[DaLiu]

Hello all,
 
I just got my Sennheiser RS 170 headphones, everything looks fine except the multi-function led on the receiver, looks like its blinking all the time, there is any way I can turn it off? I tried to push the button in many different ways but nothing worked, its blinking all the time, quite annoying.

 

[Oldfella]

Purchased Senn.185,about 2 weeks ago. First impressions?. Hum on the Analog side,which i could not get rid of. Changed to optical,and now, silent!. Sound wise,Bass, on the heavy side, but not overpowering,bleeding, to some extent, into the mids. Mids are slightly recessed,giving the impression,that the singer is 3feet further back from the mic, than he should be.Good treble,not harsh, no noticeable sibilance. Comfortable,after several hours of use.Certainly, far better than any Bluetooth i have tried. Plenty of power,to go loud if you want.Overall,very nice,and no wires!. Are they as good as the 598?. Better in some respects,not so in others. Compared to my Hd800, HEK?. No, of course not.Compared to my Sony 700 surround sound phones?. For music, the 185, for Cinema etc., Sony. I certainly won't be sending them back.

 

[Oldfella]

Purchased seen?. Should be Senn!.

 

[AtrafCreez]

Great review.  I have the Rs 180 for 2 years now and the RS 195 for 1 year. You explained well, for music and also videos they are wonderful.  And so very light weight and comfy.

 

[Dexterr]

So I am quite interested in buying the RS 185's I will mostly be using them for gaming (FPS, CS:GO Cod etc), Do you think they will be any good for it? I have heard that open ear have larger sound stage's which I am sure have been told before are good for that sort of thing. I have been looking for months for Wireless headphones but none have come up except for these.
Do you think they will be any good for what I need them for?
 
I also don't have an Optical input on my PC would you recommend getting an Optical to USB adapter or will RCA be good enough?

 

[Oldfella]

Try as i might, i could not get rid of a low hum, with Analog, but completely eliminated with Optical. You could try a cheap converter off EBay,and see if that works,cheap enough, if it doesn't. For gaming etc., the Sony 700 surround headphones might be a better bet.

 

[Dexterr]

  Try as i might, i could not get rid of a low hum, with Analog, but completely eliminated with Optical. You could try a cheap converter off EBay,and see if that works,cheap enough, if it doesn't. For gaming etc., the Sony 700 surround headphones might be a better bet.

The Sony 700 are £400 tho, Where the 185's are £220. I have also been told that surround in headsets is total BS and is just an easy selling point. Unless the Sony's are gonna be an extremely massive improvement I would rather give them a miss.

 

[Oldfella]

For me, the 185, are far better sound wise.

 

[Dexterr]

  For me, the 185, are far better sound wise.

I have heard multiple good things about the 185's, I am sure they will be fine for FPS games due to the large sound stage I just wanted to see if anyone could clarify it.

 

[Oldfella]

Being open, they do have a good soundstage. I am quite happy to wear these over several hours,AND, i do find a bit of EQ helps to get the sound i am looking for.

 

[Hammy]

  I have heard multiple good things about the 185's, I am sure they will be fine for FPS games due to the large sound stage I just wanted to see if anyone could clarify it.

 
I have a backlog of games to get through and, as it stands, I have only played Witcher 3 to completion using these.  I had no problems locating a NPC/enemy etc in 3-dimensional space.
 
I think you'll be happy with your choice, provided you use the optical out from your system.  I concur that the analogue option can be very noisy.

 

[Dexterr]

Being open, they do have a good soundstage. I am quite happy to wear these over several hours,AND, i do find a bit of EQ helps to get the sound i am looking for.

It's great to hear that they are comfy to wear for long time periods.

I have a backlog of games to get through and, as it stands, I have only played Witcher 3 to completion using these.  I had no problems locating a NPC/enemy etc in 3-dimensional space.

I think you'll be happy with your choice, provided you use the optical out from your system.  I concur that the analogue option can be very noisy.

Thank you for the information, I think I will have to purchase a USB to Optical adapter if anyone recommends one it would be appreciated.

 

[AtrafCreez]

About an optical adapter I have too much experience. My PC also has no optical input or output possibility. I wanted to understand if an analoge to optical adapter would be worth it.  I wrote to people on the forum and also wrote a number of times to the Technical Support Advisor of Sennheiser.  Each time he told me in various ways that not only will using  an adapter will not help much, he said it will make the audio sound worse.  (Depending on what level of adapter AND optical cables you use.)  I ordered and paid for one from China which must be on a "slow boat", since it's been 4 months.....so i bought one here in Israel and after import and V.A.T. taxes it upped the price  X5 the price in the USA. Nada.(see the photos on an earlier page). I wanted it for my RS 195 and truthfully I heard absolutely no difference.  In Analog I  hear no minute hiss or sound both in the RS 180 and the RS 195.

 

 

[Dexterr]

- snip -

Ok well I ordered my Rs 185's today, so look forward to getting them.
I was only interested in buying an adapter as people have said that using anologue they experience hissing/buzzing but was gonna wait till I got mine to test. Worse case scenario I will have to buy a sound card but I will see what happens thanks for letting me know i will try and avoid some adapter.

I also have speakers so am worried that I might have to switch the speakers and headphones around when ever i want to use them I do own a splitter but not sure about quality.

 

[AtrafCreez]

Dexterr here is my correspondence with the Tech Support at Sennheiser:
 
Me: Message:
RS 195 I have both RS 180 and RS 195. I hook them up analog to my pc since I have no reciever or any audio set ups. Recently I heard that the Optical connection would give me a better listening experience but my PC desktop has no optical connection. I ordered an analog to optical conversion and found it has NO optical OUT. What would you suggest I buy to in order to make my wireless connected to optical out? External sound card? A simple connection converter? Which kind, I need something cheap since RS 195 needs no amp or DAC
Thanks
 
Sennheiser :  Thank you for contacting the Sennheiser Technical Support Team. Technically speaking when using the best possible components a direct optical connection is slightly better than a direct analog connection however in practical everyday use there is no audio quality difference.
If you try and take an analog signal (like the headphone jack of a PC) and make it optical you will actually have lower audio quality than if you used a direct analog connection.
 
Lachlan (Sennheiser Support rep) :
What they say on the forum  (Head-Fi)  is to use the optical connection only. I only have on my pc a outlet for microphone and green for audio which is what  I use.
They said  to buy a cheap inner sound card that has an optical conection.
I have from long ago an ASUS Xonar U7 external sound card which was of no use after i  re-installed long ago Windows 7.  BUT it seems like i can use it for an optical out connection, no?
 
Sennheiser Rep Lachlan Brennen : The reason that the audio would be lower quality is that you are making multiple conversions to the audio format ... analog to optical back to analog (there is a digital to analog converter inside the RS 195) ... and the more conversions you do the more information that can potentially get lost and affect the audio quality.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any follow up questions.
Have a great day.

Sennheiser Rep Lachlan Brennan: Thank you for contacting the Sennheiser Technical Support Team. My original communication stated that if you were using the best possible components then technically a direct optical connection is slightly better than a direct analog connection. 
If you are using components that are less than the best quality then the audio quality will be affected and that would negate any benefit of using an optical hence in practical everyday use there is no audio quality difference. 
Hence if you use a cheap sound card simply to create an optical connection then the audio quality will be affected and likely lower quality than if you made a direct analog connection.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any follow up questions.
Have a great day.

Sennheiser Rep Lachlan Brennan :
Theoretically you could use the item in the first link to turn a USB signal into an optical signal however to know how well it would function you would need to test it. If using this device you likely will hear no difference in the audio quality over what you would get if you connected via the analog connection. More likely the audio would actually be degraded because you are changing the signal type multiple times. Please keep in mind that quality of the components and having a minimal amount of changes in signal type is what is important.
There are too many variables involved with receivers so we cannot recommend any specific ones however the same principles (eg: quality of the components) apply to a receiver as apply to creating an optical connection and likely you are not going to see any major change in audio quality.
 

 To sum up ... in virtually any practical everyday scenario where a set of wireless headphones like the RS 180 or RS 195 will be used there is no discernible difference in audio regardless of whether you make the analog or optical connection.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any follow up questions.
Have a great day.
Sennheiser (last mail) 
 

 To sum up ... in virtually any practical everyday scenario where a set of wireless headphones like the RS 180 or RS 195 will be used there is no discernible difference in audio regardless of whether you make the analog or optical connection."