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high fidelity wireless headphones

post #1 of 36
5/31/09 at 9:23am
Thread Starter 
I know this is a bit of an oxymoron but with the advent of 2.4ghz based models and quality dap/dacs on the the headphones end, surely they're not too bad nowadays?

Which in your opinions are the best around atm, does anyone know of any good sites that focus on this area?
The senheisser are well known but any other serious players?

Cheers
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post #2 of 36
6/1/09 at 5:28am
I don't know much about wireless but www.headphone.com is a great place to shop around for cans of all types. They're very informative and their prices aren't too shabby, either.
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post #3 of 36
6/3/09 at 7:27am
Thread Starter 
no im going to get a good pair of corded and i know all the good sites for that, but the goods sites typically dot talk much about wirless,

For good reasons i know, but i still want a very good wireless pai, as good as wireless can get anyway...

anyone else?
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post #4 of 36
6/3/09 at 9:17am
Are you looking for IR or RF? Is surround sound important?
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post #5 of 36
6/5/09 at 4:14pm
I have a pair of Panasonic RP-WF6000's that I quite like:
http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702

I use them mainly for watching live concert videos and have been very pleased with the sound. No interference problems with other wireless devices (network, keyboard, phone). A slight bit of hiss is detectable during silence in the music/soundtrack.
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post #6 of 36
6/7/09 at 7:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joepizi View Post

Are you looking for IR or RF? Is surround sound important?

I'm looking for RF & surround sound features, but sound quality/fidelity is paramount.
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post #7 of 36
6/7/09 at 7:43am
Thread Starter 
Can't find anywhere on the net that actually compares a whole bunch of wireless headphones! (not interested in BT)
At least not relatively recently... These guys seem to be the main players at a 'reasonable' price bracket...

Panasonic RP-WF5500 2.4GHz Digital Wireless
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...eadphones.html

Panasonic RP-WF6000 Digital Surround 5.1Ch Wireless Headphones System (100V) (Free 220-240V Transformer) (Black) at AccessoryJack
http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--420000872_Headphones

Sony MDR-DS7000 Digital Wireless Headphone System -
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...ne_System.html

Pioneer SE-DIR800CII Dolby Digital Surround
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...es_System.html

Audio-Technica ATH-DWL5000R Digital Wireless
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...Headphone.html

Pioneer SE-DRS3000C Digital Wireless Surround
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...es_System.html

AKG's HEARO 999 Audiosphere II
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f13/et...system-278501/

Beyerdynamic RSX 700 Wireless Headphones
http://www.headphoneworld.com/p/Beye...Headphones.htm

Oh and the sennheisers of course...
http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/artic...98489328177332

A new range coming out (RS 160-80), no reviews anywhere yet
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private...ess-headphones
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post #8 of 36
10/19/09 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
Still assessing this....

This looks interesting too but I'm not a fan of in-ear earphones, & I'm not sure how good the DAC is compared to the aforementioned systems.
http://go.head-fi.org/?id=475X763&ur...se%2Findex.php
Plus there's no DSP integrated for positional/multi-channel audio in Movies/Games.

This is even more intriguing as it lets you BYO headphones, but I'm guessing the DAC would be no better than the kleer, & again there's no DSP.
http://www.i2igear.com/?cmd=sku00021

I'm happy to pay for one of the more expensive full-size wireless headphone systems.
So long as I can get some accounts comparing a few of them from users...
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post #9 of 36
10/21/09 at 11:14am
I have the Sennheiser RS130's and I like them. They start to breakup if I go to far away (with a few walls inbetween), but they're pretty nice for being within 15-20 feet. I'm not sure how far the unobstructed range is, as my setup is kind of caddy-cornered in it's own area.
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post #10 of 36
11/3/09 at 6:03pm
I have the Audio-Technica ATH-DWL5000R, and they sound great. They're digital IR and do great for stereo as well as surround sound duties. I started out with the Pioneer SE-DIR800s and was so impressed with Dolby Headphones technology, that I immediately upgraded to the best I could find using the same tech. I used it mainly for movies and Dolby Headphones does a great job getting the sound image "out of your head" and spreads it out in front of you. Built-in decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS is nice too.

The only thing is, the Audio Technicas are expensive and hard to find. If you're SERIOUS about headphones, look up the "Virtualizer" (I think the company was Smyth or something). Couple thousand dollars, though!

Something worth thinking about though, is purchasing the Pioneer DIR800, and hacking the headphones unit... wire up a connector to the headphone/receiver, place it aside where it can receive the IR signals, and plug in your headphones of choice.

All of the Dolby headphones digital infrared units use the same core technology - you can even swap headphones between the 2 Pioneer models and the Audio Technica.
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post #11 of 36
11/3/09 at 8:52pm
Sorry, I have Audio Technica's ATH-DCL3000, not the DWL5000s. It's their older version which was digital IR.

No experience with RF sets, but I read too many reviews that claimed noise and interference, so I stuck with IR.
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post #12 of 36
11/4/09 at 6:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by t3ch View Post

I have the Sennheiser RS130's and I like them. They start to breakup if I go to far away (with a few walls inbetween), but they're pretty nice for being within 15-20 feet. I'm not sure how far the unobstructed range is, as my setup is kind of caddy-cornered in it's own area.

I had Sennheiser RS 130's and a JVC wireless (too crappy to bother to look up model#). I agree that the RS 130's seemed to have limited range but they perform well withinin that range. I was going to order another set of RS 130's for my bedroom so the wife can sleep while I watch late night tv. When searching for best deal, I saw Sennheiser RS 140's on sale from J&R for what other internet sellers are advertising pricing for the RS 130's. So I ordered and received them yesterday.

When I opened the box for the RS 140's and placed the rechargeable batteries in the headset, they immdeiately picked up the signal from the current RS 130 base unit already plugged in another room (and the DirecTV receiver they are connected to). I walked up the stairs to the bedroom and they maintained the signal without any issues. I was surprised and pleased with the results.

Definitely recommend Sennheiser for affordable wireless headsets.
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post #13 of 36
11/7/09 at 12:59am
Thread Starter 
These are the only top-of-the-range wireless headphone systems that I'm aware of...

Not sure which is actually superior, think the numbering might be deceptive.
http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--420000872_Headphones
http://www.audiocubes.com/product_in...oducts_id=2344
************************
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...ne_System.html
http://www.audiocubes.com/product_in...oducts_id=2333
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...es_System.html
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f13/et...system-278501/
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private...dphones_502875

Does anyone know of any other systems? I mean ones that are $300USD or more.
I've still not been able to find any comparative reviews so I'll start to look for individual reviews & whittle things down from there.

A big knock to the AT is the huge $ premium even though they have weak positional audio features.
I'm sure they'd be lovely for music but at that price one would expect them to be far more versatile!

Keep the ideas/opinions coming everyone, hopefully this will turn into a good resource for anyone researching the same thing! ;-)

***update***
Some other wireless solutions but they don't don't do positional audio, decent stereo it seems though:
http://www.sleek-audio.com/
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/chip-...ifier-dac.html
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post #14 of 36
11/25/09 at 3:03am
Thread Starter 
Scratched Cans
*************
No positional audio...
Wireless Audio IC Technology |Kleer| ........ [SA's a stand-out, DigiFi is much less intriguing -exclude rs170/180]
Portable wireless headphone amplifier/DAC [dodgy small time Chinese outfit]
-----------------
AKG Hearo 999:
No longer manufactured....
Can't find anywhere locally & CBF finding overseas and doing the MF thing, or hoping they ship etc.
Head-Fi Forum review [06/04/06]
Headphone Reviews review [04/01/08]
-------------------------------
Panasonic RP-WF5500/6000:
Seems to be quite old, news & reviews are at least 2yr old...
There's nothing on their site about wireless headphones, that doesn't inspire confidence!
Panasonic RP-WF6000 Digital 5.1Ch Wireless Headphones
Already ruled out 5500 on the assumption it's an even older model?

=========
Remaining cans
************
MDR-DS7100....................................... Retailer: AudioCubes
ATH-DWL5000 review ---AVS Forums ..... Retailer: AudioCubes
SE-DRS3000C review ---Lowyat Forums . Retailer: AudioCubes
Sennheiser in their wisdom left out positional audio for their top-end wireless cans.
RS 180 ---Sennheiser USA ....................
RS 170 ---Sennheiser USA ....................
So it's a choice between the top-end 'open' 180, or the 'closed' 170 that does have it.

So that's now whittled down from 9 to 5....
It would've been 4 but sennheisser is now two contenders instead of one.

Woohoo now we're getting somewhere! NOT :-(
I'll pick this up again much sooner, time to knock this over once & for all.
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post #15 of 36
12/3/09 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
Well none of my finalist make/models are available in Australia except for the RS170/180.
So physically comparing any of them gets thrown out the proverbial freakin window!!
Why are we such a consumer tech backwater?!? Grrr......

That means I can only rely on reviews & comparative reviews from the net.
As you can see in my finalist list above, they're far & few between... :-(
I'll look for a little longer, everyone please continue to share your experiences with models in my list!

Thanks again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

I'm hoping that the Pioneer, Senn, & Sony models I listed are locally available so I can at least try them out.
I may try the Panasonic if I can be bothered, but they seem like much older models, judging by the age of reviews on the net.

Whichever comes out on top I will then compare it to the DWL-5000 & Hearo999.
"If" I can find anyone who can help me out there....
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post #16 of 36
12/9/09 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

bleh :-(

I have been watching this thread for some time because I would like the same thing.

I'm no help - just didn't want you to think you were talking to yourself

Ron
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post #17 of 36
12/10/09 at 12:30pm
Just for the record, and I see that this hasn't even been a recommendation on this thread (love crowdsourcing!) but avoid the Pioneer SE-DIR800C (IR based with Dolby digital decoding) at all costs. The IR range was absurdly short, awful off-axis, and terribly prone to interference. Also the headphones themselves I found very fatiguing and uncomfortable after about 20 minutes or so, my intention was to watch movies, so it was a no win situation for me, I ended up returning them.

The OP asking this question is in Australia, correct? So I'm not sure if this is beneficial to you or not, but US based dakmart.com is a factory authorized seller for Denon, Sennheiser, and some other high end headphones (generally b-stock, overstock, discontinued models, etc.).
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post #18 of 36
12/10/09 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

Thanks, I'm prolly going to give up soon and just get the rs170.
Unfortunately all the major wireless headphone OEM's (except Sennheiser) couldn't give a **** about the Australian market.
If they did I would go to my local shopping centres and test/compare them all.

Before you give up, try asking on the 2 channel audio forum, probably the most appropriate spot.

Ron
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post #19 of 36
12/10/09 at 8:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoRy View Post

Just for the record, and I see that this hasn't even been a recommendation on this thread (love crowdsourcing!) but avoid the Pioneer SE-DIR800C (IR based with Dolby digital decoding) at all costs. The IR range was absurdly short, awful off-axis, and terribly prone to interference. Also the headphones themselves I found very fatiguing and uncomfortable after about 20 minutes or so, my intention was to watch movies, so it was a no win situation for me, I ended up returning them.

Yeah I have had some wildly enthused about them, but I'm not particularly interested in IR, thanks for sharing.

Quote:


The OP asking this question is in Australia, correct? So I'm not sure if this is beneficial to you or not, but US based dakmart.com is a factory authorized seller for Denon, Sennheiser, and some other high end headphones (generally b-stock, overstock, discontinued models, etc.).

I'll have a poke around on their site and see what their policy is with shipping, thanks.
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post #20 of 36
12/17/09 at 11:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

****, you know I never noticed that I'd created this thread in 'speakers'...
The mod's kindly moved it for me, hopefully that'll mean we get a more lively debate for a change?!

Aren't you glad I suggested moving this thread here? The response is life changing!!

Ron
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post #21 of 36
1/5/10 at 8:19am
Thread Starter 
I'm starting to think pos. audio is too much of a gimmick to factor in...
If I want quality pos. audio I should get one of the dedicated adapters (or an AVR) & use it with corded cans.
So finalists will have to stand out for reasons other then their pos. audio qualities.

I've noticed that there's a huge difference in range abilities between SleekAudio's W-1 and the RS170/180.

W-1 is only 18.29M, whereas 170 = 80m, and the 180 = 100m...
These figures are line-of-sight of course, and in real world terms will be much less.

But a 4/5-fold distance advantage is not insignificant when there's many potential causes for signal deterioration in the the avg home.
So irrespective of the IEM Vs open circumaural debate, I think this cannot be overlooked!

I'll probably buy the SA6 or CT6 later anyway (without W-1 initially), just to try my 1st IEM's.
For the time being it looks like the 170 or 180 are the prime candidates, unless I hear solid arguments to the contrary.
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post #22 of 36
1/6/10 at 9:19pm
Time to spring for the RS180s! Go buy the ones you tried out -tell them you should get them at a discount since they are a health hazard..
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post #23 of 36
1/7/10 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 
Emailed dozens & dozens of retailers, didn't get a coherent answer or they simply hadn't had any experience to comment, cept these few.

[wirelessheadphone.com]
Claims rs170 notably better than sony ds-7000 for musical CD, highly dodgy source IMO though.
[goodcans]
Claims Sony is okay, but Senn slightly better (130-180) Haven't tried anything else....
[wicked]
Hasn't tried any brand cept Senn, reckons everything from 130 up is good, but feels 180 is 'clearest', hasn't done any 'side-by-sides'.
Reckons all surround sound is a gimmick.
[Audio Junkie]
No experience with anything cept Senn, general remarks that 170/180 should be better than 130 coz they're digital, pfft.
Haven't done 'side-by-side', can't open stock.
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post #24 of 36
1/7/10 at 1:05pm
Good work so far. And dropping surround sound for better quality or lower cost cans is perfectly acceptable. You can always add surround sound in separately by placing a Dolby Headphone decoder between your source and headphone transmitter.
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post #25 of 36
1/9/10 at 11:11pm
Thread Starter 
This is what I was not so sure about....
Between source & standard wired cans yes, but between source and wireless transmitter how would this work?

Aren't Dolby adapters like the Mixmap etc. designed to output in analogue?
If so couldn't it confuse things if their output was reconverted to digital by the transmitter, and then decoded to analogue again at the headphone end?
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post #26 of 36
1/10/10 at 9:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 808///M3 View Post

If you're SERIOUS about headphones, look up the "Virtualizer" (I think the company was Smyth or something). Couple thousand dollars, though!

I believe you're referring to this; it doesn't relate to the stuff I'm looking at.

It's a corded alternative to more expensive speaker systems, & a very good one at that!
I'd seriously consider it instead of a speaker system upgrade in the future.

Quote:


Something worth thinking about though, is purchasing the Pioneer DIR800, and hacking the headphones unit... wire up a connector to the headphone/receiver, place it aside where it can receive the IR signals, and plug in your headphones of choice.

What's wrong with getting a dedicated adapter for this like the SU-DH1 or the A40 Mixmap?
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post #27 of 36
1/21/10 at 8:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

This is what I was not so sure about....
Between source & standard wired cans yes, but between source and wireless transmitter how would this work?

Aren't Dolby adapters like the Mixmap etc. designed to output in analogue?
If so couldn't it confuse things if their output was reconverted to digital by the transmitter, and then decoded to analogue again at the headphone end?

Well someone has been able to pass SS from their dir800 base to their hdr170/180.
So maybe the same would apply to the MixAmp & SU-DH1?
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post #28 of 36
1/21/10 at 10:24pm
Thread Starter 
*update*
Nothing new on the review front, below is still all we got!
Only checked 170/180 this time...
I'm going ahead with the RS 180 and maybe an adapter, I may post my experiences.
____________________________________________________
I went to a local store 3.5wks ago and compared the 180 with the 130 (130's more similar to the 180 than the 140).
I would've tried more sources (I only listened to a TV -news?- feed) but we took ages to get the 180/130 set-up.

And I didn't want to push the friendship by asking to hear music/movies/different outputs etc.
Especially considering what they did was against store policy (H&S regulations) so they were already doing a big favour.

Nevertheless the difference was definitely noticeable...
And interference easily crept-in with the 130 but with the 180 it remained crystal clear at all times.

So this is all there is in the way of something close to reviews for the finalists.
Un-****ing-believable Google, this is all one can sift out of the 99% crap.
Please can we get a new contender for search engines...

RS160/170/180
http://www.headphone.com/rightbetweenyourears/?p=1132
___________
Multi-channel
***********
K 940 FC is AKG's current top of the line, there's zilch in the way of commentary/reviews.
Actual audio specs look a tad better overall than RS180, but wireless/power management is not.
After several searches for RP-WF5500/6000 reviews I finally found a recent one.
The rest are 2yr+ old (99.9% news snippets) as cited in earlier posts...
----------------------
MDR-DS7100
Nothing but news clips & blog reposts crap, these two are as close to commentary as one can get, gtranslate blows!
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1212672
http://translate.google.com/translat...%26tbs%3Dcd:1"
---------------------------
ATH-DWL5000
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/aud...review-326681/
http://www.avforums.com/forums/headp...00-review.html
could hardly call this a review but what the heck....
http://translate.google.com/translat...1%26tbs%3Dcd:1
-----------------------
SE-DRS3000C
Hardly a decent review
http://www.gadgets-reviews.com/index...t_new&id=19329
The rest is pretty much crap.....
http://www.avforums.com/forums/headp...ing-sound.html
http://www.audiocubes.com/product_re...oducts_id=2424
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/737595
--------------------
RS 170
http://www.jr.com/product/productDet...=1#productTabs
It's on amazon twice so there's two sets of user reviews
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-RS-...DateDescending
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-RS1...DateDescending
_____
Stereo
******
RS 180
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Reviews...5G7X9L6?page=1
Same freakin review....
http://www.channelnews.com.au/Sound/Headphones/B5G7X9L6
Freaky gtranslate of French review
http://www.google.com/translate?lang...rt-2506-1.html
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sen...0/#post6250118
http://www.jr.com/sennheiser/pe/SEN_...ductTabReviews
No amazon....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...106412&Local=y
______________
BYO Headphones
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/chip-...ifier-dac.html
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ws/eBayISAPI....m=290389521336

So none of these reviews prove that one or more of the finalists are better than the RS 170/180 do they?
(except from a surround sound perspective)

And....
1) In light of my recent decision to ignore surround features.
2) considering raw specs indicate bass response of the 170/180 should be similar.
3) considering I don't need isolation...
I'm thinking the 170 can be dropped!

What do you reckon, do you agree with my process of elimination so far, would you have something else in-front of the 170/180?

Perhaps you can see something in the reviews I dug-up that highlights why one (or more) of the other models are better?
Or perhaps you disagree with my idea of ruling-out 3d sound and using a adapter like the A40 Mixmap + corded instead?!

I'd also love to hear about any reviews that I missed, getting close to crunch-time now!
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post #29 of 36
1/21/10 at 10:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalyst View Post

*update*
Nothing new on the review front, below is still all we got!
Only checked 170/180 this time...
I'm going ahead with the RS 180 and maybe an adapter, I may post my experiences.

After all this you MAY post your experiences??

Ron
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post #30 of 36
1/26/10 at 4:18pm
Have a hearing loss....tried the Sony MFR-RF970R wireless from BB...
HORRIBLE SOUND and ECHO..

Got the Sennheiser RS 170 today and they have been charging for about
5 hours.....Impatience got the better of me so I gave them a trial run going thru the headphone jack in my Onkyo 806.....Man...I was blown away...crystal clear...no echo...I am going top run the sound thru my OPPO BD 83 (BD and CD player) as we watch a lot of movies and tv series that do not have sub titles..I would guess about 25%
The headphones are still charging now....and I will run these puppies thur it's paces tomorrow...But,the initial experience ws very,very satisfactory..
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