[hortoholic]

Hello Everyone, my roommate seems to think that Bose headphones sound really good. Since I have never heard Bose I was wandering if anyone could shine a little light on the subject. I was also wandering if you consider Bose is an audiophile company? or generally, why is this company so hated around here? For those who have Bose, how do they sound? Your opinions are grestly apreciated as well as any comments on the company.

Thanks,

hortoholic

 

[logwed]

General consensus on Head-fi is that Bose makes poor-average products, and markets them in a shameless fashion, proclaiming them to be the best. Their marketing team does excellent work, and much money is spent there that could be better used in R&D. Also, Bose products are horribly overpriced for their quality.

 

[RedSox]

I got QC3s as a gift. They're okay I guess, but I'd never spend...what is it, $300? on them. The isolation seemed great for over/on-ear headphones, but if you're looking for isolations go with IEMs.

Their marketing department, however, are brilliant.

 

[MaSTaC7]

Bose headphones do sound decent and are comfy to me. I think that the general consensus around is that they are just way overpriced and that Bose good at marketing themselves. If you ever see Bose stands in stores they usually are next to the $10 earbuds with no headphones at the same pricepoint being around.

 

[drizzt]

Bose would be a better product around here if they were 1/3 the price. As a cheaper headphone they would be ok. They are comfy to wear but their sound quality is sub par mainly because they are bass heavy and it distorts the other frequencies.

 

[yukihiro]

Overpriced and too bassy. Other than that, they're okay.

 

[captian73]

The fact is that after a number of heated discussions, I've realized that most Bose Bashers have never really spent any real amount of time. there are some previous owners, that don't like them, but hey ho, thems the breaks.

My opinion is that they're O.K. and when I mean O.K. I mean that I only like the AE and OE headphones. The IE's wouldn't stay in my ears long enough for me to form an opinion. As for the QC's, I don't do noise cancelling headphones!

The thing is, that in terms of size I still feel there's nothing to take on the OE's. regardless of the comments of being overpriced, I've yet to hear an alternative for the OE, in terms of size and performance. The Sennheiser HD25-1 (not a big pair of headphones) are huge next to the OE's.

the main thing is do (or your friend) enjoy the sound.

As for the marketing thing, it seems that they are marketed more aggressively in the States than here in the UK..... but that's by the by..... Bose is a business not a charity. People scream about Bose action instead of focusing on other audiophile companies inaction.

Sure I'd like to see more AKG, Ultrasone etc, etc products in the shops and less Sennheiser products, but that hardly Sennheiser's fault.

good luck.

 

[boomy3555]

I have had them all. and I prefer the OE above the Circumaural or IEM's.. Basically, pretty good but not worth the asking price. There are dozens of other cheaper headphones that are better.

Excellent Customer Service

 

[haloxt]

Lots of dislike for Bose here because it's the only way to counteract their marketing. I tried the triports at Best Buy and was disappointed that Bose gave itself such a good image through marketing but had to use pretty bad materials for the triports. When you're that popular and have much more mass-production than other headphone companies it's really saddening you choose to make such a low quality headphone and sell for $140. The other complaint I have is that the sound signature of the triports is contradictory to the goal of higher fidelity. it adds so much umph and coloration that you get even further away from the original meaning of what you're listening to than if you were using stock headphones that come with portable cd players.

 

[vkvedam]

I preferred AEs over all the others, excellent customer service.

 

[salannelson]

Sound is colored, but kind of fun ill admit. Not really a "live performance" like they claim. At 1/4 to 1/3 the price i'd buy them in an instant.

 

[Oggranak]

I don't get why people call them "not bad but overpriced" when we don't do that for any other headphones. My opinion on this is, if they aren't good for the price, they aren't a good product. Even the biggest K701 hater would have to admit that they'd be pretty good for $50, but no one says they're "not bad but overpriced".

 

[oshia86]

I have a set of the bose triports. I can't listen to them after having my HD280's on and the 280's themselves are a very entry level product.

 

[blackzarg]

Like everyone here has said, they make decent products, just way overpriced. I've tried the QC2, the QC3, and the On-Ear headphones and they are all fine and comfortable, with good build quality - just not the sound quality for something that's $300. My refurb Audio Technica AD-700s cost $65.

Monster cable is similar....they don't make bad speaker wire and cables, they just charge a usurious amount for them.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackzarg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Like everyone here has said, they make decent products, just way overpriced. I've tried the QC2, the QC3, and the On-Ear headphones and they are all fine and comfortable, with good build quality - just not the sound quality for something that's $300. My refurb Audio Technica AD-700s cost $65. Monster cable is similar....they don't make bad speaker wire and cables, they just charge a usurious amount for them.

Holy bovine, that's a real word. Thanks for the Word of the Day!