Ask S&V

Q I am in the market for a new home theater receiver and have a dilemma. My wife is hearing impaired and has trouble hearing the TV sound. We have tried a few infrared wireless headphone solutions and have been very disappointed by the poor sound quality. I am looking for a system that will allow me to hook up a separate set of headphones to run simultaneously with the TV sound. Is this possible? —John Bott / via e-mail

A Depending on the capabilities of your receiver, it should be. Some receivers have a preamp out connection that provides a simultaneous stereo output you can route to a wireless headphone system. To do this, you may need to use some type of adapter—most likely stereo RCA-to-3.5mm mini. You may also be able to tap your receiver’s second-zone capabilities, though the input source options might be limited (some receivers only pass analog).

Since you’ve already checked out some of the cheap infrared headphones and found out how bad they can sound, it’s time to step up to a higher-quality option. Wireless headphone systems like Sennheiser’s RS 160 ($200) use Kleer technology to wirelessly transmit digital audio. Kleer uses lossless compression to preserve sound quality, and it’s generally immune from interference. And the RS 160 is a closed, around-ear design, so you shouldn’t hear any sound leaking from your wife’s ’phones when you’re sitting side by side in front of the TV.