Bose QuietComfort 3 vs. Ultrasone Proline 750 vs. Shure SE530
Sep 27, 2007 at 11:32 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 11

bkchurch

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Alright guys I know I already bought the Ultrasone Proline 750 but I need some help on a technical writing project. I'm writing an analytical report comparing the Bose QueitComfort 3, Ultrasone Proline 750, and Shure SE530. I figured this would be an excellent source of information and anyone's opinions and thoughts on any of these would be very appreciated.

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.

Your input will be very appreciated and I'll take all the information I can get.
 
Sep 27, 2007 at 11:51 PM Post #2 of 11
Shure SE530s - best isolation, most portable, and in my opinion best sound by a long shot. Though there is some treble missing 8.5 out of 10

Ultrasone Proline 750 - extremely comfortable (I would say more than the other 2), sounds a little too metalic.....actually has a metal resonance to the music. The sound stage is extremely wide in these which is a good thing, The bass is too much and the upper mids are a disaster....tin tin tin.

5 out of 10


Quiet Comfort 3s......I used to own these maybe when they first came out. I sold them shortly after. I went to a bose store recently and tried them out, I also tried out the QC2s. While they are a decent noise canceling headphone....it is unbelievable to me how undesirable their balance is. I could never listen to music with them. NEVER. They are extremely muddy. I once thought the SE530s were muddy, but upon hearing headphones like the QC3 it is a reminder just how much bass (undesirable bass you can really jam pack into a headphone)......I'll tell you what it felt like.......it felt like I took a relatively good speaker system with a humongous sub woofer, and positioned myself 5 inches from the subwoofer and the speakers 5 feet away. There were actual words missing from certain songs because the bass was so strong. They do cancel noise though and are fairly comfortable....more than the SE530s. It's hard for an IEM to be more comfortable than a headphone.

I give the QC3's a 2 for value, and a 0.5 for sound quality. You really can't get much worse than QC3 and still call it music. I've heard worse but usually for 10bucks.
 
Sep 27, 2007 at 11:53 PM Post #3 of 11
To really be able to compare these phones you're going to need to actually use them as opinions vary widely and you won't be able to get a concrete consensus other than BOSE sucks, lol.
rs1smile.gif


Cheaper than list price? Check the FS forums for a used pair.
 
Sep 27, 2007 at 11:56 PM Post #4 of 11
Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Shure SE530s - best isolation, most portable, and in my opinion best sound by a long shot. Though there is some treble missing 8.5 out of 10

Ultrasone Proline 750 - extremely comfortable (I would say more than the other 2), sounds a little too metalic.....actually has a metal resonance to the music. The sound stage is extremely wide in these which is a good thing, The bass is too much and the upper mids are a disaster....tin tin tin.

5 out of 10


Quiet Comfort 3s......I used to own these maybe when they first came out. I sold them shortly after. I went to a bose store recently and tried them out, I also tried out the QC2s. While they are a decent noise canceling headphone....it is unbelievable to me how undesirable their balance is. I could never listen to music with them. NEVER. They are extremely muddy. I once thought the SE530s were muddy, but upon hearing headphones like the QC3 it is a reminder just how much bass (undesirable bass you can really jam pack into a headphone)......I'll tell you what it felt like.......it felt like I took a relatively good speaker system with a humongous sub woofer, and positioned myself 5 inches from the subwoofer and the speakers 5 feet away. There were actual words missing from certain songs because the bass was so strong. They do cancel noise though and are fairly comfortable....more than the SE530s. It's hard for an IEM to be more comfortable than a headphone.

I give the QC3's a 2 for value, and a 0.5 for sound quality. You really can't get much worse than QC3 and still call it music. I've heard worse but usually for 10bucks.



x2 ive not heard the ultrasone headphones but would go with the shures slamming the bose. even tho they are totally different and the shures are iems they do everythin better than bose, including sound isolation
 
Sep 29, 2007 at 12:42 AM Post #6 of 11
Hmm, well thanks guys that will definitely help. Anymore opinions would be great.

On a slightly related note I got my Ultrasone Proline 750s today and they sound fantastic, they make me wanna listen to listen to my whole music collection because everything really sounds fantastic. Can't wait till they're burnt in. Also can't wait to get em in the studio.
 
Sep 29, 2007 at 2:47 AM Post #7 of 11
Hope you enjoy them!
 
Sep 29, 2007 at 3:22 AM Post #8 of 11
Quote:

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.


I'll say something about the qc3's just because I'm one of the few people here who likes bose.
icon10.gif


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.
 
Jul 13, 2008 at 9:19 PM Post #9 of 11
Quote:

Originally Posted by atx /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'll say something about the qc3's just because I'm one of the few people here who likes bose.
icon10.gif


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.



first of all why would you ever want to listen to the tv and your music at the same time?:p second, any good open air design allows you to listen to everything around you whilest your listening to your phones, i always found that a downside but whatever.. i actually traded in my grado's for a the Se530 because i was anoyed by everybody around me.

responding to another response, the SE530 actually take some getting used to, at first they sounded muddy to me to but after getting used to the sound they actually sound really balanced. a little less treble but i think its the perfect balance.
 
Jul 15, 2008 at 6:04 AM Post #10 of 11
Quote:

Originally Posted by bkchurch /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Alright guys I know I already bought the Ultrasone Proline 750 but I need some help on a technical writing project. I'm writing an analytical report comparing the Bose QueitComfort 3, Ultrasone Proline 750, and Shure SE530. I figured this would be an excellent source of information and anyone's opinions and thoughts on any of these would be very appreciated.

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.

Your input will be very appreciated and I'll take all the information I can get.



In the interest of full disclosure, I have a bias in two ways:
1. I have never liked the sound of Bose headphones;
2. I really like the sound of the Proline 750.

I'm not sure if I've heard the Shure SE530. One of the studios where I was involved in a production a few years ago may have had the SE530. I'm not sure, though, so I won't comment on that headphone.

Another member made mention of his opinion that the Proline 750's sound "metalic". Actually, the Proline 750's, require a lot of "burn-in" time. If you listen to them, right out of the box, with no "burn-in" time, they will sound somewhat "metalic" in their higher frequencies. After they have gone through some hours of "burn-in", however, they start taking on a sound, a very nice sound, in the sense of their sound stage and in other aspects of the sound, that is like no other headphone I've ever heard. And, the more they are "burned-in", the more beautiful is their sound, IMO. Please read the links in my signature area.
Regarding Bose headphones, I guess the nicest comment I could make about them would be that I definitely prefer other headphones.
 

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