I'm not a fan of anything that eats batteries, so I'll put that out there right now.
That said, I'd take the Bose if you put a gun to my head and made me pick between the two - it looks less dorky, the AE and AE2 weren't terrible, and they'll let you return them within 30 or 90 days (check with Bose, don't quote me on the exact time, but all of their products do have a trial period) if you're unhappy. I don't think either will give you "$300 worth of sound" - you're paying quite a bit for ANC circuitry and the name; neither is justified.
That said, I would consider other products. You can't really "love" something you've never used, now can you? Depending on what you want in terms of bass response, there are plenty of good choices. I like the Sennheiser HD280s for a "make things quiet and also have some boom" application. They also don't eat batteries. The Audio-Technica ATH-M50 get mentioned frequently; I'm unfamiliar with them, they aren't terribly expensive though, might be worth a sneak'n'peek. A lot of the AT pro cans are available in a variety of colors, especially if you can import from the JDM. Ultrasone would be my personal next stop if the Sennheisers aren't palatable; lots of bass, decent sound-staging, tank-like build quality (I haven't actually "battle tested" this, but they feel very tough in the hands), they don't weigh a ton, and they look kind of wild. Even their open headphones put out more bass than any two men need.