[cheezx]

I just received a pair from my boss. There is definitely some muddy bass going on. I just hope that people are right, and it'll go away after break in. I love the comfort of these buds, since I don't want isolation. I can only compare the sound of the IE to the other headphones I have, which are the HD280 (complete opposite), KSC75 (I love this thing, but way too much sound leakage), and a Senn MX500 (nothing really special about this thing, but nothing really bad about it either).

 

[joneeboi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some recordings fair worse with the IEs than others, but that description is way off. The IEs resolve a lot of detail once they're fed by a decent signal, and I wouldn't want any prospective buyer to be misled by joneeboi's comment.

Description is way off? Hm, Sordel is hacking my brain. I gave the IEs a fair chance and I'm reporting I heard. And what's a decent signal? I put them into the headphone jack of a laptop. I'm letting prospective buyers know what the IEs sound like out of a regular headphone jack. That's something they should be allowed to be "misled" by without your guardianship.

Sean: I compared them to the E2s because they're in that price range. Perhaps it is unfair to compare them to the E2s because they appeal to different markets, but anyone buying these things should know what a similarly priced competitor sounds like. Plus, I never said anything about them losing the bass bloat. Did I say something to the contrary?

 

[Sean.Perrin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joneeboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Description is way off? Hm, Sordel is hacking my brain. I gave the IEs a fair chance and I'm reporting I heard. And what's a decent signal? I put them into the headphone jack of a laptop. I'm letting prospective buyers know what the IEs sound like out of a regular headphone jack. That's something they should be allowed to be "misled" by without your guardianship. Sean: I compared them to the E2s because they're in that price range. Perhaps it is unfair to compare them to the E2s because they appeal to different markets, but anyone buying these things should know what a similarly priced competitor sounds like. Plus, I never said anything about them losing the bass bloat. Did I say something to the contrary?

I just think it would be like comparing headphones to a similarily priced digital camera. But that's just my opinion, it is good for potential buyers to know how they stack up to the established 'phones.

 

[atx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joneeboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Description is way off? Hm, Sordel is hacking my brain. I gave the IEs a fair chance and I'm reporting I heard.

Everything is relative. e.g. The IE sounds like muddy bass and no mids if you're coming from an IEM with no bass and all mids/highs. My ER6i is one such example.

When listening to dvd's and switching from the IEs to my um2 ... my um2 feels lacking in bass. It could be that the IEs have too much or the um2's have too little-- my ears can't tell the difference. Either way, I definitely don't agree with the "no vocals" comment. The IE is very decent when it comes to mids and pretty much kills the competition when it comes to bass.


Quote:

And what's a decent signal? I put them into the headphone jack of a laptop.

The IE sounds pretty good out of my iPod, but quite poor out of my Dell DJ. It sounds great with the sr71, but sounds like utter crap out of my presonus headphone jack (the vocals are all messed up and buried under the bass-- just like your description, interesting!). So it's very much source dependent.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

First of all this is not an IEM. You can call them earbuds, earphones, or canalphones. Nobody would use these to monitor squat.

 

[joneeboi]

I am curious to know what these IEs compete with. How does it stack up against E2s, super.fi 3, CX300, EX91? ER6i is a bit of a stretch. There are lots of sub-50 earphones, like the EX51, but that's a price difference of over 100%!

Are they a good value in comparison? Do they port a sufficient bang for their head-fi buck?

 

[FortySix&2]

The biggest comparison that I'm looking for is these IE's compared to the new Vibes? They are the same price, and they each the type of headphone I'm looking for. I just picked up a pair of the Bose IE's at Best Buy, unfortunately there is nowhere local to try out the Vibes.

Anyone have a good comparison?

 

[Sordel]

Early word suggests that the Vibe is better than the Bose IEs, but very few people have done much comparison of the two. The big fans of the Vibes here are the people from Earphone Solutions, who sell them and don't sell the IEs: "putting their money where their mouth is" or "priming the market"? Your choice.

Vibes are certainly the obvious competitors to the Bose ies.

@ Joneeboi, who says Quote:

I gave the IEs a fair chance and I'm reporting I heard.

Between the sound entering your ear and your being done writing your comments a whole bunch of processes intervened that led you to post something that was misleading. Either you have bad hearing, or your brain is not very good at processing sound, or you aren't very good at communicating on paper, or you're good at all these things and simply spiced up your review with a few overstatement. Whichever is the case, there's an elastic limit to what views about which products are credible, and yours weren't. For a prospective buyer trying to find a consensus view it's helpful to know which points to disregard when drawing a best-fit line.

 

[swagga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joneeboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried the Bose IEs. While I agree that Bose shouldn't be singled out for the sake of being singled out, I don't believe calling the Bose IEs decent in comparison to other IEMs just because some people are heavily biased against them is justified either. I have tried the Bose IEs, and I will assert that they have their merits. That does not go to say that I would buy and use them. Compared to an iBud, sure, they're great; improved bass response, funky looks, better fit. But compare it even to my "low man on the totem pole" E2s, my hand pulls back from the Boses as though I touched a hot iron and the E2s are the ice cubes. Let's break it down into a nifty table-like diagram. Seal: Boses have very little in comparison to the E2s, if there even is a comparison. Looks: Boses look like a little hairdryer with silicone. E2s look like nothing. E2s look like E2s. Sound: Boses have lots of bass, a lot. There is so much bass that I cannot even hear the vocals. That may be a stretch. The vocals are very recessed and I can hardly hear them. In Switchfoot's "Dare You to Move," I did not hear much of the verses, but could snag some of the chorus. If I had not heard the song before and had not learned what the lyrics were, I would not have understood the song at all. The vocals were so de-emphasized that I could not discern what fellow was saying. Highs were hardly there either, worse than the E2s. Cymbals sound like an ugly mess of sounds that join into loud "pssSSSSsssh." Not to say I like the E2's highs, but the E2 highs are a little clearer. Overall, the Boses aren't terrible, but they aren't as decent as 1 competitor. You have free will, but you also have a brain.

joneeboi, I have to agree with Sordel somewhat regarding your comments because they completely differ from the consensus of opinion coming from people that have critically listened to the Bose IE for extended period of time (over a week?). First of all, you are comparing apples and oranges by comparing these earbuds to noise-isolating canalphones and IEMs, because the Bose manual for the IE's clearly state that they are not supposed to block out outside noise. The Boses are supposed to just sit in the ear canal, not block the ear canal. The product that you should be comparing these buds to is the top of the line non-isolating earbuds out there, such as the $150 AT's, the $160 B&O A-8's, even the $99 Senn MX-90's. The Bose's are for people that do not want noise isolation, but still want great sound with a comfortable fit in a small form factor. The Bose IEs, while not particularly suited to all types of music because of their highly EQ'd sound signature, are the best buds at any price for classical, jazz and acoustic music because of their ability to handle the low bass notes very well as opposed to the other buds that I have mentioned. As far as your opinion regarding the vocals, I as well as others have found the midrange and vocals to be one of the strong points regarding these buds. The muddiness that you described sounds like the sound that many describe before burn-in, because after burn-in this usually goes away. How many different types of music did you try with the Bose IE's, and how long did you listen to them?

 

[joneeboi]

*sigh*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel /img/forum/go_quote.gif In sound terms, I initially found the bass, which is startlingly emphasized, to be too "boomy", with a sense that particular frequencies were being given inappropriate prominence. Since that first impression, though, I've noticed how good the IEs are at bringing out sustained low notes.

I had the same first impression. Wasn't someone saying something about ears and brains and poor English?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your quotation-marks around adjust suggest either that those who enjoy them are fooling themselves or are trying to fool others.

Reading that made me laugh.

 

[tarheelbred04]

First post here... I'm usually a lurker on most boards. I rec'd the Bose IE's as a gift and was ready to discount them based on my experience w/ Bose products in the past. When I first tried them out, I had the same complaints as many on this board... muddy sound (although impressive bass) w/ little detail in the mids and highs. Since I could not return these, I decided to go ahead and let them get a little exercise on my laptop for about 35 hours. I've been skeptical about burn-in for headphones in the past, but wow... I just auditioned a completely different set of headphones. Bass is very very solid, if not spectacular for a earbud/in ear style headphone. Highs are clean and clear, without being overly bright. The mids are not perfect, but contribute to an overall balance and aural presence that I have not seen on IEM's in this price range (my brother has E2's).
My personal taste actually prefers the comfort of the "semi seal" ear piece these headphones offer... most isolating IE models make me feel like I have a headcold and become bothersome after an hour or so of listening. Although personal tastes on isolating vs. semi-isolating IE's will differ, I can honestly say these are by far the best balance of comfort and fidelity that I have found on any earbud/IEM for less than $200... kudos to Bose for producing a IEM that really appeals to this super casual audiophile.

 

[Cal81]

I've read the comments here with great interest. I bought the Triport IEs in early November and, like many, my first reactions were not exactly favorable. The big bass, looseness of the fit and the complete lack of isolation had me considering the Bose 30 day return policy. I did let the cans run for 3 straight days on an older MP3 player and then started to experiment with the ear tips and positioning. The small tips, while providing a tighter seal, sounded much too "boomy" to me. The mediums were better and if I twisted them out a bit, they were pretty secure. I then tried the large tips and, like others here, heard a much cleaner sound. Bass was, for the most part, solid and tight and the mids and highs seemed much more open. I use my Ipod when I walk every day (about 50 minutes or so) and found that the large tips always felt like they were moving around. Then, following another suggestion, I wrapped the cables behind my ears and used the slider to tighten the slack. Bingo! Although the cables moved around a bit, the large tips stayed put and the sound was wonderful. The IEs get sound quality from the Ipod that I wouldn't have thought possible. The lack of isolation is still an issue and I would definitely use other headphones on a plane or train. For my primary use, however, walking primarily in non-traffic areas, they are great. It would be difficult to go back to more traditional ear buds at this point.

 

[M0T0XGUY]

Bose headphones / earbuds are definitly known for their presence of bass. There's almost no doubt that the first thing you'll notice when trying out a pair is the loud, mushy bass. However, if you actually listen to their headphones instead of just hearing their headphones, you'll notice the awkward balance: how drowned out the highs are, how bloated the lowrange is. If Bose improved the sound quality of their headphones, and their durability, but kept them ultracomfortable, they'd have a (bigger) hit. Of course, that wouldn't neccessarily make me interested enough to purchase them, Bose has earned a reputation that won't be shaken off anytime soon, at least in this forum.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M0T0XGUY /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bose headphones / earbuds are definitly known for their presence of bass. There's almost no doubt that the first thing you'll notice when trying out a pair is the loud, mushy bass. However, if you actually listen to their headphones instead of just hearing their headphones, you'll notice the awkward balance: how drowned out the highs are, how bloated the lowrange is. If Bose improved the sound quality of their headphones, and their durability, but kept them ultracomfortable, they'd have a (bigger) hit. Of course, that wouldn't neccessarily make me interested enough to purchase them, Bose has earned a reputation that won't be shaken off anytime soon, at least in this forum.

If you would back off the tightness of the coupling between the IE and your ear, I suspect you would find the mids and highs open up quite a bit, as well as the bass tightening up. Try it and you'll see.

The Bose IE is far from perfect, but if people insist on using them in a way for which they were not designed and for a purpose for which they were not intended, they will forever be a dissapointment. They are not designed to be tightly coupled to one's ear canal, nor sealed in any way. They were not intended nor designed to attenuate ambient noise in any way.

 

[Graham_evo]

^^Amen to that^^

I was given a Bose iPod dock for christmas this year (I know this is a headphone forum but...) and to be honest, I think that judging by that, the QC2's and the Triport IE's Bose are turning things around and within the next 10 or so years they should have some bloody good stuff and start to regain more respect from 'Audiophiles' than they currently do.

However they could muck it all up.