Digital Wireless Headphones Review – The Latest Trend In Wireless?

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.

The two review models are the Sennheiser RS180 and the Amphony Model 2500. Both models use the latest digital audio transmission technology. This means that prior to transmission of the audio signal by the transmitter, the signal is first converted to a digital data signal which then gets transmitted. Inside the digital wireless headphones, the signal is then converted back to an audio signal. Using this digital transmission, none of the two models showed any hissing or distortion that we are used to from previous wireless models. Both headphones claim to transmit true CD quality audio.

At first glance, the Sennheiser headphones are constructed as open headphones, i.e. sound from the headphone transducers will penetrate to the outside while the Amphony headphones are closed. Choosing open or closed headphones is a matter of personal preference. A closed model, such as the Amphony, will lower the sound level heard by others which is good when listening over headphones without disturbing others and also will block exterior noise more. Both models come with comfortable velours ear cushions and fit snugly.

The RS180 transmitter acts as a support base for the headphones. When not in use, the headphones can be suspended from the transmitter. The transmitter offer an analog audio input, yet no digital inputs. The Amphony 2500 transmitter offers analog inputs, one coaxial digital and one optical digital input. As such the Model 2500 transmitter can connect to newer plasma TVs, most of which no longer have analog audio outputs. The Model 2500 transmitter will automatically recognize whether there is a digital signal present and switch to the corresponding input.

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.