[Hammy]

Looks like I'm the only one left on this forum; everyone else seems to have left; that's what I get for buying my first wireless headphones, the RS-185 used on Ebay for $140 in 2108. But at least I did find this forum to be a wonderful source of information and I wanted to thank all of those that had posted here which helped me to make my decision to buy the RS-185. I also ended up buying a second RS-175 system on Ebay for $100. I've been using the HDR-185 with the TR-175 with my main TV as I like being able to use the bass boost when needed. I have to admit I hardly ever use the surround sound very much as I prefer the sound with it turned off.

I try not to post unless I feel I can help someone, but I'm still here. Using my pad-modded RS185s for many hours each and every day.

 

[snowyweston]

After my third attempt at getting through the 28pages...Not a single mention (that I noted) about the right-side brightness-bias...?

I am on my second set of RS175 now and after extensive-listening feel it's full-refund request time as I really won't be able to live with the sound pulled off-centre like this.

To clarify; connected via optical PCM, via PC>AV, PC>TV & PC-direct (+3.5mm not that I ever planned to use it, but just as a test, on my main PC, a second laptop, phone and Clip+) with and without bass adjustment, on a wide range of listening materials and synthetic (tone & sweep) tests, I can only conclude that, since the second set suffers from the exact same "cupped" sound (in the left-ear) and "bright" sound (in the right-ear) that the on-right-ear controls-panel plays some part in the sound signature.

And to pre-empt the obvious - yes, I know, my hearing could be duller in my left, but with the headphones turned around (right earpiece on left, and vice versa) the same remains true - in that the soundstage then shifts across to the other-side of my nose. I've even switched-round the batteries, and (obviously) ensured my source balances are 50/50... essentially exhausting all my means to prove something I shouldn't have had to with a £175 pair of headphones.

Otherwise happy, which is a shame. I plumped for the closed back 175 as I've never liked the ambient intrusion of open-backs, and have a music taste that demands SPL - though I was surprised how non-isolating they still are (to be fair I've been using IEMs for some years now.

Might have to give those Momentums another try and/or bite the Bluetooth bullet as my new flat (and music preference) means my Hi-Fi and PA rig are presently off-limits.

 

[snowyweston]

RS-175

**Sound**

<SNIP>

If you decide to do any music listening turning the bass button off is the only way to listen to music as even with the bass button off the headphone is on the verge of TOO MUCH even for a guy that likes bass! I am listening to this on youtube as I type this

The fingers snapping sound exaggerated and the bass is boomy and if I had to listen to this song over and over I would totally want a milder phone. I think this phone has a place and that's for guys who will use these for 80% Movies/TV and 20% music. I find them nice when I want to do some chores around the house but have decent isolated music so I do not bug the wife or kid.

I would not recommend these to anyone for music unless they just absolutely love bass and even then I still would hate to recommend them because they are REALLY bass heavy. I constantly keep looking at the receiver/transceiver to see if the bass button is on because it's that bad depending on the music genre your listening to. If you listen to classic, acoustic or jazz music these phones actually aren't that bad at all if you wanted an all around phone that was mostly dedicated to movie watching. However, if you are listening to techno, house, indie etc then these are on the verge of too much bass and any real critic would want to take them off.

For what's it worth (zero of nothing!) I think we must have different units labelled the exact same model (175) - that or listening for different things - or have different definitions for bass? It was your review that actually "helped" (?) me choose the RS175, since I've been massively unimpressed with audition-listens of the usual (high-street) contenders in the £150-300 (headphone) market (low-end wise) - and took a punt on (your) "TOO MUCH" being better than not-enough...

To me, the sound is very lean - not "tight" lean and certainly not flat by any stretch of the imagination, nor particularly clinical (not that you'd call these cans warm) but the sound (for me) is nowhere close to bass-heavy, and aside from some very persuasive rumble whilst watching films like SW:TLJ and 2049, I'm occasionally seduced to use the bass boost to get the sound I want (from certain genres). For example at 10m57s, 24m27s & 43m43s of this mix* http://electronicexplorations.org/?show=sully I WANT the head-crushing, air-suck-vacuum throb-wob of these tracks to truly win over - acoustically - but these cans don't quite achieve that for me, at least not compared to either of my current IEMs anyway (my RE-400's going far-deeper but nowhere as powerful or as tolerable-for-any-duration, and my Sony MDR-EX650's delivering the power but not the finesse)

*to add, I can hear where your "TOO MUCH" might apply around the 35m34s mark, where the mid-bass does indeed drone - like a poorly tuned one-note ported PA cab.

Perhaps this just means after years of refusing in-ear, I've been converted? I know this'll see the purists burn me, but how I do miss my eggo's.

 

[PaulMW]

As someone who put in a (slightly off-topic ) post in this thread about the various ways of tuning the 12-tone scale a couple of years ago I feel that I can (and should) put in what would appear to me to be "the answer" to this question!!
And this "answer" is very simple: RS-220s!
After many years of playing around with 130s - 160s - 185s etc etc, a couple of years ago I splashed out on a pair of RS-220s that were being "remaindered off" at a halfway-bearable price by a dealer in the 4thReich. They were being sold at 3004thR$ which, by the time I got them here to Aotearoa/NZ, translated into about 700$NZ - the outer limit of what I could/would spend on a pair of wifi cans.
I'd coveted a pair of them (after reading their specs) when they first appeared a few years ago but, at that time, they were just a bit too expensive for me.

But: WOW!!! - what a sound!
Their THD figures (@ ≈.1%) are 5x better than any other wireless cans on the market - which are all ≈.5% - and one can surely hear the difference/cleanersoundquality.
I quickly sold my pair of 185s - which I'd bought almost new from someone who didn't want them because they wouldn't do bluetooth or some other low-bitrate "drivel". Those 185s were the best wifi cans I'd had up to then but when compared to the 220s, they simply didn't "cut the mustard" - they were just so very "fuzzy" and blurred in comparison.
I've got a pair of 650s (which IMO are the best wired cans at a sensible price) and when doing an A/B test between them (the wired 650s) and my RS-220s I could hear little, if any, difference while listening to some very accoustically-demanding (=harpsichord) music.

I quickly bought myself another pair of 220s secondhand via eBay which were in effectively new condition.

And the sad/inexplicable thing is that Sennheiser stopped making them !
They don't have a very long range - only ≈10-15m and not through too many walls - ie quite a bit shorter range than 185s etc.
And (at ≈6hours) they don't have as long a battery life as the 24-ish hours of the 160s-185s - but then I've not yet got anywhere near using the charge capacity of any pair of wifi cans.
And, with their very high static/charge voltage for their headset AAA rechargeables (1.5V+), they do seem to need a new pair of batteries occasionally.
But to me all these shortcomings are quite understandable and able to be tolerated in the light of their stunningly good soundquality - after all they must be transmitting/receiving a helluva lot more data than their markedly much inferior 165-195 siblings.

I've still got a couple of pairs of 160s for listening to TV and radio and other lowgrade material but for anything musically demanding IMO there is nothing I've found to compare with my 2 pairs of RS-220s when they are being fed coax SPDIF - optical SPDIF transmission is OK, but coax is that small but noticeable bit better.

 

[Nguyen87]

Hello everyone,
Sorry if I post wrong place. I have a problem with sennheiser RS 175 and I need your advices. I have the Sennheiser RS 175 connected through 3.5mm. Whenever the headphones are on I hear a constant beep in my right earcup then after a few minutes, it stop working. Initially, i think the problem is battery but it is fully charged and I put it on my old RS 180, it working perfectly. So I think problem come from the headphone. Anyone have same this problem, please give me some advices. Thanks!

 

[AtrafCreez]

Hello everyone,
Sorry if I post wrong place. I have a problem with sennheiser RS 175 and I need your advices. I have the Sennheiser RS 175 connected through 3.5mm. Whenever the headphones are on I hear a constant beep in my right earcup then after a few minutes, it stop working. Initially, i think the problem is battery but it is fully charged and I put it on my old RS 180, it working perfectly. So I think problem come from the headphone. Anyone have same this problem, please give me some advices. Thanks!

Nguyen, here is the contact center for Sennheiser. Fill out the form in the link I am sending you. In the past not only have I had such difficult questions answered by Sennheiser support, but they do it quickly and with very good results they help get things right. Here : https://en-us.sennheiser.com/contact-center If you need help please reply or contact me.

 

[CagedTiger]

Using my pad-modded RS185s for many hours each and every day.

The stock ear pads on my RS195s are giving up. I've read your posts about the HM5 mod and apparently you have them in velour and in pleather. Which one do you prefer in terms of comfort whilst keeping noise isolation and bass as close to the stock experience as possible. Looking at the reviews, the pleather version seems to be more popular and I guess it's a better material if you're a bit sweaty. Oh, and you can get cool colorways going with the pleather version. Any thoughts?

I should say I'm using these headphones solely for watching movies and TV.

 

[Hammy]

The stock ear pads on my RS195s are giving up. I've read your posts about the HM5 mod and apparently you have them in velour and in pleather. Which one do you prefer in terms of comfort whilst keeping noise isolation and bass as close to the stock experience as possible. Looking at the reviews, the pleather version seems to be more popular and I guess it's a better material if you're a bit sweaty. Oh, and you can get cool colorways going with the pleather version. Any thoughts?

I should say I'm using these headphones solely for watching movies and TV.

So I've had three different HM5 pads on my RS185. The velour black, the velour red, and the pleather red. That's also my order of preference sound-quality wise. They all sound different too (the red velour seem to be thicker/more sturdy than the black velour). It may be that's how all the velour are these days, as the blacks were purchased a year or so before the red. The red pleathers cracked over time (some months of light usage on our second headset) and aren't used anymore, while both velours are still going strong.

I'd rank them like this:

Comfort: black/red velour, pleather
Sound quality: black velour, red velour, pleather
Longevity: black/red velour, pleather
Isolation: pleather, red velour, black velour

Hope this helps.

 

[CagedTiger]

Comfort: black/red velour, pleather
Sound quality: black velour, red velour, pleather
Longevity: black/red velour, pleather
Isolation: pleather, red velour, black velour

Thank you so much for your answer. Was thinking about going for the pleather since noise isolation/bass might be better than with velour but you do offer valid points concerning the velour one. I was looking at reviews of HM5 pads on Amazon and it seems people with these RS headphones tend to go for the velour HM5s. Moreover, I kinda got the feeling that the velour HM5s might be easier to install.

I do plan on trying out the Sennheiser velour pads for RS185 I have before getting the HM5 velour pads.

 

[Hammy]

Thank you so much for your answer. Was thinking about going for the pleather since noise isolation/bass might be better than with velour but you do offer valid points concerning the velour one. I was looking at reviews of HM5 pads on Amazon and it seems people with these RS headphones tend to go for the velour HM5s. Moreover, I kinda got the feeling that the velour HM5s might be easier to install.

I do plan on trying out the Sennheiser velour pads for RS185 I have before getting the HM5 velour pads.

The 195s are closed, right? The pleather might therefore make more sense for you. To be honest, they sound pretty poor on the 185 but might work better in your circumstance. They definitely increased the isolation and quantity of bass for me, but didn't sound quite right on an open headphone. I know Brainwavz have other options in their range these days, including some sheepskin (ethical concerns aside..) ovals which I imagine would hold up much better over time than the pleathers.

Not exactly babied, but weren't exposed to anything sharp either. The general wear over time caused the peeling.

 

[AtrafCreez]

Have both RS185 for music and RS 195 for films, the RS195 is so way overpriced,l assumed wrongly that they would also be great for music at that price.
Worse the pseudo leather started to peel after 3 weeks ,usually i noticed black spots in my ear after being in public so i peeled the stuff off!

 

[CagedTiger]

The 195s are closed, right?

Yeah, they are. I did wonder why Sennheiser didn't go for velour pads with RS195 (being more expensive headphones than RS185) but, like you said, closed headphones might sound better leather/pleather pads. Thanks for telling me about the sheepskin version, was not aware of those. They seem a bit pricey but as I use these headphones daily (I do have an Orb Audio home theater speaker setup but prefer to use headphones when I'm watching movies and TV by myself), they will surely be worth it. I don't have a large apartment and often I watch at night when my spouse is sleeping close by in the next room. So I do prefer good isolation. The reviews on the sheepskins seem to be favorable although I did read one user comment on the sheepskin bleeding dye.

Have both RS185 for music and RS 195 for films, the RS195 is so way overpriced,l assumed wrongly that they would also be great for music at that price.
Worse the pseudo leather started to peel after 3 weeks ,usually i noticed black spots in my ear after being in public so i peeled the stuff off!

Would've otherwise gotten RS185 but for nighttime listening closed headphones are a must. I've owned the RS195s almost four years now and to my knowledge the pads started to peel off during this year. I've loved the RS195s and would buy them again (again, because they are closed). I got the RS175s (also closed) for my father but they definitely felt more clunkier on my head when I tested them. Put it this way, before the RS195s, I used Beyerdynamic DT990 2005 Ed. for movies and while they were super comfortable, I do prefer the overall sound of the RS195s (in movies&TV use).

 

[AtrafCreez]

Yeah, they are. I did wonder why Sennheiser didn't go for velour pads with RS195 (being more expensive headphones than RS185) but, like you said, closed headphones might sound better leather/pleather pads. Thanks for telling me about the sheepskin version, was not aware of those. They seem a bit pricey but as I use these headphones daily (I do have an Orb Audio home theater speaker setup but prefer to use headphones when I'm watching movies and TV by myself), they will surely be worth it. I don't have a large apartment and often I watch at night when my spouse is sleeping close by in the next room. So I do prefer good isolation. The reviews on the sheepskins seem to be favorable although I did read one user comment on the sheepskin bleeding dye.



Would've otherwise gotten RS185 but for nighttime listening closed headphones are a must. I've owned the RS195s almost four years now and to my knowledge the pads started to peel off during this year. I've loved the RS195s and would buy them again (again, because they are closed). I got the RS175s (also closed) for my father but they definitely felt more clunkier on my head when I tested them. Put it this way, before the RS195s, I used Beyerdynamic DT990 2005 Ed. for movies and while they were super comfortable, I do prefer the overall sound of the RS195s (in movies&TV use).

Yeah, they are. I did wonder why Sennheiser didn't go for velour pads with RS195 (being more expensive headphones than RS185) but, like you said, closed headphones might sound better leather/pleather pads. Thanks for telling me about the sheepskin version, was not aware of those. They seem a bit pricey but as I use these headphones daily (I do have an Orb Audio home theater speaker setup but prefer to use headphones when I'm watching movies and TV by myself), they will surely be worth it. I don't have a large apartment and often I watch at night when my spouse is sleeping close by in the next room. So I do prefer good isolation. The reviews on the sheepskins seem to be favorable although I did read one user comment on the sheepskin bleeding dye.



Would've otherwise gotten RS185 but for nighttime listening closed headphones are a must. I've owned the RS195s almost four years now and to my knowledge the pads started to peel off during this year. I've loved the RS195s and would buy them again (again, because they are closed). I got the RS175s (also closed) for my father but they definitely felt more clunkier on my head when I tested them. Put it this way, before the RS195s, I used Beyerdynamic DT990 2005 Ed. for movies and while they were super comfortable, I do prefer the overall sound of the RS195s (in movies&TV use).

 

[AtrafCreez]

Closed and quiet

 

[CagedTiger]

I know Brainwavz have other options in their range these days, including some sheepskin (ethical concerns aside.

So managed to get a pair of the Brainwavz HM5 Sheepskins (Oval, Standard) and installed to my RS195 headphones using the plates of the stock earpads (which were worn out). At first I wasn't sure I could fit the plate under the lip of the earpad but the material is surprsingly stretchable once you dare to use a bit of strenght. You don't have to trim the HM5 lip to expose the attachment hooks on the plates although I did have a slight issue with one of the plates (the bottom hook wasn't attaching to the headphones) but I solved it by stretching the part of the lip around the hook. I've heard the hooks can break from the pressure of a too tight ear pad but it didn't seem like the pressure was that high on the HM5s.

First impressons... The Sheepskin HM5s feel soft and lush around my ears. They obviously look great (although would've loved a red or a white pair). There is a slight clamping force but it's not bothering me (yet). The noise isolation has definitely improved from using the RS185 velour ear pads and is better than the RS195 stock (pleather) pads. Noise isolation is important for me or rather for my spouse who tries to sleep in the next room when I watch movies at night. As for the sound... I'm noticing a stronger, perhaps boomier bass that feels perfect for my use (movies&TV). So overall, I definitely recommend the update.

Thank you Hammy for guiding me in the right direction.