Possible Christmas present for myself...

[mjh]

I like the QuietComfort 3 headphones, but the $200 price difference is a bit too much for me. I can purchase the Bose around-ear headphones from the local Coast Guard Exchange for $107, which is about $30 cheaper than Amazon.

I don't do too much traveling, though I will be flying to Tokyo at the end of the month. Even though they won't cancel noise quite the same way the QuietComforts do, I imagine the around-ear headphones will be just fine?

What do you think?

 

[MSCoder610]

You might also consider these: http://www.buy.com/prod/Jabra-...loc/111/206361632.html
Supposed to be almost as good as the Bose QC2's, at about 1/6 the price.

 

[Howard]

You're looking for noise-cancelling headphones?

 

[mjh]

Howard, I just want some headphones that are comfortable.

MSCoder: Thanks a lot! I will check out some reviews on the Jabra headphones a bit later tonight.

 

[Parasitic]

Shure? I like my E2c.

 

[Xylitol]

There are brands out there that are cheaper and just as good for the price as Bose

 

[soydios]

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheis...&qid=1196567939&sr=8-1

I have these headphones. They aren't active noise canceling, because they don't have to be. They're a closed cup headphone, so they flat-out block most outside sounds, especially high-pitched ones. Sound quality is good, too.

 

[mjh]

Thanks for all of the input guys! I'm going to go to a couple stores tomorrow to see what I can do.

Drinks for all!

 

[coldmeat]

How do you pronounce Bose? I've always wondered.

 

[imported_bum]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
How do you pronounce Bose? I've always wondered.

Like "bows"

 

[SampSon]

Originally posted by: mjh
Howard, I just want some headphones that are comfortable.

MSCoder: Thanks a lot! I will check out some reviews on the Jabra headphones a bit later tonight.

Well the whole idea of thoes Bose headphones is that they cancel noise. If that isn't your primary selling point then there are plenty of other options at better prices.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
How do you pronounce Bose? I've always wondered.

Don't you dare make a thread about it. There have been enough commercials by the company itself that people should know how to pronounce it by now.

 

[kedlav]

Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment

 

[uhohs]

head over to head-fi.org and ask on their forums.

 

[LegendKiller]

As a guy who owns a couple different IEMs and has used several other noise-canceling headphones on airplanes, I can tell you that the QC2 hands down eliminates the vast majority of airplane noise. I don't care what people say about IEM's being passive noise cancelers, I have used everything from E5C and UE products, they can't hold a candle to the amount of noise eliminated by the bose. Now, many people complain about the overall bassy-ness of the bose, or how it doesn't produce as accurate of sounds, which may be true (I think they sound OK, not as great as the E5C overall, but with the noise reduction they are better on planes), but their noise canceling is great.

I fly probably 10-15 times per year, if not more, and I love the bose. In fact, I am in Maui now with my wife (who is sleeping...hah!) and we flew from NYC to Maui (about 13 hours) and I had my Super.fi5 pros while my wife had the Bose, and I really wanted the bose. Yes, I have tried all of the earpieces, so no dice there.

I absolutely despise bose for their marketing tactics and I will tell anybody that paying 299 for the QC2 is ridiculous (you can find them cheaper other than retail, I paid $75 through Sharper Image when I got free gift cards from Discover cashback). I'd easily pay 200 for them though.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Forget the E5C. Those are expensive. If you're willing to dish out money, get teh Shure E530s or UE Triple Fi 10s.

If you want something cheaper, look at the E4C or UE SuperFi 5 Pro (highly recommended). This is an excellent price point, especially the UE SF5Pro for $150 - $160.

Down another grade comes the UE SF3 Pros or the E2C/E3C range.

Anything below this is typical consumer crap.

Anyways, yeah IEMs aren't really noise cancelling although they are passive in noise reduction. If you get a good fit like the the E530s or use custom tips for UE's stuff, you can get pretty nice isolation.

However, noise cancelling isn't the only thing. If you're looking for sound quality, don't look at Bose. They're mediocre, and if you need to shell out $299, I'd rather get a Shure E530 knowing I have SQ that's 10x as good.

 

[dawp]

Just remember BOSE is more of a marketing company than an audio one. Why do you think you see so many ads for BOSE and very few of others, most of the price of their products goes to marketing and not research. once they come out with a product, it doesn't change or get improved. You will see very few bad reviews of bose products because they have a history of sueing those that don't give glowing reviews.

 

[ed21x]

The following companies are better than Bose in every way except for marketing:

Shure, Ultimate Ear, Audiotechnica, Sennheiser, Stax, Grado, etc... basically the Bose will sound like crap and fall apart on you. And I mean this from personnal experience... my roommate had one of those Bose Cube sound systems and they sounded like crap and were poorly made compared to my Klispch 4.1s, which I had hooked up to an HTPC.

Get the Sennheiser PXC series. They're great.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Xylitol
There are brands out there that are cheaper and much better then Bose.

Fixed!


Be sure to listen to Sennheisers & AKG's for starters.

 

[Tylanner]

we gotz a forum for this

 

[BabaBooey]

Originally posted by: Tylanner
we gotz a forum for this

Too bad there is not a spelling / grammar forum...



Bose = overrated x 100


Listen to the others ,shure / senn / AK is the way to go ..:beer:

 

[Mucho]

If you can afford BOSE go for it. keep there are lots of sour grapes on this board.

 

[dawp]

it isn't that he can afford Bose, It's that there are better choices for better prices than Bose.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: Mucho
If you can afford BOSE go for it. keep there are lots of sour grapes on this board.

Originally posted by: dawp
it isn't that he can afford Bose, It's that there are better choices for better prices than Bose.

it is not a price thing. These other brands are just plain BETTER

 

[villageidiot111]

No highs, no lows, must be bose.