The Naztech N760 Elite wireless Bluetooth headset is a full-featured telephone headset that is surprisingly easy to set up and use. For those who get calls from multiple phones (the work cell, the desk, the iPhone, etc.), it connects easily to two Bluetooth devices at the same time, aiding call management without having to toss the gear. The N760 also charges quickly and provides a lengthy talk-time between charges. But one of its killer features is the clarity with which its audio system works. While I didn’t find it improved “cell-phone flattening” of the receiver audio any more than my regular handsets did, when talking on regular telephones, the audio was quite clear. More to the point, though its microphone picked up extremely clear audio with a wide range that came through clearly from a cell phone and an office land line.Setting up the N760 Elite is straightforward: push a button and hold it down for several seconds, and pair it with your Bluetooth device using the device’s on-screen pairing procedure. With my iPhone, this was very easy. For my home phones, it required entering a few oddly-configured screens, but that was not because of anything particular with the N760 Elite. My desk-phone paired seamlessly with the device the next day.
When using the N760 Elite, I found that it didn’t do much for that obnoxiously flat audio you typically get from a cellular call. You know what I mean: all the delicate highs and bass lows just die in a compressed and digital garble, resulting in something akin to a mumble for the person listening on the other side. Chalk it up to the cellular networks. But when using my iPhone’s FaceTime calling, which is transmitted digital audio over a data network (rather than audio over the cellular network), I found the audio quite clear and highly improved. In both cases, people could hear me much more clearly than they could normally.
My desk phone utilizes HD audio, so while it was hard to improve on my wired handset’s performance, no one could tell I was using the headset when I switched, giving me room to roam. Naztech claims this product has “HD Clarity” and that seemed to hold up to my desk phone’s advanced HD audio system. The directional mic also did a great job of cancelling out all the ambient noise so prevalent in today’s open office environments.
With Bluetooth 4.1, this headset works easily within a 30-foot range. I didn’t try to get much further away than that, but I took the headset into a conference room at least 25 feet from my phone, and closed the door, and found that the signal held just fine through the walls and doors. I would have gone further, but it was hard to move further away without being outside—a feat beyond my abilities from the 9th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper.
For $79.99 (MSRP), the Naztech N760 Elite performs all the tasks you’d expect of a headset (call switching and volume control buttons are on the set, allowing you to pause mid-conversation when your phone isn’t in reach), but its audio quality is greater than what this reviewer would have assumed.
—Erik Spooner
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