Customer Reviews

Acoustic Research AW721 900 MHz Wireless Stereo Headphones

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Pros: Good overall sound quality and volume. Light weight. Use AAA-format batteries (comes with rechargable li-ion). Easy to place on charging stand. Easy tuning to transmitter. Reasonably priced. On-off switch on headphones. Surprisingly comfortable for long periods. Pretty good line-of-sight range. Transmitter power control. Around-the-ear foam cups block most external sounds from user (and headphone sounds from others).

Cons: Non-adjustable headband (auto-adjust strap mostly works). Some static when you move around. Picks up older (CRT) TV whine if transmitter is close to TV. 900 MHz phones and NEXTEL cell phones interfere with signal. Bass is somewhat boomy and treble is flat, but adequate for TV, most music--needs to be equalized for classical, piano. Slight whooshing noise (compander?) after transition from loud to soft passages. Works poorly when moving behind walls, but OK when still.

... the best choice for wireless headphones if you don't have too much to spend. I tried Sony (barely okay) and RCA (completely sucked), and none of them came close to what this pair can do.

As a hearing impaired person, the Acoustic Research AW721 is a wonderful product! Recently, however, they blew a speaker and I had to return them to Best Buy. Unfortunately, they no longer carry this product. Instead, they provided me with the AW772 which was $20 more and had the automatic tuning feature. I thought this would be a great feature. The negatives were that the new product only goes 150 feet and as a result of the automatic tuning feature, the signal would be searching at the most inappropriate times (like when you needed to hear what line the actor was saying on your favorite show). Also, the newer version did not increase the volume loud enough.

As a result, I am returning this upgraded product to Best Buy and purchasing the Acoustic Research AW721 from Amazon.

The Pros of the Acoustic Research AW721 are:
1. Loud enough for hearing impaired people to use without hearing aids
2. Can hear the sound all the way outside while mowing the lawn or picking up the mail.
3. The cushions on the headphone allow me to also comfortably wear them with my hearing aids.
4. Other people cannot hear anything from these headphones while they are on my head. This makes it nice since I like the volume to be turned way up on these headphones! I can be right next to another person without waking them from their sleep, even with the volume at full blast!

Acoustic Research AW721 Cons:
1. Speaker may blow within 6 months
2. Sometimes hard to tune in manually.

Overall, the Pros far outweigh the Cons. I would recommend these to anyone who is interested in listening to the TV or music without interrupting the rest of the household.

The Acoustic Research AW721 headphones are my favorite so far!

I had been in the market for a while to find a decent set of wireless headphones however I kept reading reviews of different units and I became very dismayed at what I was reading when it came to what people felt about range, battery life, sound quality, and so forth....until this product made its was into my search. I decided even with the few quams that people had with these that they would be a good choice especially for the price. Let me tell you...I am very impressed with this unit. I will break down my review into each category I believe is important:

Sound Quality: 4 stars - Once you get the frequency fine tuned these sound awesome! They do not match my 300 hundred dollar Sennheiser wired phones, but they do come as close as a wireless could come as far as I am concerned. The lows, mids, and highs are beautiful. Even at full volume I did not notice any saturation which is of great concern to me because it makes your ears work harder and also tends to kill batteries. What I really liked was that I could turn up the phones all the way and have them just sitting on my shoulders with the cups flared out and with them cranked I could listen clearly if someone was around that I needed to talk to for a short period of time.

Signal adjustment/range: 4 stars - These run on 900mhz which is a pretty old standard which can cause some difficulty especially if someone in your neighborhood has an older cordless phone or rabit ears. I did test this theory that I had read and found it to be true. Even with an old tv I had turned off when the antenna was connected I would get some interferance with static and sound fidelity. Fine tuning is a pain in the respect that the tuning dial on the phones is set deep into the crevice that it sits in. I am sure that they designed this on purpose to ensure that someone did not accidentally knock it, but possibly an incremental dial would have been better. I find that if I need to fine tune that I have to actually turn them up all the way to hear them off my ears so that I can really move the dial. As for the range I was able to walk close to 550 feet down my road and still have a pretty decent signal! Incredible from a 900mhz device! I have been able to go out and snowblow my yard with these! One last note would be that I work in a Data Center with servers, routers, wireless routers/access points, switches, plantronics wireless headsets, and lots of electrical....even in this environment these phones shined.

Fit: 3 - These do not have a typical slide style adjustment. Due to the antenna being in the radial curve of the phones I'd imagine they were not able to come up with a slide solution. This is the one achilles heel of these phones I feel. There is a "band" style strapping that "hugs" the top of your head to keep them on. I have become used to them after having them now for about a month however they still have the feeling like they are going to possibly fall off which if you are moving around a lot takes away from the experience since you feel like you have to concentrate on keeping them up like balancing a book on your head.

I bought AW721. loved it but i also read about AW791 and decided to buy AW791 so I can return the AW721. But the quality of the AW721 is by far better than the AW791. Even thought the AW791 comes with a fiber optic connection wire( analog are not included with AW791- you have to buy it seperatelly), i hated the constant quite buzz that accompanied the AW791 so i am back with my original AW721. Also the reception of AW721 is stronger and more reliable (when you constantly move), than AW791.

I like these. They have good sound for the price. The only negative to me are the cups. They are not deep enough and too slick. I tried the AR 771's at best buy, they are much more comfortable. I am going to buy a set of those next.

These headphones are great. Once you find the right frequency between the transmitter and the headphones, they work like a charm. Sound just as good as normal headphones, and have an incredible range! I was able to walk outside for a couple hundred feet, and still hear music out of my laptop perfectly! The only con would be due to the size it sometimes causes my ears to overheat. Other than that they are very comfortable. I would definitely recommend these headphones to anyone.

I have tried three brands: Sennhauser, RCA and AR. The Senn was quite expensive. The RCA was inexpensive but I got what I paid for....They were horrible.

The AR's that I just bought are inexpensive and just as good as the Senn at 1/3 of the price.

Don't worry about these - buy them with confidence!

Oddly enough, after reading peoples reviews about wireless headsets I went with this set. I am a Sony guy, and that was what I was looking for in the first place...but after reading reviews about the Sony models compared to this set I went with the Acoustic Research AW721. They work great, no feedback, no white noise, and easy to place on the charger...NO BS !

I purchased these wireless headphones a few months ago after reading the reviews on Amazon. No surprises - these are very good headphones. I plugged the base into the headphone jack on the computer, and I can finally listen to on-line radio shows without having to be in the same room as the computer. Clear reception in every room of the house, and I have even worn them outside (reception is audible, though not as clear as inside - little bit of static outside). Headphones are reasonably comfortable for several hours. Easy to place on the base for recharging. Over all, a good quality product for a reasonable price.