Sennheiser RS30 Wireless Headphones

good electronics, inferior plastic construction
Purchased the RS30 yesterday without seeing the display model as a demo was not available at the store. Had I seen it I might not have purchased it. The headset construction is just junk with a cheap thin foam piece for each ear and one cheap foam piece under the headband. Construction is all cheap thin plastic more toy like than any toy. The picture on the box really looks much better than the actual headset. I expect it to fall apart within 6 months but it's warranted for 2 years. We'll see.

The manual is also a joke which consists of a half sheet with one paragraph explanation in six different languages! There is no contact support shown other than a web site and contact phone and address in Germany. No USA contact provided in the literature, just like OEM computer parts.

As for controls the volume, on/off and tune are just too small and the tune dial is on the wrong side of the earpiece and hard to reach and control. My older wireless Sennheiser is much better constructed and the controls much easier to operate. The transmitter station is pretty good which they use for the more expensive mode TeaUnlike the more expensive models you cannot charge the batteries in place but requires you the remove the battery from the headset and insert it to the slot provided in the station. Also unlike the older models where you could charge two batteries at the same time you could charge only one. This is unfortunate as the battery only last about 4 hours at best and perhaps only one or two hours after six months of use. You really need a spare and the charger need to charge two batteries at the same time as it takes so long to obtain a full charge.

Once you get over the feeling that your head is sandwiched between two cheap foam pieces the sound quality is really good for an entry level wireless headphone. For jazz and pop music which I have on at the moment the RS30 is smooth without any harshness across the frequency spectrum. Sound quality is an improvement over my old wireless Sennheiser. Its more musical than the Bose Lifestyle system I once had which means the RS30 sounds almost as well as a good cheap wired headphone. The new transmitter unit is backwards compatible with my old unit so that I could have two wireless headphone on at the same time tuning to the same or different sound sources. You could conceivably have three transmitter stations (three different channels provides) with multiple headsets - Sennheisers only. I've tried a different brand of wireless but that didn't work with the Sennheiser and in fact only one system could be on at a time but not both. One drawback is that the headphone is an open air type so someone next to you will hear the music so I won't play it loud in bed when the wife is asleep or in the library. Like the old model I also noticed when you move your head or go from room to room the reception may introduce some intermittent noise specially when the battery is low. So far this is only minor nuisance as most of the time the reception is clear. The noise rejection is an improve over the old model. Your mileage may very.

Pretty Darn Good
Okay, I'm the type of guy who used to buy an expensive
headset. I would be listening, phone would ring, I'd
get up, headset would rip off and then I'd accidentally
step on it. I was always destroying the headsets I had
on.

I picked up the Sennheiser RS30 headset a few days ago
from J and R. The instructions are bogus. It took me a while
to realize the battery was separate and you slip it in and
out of the headset. The instructions are worse than some
of IKEA's furniture instructions that sometimes are in
Finnish.

You charge it for 12 hours (mandatory). I used it the
first day. Plugged it into the earplug of my small tv
jack so I could walk around without the tv blaring in
my office (I'm a hypnotist in NYC). I accidentally had
it on and went to the bathroom. Now the bathroom in my
building is like 1 long NYC block away because it is
outside in the hallway all the way on the opposite
end of the building. Surprisingly, with several steel
girdered buildings in the way, I didn't miss a note or
pick up any other reception. Amazing for [the price]
unit.

Okay, here's the shortcomings. Manual, come on guys. I'm
good with electronics, but this is the first time I'm
handling a unit like this. You could have gone the extra
mile and added a few paragraphs for clarification

Second, the battery. Now, I charged it for 12 hours.
Got 2 hours use (the battery supposedly doesn't have a
memory effect and you can't buy a replacement ANYWHERE
but Sennheiser (...). The second day, I got a good
5 minutes out of the charge. Called Sennheiser in New
Lyme, CT. Got through in 10 minutes. A wonderful sales
girl named Genine (I think that is how its spelled) took
my info, etc. and is putting a battery in the mail as
we speak. Talk about customer service. This is the kind
of company I like to do business with. Try to get Sony
on the line.

Well, I'm waiting for a new battery and seeing if I can
squeeze any life out of the one that came with it, so I
can only judge this unit on yesterday's usage which is
just what I wanted it for and more. I'm not saying this
is as great as a wireless, but if you're like me and sit
or step on most of your wired headphones, this is a pleasure.
REAL FREEDOM. I may buy another one for the office.

John
...

mediocre for the price
they sound good if you sit perfectly still, but that defeats the purpose of having wireless headphones. i get minor distortion anytime i sit near a device that produces RF interference- like a computer for example. its probably worth it to drop a bit more money and get a nicer pair, like the sonys or sennheiser's top model

Great sound when you find reception
Sounds great but tweaking in reception can be a pain. Otherwise when you get the channel locked in its as if your listening to a really nice set of speakers. The headset itself is very light, you hardly feel them. They can be a bit warm though because of their circumaural design.

Oh no...
This was utterly the worst product I have ever bought. When I first received it, I charged the headset for 4 hours, then tuned through all the stations, trying to find my music being broadcasted from the base station. Didn't work. I turned the volume ALL THE WAY UP on my headset AND the PC and I could hear it mixed in with some static when I put my head 1 foot from teh base statino. Bleh.