davo
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2002
- Posts
- 80
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- 0
Just a quick note to share my first hour with these puppies. Just received them from the good people at Headroom.
Packaged nicely in carton with headphones (AA batteries included and installed...a nice touch), transmitter, wallwart and interconnects as well as a brief instruction booklet. Headphones have L-R marking and a AA battery in each can. On-Off toggle on left can and volume pot (inset knurled knob) on the right can. One green LED on the transmitter for power indication. No LEDs on the headphones. I've gotta' remember to turn these puppies off to conserve batteries.
Installation is a snap, other than the hassle of moving my HT components around to access the rear of the surround sound receiver. Plugged into the tape outs and powered right up. Muted the speakers and played CD's, DVD's and watched TV with various programming.
Quick assessment....
Noise - Very quiet. No static, no hiss, but with no source and the volume cranked all the way up on the headphones, there was a discernible hum, probably 60 cycles. Walked upstairs and was between 5 walls before I lost the signal. There were a couple of "crackles" and the sound was gone. No gradual loss of sound or other noise, just either there or not. Tested for interference at this microwave frequency (2.4 GHz) by turing on my microwave oven. Okay, I won't do this again. The roar sounds like a 747 taking off in my head. This was the only noise/interference I was able to generate and you will only do this once! Trade-off with this frequency is the lack of noise and the generally good range.
Sound quality - Depends on the source. Classical music is missing treble extension. Mid range acceptable, although a little murky and bass is also okay (for classical music). For jazz, it depends on the recording, but generally okay. Rock gets real bassy and tends toward boomy. This is also true for broadcast movies over cable. Strangely, the bass on the one DVD I own (Saving Private Ryan), although very forward and in your face, wasn't TOO boomy, but I guess artillery shell explosions are supposed to be boomy!? Thinking that this could get tiring if I find these to be too boomy over time.
Need more time with them, but for my purposes, which will primarily be late night movie viewing, so far, so good. I don't require audiophile quality for this. For late night or private music listening, I'll stay with my ETY 4P/S with my dedicated NAD CD source through a Porta Corda (Corda HA1 kit is enroute to replace the Porta Corda for this application).
Fit is generally about as comfortable as my Senn 580's. I know that descriptions of comfort are very subjective, but for me, I think I can wear these for extended periods and not have a problem. The headband is not adjustable, per se', but there is an elastic band across the top of the head which positions the cans well, at least for me. The cups are covered with a soft pleather, and so far is comfortable to me. This is a closed can design with oval shaped pads on the inside surface that my ears fit right into. I was thinking that if i can get these cans a bit further away from my head, that this might reduce the boominess (is this a word?).
Overall, considering that these are wireless phones, about a 7 out of 10.
More later as I live with these for a while. The one good thing that I just realized is that I don't pull the headphones off my head when I move and forget I'm attached to something. Also, that I'm not stepping on or tripping on cables.
Packaged nicely in carton with headphones (AA batteries included and installed...a nice touch), transmitter, wallwart and interconnects as well as a brief instruction booklet. Headphones have L-R marking and a AA battery in each can. On-Off toggle on left can and volume pot (inset knurled knob) on the right can. One green LED on the transmitter for power indication. No LEDs on the headphones. I've gotta' remember to turn these puppies off to conserve batteries.
Installation is a snap, other than the hassle of moving my HT components around to access the rear of the surround sound receiver. Plugged into the tape outs and powered right up. Muted the speakers and played CD's, DVD's and watched TV with various programming.
Quick assessment....
Noise - Very quiet. No static, no hiss, but with no source and the volume cranked all the way up on the headphones, there was a discernible hum, probably 60 cycles. Walked upstairs and was between 5 walls before I lost the signal. There were a couple of "crackles" and the sound was gone. No gradual loss of sound or other noise, just either there or not. Tested for interference at this microwave frequency (2.4 GHz) by turing on my microwave oven. Okay, I won't do this again. The roar sounds like a 747 taking off in my head. This was the only noise/interference I was able to generate and you will only do this once! Trade-off with this frequency is the lack of noise and the generally good range.
Sound quality - Depends on the source. Classical music is missing treble extension. Mid range acceptable, although a little murky and bass is also okay (for classical music). For jazz, it depends on the recording, but generally okay. Rock gets real bassy and tends toward boomy. This is also true for broadcast movies over cable. Strangely, the bass on the one DVD I own (Saving Private Ryan), although very forward and in your face, wasn't TOO boomy, but I guess artillery shell explosions are supposed to be boomy!? Thinking that this could get tiring if I find these to be too boomy over time.
Need more time with them, but for my purposes, which will primarily be late night movie viewing, so far, so good. I don't require audiophile quality for this. For late night or private music listening, I'll stay with my ETY 4P/S with my dedicated NAD CD source through a Porta Corda (Corda HA1 kit is enroute to replace the Porta Corda for this application).
Fit is generally about as comfortable as my Senn 580's. I know that descriptions of comfort are very subjective, but for me, I think I can wear these for extended periods and not have a problem. The headband is not adjustable, per se', but there is an elastic band across the top of the head which positions the cans well, at least for me. The cups are covered with a soft pleather, and so far is comfortable to me. This is a closed can design with oval shaped pads on the inside surface that my ears fit right into. I was thinking that if i can get these cans a bit further away from my head, that this might reduce the boominess (is this a word?).
Overall, considering that these are wireless phones, about a 7 out of 10.
More later as I live with these for a while. The one good thing that I just realized is that I don't pull the headphones off my head when I move and forget I'm attached to something. Also, that I'm not stepping on or tripping on cables.
