I loved the concept of BlueTooth headphones. Unfettered by a cable, I could move freely around the house while listening to my favorite alternative 80's music (check out FirstWave on Sirius/XM !!!). My two kids get supremely irritated when Dad busts a move while listening to Depeche Mode … and being able to annoy them silently via wireless headphones seemed too good to be true.
So when Sennheiser asked me to review their new PX210 BT headphones, I jumped at the chance. In summary – for music (VERY GOOD) – for videos and movies (POOR) – documentation (the worst for any tech product I've ever seen). Let's get to the good stuff first. The Sennheiser PX210 BT wireless headphones are comfortable and lightweight. They fold up into a small kit for travel and hold a long charge – 10-12 hours of use. Connecting them to my MacBook Pro was somewhat simple — after I decided to ignore the manual — and initial sound quality was passable. Using iTunes, I tweaked the equalizer settings to boost the bass and this made a huge difference. Now unconnected by a cable, I was able to work on my Robot moves almost 30 feet away from the MacBook Pro.
When I tried to watch a music video (Blotto's – I Want to be a Lifeguard), the limitations of BlueTooth became apparent. The audio was delayed by a few seconds which made viewing very frustrating.
The user manual, however, was unbelievably bad. It was almost 100 pages and contained instructions in over a dozen languages — I had no idea that Sanskrit is still spoken. Of the 100 pages, only 2 – that's right 2 – pertained to actually using the product. Worse yet, these two pages featured miniscule drawings with limited text. The documentation was so bad that even the mini-drawings were incorrect. There was a small button on the right earphone that glowed BLUE when pressed. The manual made no reference to it at all but after some repeated testing, I figured out that you could switch the BlueTooth network on/off by toggling this button. Clearly, the user manual went to press before the product was completed.
Overall, I'd appreciate these headphones for Father's Day but at at suggested retail price of $299, I can wait until they show up discounted on Spoofee for under $100.