[overlunge]

I do realise that Bose is not rated highly on the forum, but I just so happen to have a pair of QC2 lying around, so I decided to put it to comparison with my E3c on this particular plane trip...

Setup - Un-amped iPod 4G 20Gb, Tracks recorded on Apple Lossless, EQ off.

Tracks- Usher - Burn (R&B), Nelly - My Place (Hip Hop/R&B), Norah Jones - Don't Know Why (Jazz Vocal), Katie Melua - Closest Thing to Crazy (Jazz Vocal), Ruben Gonzelas - Tumbao (Latin Jazz)

Trip A to B, Headphones: QC2, waiting 10 minues in terminal, flying time 60 minutes -

QC2 attracted a few curious stares inside the airport terminal initally. But once I turned on the noise cancelling, the background noise dissolved only to followed by some mild sensation of pressure on my ear drums. I have not used them for a month, I found it takes time to use to.

After owning QC2 for 6 months, I found it sounds best unamplified (I can be wrong). Usher's Burn come out with punchy bass, but the most of tracks appears to be muffed, and in accurate.

The engine noise of the plane was drowned out by the cancelling mechanism and I did notice a bit difference when I took it off. No matter how comfortable to leather cushion felt, the pressure on the ear drum became very noicable, and I had to take them off once the pilot announce it was time to land.

I resisted a brief temptation to take E3c out on my taxi ride...

Trip B to A

It's E3c time, a few people had their iPod bud dangling, the E3c looks less impressive with its grey wiring. But the passive noise isolation was great with the yellow foamies.

The sound from E3c was unforced, though slight lazy at times, but it was very soothing to the ear and effectively drowned out the noise in the terminal and also on the plane.

Ruben Gonzelas' piano sound great, Katie's vocal was attracting, but the bass was less punching then QC2 on the two R&B/Hip tracks...

So here I'm after two short but interesting plane trips... I think I'm ready to part way with my QC2. It was the first 'high end' headphones I bought, end it is also the one I'm most dissappointed with.

Thank you for being here head-fi and help me grow out my high price=great sound dilusion.

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlunge After owning QC2 for 6 months, I found it sounds best unamplified (I can be wrong). Usher's Burn come out with punchy bass, but the most of tracks appears to be muffed, and in accurate.

Thanks very much for the thoughts, I have always been very curious about the QC2s!

I wonder:

1. If the noise canceling was altering the sound in negative ways, resulting in your impressions of the music being "muffled" and "inaccurate."

2. Why the noise canceling created a feeling of pressure in your ears.

Any educated guesses from anyone?

 

[greyghost]

I believe it is because of the way the noise "cancellation" occurs. Sound waves are piped are opposite to the outside noise to effectively cancel out sounds, but I beleive the sound pressure still remains. At least I think that's why, but that's just an educated guess.

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bLue_oNioN 2. Why the noise canceling created a feeling of pressure in your ears. Any educated guesses from anyone?

im like 95% sure that noise cancelling headphones use a microphone that measure outside noice and produce the oposite wave lengths of those noises there fore canceling out the noise. course nothing stops noise quite like a big wall of silicone or foam

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greyghost I believe it is because of the way the noise "cancellation" occurs. Sound waves are piped are opposite to the outside noise to effectively cancel out sounds, but I beleive the sound pressure still remains. At least I think that's why, but that's just an educated guess.

I wonder if the sound pressure is any higher than what one would experience with a normal set of headphones?

 

[lindrone]

The additional sound pressure could be because the additional opposing waveform that is created to cancel out the noise in the first place. Although I've tried many active noise cancellation headphones, I can't say I've really noticed that much of a difference myself. Maybe overlunge is just more sensitive to it.

Another thing that should be noted, active noise cancellation uses a microphone to measure outside noise, and then a programmed algorithm seeks out what it considered to be "noise" and then cancels it out, it is not as dynamic as one may think. Most active noise headphones will not cancel out what is in the normal "voice range"... Furthermore, it will have mic'd the "voice" sound and reproduced it at your ears instead of where it is naturally. There's always a weird effect when someone talks to you, with active noise cancellation on it will appear that they're in front of you, but the sound is coming from the side only.

The worst thing is if you're on a flight with crying babies, active noise cancellation will often amplify this by bringing the origination of that sound closer to your ears... Not desirable at all.

The good thing about active noise cancellation is that you can still have conversations with them on....

 

[overlunge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone The additional sound pressure could be because the additional opposing waveform that is created to cancel out the noise in the first place. Although I've tried many active noise cancellation headphones, I can't say I've really noticed that much of a difference myself. Maybe overlunge is just more sensitive to it.

The pressure sensation I felt with the QC2 was similar to having your ear blocked while an altitude change. The sensation was more pronouced when the plane was actually decending/ascending.

The pressure was only mild when I was inside the airport terminal. So I guess being on a plane doesnot help things.

Thanks for your comment.

overlunge