Good Quality, but not worth the price tag. (AKG Hearo 999 Audiosphere)

Member Name: Joenhre

Product:	AKG Hearo 999 Audiosphere
Date:	03/02/08 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good sound and solid construction.

Disadvantages: Short battery life,annoying tone/beep,and distance could be better.

Pros
Solid construction

Choice of two different types of ear pads.

Good quality surround sound.

No drop outs within 30' of the transmitter.

Cons
Battery life is terrible.I get only 2-3 hours with good quality fresh fully charged 1200MA AAA NIMH batteries with the volume set at about 50-60%.

Annoying beep when there is no sound being sent to the receiver. The beep is useless and wastes more power than if they would stay silent,when no signal is present, like normal headphones.

Distance is ok , but should be better.I'd say when you're more than 30' away from the transmitter you start to lose signal especially if you're moving around.


In conclusion, these headphones are high quality and there really aren't many alternatives out there.However, considering the cons I listed and the price tag,I think if I were to do it again I might go with something different,but like I said there aren't many alternatives.The Dolby Digital wireless headphone market is really weak.
These things originally went for $1200,which is just insane.Today most places are selling them for between $700-$800.I was lucky to find a place that was offering them for $450 shipped,but I still think I paid too much for them.

I wish I could test out the newer AKG Hearo 787 Surround headphones,but for some reason they are not available for purchase here in the US.This is really disappointing because the only other quality digital wireless headphones available here, either use the 2.4ghz band (why use the same band as most wireless networks and many cordless phones ?) or infrared, which is a complete joke because the distance is very limited.

If someone took the Hearo 999 design, eliminated the stupid beep, replaced the the two AAAs with two AAs or four AAAs and increased the power of the transmitter,then I would definitely pay the $700 price tag.

Summary: These things could be perfect with a couple design adjustments.

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