The Nokia BH-905 is a Bluetooth Stereo headset with active noise cancelation and is one of Nokia’s most expensive accessories to date, coming in at a hefty $300. The BH-905 has a few interesting characteristics, that are worth mentioning. One of its unique features is its ability to use either a Bluetooth or the standard 3.5mm audio connection when listening to music. The other peculiarity is that it has 10 (!) microphones, out of which 8 are used for noise cancelation and 2 are used for capturing speech in noisy environments, achieving noise cancellation, but this time when making calls.

Expectations: Considering the high price and 10 microphones I expected the BH-905 to deliver outstanding noise isolation, have great build quality, use quality materials like leather and thick but flexible cables(a sure sign of quality). I also expected it to be a bit heavy, comfortable to use and smaller than other similar headsets.

As for the audio quality, I expected a great performance, with a deep and detailed bass, punchy midrange and less-than-ideal, dull high-end and plenty of audio headroom. The audio performance of the BH-905 would be judged based on comparisons made with my reference In-Ear Monitor: the Shure SE530 PTH. I also wondered if there would be a discernable difference when comparing the 3.5mm connection to Bluetooth. As always, I thought that the 3.5mm audio jack would have an edge. Considering the 10 microphones used, I had high hopes for the noise cancelation and expected it to out-perform other popular headphones on the market.

First Impressions:

-Plenty of useful accessories: The BH-905 comes with a beautiful case with included strap. The overall design, it’s heft, the stitched Nokia logo all scream quality and serves as a nice way to carry every single accessory, including the charger. I really love how everything has its own place and strap inside the case, keeping everything nicely in place. Nokia has included several adapters to connect the BH-905 to just about anything you can think of. Included are even a  2.5mm and airplane audio connector.

-Understated design, funny looking hump, but very comfortable: The BH-905 looks a bit like the Bose QuietComfort, but but at the same has it own Nokia DNA, like the square instead of rounded cans.  Unlike other headphones that nicely arch downwards, the BH-905 has like humps on both sides and than arches inwards. I think this decision was done in the name of comfort, with the idea being that the “legs” touching the sides of the face can cause discomfort. The idea works brilliantly with only the cans touching your ears giving an almost a floating feeling. I could use these for hours.Easily the most comfortable over-the-ear headphones I’ve used, but it kind of looks funny when wearing them.

The design can be described as understated elegance and should feel right at home next to a N97 or N900. Even the shiny parts of the BH-905 add an interesting touch to the overall design and manages to keeps things from looking too bland or too “bling.”

-Thin cables are never a good sign: For such a high-end accessory, Nokia used pretty thin 3.5mm audio cable. While this didn’t affect audio quality, at this price point we expect thick, but flexible cables that can stand up to daily usage. What worries me that is the fact that Nokia doesn’t sell these separately, and that these cables have a different 2.5mm to 3.5mm design. It might be possible to buy third party 2.5 to 3.5mm cables, but I’m not sure how or if the BH-905 would work with these. If you do buys, just be sure to be a bit careful with the cables.

-Impressive Noise Cancelation: These headphones are impressive when it comes to noise cancelation and are right up there with the very best active notice cancelation systems. Only passive In-Ear-Monitors (IEM) deliver better noise isolation, but this doesn’t come as a surprise as IEM are basically earplugs.

-Best Stereo Bluetooth performance, but definitely not audiophile grade: Simply put, these are the best sounding over-the-ear stereo Bluetooth headsets, but audiophiles will be better served by high-end IEM like the Shure SE530 PTH or the various Ultimate Ear models.

There’s no denying however the kind of quality sound the BH-905 was pushing over stereo Bluetooth. While walking around in my room it felt strange seeing the N97 on table a few meters away, yet I was getting a solid performance from the BH-905. If your familiar to stereo Bluetooth audio like us, we usually wouldn’t use the words “quality” and “Stereo Bluetooth” or “A2DP” in the same sentence, but these manage to do this with ease.

As expected it has a punchy bass, but lacking in the high-end and delivers a solid midrange performance. Strangely, there didn’t seem to be any difference when using Bluetooth or the 3.5mm audio jack, a sure sign that BH-905 is good, but not audiophile grade. I did wish however, that it more audio headroom for those instances when I would really like to push the audio.

Works just like a giant Bluetooth headset: As a Bluetooth headset the BH-905 works just like the more traditional BH-804 and BH-904, although I doubt people will buy this primarily for calls. The BH-905 a bit more range when compared to other more traditional Nokia headsets.