Saitek A350 wireless headphones

Don't get caught up with these wireless headphones.

Someday we'll all be set free of the wires that bind us to our MP3 players. This pair of wireless headphones hopes to kick-start that revolution.

While the headphones themselves wrap themselves around and into your ears, a small transmitter connects to your MP3 player via the headphone socket. Both have built-in rechargeable batteries, which are good for around five hours of use, but which also make the 'phones feel pretty heavy on your ears.

Sound quality is reasonable, with plenty of high end, but they lack real "turned-up-to-11" volume, and they don't kick out much bass, leaving dance tracks like Human Resource's Dominator and driving rock like Led Zep's Achilles' Last Stand lacking the necessary oomph.

The biggest problem, though, is the wireless link between the transmitter and headphones, which is more temperamental than a Black Widow with PMT. It works fine indoors, but once in your pocket, outdoors, it repeatedly cuts out with the transmitter struggling to maintain the connection.

It's a shame, but the performance of these 'phones doesn't match the promise of the concept. That dream of wire-free listening will just have to wait...