Wow, I have been waiting literally years for a quality set of wireless headphones. I listened to many including the previous generation of Sennheiser's. All of them had some low level of hiss and less than audiophile sound quality. The wait is over. These cans utilize Kleer technology and an open design. I always preferred open headphones for the more natural bass response and to my 50 year old ears these sound great. The headphones are comfortable though I would like a bit more padding spanning the entire headband. The buttons on the headphones that control power, volume and balance (handy if you have asymmetrical hearing deficits) are too small and flat but I can now control the volume without removing the headphones. The range is listed as being up to 100 meters and practically speaking, as I can walk on either floor of my house and even outside in my yard without any noticeable effect. Every 30-40 minutes I may get a brief 1 second or so loss of sound but it is infrequent enough to not bother me. Expensive and surely not equivalent sound to an equally or more expensive pair of cans but they are very close in terms of sound and the wireless performance makes them the real deal, totally worth it. Sennheiser RS 180 Digital Wireless Headphone System with Automatic Level Control and Adustable Balance Control
I bought and returned two other pairs of wireless headphones in the sub-$200 price range before springing for these, and simply put they are worth the extra money. There's no interference, the sound quality is excellent throughout the range (bass, mids, highs) and the hiss that plagues most other wireless headphones doesn't exist. Range is also excellent. The only thing to note is that the base station does not have optical audio input, only a standard 1/8th jack.
I have used the Sennheiser RS-130 for the past 4 years, and the surround sound was incredible and delicious, but I was looking for an upgrade, the next generation from a high quality manufacturer. My main uses are for blu-ray movies and late night TV viewing as to not disturb any neighbors, plus it's an intimate experience without any street noise. When I decided on the RS-180 I bought it from J & R because their customer service is outstanding. The DVD product guide estimated an initial charge of up to 16 hours, but mine was ready for blastoff in about 7. I was immediately blown away, swept into a cinematic oasis, a sound panorama that disintegrated any assumptions about how a movie should leave a lasting impression! They are exceptionally comfortable and well worth the price, and you will not be disappointed!!! Without a sound system hooked up to my Samsung 1920 X 1080 HD-LCD TV, I realize now I haven't totally appreciated the blu-ray player and movies until this wireless headphone purchase. Thanks to Kleer's uncompressed audio transmission technology another journey began via listening to some of my favorite blu-rays like Oliver Stones "The Doors". WOW!!! The bass sounds are outstanding and precise. You will venture forth into a new world of audio pleasure. If the Sennheiser RS-180 was a painting it would be a masterpiece by Kandinsky or Dali; a sculpture, La Pieta via Michelangelo, a song, something by Lennon & McCartney. Remember this: escape is not a luxury, it is a necessity if you want to get an advanced degree in sound and mind travel. Now get out and buy these phones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In almost every respect, these Sennheiser RS 180 Digital Wireless Headphones are excellent:
- The good experience starts with the packaging. The main box, the two inner boxes and the inner plastic container are very well designed and built like tanks. They're also fairly easy to open (the fit of the plastic container containing the actual headphones and base was a bit snug, so there was a bit of tugging there).
- Setting the headphones up is very easy. It boils down to 1) connecting the audio cable to the source and to the headphone stand (I used the LR adapter and connected them to the back of my TiVo TCD658000 HD XL Digital Video Recorder), 2) picking the correct country-specific plug to snap onto the power connector and plugging the result into the wall and into the stand, 3) putting the two batteries into the headphones, and 4) listening to the results. In my case, I used my own already-charged NiMH AAA rechargeable batteries (900mAh vs their 600mAh), so I was up and running immediately instead of having to wait the 16 hours the documentation says the initial charging should take. The one minor quibble I have here is that it took me a bit of effort to figure out the pictograms in the setup manual. Mitigating that, Sennheiser includes a CD with the full manual on it and their web site has a downloadable version, too. The full manual uses actual, honest-to-goodness words and pictures instead of those pictograms.
- Every aspect of build quality is excellent. Everything is well designed and well constructed. It all feels very solid.
- And, most importantly, the sound is absolutely amazing. There's no extraneous background noise at all: no hissing, no hums, no snaps, crackles, or pops. The only thing coming through the headphones is a beautiful reproduction of the source material. The sound coming through these FAR surpasses anything coming out of my VIZIO Class XVT Series TruLED XVT472SV 47-Inch 240 Hz sps LCD HDTV (Black). Even better, when listening through these, I don't lose the voices in the music (as happens through my television speakers).
The only minor gripes I can come up with are that 1) the buttons on the headphones (specifically the volume up/down buttons) are not very finger-recognizable: I have to remove the headphones to adjust the volume (perhaps the problem will go away once I become more used to things), and 2) my head and ears feel a bit warm when wearing the headphones. But, then again, I live in Florida. So, that's probably an unavoidable issue. However, all my complaints combined don't add up to the loss of a full star. So, I'm very happy to rate these headphones at an Excellent 5 stars out of 5. - Wireless Headphones - Sennheiser - Wireless - Cordless Headphones'
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