Last month I reviewed the Jawbone Bluetooth headset here, saying, "I think the Jawbone is a better Bluetooth headset than any of the Jabra, Motorola, or BlueTake headsets I've tried in the past year or two." I still believe that to be true, but I've since discovered (pun intended) the Plantronics Discovery 665, another excellent Bluetooth headset.

What I liked best about the Jawbone was that it sounded good to me and my voice sounded clear to people I talked to. The Plantronics Discovery 665 is at least as good in both respects. Plantronics claims it's because of its proprietary AudioIQ technology. Again, I have no way of testing the claim but here's what Plantronics says about it:

AudioIQ makes wireless conversations effortless and pleasant, regardless of the environment. For incoming calls, AudioIQ automatically adapts to background noise levels and intelligently improves the receive quality, clarity and volume level. For outgoing calls, AudioIQ reduces background noise for listeners up to 7-8 decibels, or by approximately 50 percent. It also minimizes interference from artifacts such as speech distortions to maintain exceptionally clear voice intelligibility.

I liked the way the Jawbone looks. The Plantronics Discovery 665 isn't nearly as pretty (as you can see here), but it's certainly not ugly, either.

Plantronics Discovery 665 has some distinct advantages over the Jawbone. One of my complaints about the Jawbone was that it wasn't particularly comfortable to wear. The Plantronics Discovery 665 is more comfortable and comes with several sizes of soft gel ear tips and an optional ear loop that I don't find necessary and don't use.

My other complaint about Jawbone was that I occasionally couldn't get it loud enough for me. The Plantronics Discovery 665 has always been loud enough for me. Last but not least, the Plantronics Discovery 665 comes with a dual purpose charger that works with USB at home and the lighter in my car. Plus, the charging pocket (shown below) pulses in cool psychedelic colors if a call comes in while it's charging.

The Bottom Line

The Plantronics Discovery 665 is as good as any Bluetooth headset I've tested, comfortable, and loud enough for me. If I could rate it 4.5 stars I would (but we don't award half-stars here). So even though I'm rating it 4 stars, you should know it's actually a 4.5 star product. And if not for the exorbitant price it might even rate 5...