Isn’t it annoying when you want to watch TV and someone in the house yells at you to turn it down? Maybe you want to game while a baby is napping in the room, or have hearing difficulties and need the volume to be at a level you can comfortably hear, but your partner complains it’s too loud. I watch TV late at night, so I turn down the volume and even use closed captions so as not to disturb others. This means I miss out on details, whether it’s a booming action scene in a show like Paradise that loses some luster or a whisper-quiet conversation in an episode of Survivor that the in-show captions don’t pick up. There are solutions, of course, the most obvious being to pop on a pair of headphones and connect them to your TV via Bluetooth.
Sennheiser’s RS 275 TV Headphones Bundle is a cut above a standard Bluetooth connection for a few reasons. It includes the RS 275 headphones, a stand, BTA1 Bluetooth transmitter, and necessary cables. You get customizable personal sound as well as Auracast support, so others can listen, too, both through the TV’s speakers at a lower volume and/or other Auracast headphones. Plus, you can choose from various sound settings to enhance the experience. For the last month, these have become my go-to late-night TV watching headphones, and I absolutely love them.
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Customize the sound
A step up in audio quality
Of course, there’s nothing groundbreaking about watching TV with headphones. You can pair any headphones with a TV that has Bluetooth and watch, even enjoy through both your headphones and the TV via dual-audio or multi-output audio. Some offer independently controllable volume. But the Sennheiser RS 275 TV headphones are different for a few reasons. You can access different sound modes, both from buttons on the transmitter itself and via the companion Sennheiser SmartControl+ app. There’s 3D, which offers virtual surround sound, great for action movies and video games. Select Speech for clearer voices if you’re watching content like reality TV shows, sitcoms, or the news. Plus, combines the two, great for when you want to hear a nice balance, like with sports or dramas with equal parts action and dialogue-driven moments.
The sound quality is great, each mode offers distinct advantages. Whether I was watching a high-action show like The Night Agent, a reality guilty TV pleasure like Love is Blind or a dialogue-driven show like The Pitt, I can choose the appropriate sound mode so it sounds great. While I found that volume maxes out at a lower level than some people might like, especially if you have hearing difficulties (yes, this is even without the volume limiting feature turned off), these headphones are an excellent solution for those who want to enjoy an immersive experience without disturbing others.
Auracast adds convenience
Everyone can listen
The inclusion of Auracast, the latest iteration of Bluetooth, makes it easy to share audio from a single source to an unlimited number of private listeners. You might be familiar with it from places like gyms where everyone gets a headset to listen to a trainer or museums with headsets for a guided tour. With Auracast in your home, you can listen through these headphones at the volume you want while someone else listens through another pair of Auracast-enabled headphones or portable speakers, regardless of brand. In fact, Sennheiser sells the BTA1 transmitter on its own if you don’t want the headphones and stand, too. I watched some YouTube videos with my son while I was wearing the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds, which also support Auracast, and he listened through the RS 275 headphones, and it works flawlessly.
With this setup, everyone can listen to the same source together at a volume they like. If Grandpa is hard of hearing but keeping the TV so loud bothers Grandma, he can wear these headphones while she listens at a more respectable volume from the TV speakers or using her own pair of Auracast headphones.
Who should get this setup?
There are plenty of use cases
I watch a lot of TV at night because I’m an entertainment writer who reviews TV shows, but there are lots of people who love to binge-watch in the late-night hours. It might be to watch something to help fall asleep once the kids go to bed, due to shift work, or if you’re just a night owl by preference. For people like me who live in a smaller house with thin walls, if you’re in a condo or apartment, or want to watch in a room where it might disturb a sleeping baby, partner, or roommate, these headphones are a viable solution. You can accomplish the same thing with the Sonos Ace headphones, which have the TV Audio Swap feature, it should be mentioned. But along with requiring a compatible Sonos soundbar, they don’t have Auracast, so you’re limited to just two pairs.
Another obvious candidate for these headphones and transmitter is those who are hard of hearing. You can sit back and relax with the TV at the volume you want, even if others are in the room listening as well, at a lower volume. It’s great, especially if you have difficulty hearing dialogue on your smart TV. If you want to capture every nuance, and you don’t yet have a surround sound system, you’ll enjoy a more immersive experience with these headphones than with the TV’s built-in speaker as well. I caught minor details in scenes I otherwise wouldn’t have.
It’s pretty good value
You get a lot for less
While, as noted, you could buy the BTA1 transmitter on its own and connect your own headphones, Sennheiser’s RS 275 headphones sound great. They aren’t the most stylish-looking headphones, but they’re designed to be TV headphones that sit by your display. Speaking of which, I love that the bundle includes the stand that has a convenient spot on the base for the transmitter and a hole to run the cables through the back.
I appreciate that you can connect other Auracast-enabled headphones to the same transmitter. Though the selection is limited, more and more audio products are coming to market with Auracast support, like the new Sony WF-1000XM6 wireless earbuds and the JBL Flip 7 portable Bluetooth speaker. But this set is so reasonably priced considering everything you get; it’s a great deal. These are among the best wireless headphones for watching TV, a TV lover’s and late-night TV watcher’s dream set for private listening.
