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Originally Posted by bkchurch /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The points on which I'm comparing these are: sound quality, portability, capability to keep outside noises out, capability to keep noise produced by the headphones in so as not to distract others, build-quality, comfort, customer satisfaction, and price. Be thorough, be honest, and if you know a place to get any of these cheaper than list price do tell.
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I'll say something about the qc3's just because I'm one of the few people here who likes bose.
qc3 is a dark and slow headphone, and has significant treble rolloff which makes it sound very muddy in head-to-head comparison with any comparable headphone. It's a bose trademark in that all of their headphones share very similar characteristics, but I believe this is purposely done for a very specific presentation-- either you like it or hate it. Unlike other headphones they sound very comfortable and stay "under the radar"-- the rolloff causes your music to stay below ambient noise so that, for example, if you're listening to the QCs and have your TV on at the same time, you can clearly hear the words on TV and at the same time listen to the music. With other headphones, you either listen to the music or listen to the tv... one drowns the other. With the bose, both your music and your environment can co-exist. As such, the QCs are more enjoyable to listen to outdoors than in a quiet room, the way, I presume, most "audiophiles" do in order to hear every pindrop and guitar plucking.
The bose is the most portable and comfortable headphones I've ever owned... they are very light and compact. Whether they are light and compact because they are made from cheap materials, or whether they are made from cheap materials, therefore they are light and compact... I don't know, but the end result is the same: they are light and compact, and at the same time fragile and not as durable as other headphones.
They have excellent isolation in both keeping the sound in and outside noises out, although the ATH-ANC7 is better in keeping outside noises out than the QC2/3.
Bose has *excellent* customer service. They shipped me a lanyard for my Triport IE (which I bought almost a year ago) to keep them stable, packed nicely and complete with manual.... even though I never asked for them! They've also sent me replacement tips for the IE for free. I must say I'm not worried at all about the headphones breaking as long as they are under warranty, as I'm pretty confident bose will honor their warranty given the kind of service they've shown so far.
Price-wise, you pay a hefty premium for the sound quality you're getting, but if you know what you're getting into and enjoy the bose sound presentation, they're still worthwhile in spite of the price.