Phone-Accessories Reviews

I bought these headphones and while they fit reasonably comfortably the sound is awful. The mid range is way too high while the bass and treble (especially the bass) are cut out. I'd avoid buying them unless you use them for listening to spoken word of some kind.

I bought these to go jogging with a minidisc player. The fit is terrific: they stayed on my head with no trouble during a two-hour run, and my ears felt no chafing, pinching or any other discomfort at any time. Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor. Unlike the full sound of the headphones that came with my minidisc player, these headphones have a tinny, trebly sound that makes a number of instruments sound shrill (including saxophone, trumpets, and strings) and can make a rich, gutsy voice sound throaty. It's sort of like listening to AM radio. The sound quality is not awful, but it's not good enough for me. I wish I had spent a little more for better sound.

I've owned three pairs so I think I'm qualified to comment. The fact that I've owned that many tells you two things.

First, the plus side. As a runner I've found no better product for staying in place as I bounce through miles and miles of radio play ... I put them on and they stay on without hassle. No, they don't rest snugly and deep in your ear, but they don't need to. Besides, I've found that snug earbud designs on other units are prone to slipping out and off anyway. The sound quality is just fine for my undiscriminating listening.

On the minus side, these don't last long. I've averaged 4-12 months each time for the three I've owned. Granted, I run with them 6 days a week in all kinds of weather. First one ear goes dead, and a month or two later both sides are kaput. The volume slide-control tends to get rusty and sticks, so forget that feature (it's full-on or full-off eventually). Death invariable comes with unconcious tug on cord, fraying a too-weak connection at the slide control. On a more minor note, the foam slip covers for the earbuds pop off sometimes, but these easily slip back on.

Bottom line: can't beat the stay-put-ness of the ear hug design ... but if durability is important, find a different product.

I'm a Sony fanatic. I buy Sony first (save for Bose speakers & iPod stuff). I have a Sony receiver, Sony CD changer, Sony DVD player, Sony Walkman, and on and on and on. This is the single worst Sony product I've ever purchased. It is so bad I challenge Sony to show my one documented photo of a single Sony employee who has ever used the product. First, my Bose noise-cancelling headset doesn't hiss--Sony's claim this is normal is bunk. Second, the endless mass of controls and weirdly assymetrical cords make it almost unusable on the train and ferry. Walking with it is nearly impossible owing to the tangle of wires. The weight of the control box weighs enough to pull th ebuds out of your ears. This may sound picky but if you buy these you'll soon see what I mean. It makes then useless for motion--I can't imagine running in them--which is in part why I bought them. The earbuds don't fit in my ears (I can use the standard iPod buds, but none of the Sony buds fit well).

Did *anyone* at Sony actually try this product before it hit the market? At $100 a pop this product is a rippoff. And as a huge Sony fan I warn fellow consumers--go straight to Bose. (I bought these to compliment the Bose because I thought the in-ear design would be better for my daily commute and walking.)

I got mine 2 weeks ago and here is my report. BOTTOM LINE: with these headphones, noise cancelling is achieved PRIMARILY by good, tight fit (i.e., just get the cheaper non-noise cancelling circuitry type). As it says in the manual, the circuitry only cancels low frequency sounds like AC unit drone. When in use at Starbux, neither voices nor the milk steamer will be cancelled. Based on my senses, Sony has attempted to attack high frequency noises simply by boosting high frequencies of your music (i.e., a big part of the "noise cancelling" relies on INCREASING noises...which can be damaging and also means it is not effective when music is not played through them). In combination, (tight fit, low freq cancel, high freq boost) you get decent isolation at the expense of altered EQ, extremely limited ability to reduce ambient sounds without playing music, and a STEEP retail price. Again, the cheaper in-ear sony phones without the circuitry are a good alternative if you are unwilling to splurge for the Bose. I have had the opportunity to try the twice as expensive Bose unit...NO COMPARISON. The Bose headphones are absolutely amazing. TRUE noise cancellation. They work stunningly and do not rely at all on music being played through them. Don't try them on at a store without having $300 to spare because you won't want to leave without them! I'm still saving up for mine...

If you're looking for maximum noise reduction, go for the over-the-ear headphone. However, I take my laptop and assorted peripherals with me when I fly and I simply don't have room to store full-size headphones in my carry-on computer case. I purchased these earphones during a business trip a couple of weeks ago, and I've found them to be a good alternative. They're small, but deliver good performance for their size

I wasn't too impressed with them when I tried them in the airport, but my first flight with them was in the back of a 757 and I was surprised at the amount of engine and background noise that they cancelled out. They definitely made the flight a more relaxing experience.

A couple of observations:

1. Make sure you get a good snug fit from the earbuds. If they don't fit snugly, the noise cancellation effect is significantly reduced. It may take some experimentation with the 3 different sizes Sony includes.

2. Once you turn the power on, it may take a few seconds for the noise cancellation to reach it's maximum effect.

3. The earphones don't block the sound of your own voice like the over-the-ear headphones do. In fact, they seem to amplify it. (But then, you're normally not conversing with anyone while listening to music or watching the movie.)

All in all, it's a good value for the money if you spend a lot of time on airplanes and don't want the hassle of carrying the bulkier over-the-ear headphones.

I have a set of three Siemens 2.4 GHz phones (my mistake to buy all at once). They have had problems from Day One. I have had to return them to Siemens -- only to get the same problems back. None of their recommended fixes have worked. And worst of all, customer support has been atrocious. I recommend not buying these. I bought two other 2.4 Ghz phones from AT&T, and they have been flawless in the exact same environment.

I run my business from my home as does my wife. We have two teenagers and 4 kids total. I originally bought the 8800 series because I do lots of conference calls and needed a digital duplex speakerphone. This phone offers so much more however. One feature that we didn't know existed but have used constantly since we purchased is the voice announce for caller ID. I can be in the kitchen and the phone rings and then my voice comes on and annouces "The Smiths" from the base station. We answer that one. Or "Caller ID Unknown". Probably a salesman, no need to get up from dinner for that one. It has caller ID based mailbox routing, call barring (to prevent the phone from ringing at all if someone calls who has deliberately blocked their caller ID from being seen), individual phone intercom, 'all house' intercom, and the room monitor with call forwarding works great as well. There are too many features here to learn in one sitting. We have had two problems. Every once in a while the headset on the cordless has a clicking in the background which I believe to be related with some other 2.4 GHZ appliance interference. If you could manually overide the channel selection, I think that would not occur. The other problem has been just finding two more cordless phones. These are hard to find. I would highly recommend this phone.

I've owned the Gigaset 8825 system and 4 8800 cordless phones now for about a year. In general, I'd agree with most of the reviews. It is a great phone system and generally, I really like the features. I have only one big problem. I can't find 3 of my cordless phones. With two teenaged daughters, the phones seem to be popular after school (and into most of the night). The thing is, they seem to forget to put them back in the charger. The standby power on these things is not all that great. The specs say 80 hours, I'd give it a little more than 8. I've replaced the rechargable batteries a few times, but that doesn't seem to help. Usually, I find these things, but for some reason, they are being very illusive. When they have power, the intercom Call All feature lets me find them easily, but when the power is gone, they are small enough to hide in sofa cushions (looked there), under beds (looked there too). I'm about to offer a reward, teens always need money.

While the quality was pretty good, I was distracted by the fact that the output was very little; at full blast, could only hear at normal levels. The earpieces are big and dont seem to be erganomicaly designed for ears. The foam covers were a little helpful for that problem, but fell off very easily, like if you store them in your pocket instead of the carying case, and when the covers are gone, the phones became very annoying to listen through.
I recently bought the panasonic RP-HV152 to replace them and all of the problems of the Koss product were fixed by the Panasonic product. At a similar price range, about four to five dollars, it is a much better suggestion and reccomendation.

While I agree with the other reviewer who said the sound quality on these ear buds is great, I was not able to make these stay in my ears, no matter how hard I tried. On the rare occasion when they did stay, I soon had to remove them because of the pain they caused. The "bud" part that goes into the ear seems overly large, the padding is thin and easily removable, and there is nothing for the ear to grab on to. I am continuing my search for the perfect ear buds....

I've purchased some Koss products in the twenty to fifteen dollar range, and have been surprized by the sound quality, but I was dissapointed by these. I was hoping to use them with my ipod (my apple earbuds are a little blown out), but they are way less powerful than the apple earbuds. I had to turn the volume all the way up just to equal the sound that I got from my apple earbuds at normal volume. And even then, the sound was less full and warm sounding. I immediately converted back to my blown out apple earbuds. These headphones are not terrible, they're good for their price, but I expected greatness. Just go ahead and spend some extra money.

Incredibly poor treble response. Noise cancellation nearly non-existent. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. Mine are going back.

I've used these headphones for many months and like them a lot. I have an MP3 player that needs a boost, as well as my laptop. These headphones provide that volume increase so I can leave my boostaroo headphone amplifier at home. Noise reduction works when on a plane, near a forced-air fireplace, operating machinery, etc. Battery lasts a long time, headphones work when battery is dead (just no boost/canceling). Comfortable, foldable, has a plane adaptor, carrying bag.

When I first purchased these headphone I had my douts. But When I got them, They worked great. Sure they dont compare to the bose headphone but if you want a low price noise canceling headphones go with these ones. Dont worry about what others say these head phones are great. They are also very comfortable and have this adapter to work on airplanes. They also fold up small to take them everywhere. They have been around the world with me, I dont leave them behind. On the plane they block out most the noise to make your long or short flight refreshing and confortable.

I wish I had read the reviews here before buying these headphones. They are very uncomfortable, there is tons of static (even at close range), and they are made of cheap plastic. I bought these for my husband and was so embarrassed afterward because he was trying hard to pretend that they were okay, but I kept seeing him adjust the earpieces and get up to adjust the signal, play with the autotune, etc. He finally admitted that they weren't very good so I gave them a shot and wholeheartedly agreed. We wasted our money, but maybe smart consumers who use the reviews will be spared our fate.

These headphones hurt my ears. They press on the cartiledge in your ears.

I gave these headphones away to a coworker. He used them once and gave them away again! The range is about 100 ft, but vs 2.4Ghz headphones, these breakup with static anytime they feel like it! So the range should be 5ft without breakup. I guarantee if you give these to someone you will find them in a closet one month later!

I bought these headphones so that my girlfriend could watch TV without disturbing me while I'm on the computer, and so that I could watch TV while she's asleep.

They're tight, and I guess they have to be to keep them on your head - the receiver and batteries add weight. The package claims "Soft earpads cushion your head for hours of wearing comfort" but that's simply not true. Hard plastic speaker casing sits right up against your hear with only a thin bit of foam protecting you, no real protection at all. Then a foam donut surrounds the speaker casing and gives the appearance of a lot of cushy foam to protect your ears.

If you wear them just right it's not too bad, but if you have it so that the hard plastic rests on your ears, it can become very irritating.

The sound quality is pretty good. The bass response is good, and it's fun to play video games with. The base plugs in to the headphones and will recharge ni-cad batteries, or they take 2 AAA batteries if you, for some reason, don't want to use the ni-cad batteries. The base and headphones are compact when at rest, just like in the photo.

I'd love to try another pair to see if there's a more comfortable set out there.

Unfortunately, the quality is very bad. I tried it on a variety of cordless and cel phones w/ 2.5 mm jacks, and it sounded terribly TINNY on all of them -- including a recently purchased Panasonic desk phone with a 2.5 mm jack. I recommend staying away from this item. The folding idea is a nice one and worth looking for in other models, but the overall sound quality of this particular headset is terrible.

I paid a high price for this ($30), and after about 9 months of use, I started having problems with people not hearing me AT ALL! I thought it was the line or the phone, but after I changed that (I am looking for a better cordless), it immediately became clear the problem was with the headset. No wonder warranty is only for 90 days. I guess they do not expect them to last longer.

Having just bought a Panasonic cordless phone TGA 2224, which has much inferior sound to GE 27998GE6, I am disillusioned with Panasonic.

Why can't they make good electronics? So that we have to keep on buying them?

Everyone seems to be recommending the TCA 60, which is much cheaper.

A feature I found on a RadioShack one HS-1958, which would be nice to see elsewhere, is a gooseneck arm for the microphone, which allows you to better adjust the distance from your face without having to move it up, which prevents you from being heard.

This is the best headset I have ever owned. The voice is clear and it has mute button. This fits on my home phone and cell phone--which is incredible! The headset for my cell phone is one of those stupid fit in the ear jobs that just fall out, are uncomfortable, dorky looking while you talk into a wire, etc. None are really that good. This one is great if you can just get past the air traffic controller look. I have! Remember, it never falls off or out, you are always heard, and you always hear your party, there is never a security or clarity issue....Top of the line!!!

While Panasonic is consistently the most highly recommended cordless phone by electronics salespeople, this is my THIRD failure with Panasonic. While I have few problems with the corded wall mount unit, the handset has not held a charge for more than a 10 minute conversation after approximately 3 months old (after the store warrantee expired) and I am unable to say more than 'hello' on it now, before it dies out now. I have returned the phone once within the store warrantee and I have replaced the batteries twice in 2 years, which are hard to find and costly. Panasonic customer service has been neither helpful nor sympathetic to my problem. I am now researching a variety of less 'recommended' cordless phones...

I thought I was getting a bargain by purchasing this, because it included the cordless handset as well as the base unit. Boy, was I wrong. I've had this phone for about a year, and I've replaced the battery twice already. Even with a brand-new battery, the handset is only good for about 45 minutes before it needs to be recharged. A big waste of money.

I'm buying this phone to replace my Sony SPP-A2480 (GREAT PHONE!! NO PROBLEMS! Just broke it) Well I bought this phone today and I plan on returning it tomarrow! It does sound GREAT!! But there are things that bother me about it to much to keep.

1. You can't add numbers to the Directory from the base you have to use the cordless.

2. BAD menu layout kind of confusing at first.

3. Time it takes for the cordless to access the CID and the directory. Not real long just annyoing.

4. You can't scan a call from the cordless.

5.It has features nothing that makes it stand out from others! not worth the price. Most of them are kind of useless (turning off the speaker on the answering machine or setting up how many numbers the caller ID displays) or not something the average person would use (setting Thee flash length or setting the line mode..anyone know what that means?)

In all I'm VERY disapointed in this phone So I'll be out to find another one tomarrow! Make sure you keep your reciept if you buy this phone. Looks good on the outside but it's kind of rotten when you bite into it.

The only use I have found for these headphones is to use them directly in front of the TV. Even then the sound is extremely poor. Any sharp noises like clapping or drums comes out as static. I have to fiddle with the tuning constantly to keep the static down, and that's without moving around. If you position yourself just right, have the tuning just right, they are almost usable. Don't even think about using these for music as that experince would be painful with these headphones. I also cannot use these in most parts of the house as they tend to pick up noise from Fluorescent lights and cordless telephones quite easily. Do not waste your money on these, as they are not worth it even if they were free.

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but all I wanted them for was to sit at my desk in studio since strereos, or out loud playing of music, is against policy. I figured these would get the job done and wasn't expecting much. WOW, was I suprised! I love my music and I got much better sound quality than I expected for the money I spent. However, like all inexpensive product, the Jensen Wireless Headphones takes a while to tune into the right frequency and requires very fine tuning across a very wide band to get superior sound quality. If you want to save the money and get these, be prepared to have patience before enjoying at full potential. I give it 4 stars!

I received these as a gift. I believe that they retail for 50$ (less on line here). I don't understand why most people hate these so much. Sound quality is great for something this inexpensive. The reception does fade sometimes but, so what?!? They're on your head! How hard can it be to retune them? Since they are a 900Mgz product I would imagine that they won't work well if your cordless phone also works on 900Mhz (unless of course you want to easedrop on someone).
They are fairly comfortable I like that they are "right on top of your ears". Would be nice if they where adjustable headband. The only "issue" that one might have is the fact that they don't have a lot of bass Spec is 40hz and the high end only goes to 16 khz. Highs do get somewhat "hissy". But I doubt that you could beat them for the money.

After spending hundreds of dollars on this phone system, I'm in the market again. What a waste of time and money.

The number 1 on the keypad stops working. And it does so right after the warranty expires. I have 4 handsets, had to replace 2 (about $80 each after warranty), now I need to replace the other two, plus one of the replacements started doing the same (after the 90 days warranty. Otherwise (when it works) a decent system, way better sound and range than Siemens. Draw your own conclusions.

The phone system has alot of features but in year two I began to get complaints that callers could not hear us. We have four of the handsets around the house. We've never been able to get intelligent assistance from panasonic to help diagnose the problem. I don't know whether to replace the battery (although the batteries recharge as they are supposed to) or whether the handsets are simply failing or whether the problem is interference.

Not a great phone for family use...better for business situations. For family use, it drives the children crazy that they can't simply pick up an extension when another family member has answered the phone elsewhere and the call is for them. They have to learn how to hit the transfer button AND which extension number to transfer to (which is problematic since the cordless phones float around the house!!).