Because I Can
Written: Jan 08 '03 (Updated Jan 09 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: No wires (duh): Listen just about anywhere in your house without getting tangled.
Cons: Bulky and subject to interference.
The Bottom Line: Wireless headphones that work, within reason. If you need them, go nuts. If you don't, a regular pair of headphones will be cheaper and work better.
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| zero_'s Full Review: Advent AW-770 Consumer Wireless Headphones |
Wireless headphones are nifty. They aren't especially useful, mind you, but the principle is an appealing one. The trouble with all of the wireless headphones I've ever tried, though, is that they're expensive, bulky, and finicky. IR headphones have been on the market for an age or two now. They offer relatively high quality digital transmission that can't really be mangled by interference but that is easily blocked entirely. RF (radio frequency) 'phones don't require line of site and can, within limits, transmit through walls and such. They're subject to RF interference, however, and their transmission this far is purely analog.
The AW770's fit into the latter category. Classically, RF wireless headphones suck. The AW770's are a step ahead - They don't suck that bad.
The trouble with any RF device is, as noted, their affinity to interference. Lots of things in your house make RF noise: Anything that operates on AC power, really, including telephones, computers, TV's, microwaves, and so on. The AW770's, to their credit, operate in the 900 mhz range. The only things that should be spitting out interference in that slice of the spectrum are computers and some cordless telephones. Cordless telephones like mine, I might add.
All of that aside, though, the AW770's manage to send a decent representation of an audio signal. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I tested them, being so used to older and shoddier models than these.
Down to the nitty-gritty. The AW770's come packed with the headphones themselves, a small disk shaped transmitting unit, an AC adapter, and a host of cables. They are also supposed to come with, insofar as I know, a set of three NiCd AAA batteries (and more on those later). My set did not. The set also comes with a laughably skimpy owner's manual, totaling all of three pages.
Right, then.
Setting up the set is simple enough. There are dual RCA jacks on the back of the transmitter and the set comes with a short RCA lead to attach the thing to your stereo. If your stereo is not equipped with RCA jacks (and it well should be, if it's less than three decades old...) you can hook the transmitter up through an unamplified headphone jack. The manual includes a few basic setup schematics and a dire warning about plugging the transmitter into an amplified source - speaker outputs, in other words. This will fry the hardware inside the transmitter that's expecting a line level signal right quick. So don't do that.
What the set also does not come with, ironically, is an 1/8" headphone to dual RCA adapter, needed to attach the transmitter up to a non RCA-equipped stereo. Not only that, but the parts list in the manual lists the set as having one. You do get a 1/4" to 1/8" headphone jack adapter, useless to this kit as it may be. Odd, that.
Also supplied, if you're wondering, is what is apparently a very short mono headphone cable. It's not, actually. Well, it is, but that's not what you use it for. There's a little jack on the transmitter labeled "charge". You can use the supplied tiny cable to plug a matching socket on the headphones into it and automatically charge a set of NiCd batteries inside the headphones. Slick, yes? The charger is a pretty dumb one, though, and doesn't know what to do with NiMh cells and certainly doesn't know what to do with alkaline cells. Plugging an alkaline loaded headphone set into the charger will probably blow your batteries. So don't do that, either.
So setting the transmitter up is easy as pie. Plug it into the right spot on your stereo, plug it into the wall, and go nuts. The transmitter itself has no power switch. It's on as long as it's getting a signal, and probably still on even if it isn't. It won't do a whole lot in that case, though, so I wouldn't worry about it.
In addition to the small host of sockets on the transmitter are two knobs: One labeled "freq. adjust" and one labeled "output level". The former adjusts the transmitting power of the unit and I see no reason whatsoever for it to be set to anything less than the maximum. The latter controls the tuning of the transmitter/headphone set. That's the tricky bit, there.
First, though, the headphones. These are large reference style 'phones with a vaguely metallic beige finish and a big ugly non-adjustable head band. The antenna is inside the big black band, which explains why it doesn't move. There is a smaller padded strap beneath this that is spring loaded to form fit itself to your head. The immobile "strap" part of the headphones is quite large. This makes them bulky. Also, unless you have a real watermelon head this means the antenna portion of the strap will stick up a good inch or two above the top of your head, which looks silly. But I digress. The cups on these 'phones are rather flat but very well padded. They block out sound like nobody's business, too, even if the headphones are turned off. Were it not for the 90 dollar price tag you could use these things for hearing protection in the shop.
The headphones take 3 AAA cells, as noted. There are two little dials on the 'phones, as well as the requisite power switch. The first, and (ironically) most accessible dial is the tuning for the 'phones. The second is the volume control.
I mentioned that tuning the headphones was the hard part. Indeed it is, and it took me a few tries to get it right. The manual leaves a very skimpy description of the process, but it goes a little like this: Turn on headphones, turn on stereo, start music. Set output of transmitter to maximum, set stereo to moderate volume, turn on headphones. Get nothing. Slowly dial your way through the entire band on the transmitter and get nothing. Slowly dial your way though the entire band with the dial on the headphones and still get nothing. Slowly and randomly fiddle with both knobs at once until you get a deafening burst of static in your ears. Stop with the transmitter dial and slowly move the headphones' dial around until...
Presto. Music.
And I'll be darned if the things don't sound too shabby. There isn't a whole lot of tonal distortion to speak of. Not induced by the signal, anyway. The headphones themselves cut off a very small slice of your top end treble. Nothing major. I’ve seen much, much worse. The trouble is interference and tuning.
Moving around the house and turning your head will, eventually, make your music go all fuzzy. Sometimes holding still will make the problem go away. At other times you have to finagle with the tuning dial on the headphones. Sometimes the problem seems irreconcilable, even if you go stand right in front of the transmitter - but then cures itself if you turn the 'phones off and then turn them back on. I couldn't find a method to its madness.
As such, the 'phones sound great as long as they're receiving properly. This means they sound great as long as you don't move around too much. This sort of defeats the purpose of wireless headphones, though.
If you can deal with the occasional AM radio style whistle or buzz then these phones will be just peachy for you. If you're a perfectionist audiophile lunatic like me they'll drive you up the wall. I rate them quite suitable for casual use - Listening to the game as you wash the dishes, blasting tunes while you're out mowing the lawn, that sort of thing. If you want them to replace your regular headphones, though, keep on a walkin'. Real reference headphones have wires on them for a reason.
Overall, not a shabby offering by Advent, but nothing to write home about. They're expensive and finicky sometimes, but at least they work and when they work they do well.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
zero_
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Member: Robert "Zero" Drendall
Location: Claymont, DE, United States
Reviews written: 102
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
Providing your semi-regular dose of extreme verbosity since somewhere around the turn of the century.
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