Customer Reviews

RCA WHP150C Wireless Headphones

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

After purchasing a variety of wireless headphones and not having much success, I happened upon this wonderful adjustable headphone that uses rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries (included).

You can actually enjoy watching TV, use your VCR/DVD player or listen to your stereo without disturbing a single soul.

The headphones rest on a transmitter that recharges the headphones after you plug them back in. They are always ready for use and the batteries must last forever because so far, I've not had to worry about the batteries wearing out.

You can walk 125 feet away from the transmitter and still hear music. Unlike other headphones I tried, this one only seems to pick up the sounds from the TV or Stereo. Which is a good thing unless you want to hear conversations from who knows where. It was very annoying with other brands I have tried in the past.

The headphones have soft earpads which allow for hours of comfortable listening. You can even be in bed and lean back on a pillow and they are comfortable.

All you do is connect this system to your CD, TV, VCR/DVD player or HI-Fi or radio.

Occasionally while watching a movie, I did have to readjust the tuning, which is right on the headset. There is a volume control and a place where you can plug it back into the charge unit.

Strangely, you can also use this as a speaker if the volume is up high enough. That might defeat the purpose, but if you TV is close to a wall shared by someone who is trying to sleep, this can be helpful.

Listening Freedom! Even late into the night when you want to watch movies. Now, the only problem is remembering not to laugh too loudly when watching comedies.

~The Rebecca Review

I had purchased this product back in late 2001. I've been putting it to continuous day to day use without discovering any major defects in the design or the quality of the product and its been over 4 years now that I've owned it.

I can't speak for all the other reviewers who were displeased with it but personally I have no complaints.

I found the reviews of Manos Lingunis, and Rebecca Johnson helpful because they seem to be echoing my opinion on the headsets.

The base unit stops transmitting if the sound input goes below the transmitting threshold for 5-10 seconds. This causes the headset itself to start emitting white noise in your ears. If the volume on the headset is low, then you're ok, but if you've turned it up kind of loud, then this can be a problem, it has happened to me several times but now I've learned to just keep the audio source device's volume quite high and the volume on the headset low.

There is a transmit frequency adjustment availabe on the base unit, and a similar receive frequency adjustment on the headset which can be used to tune out the static. I have found this to work very well. Sometimes you can hear the chordless phone conversations but the headset and the base unit can always be tuned to a different frequency to avoid this.

I've never found myself running out of batteries on the thing for as long as I've owned it. When not in use, I always put it on the base unit and connect the charging cable to it.

The audio input cable goes into the base unit but maybe its not as firmly secured, because of tugging on it inadvertently or moving the audio cable around, over time the connection becomes flaky. For a while I tried to live with it because if I move the base unit or the audio input cable, my audio signal becomes faded or non-existant. Eventally I got sick of fiddling with it and just opened up the base unit to take a look at the internal wiring. After routing the cable correctly and puting a knot in it to make it more secure from external tugs and movement, I've not encountered any other issue with it. I DO NOT recommend doing this for brand new units as I'm sure this will void the warranty, and if you're not very good at tinkering with electronics, do not do this.

Lastly, the earmuff design is quite good for nice sound quality and somewhat covering up external noise, but it closes off my ears and if my ears get a bit sweaty and damp, the headset doesn't allow breathability so I have to take them off.

I would have complained about the price but for me this has proved a durable product that I'm quite happy with.

There are mixed reviews on this product, I would recommend giving this one a try but if youre displeased, make sure you can return it and not be stuck with something that doesn't work for you.

I have been using those for weeks and never encountered any of the charging problems that some reviewers cite below. Maybe because I always keep the charger on when they are not in use. 99% of the time they are not using power anyway...

I bought this pair knowing that other brands (e.g. Sony) offer better products at the same price (there are certainly better products at higher prices.) The feature that turned me on was the leather-like ear pads with the acoustic cavity (leather is fake, but feels like real.) My ears get sweaty with flat cloth pads that are in full contact with the whole ear, and I think it is bad for the ears too. I found those headsets very comfortable. The sound is not great, but it is OK. The signal was strong, although I did notice some sensitivity to angle with respect to the transmitter.

The bottom line: This is a reasonable product for moderate requirements. If you buy this at a good price, and if you are interested in listening to pop music while you are doing chores in the garage, or while your children sleep, it is a good enough product. If you are thinking of using this as a high-performance substitute to wired headsets, or for listening to opera, you are not looking anywhere near the right price range...

Now I read all the reviews here and saw that most people who scored it low said they would work for a second and turn off. I was having the same problem with them, but it has a simple solution. Simply turn up the volume on the source (TV, Radio, Computer). These headphones will only operate if the source is kind of loud, but since the headphones have a volume control on them, it's not a problem. The only real problem I have with these headphones is the noise that you hear. As another reviewer stated, there is a sharp whistling noise that does not go away. Good headphones for the money, but if you're willing to spend more, go for the $130 IOGEAR GBMHKIT Bluetooth stereo headphones.

I've been using these headphones for about 2 weeks with no problems. Around my office, the sound is very crisp and clear. They aren't going to blow you away with bass response, but the sound is fine. I also noticed that if you are getting some bass distortion, adjusting the frequency can help some.

I'm in an office building full of computers and electical equipment. I can walk around for 75 feet and get no static at all. If a push them to 150 feet, I'll get a little static, but they still sound fine. They seem to transmit through walls and cubicles fairly easily.

As one reviewer commented, you do have to turn the volume up a little on your input signal for them to work properly. This wasn't a problem, but could cause some frustration if you didn't know about it.

The charging system has worked fine for me. The green light on the base does go out pretty quick, indicating the fast charge is done. However, the manual says that they will trickle charge after the LED goes out. I left mine on the charger overnight, and haven't had any problems with the batteries. I probably got 10 hours of use before the signal started to seem weak, and I set them on the charger.

I'm happy so far.

Had it for 6 years now. Sounds great as ever. Just go buy it.

This one is for the USA. A great american brand product, Great and Durable even!

I just realized I had been using these now for about two years watching TV late at night with no problems. Original batteries are still working well, still in good physical shape and still the same sound quality. It is very nice to have a product that does what you intended it to for a good amount of time and I thought I would mention it.

Sound quality is fine for my TV use. I would suspect that one might not be as happy with them for serious music (I use a wired set of Sony's for music) use. So 5 for mechanical value and 3 for sound quality.

The reviewer who wrote, "This is the worst possible thing I have ever bought." speaks the truth. I saw these for a really great price and figured they couldn't be that bad....Was I ever wrong. Either they are full of static, won't recharge unless you unplug and re=plug in the AC adapter SEVERAL times, or the thing just literally shuts off after 30 seconds for no reason at all. horrible, horrible product. RCA should be fined for making this.

There are some major cons to these headphones.

-These headphones are very uncomfortable. They have the look of an over-ear style headphone but the earpeices are too small to fit completely over your ears. They end up pressing your ears flat against your head, which becomes extremely painful when you're wearing these for extended periods of time.

-As the battery drains you find yourself having to adjust the frequency to get rid of static.

-They do not handle bass well. If your listening to music with alot of bass or watching a movie with explosions and such the sound becomes distorted.

-The base has an auto off feature. Your input device's volmue must be turned to the maximum level. If your input volume is not at a high level and you come to a quiet part of a song or movie it may stop transmitting, leaving you with white noise until the sound becomes loud again.

These headphones challenge me--how does one write a review of a product like this without using foul language? These cans have a constant "whistle" in the background. If your source material should stop playing for a minute or so, the sending unit seems to shut down, and the headphones emit a LOUD white noise burst, which will continue until you either shut them off or get the source material playing again. I could possibly ignore the whistle effect while listening to loud, busy music, but the white noise is unacceptable.

... How would I know that these "5 star rated" headphones would be so crappy before I tried them? Now I'm stuck with them--anybody want 'em cheap?