Help a Newbie who likes Bose

Based on my 10 minute listening session at tower records (and another 10 minite session at circuit city) the mids seemed very naisal sounding. Like vocals were being sung into a plastic garbage can.... Strange un-natural overtones IMHO.

Spectral balance seemed to peak at around 800Hz and slope off from there. Kind of like an MDRV6 but with a much higher resonance.

IMHO they do a decent job of isolating ambient noise, and they were just barely large enough to enclose my ears. IMHO they feel cheap... flimsey plastic. Certainly doesnt feel or sound like a $150 headphone. At that price youre entering DT770s realm, which is a better / more fun can IMHO.

I listened to the ... uh.... metallic blue ones. I dont know the model number.

Ive been looking for a busted pair on ebay for cheap. Koss KSC drivers look like they'd fit inside.

Youre going to get a bunch of "Bose Blows" replies... But IMHO you should listen to them and form your own oppinion. its hard, but follow YOUR ears, try and take oppinions (like mine) with a grain of salt because we all hear things differently. There are some out there who like V600s


***edit***
Looking inside the bose cans, its a hollow plastic shell, with the driver at the far end. Theres no acoustic damping or baffles inside to damp resonances. maybe the "wierd" vocal overtones are caused by the air volume/can resonance. maybe adding foam or felt inside the can, or mass inside to the plastic shell will help tame this....???

Just my thoughts
Garrett

The etymotic ER-4 and Shure E5c are close in price to the QC2 (somewhat less and somewhat more respectively), isolate from outside noise better than the QC2, would be considered more comforatable by most people who use them, and are smaller and more portable. Oh yeah, much better sound quality too.

The QC2, compared to the iPod earbuds, won't sound ultra horrible. It's when you compare to other headphones in the price range that they will sound much less than they're worth.

Try etys or shures - much better isolation, much better sound.

Those sound like the Triports, not the QuietComfort 2s.

Bose does noise cancellation well, imo, and if you want fullsize cans that have noise cancellation, they're the ones to get. However for the price of the QC2s, you can get headphones that sound a lot better. I don't recall any other good fullsize noise cancellation units, but canalphones as in the Etymotic ER-4P or Shure e5c are often recommended as substitutes. They physically block sound like earplugs. Canalphones are stuck a bit deep in ears, so not all people like them. Sennheiser also makes noise cancelling headphones...the pcx250? Not sure exactly of the model number, though they're considerably smaller than the QC2 and I can't comment on them.

My mom has the QC2 and they're not bad, they just don't sound like $300.

How about the HD280, not noise cancelling, but from what I hear, they have great isolation.

The higher end Senns are open-air, which would definitely not be good for portability (too much sound leakage). The 280s would probably be a good choice considering your needs.

Have you considered the audiotechnica a500's or a900's? They sound nice and don't require an amp. They also insulate fairly well and are very comfortable. I would check those out if I were you.

they are nice closed phones, but in no way suited for portable use. just to give you an idea, each headphone cup of the A500/900 is about the size of a jewel CD case..

Yeah but the QC2 aren't really small either.

I don't know much about closed cans because the only "true" closed headphones I've ever listened to were the Boses and the ATH-A900s, and they're about the same price as the QC2s but sound much better than the Bose for about the same price.

Edit: If you need portability and isolation, nothing beats a good canalphone. I'll toss out my obligatory E3c recommendation.

Whoops I didnt see he said portable. I know how big they are I just got them the other day