Home > Consumer Reviews > Koss HB70 Streetstyle Cordless Infrared Headphone System

I have never tried other wireless headphones, so I did not know what to expect. These headphones will only work in the room where the base is...that is not too much of a problem because I use them to watch movies when others in the house need quiet, but the amount of hiss and noise is quite distracting. No matter how I fiddled with the volume of the unit and the volume of the surround sound system I could still hear it.
One other thing that may be purely personal: I usually am reclining on the sofa when I watch the movies, with my head propped on pillows--these headphones have a "behind the head" design that is much less comfortable when you are laying back.
The only really good thing for me was the price, but I would be willing to pay more to solve these problems.

I purchased both the Koss HB60 & HB70 infrared headphones from Amazon 2 weeks ago & am haapy with both for different reasons.

Both use the same transmitter which was a breeze to hook up and compatible with both receivers of course.

The HB70 phones hold 1 AAA battery in each earpiece and are thus heavier on the head, while the HB60 allows us to plug in any headphone into their portable receiver containg 2 AAAs.

The HB70 headphones give an immediately noticeable better bass response with specs giving a range of 30-15000 Hz while the supplied HB60 clip-ons give a response of 50-15000 Hz and sound more 'tinny'. The reception and separation was very good for the price at about 15-20 feet and there was only a very small background hiss with both when the volume was turned down too low. For the HB70 the volume control is on the right earpiece while the control is on the receiver on the HB60. Just remember not to turn the source volume up too much or the bass sounds start to break up at high saturation levels at the transmitter end.

Convenience wise the HB70 has the advantage of no wires dangling, while the HB60 allows us to swop for a better pair of phones than the one supplied which are not very good. Remember to choose one with a low impedance though (quoted imp is 10000) or you would drain your batteries very quickly.

Overall, both good buys for different reasons but once the sponge earpieces on th HB70 wear off/disintegrate, I don't know where to get replacements while I can just buy new phones with the HB60. Alternatively, buy the HB70 and replace with any infrared headphone when it wears out, if the transmitter is still working.

When I bought the headphone, it seemed the best option: light, cheap, good brand.
But using it was kind of disapointing. Even at 3,4 feet away you hear a background squeaking.
When I had to get new batteries (after 2 months of far-less-than-intense use) I broke the little piece of plastic that holds the battery cover.
I am still using (I got used to the squeaking), but as soon as I have a chance I will look for something better.

UPDATE (02/01/06): I've lost my patience. It went to garbage. Spend more money and buy something better.

I got these to use for my office and they turned out to be worse than useless. In order for them to work, you have to plug in the sending unit which needs to be fairly close to your radio. Unfortunately, with my preferred station, the noise generated by the power supply completely overwhelms the signal so these headphones are totally useless. Even when playing a CD the sound quality is terrible. I'm better off just turning it way down and living with it. I would suggest looking elsewhere for cordless headphones.

This is the 1st set of cordless speakers I've tried. I was warned about about IR vs radio frequency technology. I should have listened to the advice. RF is much better than IR.
I would not recommend these headphones