Hi, also my first post here. In fact I registered just to post about the Sennheiser RS 180.
Normally for portable audio I use Etymotic ER-4P in-ear-canal headphones, but needed something different just for TV use when my wife and daughter are asleep. Early last week I picked up the RS 116 II for cheap, and quite honestly I found them unusable. Movement caused hiss and sometimes even just sitting there the hiss would come back. Also, even when the signal was clean, the quality just didn't seem up to par. It really did sound like I was listening to FM radio at best, and sometimes it was a hissy mess at worst. This is something I can tolerate with wireless home telephones, but for headphones, not a chance.
So, I returned them. The store I bought them from usually doesn't take back headphones, but luckily this time they let it slide and took them back. In the meantime I just got a cheap extension cord and was using regular headphones with them.
Then I picked up the RS 180.
Some pros:
TOTALLY different experience. The signal is absolutely clear with no fade-in or fade-out, and no hiss to try to tune out, which isn't surprising given the superior technology. Range is also very good. I can go to the next room or up a floor and still get clear signal. Only when I go further does the sound cut out. Furthermore, the cans overall are decent quality. They are actually easily the best cans I currently have, since I have typically purchased headphones in the double-digit $ range for TV/laptop/tablet video watching and the like. I'm not sure what the frequency response curve is like with these, but they do sound a lot "flatter" than most of my other purchases (excluding the Etymotics). It seems a lot of lower end cans artificially augment the bass, which is annoying because the extra bass sounds unnatural, and most of the lower priced cans don't have good quality bass to begin with so augmenting it just makes them sound that much worse.
I also like the fact the batteries are user replaceable, and that they are eneloops. Eneloops are near ubiquitous these days, so easy to find, and convenient to recharge using external chargers if necessary.
I also appreciate the fact that the pads on the headphones are easily replaced, and that replacements are widely available. Not sure about the RS 180 / HDR 180, but in my experience the first thing to go on most lower end to perhaps mid-end headphones is the earpad fabric.
It was also very nice to see the 1/4" headphone jack adapter as well as the 3.5 mm to RCA stereo adapter and 3.5 mm cord included. These are things that you often have to buy yourself. They're usually inexpensive if you look hard enough, but it's a pain find for cheap sometimes when you need them quick.
Some cons:
1. I don't understand why the power button is placed between the volume buttons. Basically what that means is that every time you attempt to change the volume, you run the risk of shutting off the headphones. That design choice makes no sense to me.
2. There is actually a bit of audio delay. I don't actually usually notice it, but if I really look for it, I can sometimes notice it. Because of this, and because there is the small risk of audio dropouts, I wouldn't recommend this for mission critical stuff, but for most consumer usage, the audio delay present is basically irrelevant.
3. The paper instruction manual (quick guide) isn't very good IMHO. It would have been nicer to have some actual text explaining what those pictures actually mean.
4. The build quality of the headphones and the transmitter isn't as "beefy" as I was expecting, but then again, the headphones are quite light.
5. The are open design, which is fine by me, but some people may not like having the audio bleed into the surroundings. I said they're OK for me though because even with normal TV watching volume levels, the audio bleed is minimal enough that it doesn't wake my infant daughter even when she's lying on the couch next to me.
Overall:
I like these headphones very, very much. So much so that I want to get a supplementary set of the HDR 180 wireless headphones for this setup so that my wife can watch TV at the same time, when my daughter is asleep nearby. The main con there that I've read about is that audio volume control is global, across headsets. If I turn up the headphones, both sets of phones will go up in volume, and vice versa. This is annoying because our hearing isn't the same. But I'll eventually give it a shot anyway. Also, there is the issue of charging two sets, since there is only one charger, but I suppose I could alternate the charging, or just use an external charger. It would have been nice to have a cheap charging stand available though.
The main problem is that here in Canada the usual pricing of the headset is roughly twice that of the same headset in the US. No thanks. I can understand differing pricing, but when the delta is 100%, that's just too much, so for now I'll continue to wait for a sale up here in Canada.
