Since kids came into my life more than a decade ago, my home theatre speakers have sat idle most of the time. Thoughts of a soundbar remained just thoughts. This was why I was keen to try out a pair of TV headphones in the shape of the Sennheiser RS 275 recently.
Not only do they promise excellent sound effects for movies and TV shows, but they also manage to keep the noise out when the kids go to sleep, especially on weekday nights before school the next morning.
The first thing that struck me about the Sennheiser RS 275, when putting them on, was their light weight. Watching your movies with these TV headphones, you don’t feel fatigue in your ears even after several hours.
Tipping the scales at 195g, the new headphones weigh a lot less than the 293g Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless headphones I’ve been using every day for more than three years now.
To be fair, the RS 275 headphones promise up to 50 hours of listening time with Bluetooth, which is lower than the 60 hours advertised on the heavier Momentum 4 Wireless aimed more at music lovers.
That’s not an issue, since the RS 275 is likely used near your TV and not carried around that much outside your home. The way these headphones are tuned, at least out of the box, is geared towards movies and special effects as well.
Put them on and fire up an action movie and you’re know this is made for your TV. For starters, the bass extends well to match visuals, such as the water dunking scene in Inception or the low rumble of jet engines in Top Gun: Maverick.
Most impressive for bass performance is the one scene I often use to test out movie audio – the memorable seaside scene in Roma on Netflix.
Here, you hear the loud clash of waves all around as the camera moves from shore to sea, then back. The Sennheiser RS 275 does this scene so well, by scaling up to match the weight of the visuals.
In most challenging scenes, there isn’t any perceptible distortion or loss or control. Typical of Sennheiser, the low notes are tight and never bloated or loose on the RS 275.
The precision is clear in scenes where there are several things going on. In a chaotic battle scene in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, you hear the zip of bullets through the air and the deadening thud of each devastating impact.
Large explosions are happening, meanwhile, but they do not drown out the less-loud special effects, like people yelling at each other or lights being shot out, for example. In other words, there is good separation and a good amount of detail for each sound effect.
What I am not as sure about is the surround sound effects, which you get more clearly on Dolby Atmos soundbars. On headphones, the effect is less convincing, say, when a plane flies overhead and past you in a movie.
On the flip side, dialogue isn’t lost in all the special effects. Even with music in the background or loud sound effects in action movies, often the most important part of a movie – the conversation between people – is clearly presented.
I used Bluetooth to connect directly to my Google Chromecast (on to my Samsung TV) during my initial tests and there wasn’t any issue syncing what I see on screen.
That said, another big thing – besides the sound – for the Sennheiser RS 275 is the Auracast transmitter unit that’s part of the bundle. This allows you to “share” a Bluetooth audio stream across multiple speakers or headphones.
Your RS 275 is paired out of the box so it’s just a matter of connecting the separate transmitter to your TV’s HDMI, optical or analogue audio port to get ready for movie night.
The magic, however, is hooking up other devices, say, a second pair of headphones. With Auracast, two persons can share a couch, watch a movie together and adjust their own volume and audio preferences for their own headphones.
You could argue that this takes away the idea of watching a movie together but then again, two parents could be enjoying their movie with their own headphones while their kids slept in the bedroom.
What’s great about Auracast is that it works with non-Sennheiser headphones and speakers as well, so having the transmitter included with the RS 275 is a big plus if you are thinking of expanding your audio setup.
That brings me to the price as well. For the headphones alone, S$429 might be a little costly for TV audio. If you plan to jump into Auracast, then the transmitter, which is also sold on its own for S$199, could make the deal sweeter.
That said, since the Sennheiser RS 275 headphones are only sold in a bundle, you have to make good use of the Auracast transmitter to find value in the otherwise hefty price tag.
