Analog RF wireless audio - Better than Bluetooth?

[@cwh050]

I have a pair of old Sony wireless headphones. If I switch the base off, the headphones lock onto my neighbour’s base and I can listen in to what he’s watching (he has his connected to the TV). Even though he’s in his 80’s, he and his wife like to watch some of the more risqué late night programming.

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

Yep those days were fun

[@stealth210]

"If you're old enough to be interested in this stuff, you probably can't hear it anyway" -- personally attacked😄

[@CasualSpud]

What did he say? 🤡

[@netsparro1989]

Did you say : "you're cold enough" ?

[@Charlesb88]

Why would I care if I can’t shear a stiff? 🦻

[@Natfromtheinternet]

lol, well I'm only 18, and I'm interested in this kind of stuff, I personally can hear the tone tho is very faint not something that would be too much of a bother unless your source audio level is very low

[@gevelegian]

@@Natfromtheinternet Thank you young man for giving us the experience of what is like to be young. I wish this generation all the best and will do my best to see that you can make it!

[@SockyNoob]

I love how both Techmoan and VWestlife have groovy music when peeling off plastic.

[@Fluteboy]

ＰＥＥＬ　ＩＴ　ＳＬＯＷＥＲ

[@LapisandHamtarolover]

Matt Techmoan: 'Oh yeah, that's it, take it off!'

[@sf-dn8rh]

oddity Archive started using music as well for plastic peel off

[@segarallychampionship702]

4:05 honestly, i would prefer static to complete dropouts or just messed up audio

[@jacob1121]

Don't you just love it when too many people are using their Bluetooth headsets on the bus and you get random dropouts, great design!

[@hectormiguelperezgomez6612]

At least with static you can still listen to the audio and at least I would prefer that. The same with TV, with analog TV you could still watch it and now with digital it's watchable or not, it's of better quality but I would sacrifice that.

[@kassemir]

@@jacob1121 I don't ride the bus, so I never thought about that. It's almost like wired headphones are better. But, guess they gotta make that dongle money, so who cares about all of that.

[@vaughanwarburton9623]

I got given a cheep Chinese mp3 player with but in Bluetooth I connected it to my cheep wireless Bluetooth headphones and was astonished at the range 😅 it was around 4 inches 😂 when mowing the lawn I have to keep the player under my hat that way I get a fair signal 😂

[@stitchfinger7678]

​@@kassemirBluetooth is literally from before it was common for phones to have non-proprietary headphones sockets.

[@marios.k239]

16:48 I'm only 17! Just really interested in old and obscure technology. This is one of my favourite chanels on this platform, along with Techmoan and Technology Connections. Awesome and interesting content as always!

[@erendemiral4467]

I'm actually 17 too.

[@jub8891]

could you hear the pilot tone?

[@marios.k239]

@@jub8891 KZbin cuts out anything above 15khz. Last time i tried i could hear up to about 17khz, so i probably wouldn't be able to.

[@sethcampbellmusic]

I’m a bit older by a few years and I’m the same way. This stuff is fascinating.

[@jamesdye4603]

Good to know not all young people scoff at old tech. I predate the Apollo 11 launch by three years.

[@BigCar2]

My experience of these things in the day was awful audio quality. I'm guessing today we don't have anything else analog competing on the 900Mhz band.

[@Techlifeandmore]

Maybe still if you're in an urban environment but yeah cordless phones have largely gone away. These days there really isn't a lot of constantly transmitting stuff that uses this band, we still have the Z-Wave and Lora wireless technologies which both are pretty popular actually but they only transmit data periodically. Nowadays it's mainly the 2.4 GHz band but that's actually where digital is good because it can ignore interference easier.

[@fungo6631]

Don't cell phones have a 900 MHz band?

[@Techlifeandmore]

@@fungo6631 I believe that cell phones and cellular networks use the 868 MHz band in the United States.

[@charlie_nolan]

@@fungo6631yes, but different frequencies

[@charlie_nolan]

Mostly, because there’s so much digital in 900 MHz now so it would probably add all sorts of annoying noises into analog 900 MHz devices. Also, anything analog in 900 MHz needs to transmit at least 500 kHz bandwidth, so that doesn’t help for interference.

[@joshm264]

We've unlocked new parts of the house!

[@sweet750-sc1rr]

I feel so privileged!

[@rynair_winklair]

Please tell me im not the only one that laughed when seeing that his car is a VW

[@applescruff1969]

​@@rynair_winklair Why would one laugh at that?

[@rynair_winklair]

@@applescruff1969 because of his channel name

[@shellac4682]

Excellent posting and you're correct about the sound. There's an even earlier wireless precedent: in the 40's they manufactured record players that could transmit the signal to the AM band of a radio, not unlike the FM transmitters that were around for a while (and maybe still are) and required you to tune to a certain frequency.

[@jamesslick4790]

There are still (88-108 Mhz Broadcast band) FM transmitters around. I got one off of Amazon last year to use in a 1977 Buick with a factory AM/FM Stereo radio with no cassette deck (and obviously no "AUX" jack...). My desire is to keep it all stock. The transmitter is tiny and has a built-in 3.5mm cord. I use it with an Mp3 player. Works good!

[@MrDuncl]

Some of the 1980s Sony record decks sold in Japan had built in FM stereo transmitters. Illegal in the U.K. back then though. It wasn't until the iPod became popular that they finally allowed very low power transmitters.

[@SuperDerek]

Every time that music kicked in, I was taken back to "Classic Game Room" videos from 10 years ago! xD

[@carltonleboss]

True

[@gabesyt4863]

im glad someone else caught that lol

[@Fuzy2K]

"Is a tree as much of a tree when I don't have a Sega Saturn?"

[@mumboking]

I was expecting it to transition into "Flock Of Cowboys"

[@shmehfleh3115]

I miss CGR. It was the Vectrex's greatest champion.

[@cerealfamine1]

1:53 nobody beats the Wiz! Seinfeld memory unlocked.

[@Controllerhead]

Ain't nobody gonna beat the Wiz!

[@toastangler]

Whenever I was a teenager and cordless phones were in the 900mhz range, I could hear my neighbors conversations on my World Band radio. It was fun 😂

[@dstroma]

Houses in my neighborhood were a little spread out so I didn't hear many but I will never forget the conversation I heard where the dad was scolding a young girl about not giving him a phone message. "Do so and so call today?" "Yes" "Did you tell me he called?" "No" "When people call for me you have to tell me!"

[@fungo6631]

That radio was of shitty quality. I imagine the audio quality too (unless they used AM). I have a 1970s West German radio with shortwave and it doesn't suffer from the same interference out of the shortwave band.

[@toastangler]

@@fungo6631, It was in the mid 90's. I was 14 years old. I wasn't really concerned with the quality of the second hand world band radio that was gifted to me by my dad. I just thought it was neat that I could hear voices in other languages, and pick up cordless phones 😀

[@toastangler]

@@dstroma, the first convo I heard... was my neighbor (we were the same age. 14) asking his friend "Are you going to the pool today?" His friend answers "no" Then he responds with "F@#k you, then!" 😆😆😆

[@fungo6631]

@@toastangler Understandable.

[@saxman112]

Heh, love the callback to that “Lincs FM 10-s**t.2” jingle blooper at 17:07! I did a double take when I heard it!

[@lenbeedle]

I had the more basic version of this exact unit. I didn't have the speakers. I used it to transmit music from tape out on the upstairs stereo to the aux in of the downstairs one. I actually soldered a 4.5 volt adapter to give the receiver permanent power. It sounded amazing for its time.

[@xaenon]

Yes! I did something very similar! Mine wasn't a Recoton product, though. Some offbrand;... Tozai? I think?

[@JustPeasant]

In the '80s, the digital watches were the rage. 2009 to 2016, 3D cinemas were the fad. In the current year, everything is a subscription service: from your car, video games (live service games), music, tv shows, movies (streaming) to scrotum trimmers and everything in between (no pun intended). So far, 2020s suck.

[@jamesdye4603]

Welcome to the age of not actually owning what you buy.

[@JustPeasant]

@@jamesdye4603 Quite so...

[@vhfgamer]

@@jamesdye4603 AKA... socialism

[@JustPeasant]

@@jamesdye4603 Indeed.

[@stitchfinger7678]

I wouldn't actually call everything being a subscription a fad because literally nobody but billionaires thinks it's any good

[@CARLiCON]

I still have the JVC version of this from the 90s, essentially the same thing but with bigger better speakers. I bought them to use for adding a pair of rear surround speakers without having to deal with cables. Still works great!

[@jonwheal]

That Lincs FM jingle is hilarious. RIP Lincs FM - now yet another relay of Hits Radio.

[@Geferulf_TAS]

REAL analog digital.

[@shortcat]

what is the fake one?

[@robertoXCX]

What's next, digital analog?

[@vertujoe2886]

like this comment as much as my black and white color TV.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

​@@robertoXCXYes.

[@coen123]

@@shortcat the one that doesn't make you feel mighty real

[@greatquux]

YES, a DAK catalog!!!! Oh man, you’ve opened the can of worms. I need reviews on everything you can get your hands on in there! Loved reading that as a kid and dreaming about those items. Hell you can even review the bread maker!!

[@jdslyman1720]

The DAK Catalog- complete with a massive radio/TV transmitter on the cover, also known as the World Trade Center. I can't even begin to imagine how much power was coming out of the North Tower back then, but it was enough to mess with anyone who had a camcorder filming the outside Observation Deck on the South.

[@Controllerhead]

I had a wireless guitar transmitter from like 2001 which sounded clear as day, probably operating on similar technology, i miss that thing! I think those old RF devices worked amazing, and most importantly for playing an instrument, all but lag free! Bluetooth lags like a mother lover... These are amazing devices and i'm glad you showcased one of these wonderful things.

[@scottlp2323]

You've just reminded me of another Recoton set of speakers I owned in the early 90s. They worked by sending the audio signal through the mains wires to the two mains powered speakers. They were superb. As heavy as breeze blocks, the powered unit even more so, but better sounding than JBL Control 1s. Here in the UK they were being sold by Rumbelows. More known for white goods than hi-fi equipment, they started off at £120. Way, way more than teenage me could afford. After a few months, they went down to £40 because, like I said, most buyers came in for a fridge or washing machine. I could just about afford that and so glad I took the plunge. There was a decoder that sat near your source, connected by stereo phono leads and then to the mains. Then the two speakers. One plugged into the mains with the amp inside and the other speaker connected to that with black/red speaker wires. As long as it was on the same ring main, it worked flawlessly. After a couple of years I decided to make dedicated enclosures for the two speakers and a separate box for the amp and mains circuitry. Sounded even better. :)

[@Claro1993]

0:49 In some case, the headphones themselves have the infrared receiver built-in.

[@glufke]

It’s amazing that you have the actual magazines!

[@mrnmrn1]

And the TV ad as well!

[@8_Bit]

"We will now pause for several seconds of fine music." - one of my favourite lines is back!

[@briantaylor3031]

The peel music just sent me back 10 years in KZbin to binging classic game room...i miss that channel

[@mdavis5826]

CGR is still around!❤

[@shmehfleh3115]

These suckers were not cheap when they were new. As I recall, they sold for a couple hundred bucks, back when a couple hundred bucks bought a lot more than it does now. As a side note, I had lots of fun eavesdropping on neighbors' analog wireless phone conversations. All I needed to do was turn my own wireless phone's handset on, then unplug the base.

[@Alabaster335]

I had a scanner in the car, I would drive through town with the scanner on "Close Call" so it instantly picked them up. The 30MHz (I think the frequency was back then) had a lot of range on them too, some I could hear nearly 1km away.

[@wilkes85]

I use 900MHz wireless headphones and it's so much better than bluetooth, like you said, no lag or lossy compression... but also, it just plain works. I used to hear my neighbour's cordless phone on them every once in a while... I wonder if they heard my music haha. That giant antenna is kinda goofy when the actual antenna inside is probably just a small wire lol.... but it was the '90s, it made it look futuristic and hi-tech lol.

[@thewoodgrainloverofatari2600]

lot of classic game room music used in this video gotta love it

[@grayrabbit2211]

My biggest gripe with Bluetooth is the delays. Even the "low latency" variants still have latency, and irregular latency at that. I have a very technical wedding coming up, and we're actually going to use an FM transmitter with small FM receivers strapped to the back of the speakers throughout the venue due to latency issues with digital.

[@georgewithers4640]

Hey from Newfoundland, Canada.! Love your videos!

[@DeadKoby]

I worked at a Radio Shack in the early 2000's...... I recall both the RF and IR versions of the headphones.

[@MrDmbright65]

To this day I still have a set of Advent 2 way wireless speakers with a 6" woofer and 1" mylar dome tweeter. Each speaker has it's own tunable receiver with a switch for left/right/mono and runs off of a supplied DC adapter or 8 C cells. I use them to pipe music outside during the holidays, especially Halloween with spooky sound effects or Halloween music. At the time I bought these, Advent was owned by the Recoton corporation (there's actually a Recoton sticker on the back of each speaker). Unlike the speakers in the video, mine sound quite nice for a small 2 way and can play quite loud. How may of us remember reading those DAK catalogs at the beginning of the video? I swear every item description in the catalog read like a 2am infomercial...full of outrageous hype and over-the-top praise of the product...I still love some of the stuff that showed up in those catalogs though🤩

[@mdavis5826]

Thanks for the video! Really love these older solutions for home audio systems!

[@Iron_Condorr]

2:52 - "I find this meatloaf to be shallow and pedantic."

[@cheater00]

You totally should make a video comparing the quality of bluetooth reception in those same locations. I think the results would be interesting 😁

[@vadnegru]

That would be extremely boring. Just constant dropping in and out with reconnection in between.

[@cheater00]

@@vadnegru i know 😂 that's what would make it so funny 😂

[@DerekLippold]

Bluetooth is pretty short range but to be fair, you don’t usually have the two devices far enough apart.

[@a1white]

Wi-Fi transmission (AirPlay) would probably beat both

[@vadnegru]

@@a1white there are not that many but wifi headphones exists

[@vapno92]

12:20 man this can’t get more "Early 1990s" than this.

[@deletesoon70]

This is actually a very desirable piece of equipment, this has value 👍

[@tlhIngan]

Well these days 900MHz works well because fewer devices are using it. In the 90s and early 2000s when it was crowded with cordless phones and other wireless stuff, it didn't sound so good. Nowadays everything is using 2.4GHz but you don't notice it as it's all digital. But back in the 90s, you'd get maybe 100 feet before you could only receive your neighbour's audio or phone calls. These days, 900MHz is used by garage door openers, and smart meters. That's how clear it is.

[@PaulTheFox1988]

That stair climbing montage music at 12:58 onwards goes so hard, if I lived in a house with stairs I'd want that to play every time I walked up them 😂

[@devttyUSB0]

Loved the 14:30 unlimited number of receivers :)

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Analog RF wireless stills kicking ass to this day thanks for reminding me this beautiful technology

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

The infrared worked fantastic and had fantastic sound. The only problem was if someone walked in front of you. I still own a pair of the headphones. They also have a built-in AM FM radio . Over the years I have misplaced the sending unit.

[@xaenon]

This is actually very clever. By using a simple RF receiver, it allowed Recoton to use off-the-shelf computer speakers and headphones in their package (no need to engineer anything special!), as well as allowing for the end user to easily upgrade those items.

[@Michael-ee7nk]

These were also rebranded under the Radio Shack Optimus brand. The set I had around 2000-2001 was Cat. No. 33-1165 Professional Series 900MHz Wireless Headphones.

[@imark7777777]

The number of things I find that they rebranded is amazing. I did not know that one. I knew their microphones and amplifiers were re-branded it was a great way to get a really professional microphone without knowing it.

[@5roundsrapid263]

@@imark7777777Most of it was Pioneer, but they did use other manufacturers, too. Churches and schools, even a radio station I worked at used their gear, it was so good.

[@TheResistorNetwork]

1:23 - There is also an interesting and modern 900MHz WiFI standard called 802.11ah. The modules are becoming very cheap now. I was able to establish a multi-mile link at around 1mbps+. Very neat stuff.

[@bavideomaker29]

In early 2000s had the Terk Leapfrog wireless AV setup to send my wife's TiVo from upstairs bedroom down to a 13" LCD I mounted under kitchen cabinets. What a mess of gear and cables, all replaced in 2010 with an iPad.

[@klaus4426]

Great video! I'm exceedingly interested in old analog stuff and other devices, you film about, and I really like your channel, watching it since october 2023! Greetings from Russia!

[@collectingonthecheap56353]

I remember seeing these advertised in various magazines and fliers. I never had these wireless ones, but do remember having some Recoton speakers and felt like they were fine for use in a bedroom and didn't expect them to be used to broadcast to an audience in an auditorium. These actually still seem to work quite well and as advertised.

[@uxwbill]

Why am I not surprised that there are people out there who will seriously begrudge someone for listening to a record over Bluetooth? I loved the bit of blamestorming in that magazine article as to whose fault the frequency conflicts were. It's still here today, in the three non-overlapping 2.4 GHz wi-fi channels and all the things that conspire to create interference because they too operate on those same frequencies! This many iterations later, one might think these things would be a bit better thought out by the standards bodies and various communication authorities. ("Yes, these things will get popular. Define more unique frequencies than you think you might need.") As a youngster, I well remember discovering that my father's scanner radio had no problem picking up the 49 MHz cordless phones we had at the time. Quite a while later, I learned that his newer scanner could also pick up our 900 MHz cordless phone, though that one employed frequency hopping while operating.

[@markyteo]

Amazing sound quality

[@rizzlerazzleuno4733]

Eclectic choice of music in this episode. 🤠 I had a set of "TV Ears" for a long time. Worked great but I was never more than 12 feet from the TV.

[@EdHelms1]

Thanks for another great video. I had a pair of the Sony wireless headphones and they worked surprisingly well. The best feature was the headband acted as a switch so when you took them off, the music would stop. Great battery saving feature.

[@nortenorancio4884]

This is genuinely more practical than any bluetooth headphones I've owned

[@Sb129]

Walmart sold RF wireless headphones as late as 2015, i still have mine. It worked great through walls, much much better than Bluetooth at that time.

[@Madness832]

About 17 years ago, I had a set of 900MHz analog headphones (from RadioShack, if I remember right). And I also had a 900MHz DSS cordless phone. I don't ever remember the latter interferin' w/ the former.

[@m13579k]

2:36 Only $60 for a pair of speaker stands?? Truly it was the best of times

[@wmwanderer]

I absolutely loved the sequence of you climbing the stairs with that action tune in the background. 10/10 😂

[@professorpenne9962]

this is actually amazingly good for what it is. I'm not an "audiophile" but I do like making music, this would have been more than adequate back in the day, it still is today. wow.

[@thewoodgrainloverofatari2600]

at 6:29 that music is from classic game room atari 2600 carttridge design video

[@Gunbudder]

i have a wireless RF playstation 2 controller from around 2003 or so, and its incredible. it was made by logitech and to this day it is still the best quality RF device i've ever used. it had insane power and range and ran for weeks off of 2 AA batteries. every other wireless device was line of sight IR at the time, so this thing was like space age magic. even modern devices don't come close to how well the controller worked. i suspect that is largely because the RF space is completely blasted with devices now though

[@Boomdjvideo]

Surround sound was just getting popular and the rear sound was sometimes difficult to wire so these Recoton type systems were utilized back then for this also

[@coondogtheman]

Loving that classic game room music. Miss that channel. I have something like this but it doesnt transmit at 900mhz but on the regular FM band so the headphones are basically an auto scan FM radio. Not the greatest quality but they work. My RTL-SDR receiver dongle can pick up the 900 Mhz band but there isnt much to listen to in my area.

[@mdavis5826]

CGR is still around! 25th anniversary!

[@coondogtheman]

@@mdavis5826 Good. Still love that channel. Curious what happened to that panasonic DVC-PRO video deck he had.

[@andrewinnj]

I used to have one of those Big Ben Moon Beam clocks! Your house is just full of stuff I either used to have or wanted 😂

[@deebeenine]

Some of these RF systems are able to transmit digital audio as well. I had a video/audio transmitter with cinch in/out a few years ago and was able to transmit PCM and even Dolby Digital audio from one room to the other via the video sockets.

[@zloboslav_]

Great transmitters/receivers can still be found in musician monitoring gear. It's great tech for places where WiFi and Bluetooth don't work well. :)

[@MrDuncl]

I recently got the Sony Headphones you showed in the old catalogue to use with my TV. An advantage you didn't mention was no latency problems.

[@miguelsarmiento761]

Thank you for sharing this. Now time to find one for my system.

[@Ralph-r2i]

Cgr in the house!!!! Mark would definitely prefer analog transmissions to Bluetooth

[@gigaherz_]

We had a pair of IR wireless headphones way back (some 25-30 years ago), at my dad's house. they were really nice for listening to movies late at night when everyone else was sleeping

[@Roxor128]

I had a set in the 1990s I used to listen to music off the computer while doing homework. Much better to have the signal go fuzzy for a split-second as someone walks past, rather than getting your headphones yanked off you head when someone trips over the cable.

[@Petertronic]

I had Sennheiser wireless headphones which I used extensively in the early 2000's, they were great. I use BT ones now but the range is poor and if the microwave oven is running, reception is impossible in the kitchen :)

[@DoubleMonoLR]

I personally had (second hand)Sony IR headphones(with the receiver builtin) decades ago and they worked well - I could move normally around a fairly large room, I don't think it ever lost the signal. It presumably had IR photodiodes spaced apart at different angles, and of course IR often seems to bounce off the walls to some extent.

[@Hamboarding]

1:18 What do industrial donut fryers use the 902-928 MHz band for⁇

[@KekmanForTheRestOfTheWorld]

i recently bought 3 pairs of such devices but for tv signals. they of course work well for audio too. actually a kind of fun way to get a signal on old tvs. almost as if there were still analog stations around.

[@Holabirdsupercluster]

It's 6:30 in the morning and I'm chuckling about the little music you play while peeling off the plastic film, gonna be thinking about this all day I can tell

[@Hugh_Hunt]

7:32 ClassicGameRoom flashbacks!!

[@BollingHolt]

1. I mentioned you in my video I posted last weekend when discussing some cassettes ;) 2. I had some of these back in the mid-2000s (well I technically still have them), and they also carried video signal. I used to have huge parties and had professional PA speakers and such (still have them too, 18' subs and all LOL) and so the music outside would by transmitted to the other rooms in the house as well as the closed-circuit video of the "dance deck camera". I really loved these things, and they worked quite well!

[@bluekewne]

I got one of the Sennheiser ones as a Christmas gift in 2007 - it would occasionally pick up people's phone calls on wireless handsets for landlines. Of course I didn't listen to any of their calls or anything.

[@mikebell2112]

I had it when it was new. Definitely a gold label on the power brick.

[@techbaffle]

I used to have some Panasonic headphones that used RF - I think they were from the Argos catalogue. Not bad actually, and were more comfortable than most early-00's home headphones.

[@56kflyingtoaster]

Ah man. That Realistic tuner at the end of the video was the exact one i remember a family member having. Takes me back :)

[@gatomatias1]

Beautiful, love old tech!

[@CommanderZx2]

Another benefit to RF over Bluetooth is that there's no perceivable latency. While even in the latest version of Bluetooth there's still obvious latency.

[@HazewinDog]

This is true space age technology. I had no idea this was possible this early in time. Very cool! Plus... I vould use that extended range. The range on new Bluetooth headphone only seems to get shorter over time...

[@tsunamirider9895]

Great video. I remember back in the day having the X10 wireless video/audio receivers. You could just use them for audio as well. They also had a wireless camera you could use with the system, that had a battery base so it'd be completely portable. Good times. Didn't have to worry about bluetooth, or having cloud-dependent devices, or having to rely on a phone app.

[@paulstubbs7678]

Way better than the Blutooth junk I have tried, althoough I don't know what the author of the text at 3:51 was on with lines like "the frequency of the transistors in your TV". I kind of regret pausing and reading that tripe. I did try using a repurposed professional laveleer microphone system, great audio, good range, but only mono. (I replaced the mic with an RCA audio plug)

[@RussKnize]

Yeah, I had this wireless system, once upon a time. It worked well for the day.

[@derekdresser9214]

Finally a video that featured old hard to find tech that I don't have try to hunt down, because I already own it all.

[@EricAdamsYT]

I had a Jabra headset that I believe used the same technology it was amazing I could be anywhere in the house and still be on a conference call. I used to stand in the kitchen which is literally on the other side of the house from my office do the dishes and make dinner while being on a call and have crystal clear quality. Now Bluetooth is a complete joke compared to something that powerful and well-functioning. Not to mention that pairing is such a pain in the ass comparatively. Awesome video as always Love the channel thanks

[@TommyCrosby]

3:15 it's nice to see the advantage of a separated receiver when everything in a single unit as ever been seen as preferred by people. These days, having a Bluetooth AMP-DAC is niche even if it allows the same great experience of using any good headphones with 3.5 jack.

[@buitreador]

oh boy...i still have the Sennheiser HDR100 i bought in 2007 to get rid of the cables. It operates in RF at 900Mhz and the base stops transmitting in 3 minutes if no sound is playing, then if you start playing something it wakes up with a 1 or 2 seconds of delay. It uses 2 x AAA batteries and was quite decent, often with a range capable of 30 or 40 meters. A funny thing with this headphones its that back in the day i could hear the cordless phone from my neib of the 1st floor perfectly when the base stopped sending signal (i was in the 2nd floor) but it only catches one side of the conversation. I used them for about 12 years until i replaced them with a bose bluetooth headphones in my pc at a comparable price ($150 now, 100 back in 2007), obviusly the bose wipes the floor with the RF headphones since there is no interference and the audio is clear (you had a dial in the HDR100 to tune with the base and was very finicky). Keep in mind that there was no bluetooth 2.0 devices in 2007 and that was not a thing until 2009 with the Motorola S9, so there was no other option.

[@Ale.K7]

Oh, I have those speakers! I bought them standalone in a plastic blister, NOS, for nearly nothing in a struggling record and electronics store somewhere in the first decade of this century. One day several cheap NOS electronic products of that kind dating from 10-15 years earlier appeared on their shelves. The cables left melt marks on the base of the speakers after all those years. As you, I was surprised by their sound quality. It's certainly not great at all especially when compared to smaller modern speakers, but it's way better than I expected from a cheap product of its age.

[@TAZSOB]

I've got a pair of the Sennheiser radio headphones and they sound great in my opinion.

[@jasonwilliams6005]

I had RF 900 mhz headphones in the 90s. Worked pretty well for what they were. I could walk all around my apartment

[@shenghe9876]

Wireless in-ear monitor (IEM) systems still pretty much work in the same way. This is because digital transmission introduce latency and monitoring of certain instruments (such as drums) is time-critical.

[@Islandscout8]

What a coincidence. I actually found RF video transmitters and receivers today at a Goodwill and thought of this video.

[@bangskij]

this is a tour de force, love the music

[@charlie_nolan]

The nerd in me wants to see you get a huge 900 MHz antenna, put it out with your other ones, and test the range of this thing. 900 MHz has great building penetration.

[@gtvgranberg]

NMT analog cell phones used 900mhz in sweden, went on a trip by ferry to eastern germany in -91 and it got a carrier on the boat in the german harbour before dad swithed it of. 100km over the sea.

[@charlie_nolan]

@@gtvgranberg yep, around here they did (and still do) as well. Also some LMR as well.

[@TechGorilla1987]

My normal set of listening phones are some Sennheiser wireless phones. Model TR-120 base station operates at 926-928MHz. They have 3 frequency spots to choose from. Aside from the headphones wanting to jet forward off your head when bending forward, the set sounds delightful. My dad used these for a number of years before he gave them to me an I have used them several more. The only REAL problem with these phones are - when you're watching something and the sound ends - and say you're reading a web site while wearing the phones - the transmitter cuts out and you get blasted with white noise from the headphones which is generally cause for me to jump. I've taken to cutting the switch on the headphones when I read.

[@techbaffle]

2:20 Always makes me laugh when in adverts they have the speakers facing away from the people listening to them 😂

[@turbomustang84]

I had headphones from Sennheiser that were RF wireless and they performed well

[@techbaffle]

17:07 Sadly no more Lincs FM - loads of local stations have all merged into Hits Radio 🙄