[lbalsiger]

I was looking at Bose noise cancelling headphones and then surfed the net and found this site. The Bose website doesn't tell the db reduction. The Etymotic ER4s headphones look good. I want something for use on a boat and plane, and may get an amp later too, I'd like a little volume boost too. Does anyone know how Bose compares to the ones here? Much thanks.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Blech. Those Bose noise-cancelling headphones are WAY overpriced. I mean, you pay $300 for them, and they sound no better than a bad-sounding pair of $50 headphones. The Etys are waaaaaay better than that Bose-branded pile of s***. DUH!

 

[Tim D]

I'd bet either the ER4P or ER4S would have better sound than ANY product Bose makes. Yes I mean ANY, including the "best" of thier small cube speaker setups that costs thousands, better than their clock radios, and better than their headphones.

 

[Neruda]

the bose headphones are extremely comfortable, but that's where the good adjectives end. they hardly isolate at all, so are practically useless for use on planes. the sound is nothing to write home about. They're waay overpriced. If you need more volume, then get the etymotic ER4P. Or, if you want a fullsize can with great isloation and even better sound, try out the beyerdynamic DT250-80.

 

[dngl]

Get Ety 4Ps so you can use them now. Get an amp and an ety 4p->s conversion cable later for better quality. Have fun!

 

[rkw]

EnjoyTheMusic website has a comparison of Bose vs. Etymotics/Total Airhead: Battle of the Noise Reducing Headphones!

Not surprisingly, Etymotics came out on top. However, the review was refreshingly free of the usual Bose bashing, and the Bose actually made a respectable showing.

 

[aeberbach]

Having owned Sony MDR-NC20 (not Bose) and Etymotic ER-4S I can say the Etys are way ahead when it comes to noise reduction, even further eahed when it comes to comfort and that's before you even compare the superb sound of the Etys to the very average Sonys. I don't believe active noise cancellation is at all useful, or at least not the version we can buy in consumer headphones. And then when you consider the relative space taken in your flight bag, the Etymotics are easy winners.

For the first couple of days I found them strange but now I'm finding the black pads very comfortable, extremely quiet and the sound is excellent. I listened to Carmina Burana on my flight to Peru last week at a comfortable volume and almost enjoyed myself, even in coach.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

However, the review was refreshingly free of the usual Bose bashing

Funny, when I see an "objective" evaluation of a Bose product, I usually say "the review was refreshingly free of the usual Bose pimping."

Unfortunately, in a forum like this, where people are interested in quality and value for the money, Bose stuff is going to be criticized quite frequently. Their products simply aren't very good, especially for the money. For every product they make -- without exception -- you can find a better product for the same or less money.

 

[d_wilson]

We recently purchased a pair of the Bose noise canceling headphones, along with the Sennheisers (sp), and the strange Sony NC-1? noise cancelling earbuds.

The noise reduction tests were so low I don't believe them. We were testing in our hard room. It is a room where we can produce a true diffuse field. Using white noise the Bose headphones had almost no cancellation above 300Hz. No wonder they wont give out any information on noise reduction. Of the noise cancellation headphones we tested the Sennheiser was the only one that had appreciable cancellation. It is still much less than you get with noise isolation headphones like the ER-4.

We need to do more testing before posting anything. Haven't decided if we will post any names, as rumor has it that Bose loves to sue.

 

[skippy]

i remember reading in a stereophile article, "audio manufacturers who know what's good for them avoid stepping on the toes of bose." it's just sad that no one is allowed to expose bose, out of fear of their trigger happy legal department.

 

[KR...]

Quote:

Haven't decided if we will post any names, as rumor has it that Bose loves to sue.

Yeah, I heard they could be real bastards about people speaking teh truth about them

So you are not allowed to post a honest review of Bose products? What if you e-mail the review to someone here and they post it

 

[BenG]

Has anyone tried making DIY Cans out of the Bose Cubes and coat hanger(headband). The "bass module" could be used as a backback since it's tuned for a huge peak in the midbass region(you would feel the bass just like they are supposed to sound as speakers - by vibrating the floor, room, and the cabinet them selves

).


I wonder if it would sound better than when they are used for speakers.

 

[tdi7]

I use the Sony NC-10s (noise cancelling ear buds) on flights to watch the movie and listen to my MD player and they are great. They are even great to wear not plugged in to anything but just to reduce the noise around you.

 

[Xevion]

Koss also makes some noise cancelling headphones out of their Porta Pros, which sound pretty good, I think they are a bit over $100, but I don't know how much they reduce the sound. Same thing with the Sennheiser ones. The Etys probably do a much better job of isolation, and definantly a better job of sound reproduction then any of the others though.

I wonder if it would be possible to make a noise canceling add-on for the HD600s?

 

[kwkarth]

The Koss QZ2000's work great within their design spec and sound MUCH better than the competing Sennheisers. I spent some time auditioning those two and many other ANC products and bought the Koss. They not only had the best sound quality of all the ANC products, but thy were at least as effective as any other product at noise cancellation and better than most.

All of the consumer grade ANC products are designed to be effective at noise reduction in the 20Hz-1500Hz frequency range. None are designed to reduce or eliminate the upper voice frequencies. The Koss do a great job of cancelling low frequency noise pollution. They seem to reduce ambient by about 15db. They're more effective at reducing low freqs. than any passive system I've ever encountered. For true silence I use both passive and active simultaneously.
[size=xx-small]Koss' published specs are:
Active Noise Reduction >15dB SPL from 40-200 Hz, Average of 10dB SPL from 30-1000 Hz;
Frequency Response 15-20,000 Hz, Impedance 5k ohms, Weight 2.3 oz., Sensitivity 101 dB SPL/1mW, Distortion <0.7% [/size]