Best Headphones

“Headphone Advice for Australian Consumers”

Wireless Headphones

There are many brands of wireless headphones on the market in Australia, most of which are of poor quality and suffer from endless interference and drop outs.

There are basically two types of wireless, those which use infrared to transmit the audio from the base to the headphone, and radio frequency transmitters, which to me at least are the better choice. Why? Simple, infrared requires line of site to transmit to the headphones, where as radio frequency does not. The advantage is that the radio frequency headphones allow you to walk around your house or even out into the backyard and still have perfect sound, infrared will drop out the minute you leave the room!

So, which brand to buy? In my experience after selling these things for years, the cheaper brands simply do not work well, and those who buy them ultimately end up buying a quality brand such as the Sennheiser RS range of radio frequency wireless headphones. So, lets take a look at the Sennheiser range and see which one would suit your needs.

Sennheiser RS 110 Wireless Headphone

The Sennheiser RS 110 is an open, supra-aural wireless RF headphone system. Its transparent and well-balanced sound with great bass response makes this system an ideal choice for all types of music and TV applications. Well, that is the company speak, personally I do not feel that these are good for music at all, TV yes, but not music.

Yes they will work of course but the level of detail from them is not that great. They have a flat ear pad that rests against your ear rather than sit around the ear, and so comfort is not a good as other models in the range either.

Final nail in the coffin? New batteries are required every 20 hours of use, making the cost of ownership rather high with the constant need to replace batteries.

RRP: $199 - Buy Now and Save!

Sennheiser RS 120 Wireless headphone

The Sennheiser RS 120 is the smarter choice compared to the RS 110, because it has an automatic recharging system. When you finish listening to your headphones for the night, you simply hang them on the cradle atop the base unit, and they will be fully charged once agin by morning.

This is the case with all models above the RS 110 in fact. So here we have a good wireless headphone for use with TV that will always be charged and provides adequate sound for the intended purpose.

RRP: $249 - Buy Now and Save!

Sennheiser RS 130 Wireless headphone

The Sennheiser RS 130 is possibly the smartest choice in the range and is fitted with a surround mode that can be switched on and off as desired. I would debate the real benefits of this, but for those with no other surround system at all, you may find it usefull.

The best part is that it features an auto-tuning function instead of the tuning wheel of lesser models, which ensures exceptional ease of setup. From a sound point of view these are the best sounding model in the range, just. Being an open back design, the sound is just that little bit better and more ‘open’ compared to the RS 140’s closed back design.

FInally, the earpieces are far more comfortable as they encase the ear rather than sit against the ear like the RS 110 and Rs 120 models. All of which makes this model an absolute bargain.

RRP: $349 - Buy Now and Save!

Sennheiser RS 140 Wireless headphone

Well this brings us to the top of the line RS 140, why would you want to buy this model when the RS 130 sounds little better and is much cheaper? Good question but there are some good reasons to go for the RS 140.

Firstly, it’s closed back design is a must for those who intend to use their wireless headphones to listen to TV when in bed with a partner who is trying to sleep. With all of the other models in the range being open back design, the sound leaks out which will disturb someone trying to sleep.

The RS 140’s closed back design prevents this from happening. Secondly, it features a compression circuit which can be turned on or off at the base. This compression circuit ensures all sound is kept to a constant level, so that quite passages in the movie are just as audible as the loud commercial breaks in between.

This is a big plus for those who struggle to hear these quite sections of some movies. Thirdly, the RS 140 has the same earpieces as the RS 130, but they are covered with a soft leatherette material which feels a little more luxurious than the velvet covered RS 130.

RRP: $449 - Buy Now and Save!

Sennheiser MX W1 Portable Wireless Headphones

Recently, Sennheiser introduced to the Australian Market the MX W1 potable wireless headphone system. The MX W1 is Sennheiser’s first portable and completely wireless stereo earphone system. Featuring two separate (left/right) earphones, transmitter and carrying case with integrated charger, the MX W1 offers an uncompressed digital wireless connection and delivers excellent high-fidelity stereo sound, letting you enjoy your favourite music without the hassles of cords.

Clearly this product is aimed at the iPod user, or should I say the ‘serious’ iPod user as this provides audiophile grade sound quality with superb build quality. Quite unexpectedly they chose not to use Bluetooth, as they feel Bluetooth is not capable of carrying quality stereo audio, instead opting for a system called ‘Clear’, which was developed outside of Sennheiser.

Although it is aimed at portable use, there is nothing to say it can not be used in the home as well, and you may well find them far more comfortable than any normal headphone, so be bold, be daring, use them anyway you like! But one thing is for sure, you will love the sound!

RRP: $749 - Buy Now and Save!