[iharuyuki]

A pair a bought off eBay just arrived today and when I switch them on I hear a slight buzz, the environment is silent. Are they defective or is it normal?

 

[viralcow]

lol. That's your active noise cancelling hard at work.

 

[iharuyuki]

I was under the impression that Bose noise cancelling was without this buzz. Is this true?
 

 

[obobskivich]

Buzz? No.

Slight hiss or white noise type effect from the ANC counter-wave? Yes.

So if you're talking about something similar to a ground loop or 60 cycle noise, that's certainly NOT part of the QC15's intended sound. If you can hear it over the signal (no matter what it sounds like) that's certainly NOT correct either. But if there's a very subtle and constant "sssssss" noise while nothing is playing, that's the ANC counter-wave. If you can't make sense of this from my post, go find a Bose store (or some other retailer, like Best Buy) that has them on demo and try the demo pair out.

The sad part is, if they are defective, I doubt you have any recourse beyond hoping and praying the eBay seller is a good guy.