After researching Sony, RCA, and Sennheiser wireless headphones I settled on the Sennheiser RS-120's and I have no regrets. These are excellent headphones. I ended up buying them at GoogGuys. When I asked the associate if I could try them he connected them to a DVD player and they came to life. I walked all the way accross the store filled with electronics and heard no interference what-so-ever. I was nothing short of impressed and bought them right then and there.
Now that I have been using them for several weeks I am still amazed by them. I didn't know wireless headphones could be this good. There is no interference around my house. The 300ft range claim is about right. Maybe a bit conservative. I can mow my rental house lawn accross the street and even go next door and still get a good signal.
Sound quality is excellent. Bass is strong, mids are prominent, and highs are crisp. These phones work great for music, TV, and movies. I couldn't be happier with the sound. There is some spotty static in a couple places upstairs but it is practically inaudible when listening to something.
I don't know how long the batteries last because they have never run out. I have worn them for almost 10 hours straight and they were still going strong. I put them on the charger after each use and they have never shown any signs of a low battery.
That brings me to the charging system. It is simply superb. Unlike most other wireless phone charging systems this one is very simple. Just set the headphones on the metal "tube" that sticks out of the base and it charges. No messing around to get them just right so the contacts will contact (AKA Sony).
Build quality is very good. They are light weight, yet sturdy. The RS-120's are much sturdier than any of the other Sennheiser RS phones. They are very comfortable as well. I was worried that, due to their open air, on the ear design that they would get uncomfortable after wearing them for a few hours. I was proven wrong. They have never become uncomfortable.
I have read some reviews where people complain that the base turns off whenever it wants. It has an auto-off features so that it shuts off if it gets not signal for a few minutes. I see no problem with that and it has never bothered me since I'm usually listening to something when I'm wearing them. :)
I have the base connected to my home theater receiver to which I have a TV, DVD player, and my PC connected. The phones work well with all of those sources. Games, music, movies, TV, everything sounds great and I recommend these phones whole heartedly. You would be hard pressed to find a better deal in this price range.
Sennheiser RS120 926 MHz Wireless RF Headphones with Charging CradleWhen I first noticed this product on an Amazon best-seller list, my initial response was "what a great idea." My second was "sounds too good to be true." My third, after receiving my order and slipping these headphones on for the first time, was simply "WOW!"
From the elegant, ergonamic design to the superb sound, the Sennheiser RS-120s can't be beat.
The headphones come with three connection adapters, so they'll work with just about any TV, radio, stereo, DVD or game system. The base unit is small, inobtrusive and leaves a small enough footprint that you can find a spot for it just about anywhere.
But the bottom line is they work -- and they work well. I have them set up in my bedroom and connected to my TV so I can unwind late at night without keeping my spouse awake. And on Saturday afternoons I can have the game on with the volume pumped up without a peep of complaint from her or the kids (and even if they did, I'd never hear them anyway :-) Of course, I can walk around and do chores, work at my desk, whatever, without missing a second of the action.
The rechargable batteries are a great idea, too. No need to plug a cord in, simply place the headphones on the base unit metal rack to connect and charge effortlessly.
My personal standard for consumer testing is whether or not I can rip open the package and get the product working without having to reference the instructions or manual. No worries there ... just plug and play ... and so intuitive it can't get any easier.
Form, functionality and unbelievably cool, too. An unbeatable combination.
This is the first product review I've written on Amazon, but I really felt the need, because I felt somewhat deceived by the huge amount of 5 star reviews for these headphones.
Don't get me wrong, these are decent headphones. I am satisfied with them and I will not be returning them. But there are significant problems, the biggest of which is the ubiquitous hiss. Contrary to many of the other reviews, I found this hiss to be *quite* noticeable. I suppose that is just a fact of life with wireless headphones, but it really is quite annoying, particularly during quiet passages or when stretching the limits of the range.
Speaking of range, it is true as other reviewers said that you can still get a "reasonable" signal at a remarkable distance (it beats my wi-fi network in terms of range). But I find that if I stray more than 15 feet or so from the base, I can notice a gradual reduction in quality, an increase in the volume of the hiss, and occasional whisps of static. I have fiddled with the channel setting and tuning knob quite extensively, and these issues still remain. I am probably a little pickier than the average person, but I do not consider myself an audiophile by any means -- so if *I'm* noticing the quality loss, it's pretty significant.
Now the good news: When you are in the same room as the base and the music is loud enough to drown out the hiss, these headphones sound pretty darn good, at least to my untrained ears. All frequencies are filled out nicely (I did not find it lacking in bass at all) and I don't get that headache-y too-much-treble feeling that I get from extended listening on lousy earbuds.
As other reviewers mentioned, it was a poor choice to put the volume knob and tuning knob right next to each other, but this is very manageable with practice.
In summary, these ain't bad for wireless headphones -- but don't let all those 5-star reviews fool you into thinking you aren't going to pay a significant price for that freedom.
Edit: Since writing the initial review, I figured out what the deal is with these. Whether as a side effect of FM transmission or by design, somewhere along the way this device is causing a pretty aggressive automatic gain control on the signal. A loud signal will cause the headphones to immediately adjust quieter, while they will adjust more gradually to a quiet signal, slowly bringing the level up.
This more or less ruins music that has a lot of dynamics, though *most* modern music will sound more or less okay because of the way it is mastered. The AGC is also the cause of the infamous "hiss" that you hear when your signal is low (it keeps boosting the signal level until you hear noise). I find that keeping the input volume really high diminishes these problems somewhat, but of course then you have to be careful you aren't getting clipping. And it doesn't eliminate the problems altogether.
It's a pity, because the headphones themselves sound great. But the automatic gain control really interferes with certain music, and as a result my review stays at 3 stars.'
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