By Abigail James


The headphones presented a very wide soundstage with ample presence but not too much "air". As I stated above these are very warm sounding headphones.

I should note that while I was listening to this selection I was moving around my approx. 1100 hem in an 1100 square foot apartment with no loss of fidelity at all. If the light is only flashing once, press and then quickly release the on/off button and the bottom light will begin to blink multiple times indicating it is broadcasting to more than one headset. Hope this helps.

This was, no doubt, influenced by the headphone amp of my 5200ES. You would think a $1500.00 dollar receiver could do better, but alas that is a nit that I shall pick another day. The volume and balance are controlled by small, low-profile buttons on the outside of the right ear cup. For me, it's been tough to find and operate those buttons by feel. The high end could be just a tad broader, the soundstage is (IMHO) too wide, but for less than 300 bucks, you could not do better. I have five other pairs of high quality phones by Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic, but had given up on finding a decent pair of wireless phones until discovering these. They all have good sound; as good as you will get for wireless. I don't notice much difference between them in terms of sound quality.

They are just Ni-Cad AAA batteries so you should just be able to replace them with standard, inexpensive rechargeable AAAs when they eventually die. Build quality is excellent.

Whether it is much better than the 130's is a perception thing since I can't at the same time be hearing both. If I had found an issue with the sound quality of the 130's, then the 180's would have solved it. Once opened, it's clear that the makers thought of everything; from the various country-specific power adapters, to the cord organizer. You will not be left wanting with these headphones.

I ventured about my backyard with them on and at 60-75 feet from the base they tended to cut in and out. I have the base unit behind my flat screen to keep it away from the grandkids, and I'm sure if I had it higher the range would be sufficient enough to go 75 plus feet.

You can listen to quieter things like dialogue without that annoying ever-present hissing though, thank goodness. I guess it all comes down to your source, but plugged into a good receiver they can work very well, especially if you turn them up a step. The controllers are laid out to make it easy to find the correct knob without having to take the headphones off. There is also an ALC button on the base that amplifies voices -- useful when you have the volume turned down low. The open ear design is great for enjoying great audio in the house without getting closed off from the world. Not easy to set it up with 1 transmitter to multiple headphones, had to just daisy chain the audio cable to a second transmitter.




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