Customer Reviews

Acoustic Research AWD210 Wireless Digital Stereo Headphones

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Let me start by saying that I own a recording studio, about $30,000 worth. I have used a ton of different headsets, both wired and wireless for monitoring mixes and recording vocals. I wanted a wireless headset to cut down on clutter and give more freedom when recording vocals and moving around the studio. As always, I am hesitant with any studio purchase... especially when it comes to wireless anything as you always have to worry about latency.

That said, I did a little research and came up with these headphones. As always, the Prime Membership makes all of the difference here on Amazon as 2-day shipping is free. Lets start with look and feel...

These headphones are about the size of the mid range Sony wired headsets. In between the old 80's tiny sets and the 70's huge sets. The weight is about a pound or so and very comfortable, you basically dont even realize that you are wearing them. The volume controls are easy to find while they are on your head. Wireless range is good. Dependent on what is in between you and the receiver. I was upstairs in my 2000 square foot home and they were working well, would cut out only here and there. Nothing really to worry about though, as in the studio... you probably wont be far away from the receiver anyways.

Build quality is good, they are heavy feeling without being heavy on the head. Nice soft and comfortable headband. The receiver is small and unobtrusive, though I probably wouldve taken larger with antennas for more range. Connections are easy enough, one for the power, one for the audio out. Which is a 1/8" plug. It wouldve been nice had they included a 1/8" to 1/4" converter for studio applications as I had to go to Radioshack and buy one for $6. Battery life I have yet to test as I have only used them for about 4 hours with zero issues.

Now, on to the meat and potatoes... Sound quality.

These are, by far, the best sounding headphones I have ever used. They have two speakers each side, one tweeter, one woofer. They exude bass. Far better than even my monitors(which cost more than $600). It makes it easy to know when there is too much or too little bottom end. Now, if you listen to music at loud volumes... these may not be the headphones for you. You may go deaf as the bass is hefty and has no where to go but in your ears(due to the around the ear design). I definitely wouldnt recommend them for listening to bass heavy rap music unless you have control over the EQ(like on the iPod) as these phones do not have their own control. Latency is very minimal to none. I really dont notice any at all.

Overall, these are a hell of a deal. I paid more for my Sony phones and there is little to no bass response and they arent wireless.

Truly, you cannot go wrong with this set no matter what you use them for. They are cheap, yet effective and have more frequency response than $1000 studio monitors. A real treat to work with in the studio.

I have now purchases 3 sets of the AWD210 headphones and 2 out of 3 have eventually broken at the left ear piece swivel joint (where the wires go through) under normal usage! I read another review from a guy who said that his headphones broke at the same location. Also, 1 of the 3 sets did not always go into charge mode and completely charge the batteries reliably every time and I only get an hour or so before they'd shut off. I tried to communicate with Acoustic Research Customer Service about the weak swivel joint plastic problem but I got only rudeness and denial out of the jerk I talked to about it. I sincerely hope they fix these problems for the next model as I will NOT buy another pair of the 210's, which is too bad, because the headphones sound GREAT in spite of the technical and quality issues. Hope my final set lasts longer than the other two did...

Replaced old set of Advent headphones with these. Like night and day -- great sound with no background noise.

100' range honest, although intervening walls [especially those containing wall ovens or refrigerators, etc.] can cut down range. Advent 'phones had a bit more range -- but inferior sound quality degraded even more.

Caveat in buying any wireless headphones: be sure seller offers 30-day return policy so you can make sure 'phones operate satisfactorily under all the conditions in which you wish to use them. [I got mine through Amazon vendor DependableResource: no problems thus far.]

These 'phones were slightly less convenient to use than the Advents: the Advents had a combo 'phone rest/charger/transmitter. These do not. When not in use, the 'phones are plugged into the power cord for charging. When using, the 'phones are unplugged and the power cord is plugged into the transmitter unit.

However, the quality of sound is more than worth it!

The AR wireless headphones are almost perfect. The quality of sound is great. The flexible transmitter is great - batteries or AC power. However, the headphones themselves are restricted to internal rechargeable batteries. And the manufactures notes these batteries may over time quickly charge bu dissipate faster. That doesn't sound good. And you cannot listen to the headphones will they are plugged into the USB charger.

Why didnt AR allow the headphones to use AAA batteries and/or USB? Seems a little bit short sighted when the manufacturer assumes the listener can wait a few hours while recharging to listen to their headphones. Only forces the listener to use the old standby pair.

Note to potential buyers: Buy them only if you CANNOT find a pair that supports batteries and USB. And only then if the price is right.

First of all, regarding others' concerns that there *only one power cord* that has to be shared between the transmitter and headphones:

It is possible to use a cell phone power cord as well (mini-USB type) for the transmitter or headset provided the voltage is the same (5V) and it provides enough amps (e.g., 0.7A (=700mA) exceeds the 0.5A requirement). The transmitter is designed to be portable, and you can use a DC power phone charger cord in a vehicle (good for passengers) if you don't want to feed it batteries. Use of a DC cord can be a tremendous boon on long road trips.

The AR AWD210 is a comfortable wireless headset with excellent overall quality. I greatly prefer it over my Sennheiser RS 130 wireless headphones.

The range and clarity are *excellent.* I can move through most of my 2-story house and still have clear reception. The base level is set higher than I initially liked, but now I prefer it. The sound quality is good, volume ample, and the over-the-ear muffs do an exceptional job of dampening outside noise. The muffling is handy when doing chores or using exercise equipment.

The headset is slim and light compared to most other circumaural headphones, much to my liking. I can wear them at work without looking like a doofus. (I also have a pair at home.)


Follow-up: Both sets that I own have ended up breaking on the left side, the latest after ~2 years of use. I have managed a rough fix on one of them using strong epoxy, but that side can no longer swivel. The break occurs on a small, plastic axis in the swivel that cannot be replaced. Hence, I've downgraded my rating from 5 to 3 stars. I will not purchase any more headphones from this brand.

No problems with these headphones at all. Have had 2 pairs of the AR 900's over the past 7-9 yrs and these are so much better, not that the others were bad or anything. Easy set up and clear, crisp sound. For the money these produce far and above what you pay. Great headphones.

I read all the reviews before buying these. My wife and I don't understand the complaints people have posted about the swivel being flimsy and about what a hassle it is to unplug the base and plug the cord into the headphones to charge them. True, it isn't quite as convenient as a charging cradle where you just take them off and drop them into the cradle to charge. But so what? It takes maybe 2 seconds to make the switchover, and the payoff is the finest sound I've ever heard in a wireless set coupled with outstanding battery life between charges. There was absolutely no background hissing - a real negative in my book on some models. These are totally quiet during quiet scenes in a movie or music. The existence of the separate subwoofer in each ear doesn't overwhelm you like you'd expect. They're very nicely balanced and sound ...GREAT!!!

Every time my wife uses them now she makes the switchover with the power cord, looks at me, shakes her head and says "Can you BELIEVE people were actually COMPLAINING about having to do this?". We just don't get it.

The price was unbelievable when you see what faddish, high-brow brands like Sennheiser are charging ...and they're not as good as this set.

Contrary to some reviews, the swivel some people say is breaking is likely due to some seriously rough handling. I've seen how roughly many people treat their laptops and cell phones dropping them on pavement, tossing them onto the table from 6 feet away, slamming the covers down when done, and I think that's what's happening here. No doubt they have dropped them, kids have gotten ahold of them and twisted and slammed them around some, and then they give a bad review. I saw nothing in the construction that would give me concerns if they're properly treated, as ANY electronic device should be. They are very sturdily-built as far as I can tell. They are light, but don't have a "flimsy" feel to them like the previous cheap Radio Shack set did. Just don't throw it at the wall when you're mad, let a 4-year-old use them, or toss them down the stairs or off a balcony, and you should be fine. Seriously, people.

Battery life is excellent. We've used them for a little over 7 hours straight without any glitch in performance. I suspect the 12 hour battery life mentioned in the owner's manual is an accurate figure. I don't like the likelihood of having to hunt down a replacement proprietary battery when this one goes belly up, but it's well worth it to have a lithium polymer battery. Most other models out there use NiMH batteries, and I even found a few Sony models that STILL USE NiCd batteries. Can you believe it? Nicads??? They're horrible. Lithium rechargeables are the best way to go because they can be recharged at any point in their discharge profile without any appreciable memory effect. They're a perfect match for headphones and I'm frankly surprised all the others don't use this type of battery. Actually ....not so surprised. They're much more expensive than NiMH and the unit comes with the battery installed. Other models provide only alkalines in the box and suggest you use rechargeables. So you have the extra expense of buying new rechargeables for it right away. This unit comes with the LiPo rechargeable in the unit AND a set of (3) alkaline batteries for using the transmitter away from power sources. Good move!

I can only give these the highest possible rating. They are comfortable to wear for long periods, have amazing sound quality, excellent battery life, and the RF range is more than adequate. My wife walked down the hall and into another room without any dropout. Also - the manual makes it sound like you must use the tuning "Link" feature every time you turn them on (press link button on base and headphones simultaneously until blue LED comes on steady showing a link has been made). Not so. Once you link them up, they remember, and you can power down and come back to them the next day and merely power them up again. The link remains every time.

I don't see any downside for these except perhaps the expense of replacing the battery when it wears out, but LiPo batteries have a good lifetime, so that will be years from now.

I've been using my headphones for a couple of days now and I am very impressed with the sound quality. Each earpiece has two speakers one of which is a subwoofer. I hear details in the sounds that I never knew were there. I think this is an excellent alternative to an expensive surround sound system.

I live in a small apartment so using headphones while I watch a movie or play video games is greatly appreciated by my neighbors.

The 2.4GHz wireless signal works very well. I don't hear any sort of hissing or distortion that I've experienced with other wireless headphones. The range is impressive too. I had the package mailed to my work and I tried them out before I went home. I could walk around my entire office building and still hear the music playing on my computer clearly. If I walked to the back loading dock it would start to cut out. The back loading dock is probably 100' or so from my desk.

I see two draw backs. First you have to plug in the headset to recharge; it would be niece if there was a charging base that you just dropped the headset into. This doesn't bother me too much. Second the battery is sealed. I think the headset needs to be sent to the manufacturer when the batteries wear out.

I was very impressed with these wireless headphones. No longer do I have to worry about the reclining (zero gravity) chair I use pinching the wires on my old headphones. I also don't have to worry about people or pets crossing the cord or pulling it out.

They fit nicely, I can walk around and go to another room and still hear the program I am watching. I bought these so I could hear my TV when watching upstairs in a open bedroom (loft) over the living room and not bother someone watching another TV in the living room downstairs.

The headset charges in about 3 1/2 hours the first time and it is suggested in the owners manual that you keep the headset charging when not in use. I don't that is necessary but you can do that if you have been using them a lot (I think the use time is 12 hours or so), or haven't been using them for a while.

The headset has up and down volume buttons on the left side so if someone in the room is also listening, you do not have to change the volume on the TV or other unit, on/off button and a blue light that comes on when using the headset which is red when charging and goes off when fully charged. You hold the on/off button down for several seconds to turn it off. The sending unit also has a blue light that shows it is sending. The charging cord for the headset is the same as the power cord for the sending unit but I did not find this to be inconvenient since you can't use them at the same time anyway and you will not have a second cord to lose.

The sound is excellent and I look forward to using this headset for a long time.

Excellent sound and clarity. The range could be better. Definitely rate them good for 40-50 ft range. The AWD 210 has a much better battery life versus the AWD 209. The comfort is superior to that of the AWD 209 (they rest on the ears), the AWD 210 covers the entire ear...