<p><em>The RS 175 from Sennheiser are a good pair of headphones if you intend to use them only at home<br><br><strong>by Kunal Khullar</strong></em><br><br>Wireless Bluetooth headphones have been steadily gaining popularity and even managed to attract a lot of customers. But before these contraptions started making an appearance, home theatre wireless headphones were the only ones that one could use without having to sort out wires. For those who are unfamiliar with the latter category, there is a wireless receiver for the headphones which plugs into an audio source like a home theatre system, TV, or any other audio system that you might use at home.<br><br>The RS 175 from Sennheiser is a fine offering that accepts a standard 3.5mm auxiliary input and also a digital audio input to provide rich sound whether you are watching a movie, listening to music or just gaming. The headphones come with a dock which is not very bulky so it can easily be stacked on a desk with your audio source. The dock has a power input, two audio inputs, and has three pins on the top where you can place the headphones for charging. There is a switch at the back to select your audio source (analog or digital) and two buttons on the front to enable or disable surround sound and to add some extra bass. Apart from the charger to power the dock, you get an optical cable for digital audio and a standard aux cable.<br> </p><table style="width: 300px;" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"><tbody><tr><td><strong><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/RS-175-from-Sennheiser-Headphone_RS--mdm.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;"><br><br>SPECIFICATIONS</strong><ul><li>Analog and digital audio inputs</li><li>Transmission range of up to 328ft/100m (line of sight)</li><li>Multi-purpose transmitter, functions as charging cradle and docking station</li><li>Removable AAA batteries</li><li>Rich sound with surround and bass modes</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The headphones are large and the drivers are pretty huge that cover your entire ears. The padding is comfortable and surprisingly didn’t itch or hurt the ears after about 30 minutes of usage. The pads can be removed by simply twisting them to reveal an AAA rechargeable battery inside each ear-cup. The right ear-cup houses controls to enable or disable bass and surround sound, volume control keys and a power button with an LED light. Overall, the headphones have a sturdy feel about them, yet are comfortable for daily use.<br><br>As mentioned above, you get two settings on the headphones, a bass mode and a surround sound mode. Turning on the bass mode gives a nice rich sound which is pretty good when listening to music, while the surround sound mode is good when you are watching a movie. However, the surround mode isn’t very impressive. One can also switch off both the modes giving a comparatively flatter sound but that's not something audiophiles would define as ‘flat’. The headphones do however leak a lot of sound so if you have people around you, there is a good chance they can hear what you are listening to. Also, when you crank up the volume close to full, you start hearing slight disturbance. The dock uses a frequency range of 2.4-2.8GHz to transfer the audio to the headphones and offers a good range of about 300-330 feet which is a lot better than Bluetooth. The connectivity is also seamless and didn’t show any signs of signal drops.<br><br>The RS 175 is not the most impressive headphone set out there but it gets the job done well. It is reliable and offers a pleasing sound, but there is an issue of sound leakage which essentially kills the purpose of getting a headphone. Being dependent on the dock, the headphones are only suitable for use indoors, which limits the usage. However, if you want to invest in a good pair of headphones that you intend to use only at home and if you aren’t an audiophile and very fussy about the sound, then the Sennheiser RS 175 is where you should put your money. <br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 19-10-2015)</p>