Entered CNET Catalog: 07/03/2007
SKU: CARDOS2
Manufacturer: Cardo Systems, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The ultimate wireless communication tool for hard work and great fun. It connects to your Bluetooth enabled mobile phone and to your MP3 player, switching seamlessly between the two at a push of a button. Incoming calls override the streaming music, so you will never miss a call. Whether you are listening to your favorite music or when using your mobile phone, the S-2 provides superb audio quality. The S-2 supports the Bluetooth ver. 1.2 class 2 headset and handsfree profiles (including A2DP and AVRCP). Using the S-2 is remarkably intuitive and easy. You can also pause, change tracks, and adjust volume without the need to touch your player. Dedicated headphone keys let you manage your calls and control your MP3 player. Initiate or receive mobile phone calls or listen to streaming music at up to 33 feet (10 m) away from your handset or MP player.Product summary
The good: The Cardo S-2 Bluetooth stereo headset has a comfortable fit, easy-to-use controls, and fantastic sound quality.
The bad: The Cardo S-2 Bluetooth stereo headset did not perform so well in noisy settings.
The bottom line: The Cardo S-2 Bluetooth stereo headset is a great and affordable wireless music solution for those with stereo Bluetooth-enabled phones or music players.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/06/2007
Even though Cardo has made plenty of good quality Bluetooth headsets, it doesn't really have a foothold with stereo Bluetooth, a Bluetooth profile that lets you stream music wirelessly from one device to another. Thankfully, the company has rectified that with its first-ever stereo Bluetooth headset, called the Cardo S-2. This simple behind-the-neck headset is comfortable and easy to use, and it offers a great way to listen to your music wirelessly. It's also remarkably affordable at $89.99.
At first glance, the Cardo S-2 looks like a regular behind-the-neck pair of headphones. Look closer and you'll find a hinge above each earpiece, which lets the headset fold down into a more compact shape. Connecting the two earpieces is a sturdy rubberized band, which can stretch out to accommodate most head sizes. The entire device is pretty light (about 2 ounces), so we could wear it for long periods of time, which is perfect for daily commuting. The 2-inch-wide earpieces fit nicely on top of our ears, and we especially liked the cushioning of the earpiece foam covers. There are also rubberized grips above each earpiece for a more secure fit. We liked that there is good spacing between the grips and the earpieces, allowing plenty of room for spectacles or sunglasses.
All of the Cardo S-2's controls are located on the right earpiece. The multifunction button and the Play/Pause button are in the middle of the earpiece, while the surrounding circle can be slid to the front for track forward and to the back for track backward. Toward the back of the earpiece is the volume rocker, and the hold switch is on the bottom. The charger jack is located right next to the hold switch. There's also a LED underneath the Play/Pause button that lights up when the headset is activated. The Play/Pause button is large and easy to press, while the multifunction and volume keys have large bumps on them, making them easy to press as well. The track forward/track backward sliding mechanism is easy to use as well.
We successfully paired the Cardo S-2 with the LG Muziq (LG 570). Pairing went very smoothly, and we could answer and make calls very easily with the S-2. Incoming call quality was excellent; voices sounded natural, with little static. Outgoing call quality was also pretty decent, but callers did report some noise in the background when we called from a restaurant setting. Since the Cardo S-2 is a stereo headset, we tested it with music from the LG Muziq as well. We absolutely loved the sound quality of the tunes--the songs came through loud and clear, with great volume and bass effects.
The Cardo S-2 has other features as well. It supports voice dialing, last-number redial, and call transfers from the phone to the headset and vice versa. The S-2 also has a low-battery indicator. The Cardo S-2 has a rated talk/music playback time of 8 hours, and a rated standby time of 10 days.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36out of 36 user reviews
Major Quality Issue
Pros: Great layout, good sound, comfortable fit.
Cons: Cardo S2 has a KNOWN MAJOR quality issue. Had 2 headsets break, both lasting about 6 months.
They both broke in eactly the same location, over the ear where the plastic is split for the wire to go through.
1st pair was replaced, second was not.
out of 36 user reviews
Sorry. NOT deserving of a 4-star rating.
Pros: Budget priced.
Cons: Plastic arm snapped after light usage & zero abuse, rendering the unit useless. Sound is good, not "fantastic". Behind-ear plastic blades are far from comfortable. Does not lay flat, thus difficult to stow in a backpack, etc. Battery marginal.
out of 36 user reviews
Good as long as it lasted
Pros: Good sound quality
Cons: Much too fragile. Broke easily.
out of 36 user reviews
good sound pour quality
Pros: i have purchased 2 pair. i like the sound and pairs easily
Cons: BUT, a HUGE BUT, both pair broke in the same place. just above the on ear ear piece. 1 was out of warranty, the other was sent back to an internet company from CNET, ccmaccessories.com and they prceeded to rip me off saying they never received them
out of 36 user reviews
Good sound...Poor quality
Pros: Good sound. Fairly easy to pair and easy to use. Nice to have full functions on headset.
Cons: Poor quality. The plastic on the ear pieces breaks. First set lasted one month before on ear piece broke. Cardo replaced under warranty. Second set broke again in a month this time both ears.
out of 36 user reviews
Great Sound, Poor Plastic
Pros: The sound quality and buttons are great.
Cons: After a month or 2 the plastic began to deteriorate and broke off.
About one year later I find myself looking for another pair of wireless headphones not because of quality of sound but because I am getting tired of taping them together.
out of 36 user reviews
Nice headphones for iphone users
Pros: A very good pair of headphones. I'm no expert on the nuances of sound by any means, but this sounds pretty darn good. The concept of listening to music and quickly moving to a phone call wirelessly through the Bluetooth is great.
Cons: None so far.
out of 36 user reviews
Great product from great company
Pros: Great for stereo music and phone headset use! Works flawlessly with my Samsung P2 player; play/pause, track back/fwd/vol all from right earpiece. Great connectivity with my T-Mobile Dash phone. Long battery life. Very responsive customer service.
Cons: Slightly fragile. Has not broken on me yet, but I can see it breaking if you accidentally sit on them or place them in a bookbag at the bottom.
Just be careful where you place them and you'll be golden. Best tech choice I've made along with my Samsung P2.
out of 36 user reviews
Nice if they don't break
Pros: Good sound and easy to use. From phone to computer or other Bluetooth device it works great.
Cardo has a good return policy on broken items. Every time you return the item you get a new 1 year warranty on the new head set.
Cons: I have returned the the headset to Cardo 3-4 time do to the hard plastic arms over the ears breaking. I have been very gentle with this last pair and the cracked on me this morning. I have had them for about two weeks now.
out of 36 user reviews
It will break at the right speaker support
Pros: Light weight and good sound quality.
Cons: Mine broke after about 2 months. Microphone is almost useless for phone calls with any background noise.
out of 36 user reviews
headphones have cracked twice on the same place
Pros: Good sound, easy to use, nice design, but don't get deceived. S-2 is a defective crap.
Cons: S-2 look like a great headphones, but it's a defective product. They've cracked at the top of the arch after using them just on the walk or at home. I got new piece and the same thing happened, on exactly the same spot...
out of 36 user reviews
poor quality construction
Pros: good sound, pretty easy to use
Cons: flimsy construction
mediocre for phone conversations (sounds 'funny' on other end)
out of 36 user reviews
It does the job for a stereo headset
Pros: I can wear it for a long time and no pain around my ears. Battery life is good.
Cons: clicking noise when not talking on the phone. I have this paired up with a Blackberry curve from sprint. It is the same clicking noise if you put your cell phone next to a tv speaker or radio speaker. Not great for people who wear glasses.
Biggest problem as I do not have another cell phone to do a pair test at this time is the clicking sound you hear while you have this headset on. The noise is the same noise when I put my BB next to a TV or RADIO speaker. The clicking sound is gone when the MP3 is playing or when you are talking on the phone. But as soon as you are done with your call, the noise comes back. it is none stop.
I have found that only BB does this to stand alone speakers on radio and tv.
I would also not advise wearing glasses with this headset.
out of 36 user reviews
Not your Sony or V-moda, but surely better than Moto and others.
Pros: Fairly light, nice controls, superb battery, usb charge, comfortable fit, easy to have just 2 phone on
Cons: Supposedly flimsy and supposedly poor with Verizon phones.
As always I was surprised by the battery life and quality of sound, but I expect this from cardo. They make the best regular BT headsets and I think S-2 is a real winner.
Please don't compare the still somewhat klunky BT tech to good Sony, Bose, or V-moda earphones simply due to the fact that stereo BT isn't meant to astonish you with rich and crisp sound. They're made to be wire-free and perform better than single piece headsets, geared towards music more, but are not by any means a great replacement for good wired headphones.
Bottom line? If you have a GSM phone without a 3.5mm jack and don't want to go through several adapters nor use regular BT sets as substitution, then S-2 or the likes are for you! Don't forget the decent price point and the fact that it doubles as a headset.
out of 36 user reviews
These headphones might be great if you have a later XP, but Vista 32 and 64 does NOT support them.
Pros: glowing reviews by XP customers
Cons: They do not work with Vista 32 or 64 per Cardo Cust Serv
out of 36 user reviews
Perfect for Driving
Pros: Excellent Stereo Audio Reproduction & Control Features
Cons: Initially very uncomfortable on the ears with eye-glasses
out of 36 user reviews
Great sound...weak neck band
Pros: Sound and interface
Cons: neck band broke after 1 month
out of 36 user reviews
Great Headset
Pros: Sound is execellent
Cons: My ears hurt after long usage (1 hr +)
Great sound quality and easy to use (moto Q)
Regarding sound quality (mentioned by others) the headset only plays the music as it’s provided by the phone. So if the quality is poor it's likely due to your phone settings.
In my case the max volume was never loud enough to drown out the background noise (same issue CNET mentioned in their review) until, per a Google search, I used a registry editing software to increase base system volume for stereo headset.
http://www.hellomotoq.com/forums/qool-stuff/1337-registry-changing-maximum-headset-volume.html)
Now it’s like night and day. I have ZERO background noise along with excellent sound
As far as phone conversations go the headset is simply “okay” ... but I’m not at all bothered since I don’t want to carry on long conversations while working out
You'll really like these headphones...
out of 36 user reviews
Works great with Sanyo Katana DLX
Pros: Great sound quality on calls and music, comfortable
Cons: Slightly bulky.
out of 36 user reviews
Music sounds good
Pros: Battery life, sound
Cons: No battery charge indicator, microphone OK
The music sound is good, battery life not a problem. I plug it in every 2 or 3 days, it has a standard mini-USB connection.
It is slightly uncomfortable in the winter if you wear a coat with a high collar or a scarf, at least for the shape of my head. The fit is not a problem while working out.
Controls: you can set the volume, pause, go to next and previous track (if your music player supports it).
A battery charge indicator would have been a nice feature.
I rarely use it for voice calls. Outdoors, in city streets, others could barely understand me. The microphone was not a problem when used indoors. I could hear everyone loud and clear.
As for breaking up, it happens sometimes. It is radio technology: you can't expect it to work properly if you keep your phone inside a lead-lined bag, or if you hold it in your hand in the deep of your pockets under a heavy coat.
out of 36 user reviews
Much better than my bluetooth v1 stero headphones
Pros: Audio doesn't skip, callers confirm good quality when using the speakerphone
Cons: Wish it could go a little bit louder, and cost
It was ~$70, which seems a bit much for headphones, but still competitive with others available, so no real fault of theirs.
The only issue is when there are those occassions where you want to crank up a part of a song, or frown some sound on the outside world out, that its maximum volume just wasn't loud enough for me. I wish it could go to 11 when it is giving me its 10.
out of 36 user reviews
Poor build quality
Pros: Excellent sound, range and features
Cons: The device is extremely fragile
out of 36 user reviews
Worked well till they broke
Pros: Easy to set up and worked very good
Cons: Two sets broke
out of 36 user reviews
Does work but high frequency response not great, resume music after call problems
Pros: Decent price, no immediate pairing problems, fairly comfortable and lightweight
Cons: Notable lack of high frequency response, some issues with multiple bluetooth devices
I successfully paired first time with an Insignia Sport MP3 player, and also with a Blackberry Curve. Both devices support A2DP. The insignia also supports AVRCP, and it is possible to play/pause/navigate the music library from the controls on the headset.
Some Bluetooth issues as follows (it is difficult to determine which device is responsible):
After powering up the Insignia and the headphones, it seems to be necessary to manually connect the Insignia to the headphones each time via the menus. This is a bit of a nuisance.
When a phone call comes in on the Blackberry, it can be answered by clicking the CTRL button on the headset. It takes a few seconds, but the headphones do switch over to the phone. However, on completing the call on the Blackberry and hanging up, the headphones do not switch back to the audio from the music player. The navigation controls do actually operate the music player but there is no sound. In order to restore the audio from the Insignia, I had to manually go to the Bluetooth menu on the Blackberry and disconnect the Cardo headphones. Quite a pity, because it would work otherwise.
The other problem is audio drop outs. With both the music player and cell phone within close proximity (under 10 feet), the audio from the player tends to drop out briefly every few seconds. I'm guessing this might be because the Blackberry is also transmitting something on the Bluetooth network at the time. Moving the headphones and player away from the Blackberry resulted in uninterrupted audio.
After doing a bit of listening on the Cardo headphones, it became apparent that they don't have much high end frequency response. Even with high freq equalization jacked way up on the player, sound elements such as hi-hats and guitar string artifacts were still fairly muddy, when compared to average wired ear-bud headphones. Playing with the positioning of the headphones doesn't really help either. This could be a limitation of bluetooth audio encoding or the actual sound transducers in the headphones, but in any case it was a bit disappointing. If you are very concerned about good audio fidelity, this headphones may not work for you.
Finally, I have to say the controls could probably be better designed. They all have good tactile clues, so it is easy to feel for the control you require, but the CTRL button is very small considering how critical it is when using with a cell phone. The track forward/backward selection is done by rotating the spring-loaded outer part of the main cover. This might look pretty, but it is not very easy to use. The tiny volume controls are a lot better in terms of feel and use.
Summary: Good value for what they are. If you are looking for hi-fi audio, I would not recommend these. If you are planning on using with multiple Bluetooth devices, things may not run as flawlessly as you would hope.
out of 36 user reviews
Quite dissapointing.
Pros: Easy to pair, they work, and they are comfy.
Cons: Sound quality as junk, as well as mic quality.
out of 36 user reviews
Just amazing
Pros: functions great
Cons: audio quality isnt as good as high quality wired headphones
out of 36 user reviews
Disappointing
Pros: Great sound (when not cutting out), easy-to-use, nice feature set
Cons: Sound cuts out frequently, poor call quality for folks on the other end, uncomfortable
On the positive side, the feature set is wonderful, the controls are easy to use, and the sound quality is very good (when it's not cutting out).
I also forgot that, while this headset supports voice dialing, I have never been able to successfully place a call via voice dialing with it. If I use the stereo earbuds that come with the "Music Essentials" kit that Verizon sells, voice dialing works fine.
out of 36 user reviews
If you have a Bluetooth A2DP enabled cell with a MicroSD slot then you need the CARDO S-2!
Pros: Excellent stereo sound with good frequency response. Very comfotable to wear for the full 8 hours of listening time. All the controls are right at you finger tip, but...
Cons: .....but the CNTL button seem difficult to engage even though it has a raise dot that yo can easily feel. I'm also concerned about the intergrated battery. Cardo did not respond to it's life span.
out of 36 user reviews
These are a MUST have!!
Pros: Great for music & using the cell phone. Light and comfortable.
Cons: This is an awesome headset...go buy one now!
out of 36 user reviews
Outstanding product, better than Creative SE 2300 works great while running hard
Pros: Great comfortable fit, seals completely on the ear. Easy to use controls. Very good sound quality with a lot of bass
Cons: None, as long as you are not expecting audiophile stereo quality
These are a great set of wireless headphones. I have a pair of Creative SE-2300 that are good but are not nearly as good as these. These stay on no matter how hard I run. The band that goes across the back of the neck rarely interferes with anything except when lying in bed. If your primary use is for listening to TV go with the Creative SE-2300 because you will need the blue tooth stereo transmitter anyway. The sound quality is very good but this is not an audiophile device. It is actually intended for use with cell phones. I have not tried it with a cell phone so I can't comment on that aspect. They did perform well when I used them to make internet calls on Skype. These things really make listening to music more convienient. Range is 33 feet as stated. It is cheaper and better to buy these plus a stereo dongle than to go with either the Creative or Logitech sets.
out of 36 user reviews
Great Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
Pros: Easy to pare and use. Superior quality sound. Very affordable.
Cons: None found.
out of 36 user reviews
Finally a bluetooth headset that works right
Pros: Nice sound from the headphones. Excellent microphone quality - people say it sounds just like I'm using the phone without a headset. Not painful on the ears - I wear these for hours every day.
Cons: I little too much low frequency boost? Easy to accidentally flip the hold switch, which can be scary until you realize what happened (i.e. Nooo, they didn't die already! Whew, it's the hold switch).
out of 36 user reviews
CNET REVIEW of Cardo S-2 Bluetooth Stereo headphones
Pros: Nothing. i dont know
Cons: bad review- review did not talk about how good music was on the headphone.Did not talk about the microphone and how good it would be to use on a laptop.That serious stuff that has been left out
out of 36 user reviews
inexpensive quality player
Pros: they are only $60 on amazon and they are very small, they worked fairly well with my Nokia 6255i. doubles as headset for phone with graet quality.
Cons: a tiny bit irriatating on top of ear, didnt sync with my laptop well (HP dv9000t) and phone couldnt use ff/rw/pause.
Overall Good Bluetooth headphones
out of 36 user reviews
EXCELLENT......Works for me!
Pros: Not-in-ear , all the capabilities you would want and then some
Cons: none as of yet
Updated on Jul 16, 2009still going strong and i love it!. It has been a few years and it is very sturdy and durable.
out of 36 user reviews
Use during commuting???
Pros: About the review
Cons: About the review
Thanks
