Sennheiser RS 170 Digital Wireless Headphones (Discontinued By Manufacturer)

I've only had the RS 170 phones for a few days. I had expected to rate them 10 stars because of the excellent crystal-clear sound; but I believe they have a flaw that may render them unacceptable for some people (see CONS, below). I'm giving them 4 stars because they are so good - I should probably rate them either excellent or "not acceptable".Here is my take - you may not have the same experience or have the same needs or expectations.TYPES OF WIRELESS HEADPHONES: For those that don't know, there are broadly 3 ways by which wireless headphones receive their signal:IR (infrared) -- these use a line-of-sight signal and avoid radio interference. They have the disadvantages of short range and reduced mobility (you have to remain within sight of the base station), but they usually do produce a clean sound.900 MHz -- these are analogue radio headphones. The main disadvantage is susceptibility to hiss and other noise, especially when you move your head or move to another room.2.4 GHz -- these are digital radio headphones, like the RS 170, and are more likely to be free from hiss and noise.I bought the RS 170 phones to replace cheap ones I've been using for late-night TV, and which operate on 900 MHz, providing constant hiss, much worse when I move about.The RS 170 sound brilliant. I've used them for late night TV and movies, and for music (radio and CDs) allowing me to move to other rooms in the house. They're comfortable to wear and I'm sure they'd be great for use on a treadmill or working out. All over my home, and in most of the garden, the sound is crystal clear with no hiss or extraneous noise. Except, that is, for the echo ...CONS: Having read scores of reviews of wireless headphones, it seems that some people buy them to listen to movies/ music without disturbing other people. For that these phones are brilliant.But some people buy wireless headphones because they have hearing loss (or just want the clarity that headphones provide) and use them to watch TV while their spouse listens through the TV speakers. The RS 170 phones seem to operate with a slight time shift (delay). If the loudspeakers are also on, albeit at low volume, the effect of the time shift is to produce an ECHO - this is very noticeable with dialogue, and is really annoying.It might mean that if you listen to movies/ TV, and have the sound coming through the TV speakers as well, the RS 170 phones may not be acceptable.If you turn the TV speakers down (or "mute") you won't notice the effect, but then no-one else in the room will be able to hear anything unless they have headphones as well.The RS 170 are of a "closed" design, which means that sound is not supposed to leak out, and in combination with the comfortable ear-pads, they greatly attenuate ambient noise - but they don't eliminate ambient noise completely (they are not "noise-cancelling"). I wrote to SennheiserUSA yesterday morning, and received this prompt response: "The RS 170 should block out the sound of the TV speakers. Check to see that you have them on correctly so that there is a nice seal to block out ambient noise. Let me know if you have any additional questions." Eric Palonen Sennheiser Headphones + Headsets 1 Enterprise Drive Old Lyme, CT 06371"It's true that the ear-pad seal does greatly attenuate ambient sound, but it does not eliminate it. The problem is so serious that I cannot use the phones to watch TV if my girlfriend is watching also.The more expensive model RS 180 is an "open" design - the echo problem is likely to be even worse. The more I think about this, the more I am torn -- if you have hearing loss, you might not notice, or care about, the echo.OTHER FEATURES:-- sound: The quality of the sound is better than I'd expected.Listening to movies, I hear subtle sounds that I can't hear with loudspeakers. I can only describe the sound as crisp and clean with adequate, but not booming, bass.I listened to some classical music CDs (Elgar) with delicate sounds as well as a full orchestra and timpani. The detail is excellent; even when I walk up my driveway the sound eventually cuts out, but there is no hiss as far as I can tell. My previous headphones were all hiss and crackle as I moved away from the base.-- price. These are expensive, and may not be discounted for quite some time.-- buttons. Lots of people criticised the prior design (RS 130/ 140) because the rotating volume control could catch on a pillow and move. The RS 170 has buttons for volume, mode, plus bass and [faux] surround sound. The disadvantage of buttons is that they're hard to find by touch alone. I think a lot of people will wind up taking the phones off to press the buttons. One advantage of the design is that the volume-up button is closest to the front and it doesn't take much practice to find it with your right thumb or finger. The BASS and SURROUND controls can be activated from the base unit.-- bass. The bass is not intrusive, even with the "bass boost" engaged. Fine for me, but some people like exaggerated bass for rock-N-roll, and they may find the bass to be light.-- surround sound. It's simlated surround sound, and I haven't used it enough to have an opinion. I think I shall wind up not using it (just like the CNET reviewers who tested the prior model RS 130).-- charging batteries - yes they need 16 hours for first charge, but it only takes a moment to slip in standard alkaline batteries (just don't leave them in when you put the headset on the charger).-- connecting - connecting is very easy - I took the time to route the wires through the coiled conduit. Some people will want to connect to a TV set. I connected to an AV receiver (I used "tape monitor out") so I can quickly switch between TV, radio and CD player. I also connected them to my iPod, but somehow that seems like a tautology.-- range - Sennheiser claim 260 feet range. My house was built to defeat cell phone signals and may not be a good test. They work all over the house and in some of the garden and the driveway, but they do cut out at much less than 260 feet. That may just be a feature of my house. I didn't buy them for extreme range and I'm very satisfied.In summary I think these phones are great - they so enhance the experience of watching a movie that I'm not sure I want to forgo them when watching movies with my girlfriend. The echo problem may be a deal breaker for some.

Well I'm definitely not a hardcore audiophile, but after hours of research and multiple headphone purchases I've found one of the best pair of wireless headphones out there. Take some of the reviews people have posted about these with a large grain of salt, I discovered after reading every electronic/pc mag review like cnet and sites like wirecutter that a lot of folks are pretty ignorant about tech details or make them sound more complicated to use than they are. So here's the bottom line if you don't want to do as much research as I did or don't care that much, take it or leave it.Go wired if you want the best sound at similar price points, they will always sound better. I tried Sony cans from Costco and Best Buy and ordered several more significantly expensive pairs of SH and didn't like them as much as the RS 170. First off, in a small-ish niche market of wireless headphones, SH is king. End of story. Sony and others don't compete. If you want a cheap, decently functional pair for under $100 get the Power Acoustic Farenheit. If you care about good sound enough to spend over $100 but less than $200(which I did) then serve up the SH. I got the only pair of used like new RS 170s on Amazon for $140 and it was a steal, to me they sounded as good if not better than other SH costing 2x - 3x as much. Even new they're not quite $190, which I would spend if I had to buy another pair after hearing how insane they sound. The sound is phenomenal, the range was excellent, no dropouts on full charge wandering all over my house, upstairs, closets etc. The bass boost/surround sound functions to me were very noticeable, accurate and added a critical extra dimension of sound with no distortion, especially when watching action flicks, I would watch a 5 minute action sequence with them off and on to observe the difference and that was a deal maker for me and why I didn't go with the also discontinued SH 160, although they were slightly over $100, as they lack those functions. I just leave them on all the time. The ear pads fit perfectly and top of phones are padded where they hit your head. Super comfortable through a 2 hour+ movie. A lot of people complained about sweaty ears which I never really had a problem with. Another gripe was the controls being clustered too close on the back of the right earphone cup and having to take them off in the dark to adjust. Seriously, if you can't figure out the work around you should probably wear a helmet and bubble wrap in public and never be allowed to drive a car. It's not a great design for sure, but after taking them off twice to look at the buttons I had it mastered. There's no need to touch the bass boost or surround sound buttons, and the power button(in the middle of the volume buttons) has a raised symbol on the back you can easily feel and avoid without taking the phones off. Even if you accidentally hit it, just tap it again to turn the phones right back on. Not a problem. The volume up button is the farthest left and the largest button so very easy to feel it out. Not a valid reason to avoid these awesome headphones. You do have to turn them on at the base and on the headphones themselves, but really not a big deal at all. I ran the headphones off and on for 20+ hours before needing a recharge just to test them. Connecting the base to the TV took less than 5 minutes, super simple setup. I really wish I had bought these years ago and am actually strongly considering buying a backup set before they becomes obsolete as this model has been discontinued for awhile. A bonus feature is that Amazon offers 2 months of product support on these, which is pretty awesome for a discontinued item. Avoid the RS 175 that replaced these for almost $100 more, they sounded inferior to me. My only gripe was that when I kick back the recliner seat in my couch the headrest pushes the headphones forward a bit. I'll get over it I guess;-) Basically, if you care enough about sound or find you have a need for these in the first place you'll probably be fine spending what these cost. Buy a used pair on Amazon or overstock, you won't regret it for a sec!**Note that I ordered a second unit from same seller, as the cost of a 2nd pair of headphones only was almost as much as getting the base unit, so I figured I'd have a backup if the first base station breaks and 2 sets of headphones I can pair to either base. The unit came with functional headphones and a non-functional base from the same seller, so I'm returning for an exchange before all of them are sold out and more expensive to buy. Time will tell if it was a fluke**

These are being compared against my older DT 990 Pro 250Ohms, also purchased through Amazon.SOUND:Generally I am satisfied with the output across the board that these provide, though with the additional flexibility of having a Soundcard in the computer helps immensely with finer adjustments to the EQ where you need / want it, and also in my case the ability to increase the output volume of the headphones through fine tuning the amp without compromising the quality of sound playing through the drivers in the headphones. Although out of the box, the sound signature of these headphones is not what I would call easy to describe, as they are neither neutral nor bass or treble heavy, with the activation of the 'Bass Boost' function, which by the way is very good as it doesn't compromise sound as far as I can tell, the sound is not only heavier due to the additional power delivered to the lower frequencies, but also sounds closer to what I was used to with the 990s.However, your personal tastes will likely warrant the use of your Realtek or soundcard EQ to find the most pleasing sound signature for your listening preferences.BUILD:The headphone construction quality is more than adequate for what they are and their intended purpose. Given that they are not, as far as I can tell, designed to be thrown around in a bag on your travels, heavy duty construction is not warranted, and would only have pushed the price higher than it already is. They are relatively lightweight compared to the 990s, though they do not to me feel cheaply made with a nice smooth and rigid plastic housing all around.The dock on the other hand is where the product is let down for me personally. Weighing about the same as the headphones, the product often moves around with glancing touches, and comparatively feels very cheaply made. On the whole it is functional, with the headphones sitting nicely on the charging pins when you dock it, however, several times when I have been reaching for the headphones when at my desk to put them on, the dock is destabilised by the simple action of removing the headphones from them. Furthermore, the buttons on the front of the device require you to support the dock from the top or back to allow you to activate them, as the buttons are too heavy and the dock too light to allow for a single push activation with only one finger involved in my case, and considering that you have to press the power button if you headset has been inactive for 5 minutes to wake it up, this is something that I resent being made awkward as it is. These are fairly petty points yes, but for a product of this price range, and considering just about everything else about it is very good, this is something that bothers me, having a more premium feeling dock with more mass and easier to actuate buttons would be something that I would have expected in this set, however, this is something that I am left wanting.WIRELESS FUNCTION:In the instruction booklet it states that before the first time you use these, they should be left on the dock until they are fully charged; and this is something that I corroborate with fully, saving time wondering why the headphones are playing no sound when set up properly being one reason, and just to benefit the health of the battery as well. Aside from that, I have almost nothing negative to say about the wireless function; it is clean, with little to no discernable interference (should you have this, an easy fix is to lower the volume of your headset whilst upping the output from the computer, this cleaned it up for me), and for me no dropouts when walking around my 5 bedroom house. Activating the volume and sound features on the headphone or the dock does not result in any delay from what I can tell. The only thing that I would have liked changed is the length of time the headphones must be inactive before they go into standby mode, to me 5 minutes is a little too short a time, as occasionally I will quickly switch music off to read an article before going back to continue playing, only to find that the headphones and dock require me to manually take them out of standby.The signal quality is also very clean in the time that I have been using them. I am a fairly astute listener to music, and I can tell when a note has been played incorrectly in a fast paced piano piece very easily, or a finger slipped off onto the wrong key during a key change, yet I have not noticed any stuttering, significant background hiss or buzzing when I have had the headphones up in my room. The only sounds that I have heard along those lines are as a direct result of the quality of the recording that I am listening to, or due to excessive effects applied in the software EQ as opposed to hardware EQ.SOUND FEATURES:As mentioned before, the Bass Boost function is very nice, and for me anyways, it is a must have to add further depth to the lower end of the sound signature, as without it, I felt that the sound was a little hollow. The Surround sound function, whilst not on the same level as the Dolby Headphone output of my XONAR STX, is still very nice to have on when you are not connected to a computer with this facility already, or are just wanting quick on the fly adjustments. When playing Battlefield and other FPS games, the SRS effect was quite realistic and helped with directionality for me, though again, your personal preferences may swing you other directions, but at least it is a function that you have if you want, and don't have to worry about at all ever again should you be displeased with the performance.CONCLUSION:Are these headphones as good as a decent pair of wired headphones such as DT 990s or M50s? In my opinion, honestly, no, but to me the difference isn't wide enough to warrant discounting them entirely, I do not regret replacing my wired headphones with these at all. The difference is there, but it is only highlighted for me through little nuances here and there in pieces. The convenience of wireless headphones to me is worth the 3-5% difference in sound quality (purely analagous, I don't think that I could properly quantify the difference), and I would strongly recommend these headphones to the following user cases:- Using headphones for your TV, as I can't think of why you wouldn't want wireless in this case...- Using them close to a computer, and are getting annoyed by either the limitation of wires when you need to move around, or are frustrated by the ever present subtle tug of the wires (especially heavier ones such as those on the 990s)- Using them somewhere when having a quick on and off toggle or sound signature toggle is useful for you (can't think of many users wanting this, but nice anyway)To the rest of you, I would say that they are still worth looking at, if anything for the convenience, obviously though if you are an audiophile of the higher echelons and are extremely particular about perfect sounding headphones for the price point, then you would probably do better to look elsewhere in the wired category.

I received the item in less than 24 hrs of placing the order! I doubt if things can get better than that. The item worked well straight out of the box. I just followed the directions given in the CD that was enclosed with the instructions manual. It was easy to set up. The manual stated that the initial charging could take up to 16 hours. However, in about 3hours, it was fully charged and the charging light went off. I bought this mainly to use it with the TV, so that I don't disturb others at home late at night. Even for a non-audiophile like me, the sound through the super comfortable head phones was crystal clear. With the surround on, it was even better. The bass boost was effective, but I preferred the sound with the surround. The range was also good, as I could get a proper reception even in the lawn.A few things were intriguing though. When I was researching on headphones for TV, prior to this purchase, I had decided on RS 160, based on the wirecutter.com recommendation. It also mentioned that RS 170 is even better but was costlier. Many other sites had also given a good report on RS 170. However, the 170 was about $100 costlier than the 160. So, it was a surprise to find that the 170 was cheaper by about £6, than the 160, at amazon.uk. Another point was that Sennheiser has discontinued the 170, as mentioned in amazon.com but no such mention was made at amazon.uk. The 160 appears to be still in production. If 170 is a better and a later model to 160, why has it been discontinued? I could not find an answer. All the same, I am very happy to get this product at this price range.

I needed a new set of closed back, over the ear, wireless headphones when the headband on my ageing wireless Philips cans snapped after 8 years of sterling service. I've owned numerous Sennheiser headphones over the years and have always found them excellent, so I didn't have any qualms ordering these as a replacement.The headphones themselves are a very comfortable fit with excellent sound delivery, even with the dynamic bass and surround sound modes enabled. The control buttons take a few minutes to get used to, but that's only to be expected. The base station could do with being a little heavier, or having stickier feet, as it's quite light and is prone to skating around when you want to turn the power on or off. Communication between the two units worked automatically out of the box and has enough range to stay connected all around the house and out into the garden.Hard to fault really - the only minor annoyance I've encountered is that the power LED on the front of the base station flashes twice every five seconds or so to indicate that everything is OK which can be a bit distracting sometimes. Might have been better without the flashing. Or only flashing when there was a problem. Maybe I'll just put some tape over the LED.

I used to own a pair of open RS120 FM receivers which I was relatively impressed with but I can safely say the new 2.4Ghz Kleer receiver is a significant step up in sound quality and I wouldn't go back an FM receiver despite the superior range.The old FMs did hiss a bit and crackle with interference from time to time which was notable listening to quieter pieces but it wasn't a deal breaker at the time as overall the sound was good. However, I didn't know what I was missing until I tried the 2.4Ghz. There appears to be no loss in quality at all when compared to wired phones so you can be assured you won't be missing out on any production. They are that clear it is easy to pick up the differences between MP3 128Kb and CD compression rates.In terms of sound quality they are impressive for their price bracket (considering wireless is included) and should satisfy all but the most fickle of audiophiles. The closed design means the base does pump, which I happen to like, but those that prefer less base may want to go for the open design although this can be mitigated by turning off the base function. Messing about with an equaliser I could hear changes up to the GHz frequency so the range is wide enough to satisfy the majority of peoples hearing spectrum. Having listened to the extremes of Ludovico Einaudi and Deadmou5 and I think these phones are better suited to pumping dance rather than minimalist classical, the latter sounding a bit soft and matt but I think that's usually due to the MP3 compression rather than the headphones.I really don't understand why manufacturers feel they need to include artificial Surround functions. Your ears have evolved to expertly distinguish directional changes in sound so unfortunately you won't be fooled into thinking you can ditch your 5.1. If you don't have 5.1 then you might appreciate the `enhancement' while watching movies/playing games but if you're the type of person bothered about quality sound for movies and gaming you'll already have 5.1 (revert to first sentence). I don't think it does anything for music other than give it some gimmicky distortion.The transmission range is not great but satisfactory considering I live in a `bunker'. My abode is a small granite cottage, the base lives upstairs in the spare room and the range reaches everywhere in the house. However, unlike the old FM receivers, the 2.4GHz phones cut out the moment I step out into the garden where as the FM phones had about 20 - 30 metres of range outside into the road. To be fair the signal does have to pass through 6" breeze block followed by up to 12" of granite so it's no surprise they cut out. This is mitigated by moving the base station downstairs and by a window, so I can still enjoy in the garden but it is a bit of hassle.They are very comfortable to wear and the closed cup even acts as passive noise cancellation - I'd say about a 60 - 70% drop in ambient noise. The buttons are difficult to feel for but I just take them off to be sure which is a bit of hassle and makes you wonder how the designers overlooked something so simple but not a deal breaker.Overall I'm very pleased with these, not only because I can no longer hear the misses but mostly for sound quality and comfort. Just the slight hassle with the range drops them to 4.5 stars but I as that's not a possible score I've rounded up. Finally it's a shame Senhieser didn't think of the option of a separate signal booster for larger houses or those with thick concrete or granite walls as I'd personally find that a far more useful accessory than the option of an extra set of phones.

I had a long review which i wiped by mistake so i'll keep this short.Range - Rubbish. This is a TV only set. Don't try to listen to anything around the house as the range is 1 - 2 rooms if lucky. The stats are misleading.Sound - Very good. I am not an audiophile so maybe it is not the best but i am very happy myself while watching TV and movies. Don't expect to hear anything else as it will block most average outside sounds.Comfort - Getting used to them but the fake leather can be a bis uncomfortable. I actually preferred the older fabric versions. But not a deal breaker and maybe others would prefer the feel. The metal charger keeps catching hairs on my head and pulling them off when i remove the units. OUCH. Not pleasant.-Ease of use - It is a pain having to turn on the base station EVERY TIME. The earphones should be a remote so you just power them up and they power up the base. A MAJOR down point.I think all in all i would buy the RS 120 II if i were to buy again. The ONLY thing that annoyed me about them was the crackle. Otherwise they were great and a lot cheaper but if an occasional crackle would annoy you stay away.