Insignia Digital Wireless Headphones Headphones Review

These headphones look pretty non-descript for over-ears. They have an all-black design with faux leather padding. There's a fairly small label on the ear cup. Overall, they look more sleek and premium than the Avantree HT5009 Wireless. They only come in one color variant: 'Black'.

These headphones are decently comfortable. They feel lightweight and don't put much pressure on your head. The padding on the headband as well as the ear cups have a nice feel against the skin. The padding is also plush enough so you won't feel the charging connector on the top of the headband when using them. On the downside, the headphones have a limited range of movement and they creak when you move them or adjust the positioning of the ear cups or headband.

These headphones have disappointing controls. They're TV headphones, so don't expect any commands for managing your calls or music. However, their simple design is still worthwhile if you want basic TV-centric controls close. The physical controls are located on the right ear cup and are easy to use as well as clicky. The volume controls feel a little clunky though since you have to press and hold it to change the volume. On the upside, there's a chime to let you know when you've reached max volume and there's a physical protrusion to let you know by feeling alone which button raises the volume. Although the base station doesn't have any controls, there's a light to let you know whether you're connected via optical or RCA.

Power button:

• Single press: Turns the headphones on and off.

'+' button:

• Press and hold: Raises the volume.

'-' button:

• Press and hold: Lowers the volume.

These headphones aren't designed with portability in mind. They can't swivel or fold to lay flat, which means that they take up space on your coffee table in their default form. On the upside, you can hang them on their wireless receiver when not in use.

The build quality of the Insignia Digital Wireless Headphones is okay. They're made of plastic and feel cheap. Although the padding feels soft, the faux leather seems like it can peel apart when you manipulate it. They also creak when you're adjusting them and the hinges move a bit, which can be annoying. In comparison, the wireless transmitter feels more solid and sturdy.

These headphones are stable enough to watch movies or TV shows from your couch. However, if you tend to move your head a lot, the headphones can shift on your head or fall off.

• Insignia Digital Wireless Headphones
• Wireless dock
• RCA audio cable
• 1.8" to RCA cable
• Optical cable
• Power cable
• Manuals

These headphones have a pretty warm and uneven sound profile. They deliver extra thump, rumble, and boom, which is good for genres like action movies. However, their mid-to-treble range is pretty uneven, so dialogue and instruments are harsh but very veiled and lacking details. Unfortunately, our unit has issues placing objects like voices correctly in the stereo image, which can impact the immersiveness of your audio. They're also prone to inconsistencies in audio delivery and unlike the Sennheiser RS 185 RF Wireless, they lack sound customization features to help you adjust their sound.

The frequency response consistency of these headphones is disappointing. They're really prone to inconsistencies in audio delivery and you may especially notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses, as these features can rupture the headphones' seal on your head.

The bass accuracy is good. The response is overemphasized across the range, adding extra thump, rumble, and warmth to mixes, which is good if you enjoy action-packed movies and TV shows. However, this also makes mixes sound boomy and muddy.

The mid accuracy is satisfactory. The range is a bit uneven, and some of the overemphasis from the bass range seeps into the low-mid, which clutters and muddies the mix. While the mid-mid is flat in comparison, which keeps dialogue and instruments present, the high-mid is also overemphasized. If you're watching content like the news, higher-pitched voices sound honky and harsh.

The treble accuracy of these headphones is poor. This range is mostly underemphasized, which really hurts the clarity and detail of dialogue and instruments. Sibilants like S and T sounds are dull and lispy.

The peaks and dips performance of these headphones is disappointing. The left and right drivers are slightly mismatched, and the left driver is more overemphasized across the low-bass to low-mid range, which muddies mixes. A dip in the low to mid-mid pushes vocals and instruments to the back of the mix while a peak in the high-mid makes these sounds harsh. A massive dip in the low-treble further veils details in dialogue and instruments while the uneven mid-treble makes sibilants like cymbals alternatingly dull and piercing.

Insignia makes a wide variety of home tech products including home theatre systems and speakers, but they're not really known for their headphones. That said, it's not surprising that our unit has mismatched left and right drivers, which affects their imaging. Although the headphones are well-matched in group delay and amplitude, peaks in the phase response's treble range are audible with real-life content. This affects the localization of sound effects, like higher-pitched dialogue, which sound out of place. That said, imaging can vary between units and can indicate a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics.

The Insignia Digital Wireless Headphones have a poor passive soundstage performance. They're closed-back headphones, so their soundstage doesn't feel very natural or spacious. Audio sounds like it's coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers placed in the room around you.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance of these headphones is just okay. There are a couple of peaks: one in the low-bass and another between the low to mid-treble at moderate listening volumes. The bass peak can be somewhat difficult to hear, but the low to mid-treble peak is audible with content such as movies, and overall, audio won't sound very clean or pure at moderate volumes. They perform a bit better at high volumes though, and even though the peak in the treble range is still present, it isn't as noticeable as at a moderate volume.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The noise isolation performance of these headphones is bad. They don't block out any bass-range noise, so they're not the best choice if you like to watch movies near an open window with traffic outside. They also don't reduce any mid-range noise like ambient chatter either. On the upside, they can still help cut down some of the high-pitched hums of standing fans.

The leakage performance of these headphones is decent. Leakage is mostly concentrated between the mid to treble range and sounds fairly thin. If you're listening to TV shows at high volumes, only a small portion of your audio will be audible to others.

The Insignia Digital Wireless Headphones have a fair battery performance. They're advertised to last 10 hours continuously, though we measured almost 16 hours. Battery life can vary depending on use though. On the downside, the headphones can't be used wired if you run out of battery life and they lack a power-saving feature if you forget to turn them off.

These headphones come with a wireless receiver. It connects to the headphones via non-Blutooth wireless, though it also has two different connections for your TV. In order to test latency, we connected these headphones to a TV and filmed the click track via USB, instead of connecting them to our PC test rig, which is what we normally use. When using their optical connection, they have low enough latency that your audio and visual stay in sync. If you want to use an RCA connection, their latency is a bit higher, but it still falls within good levels, so you shouldn't experience lipsync issues.

These headphones come with three different cables, though none of them are an analog cable. They come with an optical cable (6 ft or 1.85 m), an RCA cable (6ft or 1.81 m), and a female RCA to 1/8" TRS cable (0.6 ft or 0.19 m).

These headphones can only connect to PCs via their wireless dock. Once you connect the dock to your PC, you'll only be able to receive audio as these headphones don't have a mic.

These headphones can only connect to PlayStation consoles when using their wireless dock. You can connect the dock to your PS4 via optical or RCA but you'll only be able to use the RCA cable on PS5. It requires quite a workaround though, as you'll need to plug the 1/8" TRS to RCA adapter into your controller and then use the RCA cables to connect to the base, which is a bit unwieldy.

Like their PlayStation compatibility, these headphones can only connect to the Xbox One via RCA or optical. If you're an Xbox Series X|S gamer, then they can only connect via RCA. That said, regardless of how you're connected to either console, you'll only be able to receive audio as they don't have a mic. To connect them via RCA also requires the use of their 1/8" TRS to RCA adapter, which is plugged into your controller's AUX port. This kind of connection is a little annoying though, since the base station needs to be near you in order to use the headphones.

These headphones come with a wireless dock that offers an RCA and optical connection. There's a proprietary charging connection at the top of the dock to allow you to easily charge the headphones when not in use.