My wife bought my son a pair of Innovative Technology’s ITHW-858 wireless headphones from Bed, Bath & Beyond for Christmas, so here’s my impressions. Let’s put it bluntly, as wireless headphones they suck massive donkey balls and as wired headphones they are mediocre at best and that is being kind.
I installed two AAA batteries into the headphones and plugged the transmitter into the wall, connected the supplied audio interconnect, 2 x phono to single 3.5mm jack, switched on the transmitter and headphones, followed the very basic instructions and… NOTHING, just static and local radio stations, which should have been outside of the FM (VHF) 49 – 54mhz range of the receiver in the headphones.
What audio I did get was staticky and in mono only with a very limited frequency response, maybe 100hz – 5khz. And what made it even worse, just turning my head less than 35 degrees in either direction would result in in a complete loss of signal. To be clear I was sitting still, not walking around when it happened.
I never did find the transmitter frequency / music that I was playing from the audio source, despite clicking the scan button over and over for 10 minutes, before giving up when my finger started hurting.
The ITHW-858 got better when plugging directly into the headphones with the supplied 3.5mm to 2 x phono with 3.5mm jack adapter. First of all, I actually could hear the music I was playing, but the sound was still lifeless, albeit in stereo with better frequency response (100hz – 8khz). The sound is probably adequate for an eleven year old, but I know there’s better sounding wired headphones for less money.
Would I recommend these headphones? That would be a resounding NO, steer clear and increase your budget significantly if you want good wireless headphones and look elsewhere if you want wired headphones, the ITHW-858 fall well short of the mark in the sub $30 price range, hugely disappointing!