Sony MDR-DS3000 Wireless Digital Surround Headphones

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.5 x 9 x 6.2 inches ; 3.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00023C6SE
• Item model number: MDRDS3000
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 19, 2005

Product Description

Cordless Design With 23 Ft Transmission Range & A 90 Transmission Angle Open Air Design Self Adjusting Headband Automatic On/Off Function Headphones Recharge On Base Volume Control On Headphones Muting Function Eliminates Noise Outside Of The Transmission Area Compatible With Dolby Digital Dolby Prologic Ii & Dts Signals Virtual 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Power Saving Feature Turns Infrared Signal Transmission Off After 10 Min Of No Input Signal Easy Connectivity With Digital Optical & Analog Cables Music & Movie Modes* Includes Rechargeable Batteries

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible value. Yes, value, April 23, 2006

By 

Mitch Haile (San Jose, CA and Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sony MDR-DS3000 Wireless Digital Surround Headphones (Electronics)

I've had these headphones for about 3 months and I love them.

I listen to music pretty much constantly while I'm working, and though I have some good speakers in my office, I find I focus better with headphones on. I had gotten tired of wired headphones, as the wire always gets fouled up in the chair.

First, the sound quality is excellent. It's not as good as high end speakers, but these headphones are a lot cheaper than high end speakers. I own about 10 pairs of headphones (don't ask) and these are definitely the best.

In the office with these wireless headphones, I can get up from my chair and wander out of the room without taking off the headphones. My office is about 14x14 ft, and the IR signal covers the entire room. I have never had any drop-outs or other interference while in the office. When I walk out of range, the headphones go silent with a slight hiss.

As other reviews have noted, there is a small quiet hiss when nothing is playing. However, the solution to reduce the hiss is not to crank the volume on the headphones, and instead turn up the amplifier. This works exceptionally well. I have these plugged into the headphone jack of a basic $200 receiver.

The other wonderful thing about these headphones is that there is no on/off switch to manage. Instead, the headphones turn off when the inner band of the headphones has no tension on it--in other words, they turn off when they are not sitting on your head. The band is part of the "self-adjusting" feature, and it really works. You just put the headphones over your head, pull the speakers to your ears, and the headphone band adjusts and the headphones power on. This definitely helps with battery life. I haven't really measured the life of the batteries other than to know I only have to charge every now and then.

Although the headphones contain electronics, batteries, and are somewhat large physically, my head does not get tired of them. The earcups are fabric with some padding rather than leather, so my ears don't sweat nearly as much as they do with other leather earcups. Very nice!

The set comes with an optical cable. The back of the base has an optical input and two RCA plugs. I use a 1/4"-to-two-RCA cable from Radio Shack to connect these to my receiver. The base also has a magnet to assist when placing the headphones on the base for charging--the magnet pulls the earcup with the charge connection to exactly the right spot.

Overall, this product is awesome due to its exceptional engineering. The headphones are expensive--no question--but they are worth the money.


P.S. Another reviewer noted that this product doesn't work with Plasma TVs. I don't know anything about that, but that review made me worried if it would work in a room filled with LCDs--my office has many LCD monitors. The good news is--they work fine. Also, I can sit either facing the base station or facing directly opposite the base station and the signal continues to come in fine.

UPDATE July 2008: I've had these over two years now and have been using them perhaps 12-20 hours a week, depending on the week. I'm still on the original batteries; they still hold several days of charge for me. I recently moved into a larger office (13 x 25 with vaulted ceiling) and the stand sits in a corner and covers all the line-of-sight visible areas of the room. Still very happy with these.

UPDATE Nov 2010: I've had these headphones almost 5 years. They are still my favorite and I am still on the first set of batteries--and I use these a lot!

69 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does not work with Plasma TV!, January 7, 2005

By 

old shakopee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony MDR-DS3000 Wireless Digital Surround Headphones (Electronics)

I bought it 2 weeks ago. As soon as I turned it on after connecting to DVD machine, I got this huge noise. I had to put my headphone very close to the base in order for clean sound. Then I read this one line text in the instruction manual that this system uses infrared and does not work with Plasma TV. Sure enough, as soon as I turned off my plasma tv, the sound became clean. But I bought them mainly for watching movies late at night. Now they are really useless to me. If you have a plasma tv, do not buy this!

The headphones sound pretty mellow. I didn't get enough base when playing Return of the King. And the positioning of the sound is really unclear. The only bright side is when listening to stereo audio source, it sounds very clean and natural.

Auto on/off is nice. Putting back to the base to recharge requires practice. It should have more than one digital connection input.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Minimum Range, Excellent Sound, November 2, 2006

By 

Jason Smith (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony MDR-DS3000 Wireless Digital Surround Headphones (Electronics)

The range on these things is terrible. I suggest putting the receiver up high with nothing blocking its path on any side to maximize the connection; this includes walls, cats, and furniture. That being said, the sound quality is absolutely great. It's like a surround system hooked directly to your brain. Some people complain about a hiss, but that only happens when you're going out of range.