[kratos25]

I bought a pair of Bose QC20i today and I have to say they are great for blocking the noise at my workplace.I work at a machine shop which is very loud. The only problem is I thought they where sort of quiet with playing my music. I could hear it fine and it sounded clear but I wanted more volume, then I got home and plugged them into my computer and holycow, they sounded like a different headphone they where loud and sounded awesome. These are a big jump from the ie2 in my opinion. I like how the noise cancelling controller is charged with a usb, instead of batteries. What would be the best thing to do with my I pod touch to make these headphones sound like they do on my computer.I put an equ app on it which helped a little but not alot. If I could get some help on this it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[autoteleology]

My advice would be to get an portable external amplifier for your headphones while on the go. The reason why your headphones sounded much louder and clearer from your computer is that your computer has the ability to put much more power out of the headphone jack than your portable device. A portable amplifier carries electrical charge inside a battery that can be used to make the signal coming to your headphones much more powerful.

http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/how-do-i-know-if-my-headphones-need-an-amp.php

As for suggestions towards a portable amplifier, I would recommend the following devices to get you started;

Fiio E1 - very compact and cheap, sports integrated controls for your Apple devices, but not all that fantastic in terms of sound quality or amplification power, and can't be used with anything else but an Apple device:

http://www.fiio.com.cn/products/index.aspx?ID=100000039485255&MenuID=105026001

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Booster-Control/dp/B004BOA6SM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377046395&sr=1-1&keywords=fiio+e1

Fiio E11 - much larger, more powerful, and all-around much higher quality than the Fiio E1. It doesn't sport inline Apple controls, and you'll need a line-out cable (bypassing the portable amplifier inside your Apple device, so you're not amplifying the same signal twice, which greatly reduces quality) in order to use it to its fullest extent (they're cheap):

http://www.fiio.com.cn/products/index.aspx?ID=100000038781911&MenuID=105026001

http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E11-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B0053KWDES

And for the line-out cable, this one will work best with the E11:

http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-L3-Line-Cable-iPhone/dp/B003UCESP8/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377046993&sr=1-5&keywords=fiio+cable

 

[kratos25]

Thank you. Looking forward to trying this out with my ieb. I'm going to go with the fiio ell, sounds like a better choice.

 

[autoteleology]

No problem! Come back sometime later and tell me how you like it.

 

[lyin116]

You probably should be careful with your listening volume.  Even on 12 hour flights, I only had to turn volume to about 40% on my iphone with them.  The whole point of noise canceling is that you have higher SNR so you can listen at low volume level.  To boost volume, FIIO is probably the cheapest and easiest option for ipod.

 

[kratos25]

I got the ell amp today. What a difference with quality and bass. I do have to say though with a majority of my music my amp souls sound way better than my Bose do. But for what my Bose are for with work situation they do a good job. The only thing that really gets me mad about the qc20i is when I use my air hose at work my earphones mirror the sound so it's like somebody is sticking a air hose in my ear but besides that there good, not great but good.

 

[ubjuris]

How is the microphone quality on them?

 

[skylar77]

I have experienced an issue with these headphones, and I'd like to see if other have too.
 
When you play a song a full volume, the bass seems to drop in and out of the song, causing it to sound really bad. Sometimes it pops in really heavy and sounds jarring, and then the bass will drop out altogether.
 
I thought it was just my headphones, but I went into a Bose store to try on a different pair, and the same issue occurred. 
 
Can anyone confirm this happens or doesn't happen with your QC20i's?
 
THANKS

 

[skylar77]

I've now noticed that the QC20i headphones play perfectly fine hooked up to a Mac and playing at full volume - it's crystal clear. However, hook it up to my iPhone 5, and at full volume, it gets muddy and the bass cuts in and out badly.
 
Can anyone confirm they are or aren't experiencing the same issues with these headphones??

 

[KBGolfRunner]

Have you found out anything more on this bass going in and out?  I have a 4s with an Fiio E7, but I'm not crazy about carrying the E7 in my pocket.  I have been EXTREMELY happy just using my QC15s around town without the E7, and I enjoy my Fostex ZMF mods for home.  However, they get hot in summers and when I read Ty at InnerFidelity's review on these, I think it would be a great purchase for my ears.  
 
I was all set to buy these until I was reading your posts.  So, let me know if you have heard any other problems besides the obvious - (Only 500 charges, etc.)