Verizon Wireless
CNET editors' review
- CNET editors' rating: stars Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 05/12/2004
The Set 810's large, easy-to-use volume control hangs from the earpieces, and your ears, like a doctor's stethoscope. The design felt a little weird at first but turned out to be quite comfortable for long listening sessions. In a clever move to conserve battery power, the headset automatically turns itself on when you wear it and off when you remove it from your ears.
This wireless design uses the transmitter base to send pulses of infrared light to the headphones, so you'll need a clear line of sight from the IR emitter, or the sound will cut out. The base also acts as a charger for the nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable battery. Connection options are limited to a 1/8-inch analog stereo minijack, although Sennheiser does include a cable terminated with red and white RCA jacks for normal audio connections.
We noticed that we moved more than 15 feet away from the transmitter, the headphones' sound would get noisy or distorted. The Set 810 is more prone to this sort of interference than Sony's MDR-DS3000.
During our listening tests, solo piano and classical music sounded OK, but rock and pop music left us cold. The Set 810's bass was far too lightweight and bland. Gunfire- and explosion-packed movies lacked crackle and boom, but quieter dramas sounded passable. As a result, these headphones might make a good gift for the over-70 set, but will probably disappoint more eclectic listeners.
