Listener Review: Sennheiser RS180 Headphones

I bought the Sennheiser RS180 headphones (Buy Now $270) several months ago from Amazon (via the HT Guys link of course), and received them in two days due to my Prime membership. They arrived in high quality packaging with everything needed to get started using them right away, the headphones, base station, rechargeable batteries (conveniently already charged) and all of the required cables.

Features:

• Open circumaural digital wireless headphones with KLEER uncompressed audio transmission
• Dynamic headphones with clear and detailed audio reproduction
• Multi-purpose transmitter also functions as an "easy charge" cradle and docking station
• Multi-receiver transmission for up to 4 people to listen from the same source
• Open circumaural digital wireless headphones with Kleer's uncompressed audio transmission
• Automatic level control for optimum audio level
• Multi purpose transmitter-also functions as an "easy charge" cradle and docking station
• Multi receiver transmission up to 4 people and listen from the same source

Before I go too far into my review of the RS180 headphones, here is a brief rundown of my current set-up. I have a 60 inch plasma from LG. It's a lower end model so there are no audio out jacks on the TV, but I do have a TiVo Premier and a Viao Blue Ray player attached to it and both of these have audio out jacks. The input for the headphones is through RCA jacks to 3.5mm female headphone jack. The base station connects to the source through a male 3.5mm headphone jack. In my set-up the headphones are connected via the audio out on the TiVo most of the time as that is our viewing source for 90% of the content we watch, mostly recorded shows and Netflix, though any source with RCA jacks or a headphone jack is free game.

In short, these headphones are great and here's why. I have some occupational hearing loss that makes it difficult for me to understand all of the dialogue during a show (if you ask my wife she'll tell you that I miss a lot of her dialogue too!). What really makes this difficult for us as a family is that my wife has perfect hearing and when the television is loud enough for me to hear and understand everything, it is way too loud for her to watch comfortably. When it's set right for her, I miss half of what is said and have to constantly look to her and ask "What did they just say?" or rewind the show and play it again at a higher volume. These headphones alleviate almost all of that. Almost, simply because when there is a loud soundtrack or other loud background noise during the dialogue, it's a little difficult for me to make it all out and has nothing to do
with the headphones. The headphone's volume is independent of the television and allows us both to have it set at a level that is comfortable for us. There are volume, balance and power controls located on the right ear cup for controlling the headphones without having to get up or find a remote and they are easy enough to operate without having to look at them.

As I stated earlier, these headphones are simply awesome. The ear cups are lined with fabric that allows you to wear them comfortably for extended periods without them getting sweaty under the cups. These are also an open back design, so ambient noises are still audible to whoever is wearing them. This makes it nice for when someone in the room wants to make a comment about what we are watching or the phone rings. These noises are easily audible and you don't need to take the headphones off to have a brief conversation or just have awareness of what is going on in the room. Some online reviewers have commented that there can be some issues due to this design, like when the volume on the television is high and the volume on the headphones is low you can hear the two at the same time. I never noticed the two being out of sync when I tried this but I have the volume loud enough that it isn't an issue for me.

Watching movies and television with them on and set to the right volume is a much better experience for me. When you are watching a show with decent production values and sound mixing, they really shine. The sound is very clear and sharp. The range of sounds that they produce is clearly better than the television speakers (though those are no real threat) and there seems to be sounds that I would have missed before had I watched without them, even with the volume turned up. Switching between sources is no big problem for me either, as my components are within easy reach with ready access to the rear RCA jacks. This could be made easier if I put another set of RCA-3.5mm with a splitter or just broke down and actually bought a receiver.

Don't get me wrong, everything isn't all tea and roses, there are drawbacks to these headphones. The first ding for the headphones is the price, almost $300 through Amazon. That's a lot of money for a pair of wireless headphones. The reviews of these and other brands were enough for me to decide to take the plunge. Secondly, when watching shows where the sound mixing quality isn't the best, these headphones really highlight that. When the action on the scene is clearly transitioning across the screen and should be a left, center then right mix for example, the sound just transfers from the left ear to the right ear without any fade or mixing of the effect and it can be a little jarring. That is something that the television speakers would handle fine and would be almost unnoticed by the listener but headphones just highlight it. Lastly, and this is really just a minor quibble, you look a little silly wearing headphones while you are sitting next to your family watching television. They are big and have a little light that blinks on the right ear cup to let you know that they are on and connected. These issues are very minor, with maybe the exception of the price, but the quality of the headphones is definitely worth it for me.

If you have a television and there are instances when you don't want to disturb those around you, these are definitely worth a look. I regularly use these in the morning when I am watching television so as not to disturb the wife and kids with my shows at 6am. These have made it possible for me to clearly hear almost all of the dialogue in the movie or show and to enjoy the banter between characters again. If you have the money, splurge and treat yourself to an excellent audio experience the next time you watch your favorite show or movie.

Comments

[Toeknee]

I definitely agree that these are the best i tried.