Wireless headphones have the advantage that you are no longer tethered to your sound system by cables. You have the freedom to walk around listening to your music or TV with no restrictions on your movement.

The trade-off for all this freedom of movement however is that wireless headphones generally do not sound as good as equivalently priced cabled headphones.  The audio gets transmitted via radio signals (or in some cases infra-red) and is then converted back to an audio signal by the headset. This processing adds extra noise to the audio signal. 

For example if you compare a pair of Sennheiser RS 140 wireless headphones against a pair of similarly priced Sennheiser HD 595 wired headphone there is a noticeable difference in audio quality. So it is a trade off, but one which is well worth it if the freedom they offer is something you seek.

Which model to choose?
We sell a lot of the RS series of wireless headphones from Sennheiser, but many people are confused about which model to choose. So we are going to try and address this problem now!

There are four models in the range, the RS 110, RS 120, RS 130 and the RS 140. The RS 110 and RS 120 are essentially the same product with one exception, the RS 120 is rechargeable, the RS 110 is not. So what this means is that after every 20 hours of use, the batteries in the RS 110 will need to be replaced, and over a period of a year that adds up to a lot of dollars for those who intent to use them on a regular basis.

For that reason, we do not recommend the RS 110 at all, as it will end up costing you more than the RS 120 in a short period of time. But, why would you choose the RS 120 over the RS 130 and RS 140? Well, personally I wouldn’t, however if your budget is limited, the RS 120 will do a good job for listening to the TV, but I do not recommend it for music at all and it is primarily for that reason that you would look at the two upper models.

Also, as it has flat earpads and NOT the ear cups of the two higher end models, it is less comfortable during long listening sessions. So really, this is a budget decision to get the RS 120, just remember you are sacrificing sound quality and comfort.

So, the RS 130 and RS 140, which is the best sounding? Surprisingly the RS 130 is the best sounding model and it sounds very good indeed. But why does it sound better than the RS 140? Simple, the RS 130 is an open back headphone and the RS 140 is a closed back headphone. What this means is that the RS 130 has a grille on each ear piece allowing the driver to move freely in open air.

The RS 140 with it’s closed back does not allow the driver to move freely, and in fact forces it to work against a cussion of air in the ear piece as it has no grille for the air to escape. It is inherently more difficult to make a closed back headphone sound good, and as such it sounds almost as good as the RS 130, very close in fact, but not quite.

So why then would you ever consider the RS 140 with it’s higher price? Two reasons really, the first one is a comfort thing, as it has soft leatherette ear cushions which feel a little more luxurious than the RS 130’s velour cushions.

Secondly, it has a compression circuit built in to the transmitter. What this does is keep the sound at a constant level, so when you watch a TV show or DVD for example and you turn it up to hear the dialogue, you do not get you ears blown off when a loud explosion occurs in the movie, or when the dreaded ads come on. Nice!

Thirdly, being a closed back headphone, the sound does not ‘leak’ out and disturb those around you. So if you intend to wear them in bed next to your partner who is trying to sleep, then get the RS 140.

So, the bottom line is if you want the best sound quality for music listening, buy the Sennheiser RS 130. But if you want to listen to Music and DVD’s/ TV shows or use them in bed next to your sleeping partner, go the Sennheiser RS 140 to take advantage of it’s compression circuit and closed back design.