Today I’ll be writing a review for the New Bee M51 Headset. It’s been a few years since I last reviewed for New Bee, so when they approached me again I was more than happy to review again for them.
They offered me this M51 headset, a Bluetooth V5.2 handsfree earpiece with ENC (Environment Noise Cancelling) and a CVC 8.0 dual built-in microphone.
The New Bee M51 earpiece has a built-in 115mAh battery and paired with a 500mAh high-capacity battery case. This supports 80 hours of playtime, 15 hours of talk time, and 180 days of standby time. Using Type-C fast charging, the Bluetooth headset can be fully charged in just 1.5 hours.
So is the M51 any good?? Time to test it out!
Packaging and Contents.
The New Bee M51 Headset comes packaged in a white sleeved box which shows product images and specifications printed on it. The box measures 15.0cm x 8.7cm x 3.5cm and weighs 202G.
Inside the box you’ll find the following: 1x Headset, 1x Battery Case, 2x Additional Ear Tips, 1x USB-A/USB-C Cable, 1x Multi-Lingual User Guide.
The supplied USB-A/USB-C cable measures 30.0cm in length. It’s more of a token charge cable, you’re free to utilise any USB-C cable.
New Bee M51 Headset.
The New Bee M51 Headset measures 103mm in length x 65.6mm in height and has a depth of 18.8mm (when inserted in your ear) and weighs 16.7G.
The battery case measures 116.2mm x 64.0mm x 24.8mm and features a built-in LED headset battery percentage indicator light. On the left hand side there’s a USB-C port, a full charge takes around 1.5 hours, this provides around 3 full charge cycles to the headset itself. You can also directly charge the headset using the built-in USB-C port on the ear hook area. You’re able to use the headset for approximately 15 hours before requiring a recharge.
Multi-Function Control.
The New Bee M51 Headset comes with 4 buttons. Near to the ear area you’ll find the multi-function button (more on this later), along the microphone boom you get a volume up and down button and towards the tip area you have a microphone mute button.
You’re able to control both volume and audio track selection via the volume buttons, pressing and holding each of these will either skip a track or go back, depending on the order you select.
You’re able to control the following with the multi-function control button:
- Hang Up: Press the button once.
- Reject a Call: Press and hold for 2 seconds when a call is incoming.
- Redial the Last Number: Double tap the button.
Wearing and Use.
Before you can use the headset, you’ll need to pair with your device. Pairing is easy, and you’re able to pair a second device too. Once paired you’ll need to insert the ear tip into your inner ear, rotate the ear hook towards the back of your ear, and then position the microphone boom into position.
This is where my user experience very quickly deteriorated. The headset is uncomfortable, no matter which ear tip I chose, it hurts to use. In fact it scratched my inner ear area, that’s how uncomfortable it is.
That’s not all, you’re not able to use the multi-function control button at all when wearing the headset. The button is hidden behind your antihelix area, rendering the whole purpose of the headset useless. In order to use the button to answer/end calls you need to slightly remove the headset from your ear.
Comfort and usability aside, the actual phone call quality with the headset is average at best, you experience a noticeable lag between voice and the user hearing you. I’d estimate between 1-2 seconds. The call quality is no better than using loudspeaker on your mobile to be honest. The sole purpose of the New Bee M51 Headset is to make/receive calls, in a convenient manner, none of which is possible with the current product design.
The audio quality is no better either, distortion occurs when volume level is anywhere near mid-range. You experience both audio crackles and muffling in a competing manner.
Overall, a terrible user experience, both in terms of button location and call quality.
Technical Specifications.
- Brand: New Bee
- Model: M51 Headset
- Manufacturer Code: N/A
- Manufacturer Reference: N/A
- EAN: N/A
- ASIN: B0CNR3ZMJK
- Bluetooth Chip: QCC3040
- Supported Protocols: HFP, A2DP, AVRCP, HSP
- Speaker Unit: 13mm∅
- Standby Time: 6 Months
- Music Playtime: 15 Hours
- Headset Charge Time: 1.5 Hours
- Charging Case Charge Time: 1.5 Hours
- Charging Port: USB-C
- Compliance: CE, UKCA, FCC, RoHS
Conclusion.
The New Bee M51 Headset is terrible. You’re not able to use the multi-function button, something which is instrumental in the use of the headset, without it, you may as well not bother using the headset. The headset is uncomfortable, it actually cut the inside of my inner ear, with a silicone ear tip too. That’s never happened to me before, after hundreds of audio gear tested on this site, not once have I had my inner ear cut.
The call quality doesn’t make up for the poorly designed torture device, calls are average, the audio quality is terrible with distortion very apparent.
If you’d like to purchase this item, please check out the purchasing options below. The RRP for this item is £29.99.
New Bee Direct | Amazon | eBay | AliExpress Best Option |
Product sample provided by New Bee in exchange for a detailed, unbiased review.
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