I love listening to music with high quality headphones, but never ever thought about using them for watching movies or shows on my television. I knew that they such headsets existed, but didn’t really give them a chance. That is until our good friends over at Sennheiser sent me their new RS 175 Digital Wireless Surround Sound headphones.
Introduced at CES just a few months ago, the RS 175 is designed with strong yet elegant black exteriors with comfortable cushioned ear cups. Extended usage for a few hours didn’t seem like an issue to me. It comes with pretty much everything you need like a dedicated transmitter and recharging base station.
As usual, with any new set of headphones I receive, I burn them at normal volume for 24-hours. For my test, I watched the newly released Blu-Ray version of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. I think this is the perfect fit as Hans Zimmer’s amazing original score is an absolute joy with the RS 175. Can you say Eargasm? These are also really good with music. I loaded up iTunes on my Apple TV and listened to my driving mix, which includes the likes of Tegan and Sara, Elliphant, Haim, Arcade Fire, Lorde and more. And the headsets deliver. The bass is deep and rich, while the highs are bright. If you’re looking for studio monitors that are flat, look elsewhere. The RS 175 is for adding colour and attitude to your audio experience.
It should be noted that there are two important settings. There is a “Bass Mode” and “Surround Mode”. From my usage, I recommend leaving the bass mode on at all times, as audio sounds a bit too thin without it. As you can imagine the surround mode tries to mimic a full surround sound system. This feature works alright, but I tend to leave it off. Just keep that bass on.
One of the biggest cons I read about in general regarding wireless equipment is the transmission quality. The RS 175 is excellent. As a a self proclaimed audiophile, at one point during Interstellar, I forgot I was using wireless headsets. The audio was very clear and pristine. Sennheiser claims that you’ll be able to move back from the transmitter about 300 feet, and it pretty much maintains a solid connection.
The Sennheiser RS 175 Wireless Headphone System
