These Sennheiser TV headphones might’ve stopped my partner and neighbors from killing me — here’s how

The Sennheiser RS 275 are a pair of TV headphones, designed to let you enjoy movies, TV and multimedia without bothering family, roommates or neighbors. I’m an avid LOTR fan, and I regularly re-binge the Extended Editions, often taking me late into the night. I’ll usually get an angry, volume-related text from my wife upstairs at about 1am — just as the Rohirrim launch their awe-inspiring, tear-jerking charge into the fray on Pelennor Fields. So the RS 275 are, on paper at least, right up my street.

After a few weeks of testing, I’m happy to say these are a wonderful addition to my lounge setup. They’re not perfect, lacking the soundstage and subbiness of a proper surround system or soundbar. Their passive noise cancellation, meanwhile, isn’t the best, and they’re pricey in the U.S.

However, the sound quality is generally excellent, with a bright treble to bring out fine details, a clear mid-range for vocals, tidy bass, plus strong stereo imaging. There’s a wealth of connectivity and customization options, too.

Are these the best headphones for TV? Find out more in my full Sennheiser RS 275 review.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Specs

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Price & availability

Unfortunately, the Sennheiser RS 275 headphones ain’t cheap. In the U.S., they cost $299 from Amazon, while in the U.K. they’re a slightly more palatable £219 from Richer Sounds. That’s about the cost of a cheap soundbar, so if these will be your only audio output aside from a TV speaker (if you live in a dorm or something), I think that’s a reasonable price.

However, if you already have, want, or need a soundbar or speaker system, the RS 275 will be a secondary purchase. And that makes the $299 MSRP a little trickier to justify. I suppose the ‘cost:benefit’ analysis will depend on how much flak you’re getting for watching TV, and how often.

Thankfully, you’re not stuck for cheaper alternatives. The older Sennheiser RS 175 ($349) are regularly on sale for as little as $139. Then there’s the $159 Sennheiser RS 120-W, which are often reduced to the $100 mark.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Design

The RS 275 look like typical Sennheiser cans: jet black, understated but obviously high quality. The plastics feel premium; the headband is (mostly) nice and squishy; while the earcups are thick and padded, yet lightweight and breathable. I tested the RS 275 during a heatwave here in the U.K., with some extremely humid nights, and my ears never got sweaty. The headset is also super lightweight, so it never fatigued my neck.

My only issue, comfort-wise, is that the squishy headband padding doesn’t extend that far down the band itself. The last two inches have no padding. I didn’t have an issue, but I can see it being a problem for different head shapes.

Included is a headphone stand, which doubles as a platform and cable-tidy for the wireless transmitter. It helps keep my TV cabinet tidy, so I’m a big fan.

Controls

The RS 275 offer a few different control options. There are the on-ear controls for power and volume, plus sound mode and source controls on the transmitter. They’re all pretty self-explanatory and easy to get to grips with. Everything can also be controlled via the Sennheiser smartphone app, though, which I’ll cover below.

Connectivity

The RS 275 feature four connection methods to your TV: Bluetooth, optical, USB and HDMI. You’ll want at least USB or HDMI connected, as these power the transmitter. You can hook up via Bluetooth directly to your TV, but I’d advise using the transmitter as it enables higher quality codecs, including aptX, aptX Adaptive, PCM/LC3 and AC3 (Dolby Digital).

The transmitter uses Bluetooth version 5.4 and features Auracast, so you can hook up multiple Auracast-compatible Bluetooth devices and hear the same audio stream. That means you can watch movies with friends and family, yet still not wake the neighbors.

I mostly used the optical and USB connections. There won’t be a huge difference between any of the wired connections, really — by the time the signal reaches your ears via the transmitter using, say, the lossy AC3/Dolby Digital codec, it’s no longer high-res anyway regardless of how it came out of the TV or Blu-ray player. Note that optical is prone to timing issues, especially when scrubbing forward or back through a Blu-ray (the app has a feature to help with this).

The headphones also have two-device multipoint connectivity, so you can hook up to your phone and TV and switch quickly between the two to take a call.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Sound quality

As these are TV headphones, I primarily tested the Sennheiser RS 275 by watching “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Black Hawk Down (Extended Version)” on 4K Blu-ray. I also streamed “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)” on Amazon Prime TV, and “I Will Find You” on Netflix.

Movies

The RS 275 won’t compete with a surround system or one of the best soundbars, but that’s not to say they don’t sound good. The sound is really clean, with expansive treble and tons of mid-range clarity that brought out details I’d never heard, even in my most familiar movies.

In “Black Hawk Down” I’ve never before heard Mo Alim’s voice so perfectly distorted and crackly as he shouts through a megaphone in the early massacre scene. It was like I was in the room with Atto in the interrogation scene — his cigar pack ripping and match striking, then the metallic door latch clanking as the general entered.

There’s so much clarity that, weirdly, you start hearing things you don’t want to hear — in the Atto scene above, the effects sounded hyperrealistic to a fault, giving away that they’re actually quite obviously foley.

Vocals sound great, too. Even in noisier scenes throughout “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “Black Hawk Down”, I was never struggling to hear what any characters said.

Bass was fairly nice and well-textured in musical elements, although the headphones lack sub-bass response, sapping impact from heavy sound effects like explosions and aircraft in “Top Gun Maverick” and “Black Hawk Down”. Still, these are headphones, so you can’t expect the power delivery down low that you’d get from a subwoofer.

Separation is really strong. In the “Top Gun Maverick” opening scene, I could hear the clanking of machinery amidst the sound of engines and the “Danger Zone” soundtrack. Stereo imaging is solid, too. In “Black Hawk Down”, I could hear voices on each side in the busy Mogadishu marketplace, and in a scene with two choppers, I could distinctly hear the lighter Little Bird blades in my left ear, with the slower Black Hawk thrum in my right.

Admittedly, the RS 275’s soundstage isn’t that wide — expected given these are closed-back headphones. On the other hand, the closed-back sound gave a level of intimacy that I really enjoyed in certain scenes. I felt like I was inside Maverick’s helmet as he spoke to his colleagues over radio: the sound of his voice muted by his own helmet, with his colleague’s walkie-talkied voice piping in over the radio.

TV

In “I Will Find You” on Netflix, vocals were unfailingly clear, even whispered tones, while that bright treble shone again for gentler effects like handcuffs clanking. Here, too, I relished that closed-back intimacy — when the main characters were talking through a prison phone, for example, it sounded like I was in the visitor’s booth with them.

Admittedly, without the sheer loudness of movie effects and scores, I began to have trouble with passive noise cancellation, or a lack thereof. I could hear the radio in my kitchen playing, as well as road noise from outside my house, breaking the immersion.

Audio modes

The RS 275 have three modes: 3D for surround sound; Speech for vocal priority; and Plus, which combines the first two. Honestly, I didn’t find much use for them. Speech and 3D mostly resulted in a tinny, compressed sound. Plus mode, meanwhile, just sounded like listening underwater. I can see Speech being useful in situations where vocal audio is just terribly mastered, but in everything I watched, the RS 275’s default tuning was good enough.

Mileage will probably vary depending on how an individual film or TV’s audio is mastered, but honestly, the default mode sounds good enough to just forget the gimmicks.

Music

Although they’re primarily intended as TV headphones, the RS 275 headset is actually a pair of HDR 275 headphones. That means they double up as music cans, and it’s nice to know you can pick them up for a few tunes between movies.

I tested with my usual playlist on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for audiophiles, and was pretty impressed. It’s the same story as above: a clean mid-range and airy treble, highlighting vocals and percussion; warm, refined bass; plus decent stereo imaging.

Listen along to my audio testing playlist on Qobuz.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Call quality

The Sennheiser RS 275 can be used like a traditional set of headphones. This means they have a microphone for calls. Unfortunately, it’s not the best, and my voice sounded quiet and tinny. However, I can’t knock too many points off here, as these are primarily intended to be used for movies and TV, which you’d want to pause for a call anyway — so you can just use your phone’s built-in mic.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: App

The RS 275 pair up to the Sennheiser SmartControlPlus smartphone app, which connects over Bluetooth (regardless of how the headset is connected to your TV). The app is pretty slick, and gives you full control over using and updating the RS 275. It’s the only way to fully control the RS 275, so I have no choice but to recommend using it — but thankfully, it’s great.

I found the app particularly useful for switching between connectivity channels to get the best sound for whatever media I was watching, checking which codecs were in use on-the-fly, and tweaking audio delay for sound/video sync issues over optical connection.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Battery life

The RS 275 offer up to 50 hours of playback, according to Sennheiser. And I have no reason to doubt that. After watching two movies and most of a TV season, I still had 70% charge left, which was very impressive.

When you do need to charge them, using the USB-C port on the transmitter will recharge the headphones fully in just 2 hours, which is pretty quick. Realistically, if you stay on top of juicing them, you shouldn’t experience much downtime at all.

Sennheiser RS 275 review: Verdict

As I mentioned above, as a night owl and a movie lover, I am the RS 275’s target audience. As a tech reviewer by profession, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know TV headphones were a thing, and so never knew I needed them. But I’m not sure I can go back now.

The RS 275 aren’t perfect. They’re pricey, they lack the bass and width of a proper sound system, and their passive noise reduction isn’t the best. However, place them in context, and none of that really matters. They’re designed to circumvent loudspeaker systems, so you can’t blame them for lacking the attributes of a subwoofer or Atmos setup. And realistically, they’re intended for use at night when it’s quiet.

But used as intended, the RS 275 are excellent, with clean sound, strong separation, decent stereo imaging, great comfort, plus a wealth of control and connectivity options. These ones are staying on my TV cabinet for good.