Bluetooth 5 headsets?

[Ashton]

I have terrible cell reception at my home, so I usually just leave my phone on my desk (where I get amazing 1-2 bars...) and hope I hear it ring. then I use my old Motorola Bluetooth 3 headset for calls --- but if I walk even to the other side of the room (forget walking into the kitchen or bathroom) my headset starts cutting out. I recently found out my phone supports Bluetooth 5 with a (supposedly) huge range, but when I started looking around for headsets everything I found was either headphones (I want a traditional one ear "hook" headset) or supported at best Bluetooth 4.x connectivity.

Are there any headsets out there that support this new standard? Or is it all smoke and mirrors for headsets and even the genuine "Bluetooth 5.0" headsets drop signal at distances over 30 feet (which I've noticed is closer to 10-15 feet) or around walls and are no better than the older versions?

 

[Vengance_01]

Wifi Calling?

 

[T4rd]

I've seen a few BT 5.0 headsets, one of which are my Zolo Liberty+ earbuds, which have been pretty good for me.

 

[noxqzs]

I personally use headphones or IEMs and use a bluetooth receiver with a built in mic.

I originally got an AUKEY BR-C2, but it seems its discontinued.
I followed that up with AstelKern XB10.

The second one is pricier but much more powerful in terms of volume. For music they last 4-6 continuous hours. Voice they will last for much longer. The XB10 has a really good range as well. There are other models and manufacturers, but my experience has been positive with both. This way alleviates putting anything bulky on your head.

 

[Necere]

The Bluetooth SIG has done a horrible job of communicating what BT 5 is and is not. Basically, there are two distinct flavors of Bluetooth: Classic, and Low Energy. They're completely separate from eachother (they use separate radios).

To do anything over Bluetooth requires a profile, of which there are several that support audio. For high quality stereo audio (one-way only) there's A2DP. For two-way communication, there's the headset and hands-free profiles - HSP and HFP respectively. The important thing here is that only BT Classic supports audio profiles. Why is this important? Well, the much touted improvements to range and data rate in BT 5 only apply to Bluetooth Low Energy - not to BT Classic. That's right: your new "Bluetooth 5" headset is actually still using the same old BT 4.2 transmission mode for audio. Effectively, for headphones/headsets, BT 5 has no use at all, and is purely for marketing.

 

[Trimlock]

Yea BT5 improvements are almost purely used only for media, but even the range won't be improved. It touts extended range but it will eerily feel similar to your old BT4.2 handset (or really a BT3). And before you get your hopes up of BT EVER being a capable long range standard for wireless connectivity, don't. It was never intended to be a long distant connection, its intended purpose is a low powered, communication connectivity device.

If I were you I'd get wifi calling.