Koss HB60 Infrared Clipon Style Wireless Headphones

Rating:
Summary: Too noisy
Review: I bought this set of headphones after going through 2 sets of RF headphones (advent and AR) for use while working out. My RF phones were both a little bulkier than I'd like while working out, and I eventually had problems with both pairs of them losing reception in the middle of workouts after a few months of use (new batteries didn;t help).

I had heard that IR might be a better choice, as the IR signal would generally hold as long as there was a line of sight to the transmitter. I also thought this would be a good unit as it had a seperate clip-on receiver that I could use with any set of headphones, so I wouldn't have to worry about too much sweat eventually causing a problem with the electronics. I also wanted the ability to use lighter phones more condusive for workouts.

I had read that IR wireless phones were generally similar quality to RF phones, the only drawback being the line of sight limitation.

As soon as I tried these phones, though, I was immediately dissatisifed with the amount of background noise with them. No matter how good of a signal I run to the transmitter (without overloading the input, of course), I couldn't get rid of a very distracting hiss. I don't expect wireless phones to be as good as wired ones, but my RF phones were way quieter (until they lost their signal, of course).

I haven't tried any other IR wireless phones, and after reading some good reviews on other units, I can't believe they all sound this bad. There's the possibility that my unit is bad, but so far no response from Koss support.

Right now, I find them completely unusable. If you like tons of hiss, these are for you.

Rating:
Summary: Infrared wireless works just fine
Review: The best part of the Koss HB60 is that you can plug any standard headphone jack into the infrared receiver. Thus, with the HB60 you can convert any of the headphones that you already own (and love) to wireless usage.

The worst part about the Koss HB60 is the headphone that it comes with. This thing is designed to be clipped onto your ears, and boy, do they hurt after about 5 minutes! These headphones also have a very strong high frequency boost (which seems to be the standard "Koss sound" - headphones for people with high frequency hearing loss). If you have never listened to Koss headphones, you might think that this hissing sound is due to poor infrared transmission. IMHO, Koss should lower the price of the Koss HB60 and just sell it without this bad headphone.

When I plugged my two Sennheiser headphones (HD545 and HD570) into the Koss HB60, they both sounded great! I can't tell that there is much difference between plugging these headphones directly into the computer/player versus plugging into the Koss HB60. There is very little hissing noise with the Sennheiser headphones plugged in as long as the receiving unit is facing the transmitter directly and located less than about 8 feet away or so. Turn the receiver to face another direction and the hissing increases only slightly, as the receiver picks up the reflected signal off the walls of the room. Step out of the room, or go to a part of the room where the transmitter is not sending any infrared beams, and the signal is completely replaced by static.

The Koss HB60 amplifies the input signal quite a bit, about 4-5 times as loud. This is great if your input signal is fairly weak, such as can happen with some cheap CD players or computers. However, because of this high gain, the amplifier of the Koss HB60 will saturate on the louder pieces of music if you set the input signal strength too high. This will sound like bursts of irregular high frequency static coming through. However, if you set the input signal too low, then there is a slight increase in the hissing sound. So you have to adjust the input signal carefully.

The only really annoying thing about the Koss HB60 is that the belt clip is located directly over the cover for the two AAA batteries. This makes it quite tricky to get the batteries in or out. Plus this belt clip is made entirely out of plastic, and will most likely break at some point.

So I took off one star, but otherwise the Koss HB60 is a fine product as long as you understand the inherent limitations of this form of wireless transmission.

I got the Koss HB60 because I wanted to listen to headphones while stringing tennis racquets. I do the stringing in our family computer room, so I can't use the computer speakers most of the time when others are working in the room. The racquet stringing requires some moving around, but mostly I am standing facing in one direction. Thus, I can clip the receiver to the collar of my shirt so that it mostly faces the transmitter. Before, I had plugged the Sennheisers into one of the computers in the same room through an extension cord. This long line was always very messy and easy to step on or get entangled. I ruined at least two of the Sennheiser headphone cords in this fashion by stepping on them and jerking them until they developed an internal break in the wires. Now I can listen to the Sennheisers without worrying about the cord.