Looking for a solution to watch your movies or listen to your home stereo system without disturbing others? You’ll probably want the Sennheiser RS 130 Wireless Surround Sound Headphones. The RS 130 headphones are lightweight, weighing in at around ten ounces with the two AAA batteries inside. They have soft ear cushions that fit all the way over your ear that are comfortable enough to wear throughout the movie you are watching or an extended gaming session. The volume and tuning controls are located on the back of one earphone and the on/off switch for the headphones is on the opposite ear. The close proximity of the volume/tune controls means occasionally you’ll be adjusting the wrong one by accident. Sennheiser has attempted to help you deal with volume adjustments anyway by including automatic level control technology which attempts to keep a steady volume even when those loud commercials play during the middle of a TV show.
The base package for the Sennheiser RS-130 headphones includes the transmitter, audio cable, power cable, and of course the headphones themselves. The sound quality is solid and generally performs better than most wireless headphones. You can also make manual channel adjustments on the transmitter to deal with any interference you might have. The SRS surround sound technology built into the headphones is one of those things that depend on an individual’s taste. Depending on what you are listening to and your own personal preferences you may or may not enjoy it. Fortunately if you do not, you can simply switch off the option using the slider switch on the transmitter. Since the SRS technology is attempting to digitally reproduce a surround sound setup obviously it won’t be the same as having a true 5.1 surround sound system.
One of the nicer features of the RS 130 headphones is when you hang them on the transmitter stand the two AAA rechargeable batteries inside are automatically recharged. The first time you set up the headphones you’ll need to charge the batteries for about sixteen hours and then each time you recharge it takes about as long to recharge as the amount of time you have been using them. For example, if you watched a two hour movie it will probably take about two hours to recharge. You can expect about 22 hours of usage on a full charge. There is a red LED light that illuminates solid while charging and blinks slowly once the batteries are fully charged. If for some reason you run the batteries down you will hear two long beeps through the headphones and as the batteries lose power you’ll notice an impact to sound quality.
Setting up the headphones is not complicated, simply connect the transmitter (maximum range is 328 feet, but your mileage may vary) to your sound system using RCA cables or a headphone input. Plug the transmitter up and power on the headphones. If you don’t have the sound on your system at an appropriate volume the yellow “input level” light on the transmitter will blink slowly letting you know to raise the volume or quickly if you need to lower it. The headphones will auto-tune to the transmitter the first time you turn them on and you’ll hear either one, two, or three beeps indicated which channel was selected. You can also connect a second set of headphones to the same transmitter so that two of you can enjoy the movie/music at the volume you personally want. This works well in a situation where someone is hard of hearing and needs the volume louder. The MSRP for these headphones is $199.95.