Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset Review

*** You can now purchase the Aliph Jawbone from Amazon.com.

San Francisco-based Aliph’s next-generation Jawbone Bluetooth headset delivers unmatched sound quality to its user and the person he or she is talking with, making it a must-have product for anyone who depends on mobile communications. Stand next to a running lawnmower, a faucet or a sizzling sauté pan; walk down a noisy street side or leave the music playing in the background while you drive down the expressway – it just won’t matter. Your voice will sound clear to the person you’re talking with, that person’s voice will be intelligible to you and background noise will be irrelevant to your conversation.

Jawbone’s sound technology was optimized for The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Department of Defense’s research and development agency, to maximize communications clarity in the most hostile conditions. We imagine gunfire and helicopter-rotor noise wouldn’t be an acceptable distraction for critical war-zone conversations. It’s a good thing that the Jawbone’s voice activity sensor technology can identify precisely when its user is speaking and separate his or her voice from background noise.

In our experience sound quality doesn’t always come first with Bluetooth headset design. Don’t get us wrong, we’ve reviewed other devices that sound great, but we’ve certainly reviewed devices that don’t. In the case of the Jawbone, it is clear that Aliph’s engineers put sound design first, which by itself makes the device an immediate winner.

Aliph’s founders, Alex Asseily and Hosain Rahman, both engineers who graduated from Stanford, explain on their Web site, how they shared in the belief “that voice would be the dominant interface for mobile devices and that creating a noise-free environment was critical to delivering an improved mobile communications experience.”

And if that’s not enough, the Jawbone also has a spectacular range of about 30 feet and gets its advertised battery life. It comes with several curvy ear hooks and different styles of ear buds so each user can get the right feel for the Jawbone. Though it is difficult to get the device on the ear quickly, the Jawbone wears well once it is attached. With a mid-range weight of 14 grams, and average size, it’s not overbearing.

The almost perfect Jawbone does have one flaw: Its attachments seem to be less rugged than the device itself. The Jawbone test kit arrived at our review site with one ear bud already broken. One of the ear hooks that came with the headset broke off while attached to the device. We were able to continue our testing unabated, however, and extra care for the Jawbone should prevent a similar experience. Regardless, it’s a small dent in an almost flawless device.

Aliph is charging $119.99 for the Jawbone, and the device is worth every penny.

You can now purchase the Aliph Jawbone from Amazon.com for much less than the retail price.

Keep reading for more detail about how Aliph’s Jawbone Bluetooth headset performed during our reviewer’s tests.