# Wireless Headphones for home, IR or RF? Surround?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 23, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317 "2006-01-23T22:40:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/1 "2006-01-23T22:40:16Z")
I’m looking for a decent set for watching movies (or concert DVD’s) at a decent volume late at night. I don’t need to be able to walk around the house with them, so I’m thinking IR would give me a better signal with less interferance. I’m willing to spend the bucks for a decent pair, but don’t want to just go out and buy a half dozen sets before I settle on one (even though I probably will anyway). Is my assumption correct about IR vs RF for line of sight use? Anyone have any experiance with wireless surround headphones (or just surround headphones in general)?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/2 "2006-01-24T01:46:31Z")
Moving this from GQ to IMHO, so the good folks over there can give you their informed opinions.
**samclem** GQ moderator
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### Author:  [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/3 "2006-01-24T17:34:53Z")
2 years ago I bought some Sony IR that were SO BAD I returned them within an hour. Maybe they were not functioning properly, but it turned me off wireless headsets and stuck me with normal ones.
Why not go to a place that lets you try them on?
-Tcat
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/4 "2006-01-25T07:48:52Z")
**Amigo** , if you can wait 24 hours I just bought a RF set for Hubby which needs to charge overnight. I can give you a report on it Thursday morning. 🙂 I’m sure he’ll be burning them up by then.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/5 "2006-01-25T17:22:50Z")
Definately RF rather than IR, unless there is some snazzy new IR technology it is just too easy to break signal with IR ear phones. Even then the amount of volume available to any wireless headphones is dependent on a portable power source so I’m not convinced they are ever really worthwhile unless you absolutely need to be wireless.
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### Author:  [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/6 "2006-01-25T19:57:28Z")
I recently purchased a pair of Sony RF headphones to replace the wired ones that I accidently busted.
They’re not awful. The sound is not as good as the wired set (MDR-V600), but it’s not bad, and the reception is usually pretty good.
I wanted the Sennheiser RF Headphones but couldn’t find them locally and didn’t want to wait for shipment.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/7 "2006-01-25T20:20:06Z")
> [@Tomcat](#):
>
> 2 years ago I bought some Sony IR that were SO BAD I returned them within an hour. Maybe they were not functioning properly, but it turned me off wireless headsets and stuck me with normal ones.
>
> Why not go to a place that lets you try them on?
>
> -Tcat
Same here, except it was a year ago for me. Never will I buy wireless headphones again.
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### Author:  [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-headphones-for-home-ir-or-rf-surround/341317/8 "2006-01-26T15:46:13Z")
At work I have RCA wireless headphones, model number WHP150C. I think they sound pretty good, to be frank. There are a few things to note that had me frustrated at first: One is that the batteries really need to be charged up before trying to listen to them. If they’re not good and charged before your first use, you may think they don’t work. Another is that the source volume affects the sound quality; for example, my speaker needs to be turned up _all the way_, but if I’m using RealPlayer, the volume on that needs to be turned down quite a bit. A final problem at first was finding dial settings on the antenna & the headset that matched. That took a while to get figured out. Other than stuff like that, I can say that I’ve been quite pleased w/ my headphones.