Since kids came into my life over a decade ago, the speakers in my home theater have been idle most of the time. Thoughts about a sound bar remained just thoughts. That’s why I was keen to recently try out a pair of TV headphones in the shape of the Sennheiser RS 275.
Not only do they promise great sound effects for movies and TV shows, but they also manage to keep noise out when kids go to sleep, especially on weekday nights before school the next morning.
The first thing that caught my attention about the Sennheiser RS 275 when putting it on was its light weight. When watching movies with these TV headphones, you will not feel fatigue in your ears even after several hours.
Weighing 195g, the new headphones weigh much less than the 293g Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Headphones that I have used every day for more than three years.
To be fair, the RS 275 headphones promise up to 50 hours of Bluetooth listening time, which is less than the 60 hours advertised on the heavier Momentum 4 Wireless, aimed more at music lovers.
That’s not a problem, as the RS 275 will likely be used near your TV and not carried much outside your home. The way these headphones are tuned, at least out of the box, is also geared toward movies and special effects.
Put them on and turn on an action movie and you’ll know this was made for your TV. For starters, the bass extends well to match visuals, like the diving scene in Inception or the thud of jet engines in Top Gun: Maverick.
Most impressive in terms of bass performance is the scene I often use to test movie audio: the memorable Rome coastal scene on Netflix.
Here you hear the loud crash of waves as the camera moves from the coast to the sea and then back again. The Sennheiser RS 275 does this scene very well, zooming in to match the weight of the images.
In most challenging scenes, there is no perceptible distortion or loss of control. Typical of Sennheiser, bass notes are taut and never bloated or loose on the RS 275.
The precision is clear in scenes where several things happen. In a chaotic battle scene in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, you hear the whiz of bullets through the air and the thud of each devastating impact.
Meanwhile, big explosions occur, but they don’t drown out the less noisy special effects, like people shouting at each other or lights going out, for example. In other words, there is good separation and a good amount of detail for each sound effect.
What I’m not so sure about are the surround sound effects, which come through more clearly on Dolby Atmos soundbars. With headphones, the effect is less convincing, for example, when a plane passes overhead in a movie.
On the other hand, the dialogue is not lost in all the special effects. Even with loud background music or sound effects in action movies, often the most important part of a movie – the conversation between people – is presented clearly.
I used Bluetooth to connect directly to my Google Chromecast (to my Samsung TV) during my initial testing and there was no problem syncing what I see on the screen.
That said, another great thing – besides the sound – for the Sennheiser RS 275 is the Auracast transmitter unit that is part of the package. This allows you to “share” a Bluetooth audio stream across multiple speakers or headphones.
Your RS 275 is paired right out of the box, so it’s just a matter of connecting the standalone transmitter to your TV’s HDMI, optical, or analog audio port to get ready for movie night.
The magic, however, is in connecting other devices, for example a second pair of headphones. With Auracast, two people can share a couch, watch a movie together, and adjust the volume and audio preferences of their own headphones.
One could argue that this eliminates the idea of watching a movie together, but then again, two parents could enjoy their movie with their own headphones while their children sleep in the bedroom.
The good thing about Auracast is that it works with non-Sennheiser headphones and speakers Plus, having the transmitter included with the RS 275 is a huge plus if you’re looking to expand your audio setup.
That brings me to the price too. Only for headphones, $429 It can be a bit expensive for TV audio. If you plan to jump into Auracast, then the transmitter, which is also sold for only $199It might make the deal sweeter.
That said, since the Sennheiser RS 275 headphones are only sold in a package, you need to make good use of the Auracast transmitter to find value in the otherwise steep price.