Notes
The Good
- CD quality wireless audio
- Affordable
- Compact - they fold up for travel
The Bad
- Non-rechargeable
- Wireless dongle is one more thing to carry
X-Factor
- Work with everything, not just your bluetooth phone
- Much better sound quality than Bluetooth
Introduction
Wireless headphones that are both affordable and really good? Unheard of!
Content
TDK WR-700 wireless headphones -- they take a AA battery and have volume controls on the headphones.
The small wireless transmitter for the WR-700s can plug into any audio device.
If you've used wireless headphones before and found them to be a pretty unsatisfactory experience, chances are you were either using analogue wireless (which use a similar technology to an radio station and therefore have a constant hiss) or Bluetooth (which was originally conceived for mobile handsfree earpieces, and despite many upgrades over time, has never provided sound quality comparable to wired headphones.)
These new headphones from TDK, on the other hand, sound fantastic, becuase they don't use either of those technologies. They use a proprietary wireless sound standard called Kleer Digital Wireless, which claims to provide uncompressed CD quality sound, and indeed, we didn't notice any loss of quality in the sound.
The small transmitter plugs in to a standard headphone jack and runs off a AA battery. The upside of this design is that the headphones can be used with any audio player -- not just ones that support Bluetooth, and that makes them perfect for watching TV with, for example, since they're so easy to connect to any TV.
The downside, of course, is that they're not legal to use in planes inflight, where all forms of wireless have to be turned off -- but travel isn't all about flying. These are great daily commuter headphones as well and perfect in airport lounges where you don't want to be fussing around with cords. (As an aside, they use the same 2.4GHz radio frequency as Bluetooth and Wifi, and given how many people leave their Bluetooth and wireless enabled on their laptops when flying, it seems very unlikely these wireless headphones will affect the plane but naturally, we wouldn't suggest you try.)
Sound quality is crisp and well balanced, with surprisingly punchy bass considering they're not large circumaural (around the ear) headphones.
$199 [TDK]
27 Jan 2012
Total posts 117
i think they should make wireless earphones, that look exactly like any earphone, minus the cord, with a little recieve that inserts intot he jack input.
They can do it with mouse, so why not earphones? I think they sell absolutly well!
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on TDK WR700 wireless headphones