[Ultrazino]

I have read all your comments and I can now understand why some of you avoid Bose.

However, I wanted to at least try the On-Ears as I saw them online for 135 € so I went to my favorite Hi-Fi store and tried them on.

I'm sorry, but wow, I cannot notice what you guys complained about. Out of the box the sound was better than all closed burnt-in portables I've heard. Of course none were as expensive but the isolation is really great and the headphones are the most comfortable I've ever had, worn, seen, - heck - even heard of!
The store said that I can have them for 155 € so I took them back home instead of ordering from ebay.

Despite the price, the Zino will remain my main portables as they're dead sexy and I remain aware of my surroundings when wearing them. But I do travel a lot by train so in the long run I'm pretty sure the Bose will be worth the money.

Sorry guys.

 

[Danosaurus]

I feel the same way about my on-ears, I think they sound great and I can't understand guys who say they sound so bad. I mean there's still better sounding phones but the Bose are not the junk people make them out to be. I am wondering if Bose has updated these from earlier versions...they have been known to do that with other headphones, like with the in-ears since people complained about losing the silicone tips they redesigned them to stay attached. Newer versions of the in-ears are a bit different than older ones, though they still sound pretty bad. I wonder if newer versions of the on-ear sound better than older ones?

 

[Gbjerke]

My dad, ignorant as he is, bout a bose for our computer. And, i was just so damn disapointed. I couldn't stand listening to them. I mean the headphone series are at least a tad better. The one he bought, i dont remember the name, its the one with the two small speakers standing on some stands and a subwoofer. So, the subwoofer is so bad that theres actually no point where your chair doesnt shake. Even if you listen to piano or harp. At times the bass were so loud at some frequencies and not so loud at others. Which sounded odd as the bass on these frequencies werent supposed to be louder. Made for unatural really clumsy sound. And i couldnt even make my ears hurt just a little by cranking them all the way up. And they were something like 500$. I tried their headphones, and were, well atleast they're better. But just after that subwoofer, i really understood that they didnt put it there to make good sound. THey put it there so all the teens listening to their dance, would go EHEEYY look at that HUGE SUB!

 

[TobaccoRoad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultrazino /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have read all your comments and I can now understand why some of you avoid Bose. However, I wanted to at least try the On-Ears as I saw them online for 135 € so I went to my favorite Hi-Fi store and tried them on. I'm sorry, but wow, I cannot notice what you guys complained about. Out of the box the sound was better than all closed burnt-in portables I've heard. Of course none were as expensive but the isolation is really great and the headphones are the most comfortable I've ever had, worn, seen, - heck - even heard of! The store said that I can have them for 155 € so I took them back home instead of ordering from ebay. Despite the price, the Zino will remain my main portables as they're dead sexy and I remain aware of my surroundings when wearing them. But I do travel a lot by train so in the long run I'm pretty sure the Bose will be worth the money. Sorry guys.

I've decided as well. I'm gonna buy the Bose with the return policy just in case. It literally has all the things I'm looking for in a portable phone..except the sound

But I am a bit of a basshead so perhaps I won't be so disappointed.

 

[DarkJak]

I bought the Bose around ear headphones several years back at best buy before I knew about any other high end brands.
As these are usually the best in the store, they sounded great then too.

However, at $150? Looking back, I kinda regret paying so much.

The bass is bloated to me and the highs sound recessed. Like they aren't quite there.

I own the old apple IEMs too, the ones with the oddly shaped tips. I put the comply tips on them a few weeks ago, and for $40, I think they were very close to Bose on sq. The bass was tighter now and the mids and highs were present.
And these were made a Apple, of all companies

Now I use the super.fi 5 and the cable wore out. While Im waiting for ue to send the new pair, I've switched back to the apple iems and the Bose.
After getting used to the flat signature of the UE's, the Bose AE were even more unbalanced to me. Bass got to be overwhelming if I turned them up to hear more treble.

Also, those leather pads do wear out. Mine are falling apart pretty bad. Little black bits fall off every time I put them on, and Some made it into my ear, where they were later pulled out by the comply tips. And they cost $35 to replace.

By themselves, they aren't that bad I suppose, and comfort is superb. However, it's a high premium you pay.

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv /img/forum/go_quote.gif My problem with all of the Bose products I have heard (full-size, OE, Tri-Port IEM, Various home theater and audio speakers, etc) is that they are simply not a "natural" sound signature. The entire theory of Bose is that there are specific frequency ranges that most humans respond to, and that if there are humps at those locations, our brains will tend to fill-in or forgive the areas between the humps. Put a big hump in the lower mid-bass, and you won't notice that the lower registers are missing. Make a spike at ~8-10K Hz, and you won't notice the mids and the upper registers are missing. This is most obvious at the Bose demo locations, when the EQ and song selection is controlled. When I really sit down and do A/B testing with my own music against non-Bose products, the difference becomes obvious. It's like the flat-panels at Best-Buy being set to their demo "torch" mode with the saturation and brightness maxed in order to make the units "pop" under the harsh store lights. Once you get the displays home, you then notice the beet-red faces, unnatural colors and lack of shadow definition. I prefer my video *and* my audio to be more natural and less "enhanced".

I heard the in-ear model and my gosh I couldn't believe them. Even with an open mind with the assumption that audiophiles exaggerate their weaknesses I couldn't believe how far from the mark they were.

My listening just showed them to sound very very heavy and dark. They had a lot of bass, but not low bass, just highly over-exaggerated mid-bass. They had no treble to speak of except for low treble. They were disgustingly mid-heavy in a bad way (I didn't think that was possible) such that it was really mid-bass over-bloat and again no treble.

I tried to listen with an open mind since a good friend of mine bought them and offered me a demo, but I shut my mouth and said nothing. Because if you can't say something nice its better not to say anything.

They were far below my already low expectations. I couldn't even believe it. I think their wave radio as overpriced as it is not a bad system, but those in-ears were the worst I have heard. The Koss KSC-75 MURDERS them.

I've heard the others at the Apple store and maybe Best Buy but the noisy environments they are demonstrated in don't really help. They didn't sound as terrible as the in-ear, but they didn't sound good either. Probably the $15 Koss beats them on their best day. The Koss is after all pretty darn good.

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkJak /img/forum/go_quote.gif The bass is bloated to me and the highs sound recessed. Like they aren't quite there.

My exact impression of the in-ear version. Except you are understating it by several degrees. I bet that is the "house sound". I could not believe how far from generally accepted standards of audio quality they actually were. Unbelievable how bad they sounded. I can see them being "pleasant" in wierd way in that by taking out all deep bass and all treble they are very forgiving of MP3 compression artifacts and piss poor sources. But they killed the music. It wasn't music I was listening to, it was like some horrible cheap mid-bass boosted loudspeaker with a dead tweeter. That's how bad it was.

 

[duanepo]

Hmmm.. rather get the Denon d1001 or beyerdynamic dt770 if you really like that much bass...

P.S. stay away from bose... =s