Customer Reviews

Pioneer SE-DIR800C Wireless Headphones with Dolby Headphone Technology

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I had purchased an inexpensive Sony home theater in a box system that was a pretty nice system for the money spent. But I found myself with problems that had nothing to do with the quality of the system. As I watched movies, I was bothered by various ambient noises from my apartment... street noises, the people upstairs, water running through pipes, the hum of the refrigerator, etc. And, if I was hearing noises from the outside, it's a pretty good bet that people on the outside can hear what's coming from inside. So, I needed a solution, and it seemed the mutually beneficial solution was headphones. Unfortunately, while my HT receiver has a headphone jack, it only outputs 2 channel stereo sound, and it seems like a waste to have to rely on that when I have a system capable of outputting 5.1 channel sound. Doing some research I realized there was no way to get surround sound through headphones with the equipment I had, even if I purchased expensive headphones. In fact, many tech-savvy posters on message boards scoffed at the notion of headphones producing surround sound altogether. Fortunately, they are mistaken.

In my research I found out about Dolby Headphone technology and read about the Pioneer SE-DIR800C. Dolby Headphone technology treats the sounds from different channels in a way to make it sound like it's coming from different directions, the directions they would be coming from in a traditional 5.1 based speaker set up. I had heard the effect for myself with cheap stereo headphones and was not overwhelmed. But since the reviews of the Pioneer system were all so good, I decided to blow my tax return on them.

What this Pioneer system does, based entirely on the movie watching experience, is everything I needed. The simulation of surround sound is completely convincing. So much so that I have a hard time believing its simulated. The headphones are well designed, lightweight and comfortable and do a great job of keeping out sound. I've watched several movies so far with them, and often the sounds of the movie are all I can hear through the length of the film... a far cry when I watch movies with my speaker based system. Invariably you forget you are listening to headphones and lose yourself in the film, if you are watching a good film. The sound is clear and open, and the bass is deep, though it can't recreate the effect of an earth shaking subwoofer. But it's such a joy to have the volume cranked up without worrying about disturbing anyone. There are some minor inconveniences with the design of the unit... there's no outputs or remote, for example... but that wouldn't be a problem if you had a separate receiver with an output and remote... just have a single digital output going from your HT receiver to the pioneer receiver and you can still control all your inputs with the HT receiver remote. I wouldn't have minded using a wired headphone but this wireless set is flawless for watching movies (if you're listening to music and want to walk around you'll lose the signal if you leave the room).

The Pioneer receiver has a separate headphone jack, so if you have one friend over (or two perhaps, with a headphone splitter), they can listen. Since I have no headphones as nice as the wireless ones included in the set, I'm not sure if high end headphones plugged into a Dolby Headphones processing jack would be as effective as these headphones. If I didn't already have a speaker based HT system, I might have considered looking for one that has Dolby Headphones processing and purchasing a pair of expensive, high end headphones. But since I already had a system, purchasing this Pioneer system was less expensive (though expensive none the less) and offers me everything I could have possible needed. There is one problem with the headphones... you might get spoiled. After using them I saw a movie in a theater with great DTS sound. But I could hear people whispering, eating popcorn, sucking down the last of their sodas, and a man with respiratory problems, and I found myself wishing I could have been using these headphones in the theater.

I am a night creature, which until I moved in with my new roommate was not an issue. Unfortunately, he is a bit of a light sleeper, so if I wished to continue to watch movies at 2am, I was going to need a set of headphones.

I knew from the start that wireless was going to be the only option for me, and I set about on an exhaustive four day hunt online for the best ones I could find, and the Pioneer SE-DIR800C really stood out. of course, so did the price; $300 is a lot to spend on what I considered to be a novelty item, but it was the only one that delivered on both sound and connection performance, so I took the plunge.

And so far, I could not be happier, with a few minor annoyances.

SOUND: GOOD
It really creates surprisingly accurate sound, though all of it sounds just a tad mechanical and tinny. It has several Dolby Pro Logic modes that all sound equally good, and it even manges to reproduce surround sound in a reasonably enjoyable way.

CONNECTIVITY: EXCELLENT
As long as I am in front of the device, it never looses connection. Never. it never pops, or crackles, or goes silent at all, no matter how I move my head, even when I am lying down. However, a suggestion: Don't turn the headphones on until you get your TV and cable box on first; I get some loud popping if I do that in the wrong order.

Of course, these are line of sight headphones. You have to be in front of the device for them to work, though I have found I can be directly to the side of them with no loss in connection at all.

And there are plenty of audio inputs (1 analog, 1 coaxial, 1 optical) in the back and a clear and simple way to switch between those inputs (though lacking a remote, which is slightly tedious)

BATTERY: DECENT
I seem to be getting about 12-14 hours from the two rechargeable AA batteries that come with the headphones, which is quite good in my opinion. The fact that the base station also charges the batteries is a nice touch, but I was disappointed that you actually have to remove the batteries from the headphones and insert them into the base for this to work. It is a minor annoyance, but I find myself putting regular batteries in while charging the ones that came with it, which kind of defeats the purpose.

DESIGN: POOR
It is just so damn ugly. It is 1970's Battlestar Galactica ugly. Carrot Top ugly. The headphones themselves are actually rather pleasing in their form; simple and understated. The base station, however, looks like someone stuffed Christmas lights into a digital alarm clock from 1990, complete with large, round plastic buttons all across the top. The entire front of the device is constantly aglow with green and red LED lights. It's like a condensed version of Kitt's dashboard next to your television. It looks it belongs in an old Devry commercial. It is really, really ugly.

COMFORT: GOOD
I have found I can wear the headphones for about 2 to 4 hours without having to shift them. I have good sized ears and I can still tuck them perfectly into the headphones. they are lightweight, and with a few pillows propped and folder behind my head, I can wear them lying down with no discomfort.

I've had these headphones for about a year. They are comfortable, and the sound quality is great. However, today, the headphones broke. It seems the swivel mechanism is a very tiny and thin plastic piece. If this piece were made of metal, it would be OK, but the plastic can't hold up. I'm not rough with these, but I didn't handle them as if they were made of thin glass either. It is physically a poor design, in my opinion as an engineer.

This is too bad. The speakers and audio system are great, but the physical package is not up to the task. They need a re-design, badly.

While in the warranty the head set broke just above the yoke holding the right can. I drove 100 miles to a authorized customer service site and was told to call California. California said to send the head set in after I described the problem. The head set was returned in the same broken condition with no explanation. I called Customer service in California again and was told the warranty didn't cover breakage. I explained there had been no abuse but they didn't care and would only offer to sell a new head set for almost the price of the complete new unit. I used tie wraps to put the thing together. Yesterday the other side broke in the same place. It appears to be a severe design flaw. It also would be nice to have a stand to store the headset when not in use that would keep the batteries recharged.

I have had this unit for 2 yrs now. I have been very pleased with them. The sound quality via the wireless headphones were decent. All-though they seemed a little canned compared to a good pair of wired headphones. The wireless headphones do open up some after 50hrs of burn-in.

Volume levels are usually fine. There's plenty of volume for video games, but barely enough for movies.

The receiver is great. The Dolby Headphone is amazing. It opens up the sound stage by 10 fold over normal stereo. For games i can hear all sound positions in a horizontal 360 degree radius. For movies the immersion is great, too.

Now for the bad, after 1.5 yrs the headphones broke on me. The left side broke directly above the can, where it swivels on the headband. I was simply just removing them from my head, by grasping both cans, then all of a sudden the left side snapped. Upon further investigation, after tearing the headphones apart, i found that the cans are held together by a small 'U' shaped piece of plastic. Very cheap.

I have since bought a quality pair of wired headphones (AKG K601s) with a quality headphone amp. The Pioneer 800C receiver has 1/8" jack that i hook up my wired headphones and amp to. While the convenience of having wireless is not there, the sound quality is much better, and there is no worry about the headphones breaking.

After reading glowing reviews from CNET, AV Forums and Amazon users I decided to give these a try when my old Sony wireless phones cracked. Reviews heralded the Pioneer 800C as 1)superlative sound, 2)great comfort, and 3)fantastic Dolby effect. All this, it was wrtitten, would justify the expensive $300-400 price.

It seems the reviews were written by people who had never used wireless phones before,or really cheap inferior ones, and had never heard a decent pair of cans. The thrill of being wireless must have dulled their senses to the idea of good sound quality.

My impressions, after a week of use:

1. Sound quality: mediocre at best. They are harsh sounding, seem to lack in the midrange and bass, and have an unnatural, hollow, unmusical quality to them. My $100 Sony wireless phones sounded much better, and my $60 Grado SR60 corded phones sound 10 times as good.

2. Comfort: this could have to do with the size of my head and ears, so your mileage may vary. I found that they put pressure on the outside of my head around the ears, and the rough fabric material used irritated the outside of my ears. Not comfortable for me, even after short listening periods. Long listening would be tortuous.

3. Dolby effect: Not bad, but nothing to rave about. While the sound did seem more spacious and pleasant than between -the-ears of normal phones, it did not sound like it was much in front of me or behind me. It seemed like speakers were placed about 6" in front and back of my ears on both sides.

Again, it was an improvement over in-the-head sound -- a plus! The optical/digital feed directly from my cable box was pristine.

The lack of a remote with a $400 system is inexcusable. Does anyone own any modern device that requires you to get up to change the myriad settings? I have a universal remote with macros that controls every aspect of my audio-video system -- except for this unit. Even my $40 humidifier has a damn remote! And, what's with the battery changing? Every wireless phone I've had had a stand with contacts that charged the batteries. Far more convenient, and always worked perfectly. Come on Pioneer, get with it.


About to return these phones, I tried the transmitter with my Grado SR60 wired phones -- it sounded beautiful! And these Grado phones are so much more comfortable than the Pioneer phones that the cable was little to ask in inconvenience (I ran a headphone extension cable under the rug and around the couch).

So, I will keep the system just for the transmitter, and let my son use the phones as he likes them better than I. Also, we can both watch a movie with phones if my wife goes to sleep early.

If you buy these, make sure you can return them. And don't believe what you read! Two and a half stars.

I had several high quality products to choose from, but primarily this one along with sets from Amphony. Our home is heavily electronicized, with several 5.4 Ghz products, wireless networking and a phone system, and we live in a high density metropolitan area, so I opted for infrared (IR) transmission since it cannot be interfered with like radio-frequency (RF) systems.

Overall, the experience has been exceptional:

- The quality of the audio is wonderful, and there are user-selectable settings for ambience and material.
- I'm using the analog input for the input from my receiver, and the optical input for the output from my 24" iMac; the optical input requires specialty cables, as does the coaxial input.
- Reception is excellent, although it worsens if I sit 90 degrees off center; our unit is on a swiveled TV, minimizing this kind of problem.
- I am tall, with a fairly large head, but the fit of the headphones has been very good, as well as feeling fairly light, and I have had no issues with comfort.
- We use rechargeable batteries around the home, and the unit uses AA batteries, as well as comes with high-quality Sony rechargeable batteries and a built-in recharger.
- Reviews from several online sources were very positive, the only middling review from a self-professed audiophile who preferred the Amphony headset.

Cons (minor):

- Replacing the batteries is a little cumbersome, as I require a small prop, like a letter opener, to pop out the batteries.
- Unlike RF headphones, you can walk outside the range of these, either via walking far away, or by walking into another room, but that is the primary issue with this type of headphone, and I bought it with the awareness.

Is it worth the extra $100?
I purchased the Panasonic model 2 years ago for about $200 and have been extremely satisfied with them. Even my non-technical wife enjoys using them and has even fallen asleep with them on. I use them while watching TV/movies since the infrared is line of site and limited distance. I liked them so much I decided to get a second pair. There isn't a huge choice of digital wireless headphones at a reasonable price and I narrowed it down to the Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony. Then decided to see why the Pioneer was more expensive. Please keep in mind this is just my opinion, but I hope you find at least some of it useful.
Exceptional:
Sound quality- I first believe it is necessary to point out that this is wireless and cannot be held to the same measures that wired headphones are held to. Pioneer provides some very crisp sound with this headset. Background noise is almost non-existent and is about equal to the Panasonics. It is important to note that I am using the optical digital connection, so the source is digital quality. My point is that they hold the quality when using digital connections. The multiple selections for sound dynamics offer slight variations in sound, allowing you to choose your personal preferences, an expanded feature over the Panasonics, which offers music, cinema, and voice. The 5.1 simulation works to a point that you can appreciate what the headphones are attempting to do. But don't expect to get clear front to back movement. The appearance of movement is there but you have to be realistic about the sound coming from directly over your ear and the limitation this presents. This is emulation not true 5.1 with 6 speakers on your head. Maybe in the next version..... When cranking up the volume the Pioneer out performed the Panasonic by a noticeable margin. Where the Panasonic started to break up a bit the Pioneer held crisp sound. Either set will leave your ears ringing if you keep the volume too high too long. Analog connections on both headsets have a low hum in the background. I ignore it and after a few minutes forget that its there. I only notice it when I listen for it or during low or quiet scenes in movies/music.
Base features- The Pioneer base was the deciding factor for me. I really liked that it has multiple digital inputs as well as an analog input. Fantastic, now I can connect the PS3, Cable, and Ipod and just select at a touch of a button from the base. Unfortunately, if you want menu control you will have to opt for a Bluetooth headset and sacrifice the digital. Panasonic does have the auto
Comfort- Panasonic is slightly larger and heavier than the Pioneer due to its larger earpad with thick cushion. But the comfort is much better. The Pioneer isn't uncomfortable and I easily watch full length movies without irritation. I've only had then a short time but get the feeling they will be more comfortable after they are broken in. However, as stated in other reviews I have read, I can see how they might be uncomfortable due to the smaller size earpad and material.
Indifferent:
Charging- It would seem that not being able to base charge would be a simple feature Pioneer should have added. I would like to note that reviews on Sony's and the Panasonic that I have, which offer this feature, are cumbersome and can take just as long to get set perfectly on the stand to charge as it does to place the batteries in the charger of the Pioneer. I do think it should be a feature Pioneer included but it seems the other "guys" don't really get this right either. One way or the other it's not as easy as it should be.
Overall:
I am extremely satisfied with the Pioneer just as I was when getting the Panasonic. Audio performace and base features are better than the Panasonic. On the other hand, the Panasonic is more comfortable, more convenient to use, and less expensive. I don't think its worth the extra $100 but I was fortunate to have a gift card and went with the Pioneer at the $285 price. Certainly these are not worth the full $400 retail price and I would have returned them and purchased another Panasonic if not for the gift card. Pioneer should drop the price a bit or add convenience features (auto on/off and base charging).

My headphones were lost during shipment and they re-shipped them again but that's a different matter.

My roomate has these headphones as well, so the time I didn't receive my headphones, I was using his. So I had two months of testing for this review.

Comfort: Like you've heard time and time again, these headphones are very comfortable. There very light, and has a headband that rest and streches on top of your head in which adjusts to all types of head sizes.

Convenience: The wireless feature is a huge plus, and is the main contributor to the convenience factor. The transmitter emits an infrared signal in which the headphones pick up. The sensor on the headphones is located on the left side of the headphones, as well as the battery compartment with on/off switch. The volume control dial is on the right side. The transmitter sends the infared signal in a cone shaped direction with the infared cone zone reaching 3 meters wide (Which is 60 Degrees) and a range of 8 meters.

You heard me mention that my roomate has a pair of these headphones as well. There's a positive and negative side of the infared technology. The positive side is like me you and someone else has a pair of these headphones. If for example I was playing Gears of War on Xbox 360 with my headphones, my friend would be able to jump in with his headphones as well. You can share the same wireless headset on one transmitter, but I have yet to determine if you can share another different brand of wireless headphones which are infared compatable.

The downside is if I'm using my own headphones and reciever, and he's using his own too, then there would be a conflict with the infared beams crossing one another. Since I mentioned earlier that the transmitter emits the infared in a cone shaped direction, you would have to adjust and ensure that you are inside your infared cone zone and vice versa with your roomate. If your headphones overlaps both transmitters then you will pick up either yours or his signal.

The headphones include two Ni-MH "AA" batteries in which the transmitter has a battery compartment so you can charge your batteries. Charge times consits of...

Charging Time = Usage time
2 Hours = Approx. 4 Hours

10 Hours = Approx. 16 Hours

These batteries takes a max of 10 Hours to charge. When it's done charging the charge light will go out. The batteries have only about 15 minutes of juice out of the box so remember to charge them when you first open the package.

The headphones includes a verticle stand for the transmitter for those with not enough room on the desk or wherever.

Oh, there's no holdster for the headphones so store the headphones in a safe place.

Input/Outputs:

The transmitter has one AV input, one Coaxial input (Coaxial Cable included), and one Fiber Optic input. There's one output for an extra set of wired headphones. You can plug the Xbox 360's (Or any other system's) fiber optic output directly to the Input fiber optic port of the transmitter.

The AC adapter of the transmitter is 110 Voltage only (No Dual Voltage), so it's made for american outlets only.

Sound: The headphones are compatable with Dolby Digital 5.1 (Duh...), DTS, and Dolbly Pro Logic II. The sound is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. You definately have surround sound with these headphones. You definately can't go wrong with these headphones. The sound can leak out of the headphones if played at the maximum volume level.

Final Verdict: These headphones may be expensive, but they are definately worth the money. Never have I heard headphones that sound this good.

I give my highest recommendation.

I have a big open living room and the transmitter/charger sits on TV stand in plain view. I sit about 8 or 9 feet from the TV and in the room never have any issues with the headphones cutting out. I purchased the headphones in late summer/early fall 2006 and they sound better now than when I got them (break-in period, I'm guessing).

Anyway, I've been pretty pleased with the battery life and think the audio is great. I sold all my gear before relocating and bought these headphones as stand-ins for a 5.1 surround system. I used it primarily to play my Xbox 360 at nights and watch movies; in that capacity I've been very happy. They were so-so comfy when I first started using them, but now I wear them for a a couple hours without really noticing 'em more than any other headphone. I think I saw that they weigh about 8oz.

Wish list: Remote control so I could program that into my universal remote (that said, the volume control is on the headphone so not having a RC has never really been an issue); an easy (and cheaper) way to add second wireless headphone (or for gamers, a mic :). That last one is me being picky--also I believe the 1000 model headphones from Pioneer also work with this base station.

Last but not least, I have a small 4-battery AA/AAA charger, so I'm really never left in a lurch. Then again, I've never actually run into a situation where my battery died and I still planned to continue with the headphones. Ciao.