Product Description

900MHz RF Wireless transmission, FM stereo sound

Product Details

• Color: Black
• Brand: Sony
• Model: MDRRF970RK
• Dimensions: 9.00" h x 14.00" w x 12.00" l, 3.00 pounds

Features

• 900MHz RF Wireless transmission, FM stereo sound
• Induction charging: not direct pin contact for ease
• Noise Reduction technology to reduce interference
• Neodymium magnets for higher fidelity sound
• Charging time approx 16H; Battery up to 14H

Customer Reviews

Lost my Faith in the Church of Sony
This looks like the most elegant product of its kind at this price tier. Indeed, the design is terrific, and they actually look nice sitting on my entertainment center unused. The problem is that they DON'T WORK.

1. Batteries: the rechargable battery (great idea) was apparently broken before I opened the box - the phones have never held a charge. Powering them with disposable AAA's is an option, but disposable batteries appear to drain 24/7 whether the phones are being used or not. After a month of ownership, and perhaps 15 hours of use, I have fed these phones 4 sets of batteries already.

2. Sound and Signal: As others have noted the sound quality is tinny to begin with. Voices sound ok, but any stereo sound effects are muted. Then there is the static, which is ever-present, unless I turn my head 90 degrees away from the base unit. (Since the base unit is in front of my TV, this makes viewing impossible.) But even if I could tolerate the sound quality, the signal is interrupted every 45-60 seconds by an unpleasant "wonk" sound, like a bicycle horn through a toilet paper tube. All of this is a problem at 15 feet or less. Admittedly, the sound quality does not get any worse as I move away from the base unit. Even on the other side of my house, through 3 walls, I can still "enjoy" these phones, to the limited extent that's possible.

3. Design: While the base unit is attractive, and the earpieces are cozy, the design still leaves a lot to be desired. Most irritatingly, the phones have no "off" switch. Instead, they activate automatically when you pull them over your head, and thereby place tension on the second (inner) head band. I have a really big head, and I have to pull them down almost over my cheeks before the phones will activate. But there is enough tension in the inner band to pull them back up over my ears (where they should be) - at which point they deactivate.

I have always been one of the faithful at the Church of Sony and I stupidly bought these off-the-rack at Best Buy without checking the Amazon reviews. I will never make the same mistake with Sony products again...

If you like noise
I was hoping these would work better than the Sennheiser's have used before. Nice looking, rechargeable, inductive charge, auto-off with the headband, comfortable. But.. the noise level is simply intolerable. There is a level of noise at all times which is very intrusive. With music its not really bad, but with dialog(as in a movie) it is truely horrible. With any quiet passage, the noise increases sharply. Some reviewers(of the 960rk) have suggested that increasing the input signal will improve this. Maybe slightly, but the dynamic range of the headphone circuit is very poor, so clipping and distortion come very quickly. Supposedly there is a noise reduction circuit(compared to the 925), but I can't imagine what it does. The range of 150 ft is a joke-maybe on Mars. Even disregarding the noise issue, they really can't be reliably used more than 4 feet from the based. The engineers involved with this one should be spanked. Doesn't Sony test these things before production? It could also be that the 900 MHz band just isn't a good one for this application. The Sennheisers(RS110) have some interference problems also, but the noise is noticeably less and the sound quality much better.

Something else must be wrong
I had this 970RK for 2-3 years and never have the problems as many complained in the 1-star group - noisy, poor sound quality, short battery life, etc. Each is just opposit to me in a positive way.

I have been using it in a single family house (vs. apartment building) and I always connect it to the LINE OUT of a TV, not the earphone jack, so that I can just mute the TV while listening to the headphone.

It works so well for me that I am going to buy a 2nd set of the same thing so that I can always have a one fully charged waiting there when the another I am using runs out of battery (That is why I am here today).

Hope this helps to tell why the reviewers are so wide spliting here - they may use it in different ways or locations.