Digital wireless headphones make it possible to listen watch films or listen to music while moving around freely. Traditional phones must be plugged into whatever is producing the sound you are listening to. Signals sent from the wireless unit either in infrared or radio come from a central base station. You can listen to any type of audio while moving around as you please.
The base station is the device which will plug into the CD player or other audio inputs. This device also doubles as a charger. Where they work through infrared, they operate in a similar way to television remote controls. A limiting factor in infrared, however, is the limited range - usually about nine metres along the line of sight. Comparing this to cordless phones, which work using radio waves, the range here is more like 90 meters.
Very few kinds of earphones are really portable, though. Base stations require mains power, but TV is the most popular application, so portability is not crucial.
It is not necessary to match the brand of headphones to the brand of TV, despite this common myth. The headset does not communicate with the TV at all, only with the base station. If the TV has a headphone socket, any brand can be matched with any TV. If the TV does not have this socket, a stereo phono output can be used. It may be necessary, though, to use an adapter for TV headphones. Many wireless headphones do not include this adapter. The adapter would also be required if others in the vicinity wanted to hear the TV.
Another advantage of having radio wave type headphones, is being able to use more than one headset. When using identical units, transmissions occur on the same frequency. It is entirely feasible, therefore, to buy two headphone sets and plug only the base station into the device. The headsets can then be tuned to this one base station.
The sound quality depends on the earphone type and factors like power of speakers and bass and treble ranges. It is common to find differences between the strength of the signal between different brands. Wall penetration is more likely with a stronger signal. Some types can be used with your car stereo although battery life can range from one to six hours.
What you really need is vital when establishing which digital wireless headphones to purchase. They can be bought in sealed or open versions which give different levels of comfort. If they are to be used in a noisy environment, sealed phones will work best. Where this is not an issue, higher sound quality will be found with open phones.
The base station is the device which will plug into the CD player or other audio inputs. This device also doubles as a charger. Where they work through infrared, they operate in a similar way to television remote controls. A limiting factor in infrared, however, is the limited range - usually about nine metres along the line of sight. Comparing this to cordless phones, which work using radio waves, the range here is more like 90 meters.
Very few kinds of earphones are really portable, though. Base stations require mains power, but TV is the most popular application, so portability is not crucial.
It is not necessary to match the brand of headphones to the brand of TV, despite this common myth. The headset does not communicate with the TV at all, only with the base station. If the TV has a headphone socket, any brand can be matched with any TV. If the TV does not have this socket, a stereo phono output can be used. It may be necessary, though, to use an adapter for TV headphones. Many wireless headphones do not include this adapter. The adapter would also be required if others in the vicinity wanted to hear the TV.
Another advantage of having radio wave type headphones, is being able to use more than one headset. When using identical units, transmissions occur on the same frequency. It is entirely feasible, therefore, to buy two headphone sets and plug only the base station into the device. The headsets can then be tuned to this one base station.
The sound quality depends on the earphone type and factors like power of speakers and bass and treble ranges. It is common to find differences between the strength of the signal between different brands. Wall penetration is more likely with a stronger signal. Some types can be used with your car stereo although battery life can range from one to six hours.
What you really need is vital when establishing which digital wireless headphones to purchase. They can be bought in sealed or open versions which give different levels of comfort. If they are to be used in a noisy environment, sealed phones will work best. Where this is not an issue, higher sound quality will be found with open phones.
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