to your default sound card should you wish to output audio through your regular outputs. Logitech provides three flavors of these headphones with the other two being targeted for MP3 players and the iPod (the main difference is in the transmitter).

Headphone Design & Build Quality

The Logitech Wireless Headphones for PC are an open style with a behind-the-neck headband design. I’m not a big fan of this design as I think it’s more trendy than ergonomic or comfortable. I have yet to see a pair that will snugly fit my smallish head. As a result, they tend to dangle and place the weight on my ears. The headphones come with several nice features:

• Additional set of ear pads
• USB 2.0 extension cable & desktop stand
• USB 2.0 Bluetooth (Logitech dubs their flavor “Music Anywhere”) music transmitter
• DC power charger (plugs directly into the headphones (the USB 2.0 Bluetooth transmitter is powered by the USB port on your computer.)

The headphones weigh 3.3 ounces – which at first seemed light, but after a couple hours of use began to strain the ears as my head did not supply any relief for the weight of the headphones. I found that I could not comfortably wear the headphones for extended periods of time; however – since everyone’s ears are different – this may not be the case for other users.

The phones and USB music transmitter include a pairing button that doubles as a standby (think of it as an on/off) control. Volume, as well as track forward and back buttons, are also provided in a very convenient arrangement on the right side. The controls are more convenient than several other wireless headphones I have experienced and are easily accessed when the phones are worn. A DC charger connection is provided on the bottom of the right headphone driver as well. It is a custom 4-pin connection and makes putting in the connector upside down almost impossible due to a couple of well-placed detents. Using these headphones could not be any easier.

Headphone LED Indicators

The Logitech Wireless Headphones include a color coded LED system for identifying status during use:

Blinks Blue (sets of 3) – powered on and connected

• Fast, blinks blue – Powered on, not connected
• Fast, blinks red – Low battery
• Solid orange – charging internal battery

There is also an audible alarm beep which engages during periods of inactivity and as a low battery warning. I found the incessant beeping to be extremely annoying and wondered why Logitech did not include a control panel or application to disable or reconfigure this function. The volume of the beep could not be adjusted. If you keep the headphones charged and don’t wear them during periods of inactivity you probably won’t come across this often.