Bose Headphones - Real or Fake?

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Oh please. There's a reason for the saying "No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!"

But I guess Bose owners have to justify getting ripped off by convincing themselves that they were spending money on quality.

I don't own anything Bose, but those headphones are by far the best I've ever heard for the price range. The OP seems to think so as well.

No level of quality sound would ever convince a Bose hater

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Bose haters really crack me up. 100 times worse than a Mac fanboy.

Bose makes great stuff, it's just expensive.

Bose makes average products and prices it as a luxury product. It is all marketing, they really are smart businessmen. That's all.

Shure, Sennheiser, Klipsch, all make better products and are all priced the same.

I got a pair of Shure SE215 when they were on sale for around $70-80, regular $130 and they are amazing.

[saskflames69]

I'll keep looking and see but I would like to compare headphones before i buy them. Unfortunately there are very few (if any) retailers that allow you to actually try them on. So far I have tried out the Bose ie2 (still the best) and the $350 Beats by Dre Monster Headphones at Future Shop. Why would somebody buy those things? I have a pair of Sony Stereo headphones that are much much better in sound quality, but are too bulky to carry around.
There were some panasonic ones there on sale but I'm not shelling out $300. I'm looking to stay within the $50-$150 range

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Bose haters really crack me up. 100 times worse than a Mac fanboy.

Bose makes great stuff, it's just expensive.

What's funny about this post is that you're actually doing exactly what a Mac fanboy does. You wouldn't have to qualify that statement with "it's just expensive" if that "great stuff" was worth the money they ask for it.

The point is that, for the money, BOSE is not worth it. If their stuff was priced according to what the quality of their stuff actually competes with, no one would give a crap, but then that's the genius of their marketing - it's expensive and everyone knows the name, therefore it must be worth buying.

[Bean]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

I got a pair of Shure SE215 when they were on sale for around $70-80, regular $130 and they are amazing.

Where did you find them on sale? I've been waiting for a while with no luck what so ever.

[MRCboicgy]

I compared the Bose I have (and Love) to an equally expensive pair of Denon's a guy I know has and to my ears, the Bose sounded so much better. It was definitely worth the upgrade from my old Panasonics.

[sclitheroe]

On the topic of Bose, has anyone owned or used their noise cancelling earphones? They are quite pricey - do they perform well? There's not a ton of competition in the active noise cancelling space that I can see, and I've noticed that you've got a handful of $99-149 units, and then a big jump to the $300 sets like the Bose, but even so, there aren't many out there.

Do they work well? Are they worth the money if you were looking for active noise cancelling, or are good isolating passive in-ear sets just as good/more cost effective?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

and to my ears

This sums up the futility of debating the merits of just about anything audio related. If they are comfortable and sound good to you there's not much up for debate.

We can analyze frequency response, sensitivity, efficiency, etc, but ultimately it doesn't matter much once you introduce a human ear to the equation.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

This sums up the futility of debating the merits of just about anything audio related. If they are comfortable and sound good to you there's not much up for debate.

We can analyze frequency response, sensitivity, efficiency, etc, but ultimately it doesn't matter much once you introduce a human ear to the equation.

Don't really agree. Good headphones will let you get whatever sound you want through the equalizer; bad ones won't.

[Cheerio]

I buy my headphones for $3 at shoppers drug mart because they will inevitably be lost/broken/chewed on.

[Rathji]

While I don't think I would go as low as $3 - the ultra cheap ones never seem to fit right - I never would spend more than $30. My last 2 pairs my kids have destroyed through some strange knotting ritual.

I mostly watch TV on my iPod though, so I relaly am not looking for super quality, but just enough noise cancellation that if I am stuck at the back of the bus I can hear the dialog without cranking the sound.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by SebC

Don't really agree. Good headphones will let you get whatever sound you want through the equalizer; bad ones won't.

Don't really agree either Different speaker drivers will have different compression and distortion characteristics that you can't capture or copy through equalization, and additionally, most mobile devices these days don't have the kind of adjustable multi-band equalization controls needed to get the same response across headphone pairs.

You can't take the human ear out of the equation is all I'm saying - you can have the most acoustically perfect earphones, and they will sound like crap to some people (too harsh, too bright, too peaky, etc).. Guitar amps are a prime example of this - what I call a pristine amp, someone else calls sterile because its got a flat frequency response.

I'll concede that for most people though, most of this is a moot point. And we have to be careful, we are perilously close to tipping into audiophile land, where we'll be stuck discussing gold plated connections and oxygen free wires

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

On the topic of Bose, has anyone owned or used their noise cancelling earphones?

IMHO- the Bose headphones are a little overpriced here. I have several other Bose products, but my noise cancelling headphones are Sony. I bought an $80 pair on sale for $40 and they are great. A couple of considerations:

- Where are you using them? On an airplane there will still be some abient noise. If the Sony gets rid of 90% of the noise, and the Bose gets rid of 93%; is that much more worth it?
- Speaking of airplanes, many airlines only allow the use of over ear headphones while in flight. Earbuds only during takeoff and landing. So N/C earbuds may be a better option if used while flying.

I also don't fly often; once or twice per year. So that was a factor in my decision as well.

[red sky]

I know everyone's ears are different but is there any recommendations for good earphones for exercising (i.e. don't fall out while running)? I prefer buds but would be open to other suggestions.

[Azure]

The earbuds mentioned in the OP won't fall out when you run.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

On the topic of Bose, has anyone owned or used their noise cancelling earphones? They are quite pricey - do they perform well? There's not a ton of competition in the active noise cancelling space that I can see, and I've noticed that you've got a handful of $99-149 units, and then a big jump to the $300 sets like the Bose, but even so, there aren't many out there.

Do they work well? Are they worth the money if you were looking for active noise cancelling, or are good isolating passive in-ear sets just as good/more cost effective?

I've had a pair of the QC-15's for a little under a year. They've gone from something I thought I'd occasionally use traveling to my preferred way of listening to music/watching movies.

They have a demo station at most Best Buys, try them out and then decide if you want to drop the money... Cause they are expensive. More so than I would Spend usually, but I had a gift card to blow that made them more reasonable as far as money out of my pocket.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Oh please. There's a reason for the saying "No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!"

But I guess Bose owners have to justify getting ripped off by convincing themselves that they were spending money on quality.

I would bet anything you have never owned a Bose product in your life. Bose makes great sounding products, my home theatre system and my car audio system is Bose. Awesome!

[rd_aaron]

I bought Klipsch Image S4's which have great reviews for about $100. I like them enough, but I listened to a friend's Bose IE2's, and they blow mine out of the water. Best bass I've ever heard from earbuds. I think he paid $140 or so. They will be my next set for sure.