Being able to watch TV at night and not disturb others has been the driving force of wireless headphones. In particular the benefit of not being tied to a headphone cord has led to rapid growth of wireless products. However thus far wireless headphones could never really match the sound quality of traditional corded models and the wireless transmission would be prone to interference and noise. Is the latest wireless technology able to remedy the problems of previous wireless headphones? We will take a look at two wireless headphones that both utilize the latest in wireless transmission to find out how these models stack up against traditional corded headphones in terms of sound quality and reliability.
We will review the Sennheiser RS180 and the Amphony Model 2500 both of which use digital audio transmission. In other words the headphone transmitter will convert the audio signal into digital data which is transmitted to the headphones. The headphones then convert this data back to audio. Using this transmission technology, none of these headphones showed the static or distortion that we have gotten used to from previous wireless headphones. Both of these models claim to transmit true CD quality audio.
The first thing we noticed is that the Sennheiser headphones are designed as open headphones which means that sound from the headphone transducers will penetrate to the outside of the headphones while the Amphony model is closed. There is no way to state that any particular design is better of the other and as such it is a matter of personal preference. A closed design, such as the Amphony, will reduce the sound level heard by others which is good when listening at loud volume without bothering others. At the same time, a closed design will tend to attenuate exterior noise more. Both headphones have comfortable velours ear cushions and fit snugly on the head.
When not in use, the RS180 headphones can be suspended from the transmitter which acts as a support base. The RS180 transmitter offers a regular analog audio input but no digital audio input. The Model 2500 transmitter offers one analog audio input, one coaxial digital audio input and one optical digital audio input. The digital inputs are useful when connecting the transmitter to a plasma TV for example which normally don’t have analog audio outputs anymore. The Model 2500 transmitter will automatically switch to the correct audio input by detecting which audio input has a valid signal.
Judging the sound quality of both models, the sound of the RS180 is on the light side with good mid range but a little low on bass. As such we feel the RS180 is suited for listening to vocals and light music. The bass response of the Model 2500 is more pronounced than the RS180 but still well balanced and not overly aggressive in any way. The wireless transmission itself no longer suffers from the drawbacks of previous generation models and the sound quality of both models rivals the quality of corded headphones. One limitation though is since wireless models are battery powered, they will never be able to achieve the same loudness as corded headphones hooked up to a good headphone amp. Having said that, both models achieve plenty of volume though, the Model 2500 more so than the RS180.
The RS180 sends it’s signal at 2.4 GHz. The transmitter supports up to four headphones. The Model 2500 operates at 5.8 GHz and supports an unlimited number of headphones. The RS180 operating ranged is specified by Sennheiser as 300 ft In an indoor test environment, we were able to get a clean signal up to around 100 ft with both the RS180 and the Model 2500 which should be plenty for most users. The Model 2500 transmitter can connect to secondary transmitters which are called RangeBoosters that allow expanding the headphone operating range even further.
Battery life is 15 hours per charge for the RS180 and 30 hours for the Model 2500. The RS180 wireless headphones sell for around $300 and the Model 2500 for around $200.
Author Resource:
Gunter Fellbaum has been involved in engineering audio and electronic products for over 10 years. You can find additional information regarding wireless headphones and digital wireless headphones in particular from Amphony's website.
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