[dweaver]

I was in the store the other day and noticed a brand new product from a manufacturer most of us at Head-fi write off. When I saw the price tag of this product I was immediately sceptical and wrote it off as well.

But out of curiosity I went into a Bose outlet today and demo'd the new QC20 their new Noise Cancelling in ear bud. All I can say is WOW did they ever nail the noise cancelling part right! I had the comfort level of the best shallow tip IEM's I have owned combined with the isolation of some of the best isolating IEM's I have owned.

These have a slightly different tip than the IE2 which offer a decent seal while retaining the IE2 comfort and then some of the best darn electro wizardry I have ever heard (or in this case NOT heard).

Sound wise I could tell these were not quite up to my KEF M200 but I was surprised at how well they did. The treble seemed more extended than the IE2 and the bass not as bloated.

I A/B tested between the M200 and the QC20 a few times and I found myself almost unable to hear the higher quality sound of the M200 due to the mall sounds coming from outside the store. In the end I had to admit that aside from quiet listening which I don't get to do very often the Qc20 offered a wonderful overall listening experience between comfort, silence, and decent sound quality.

So I have ordered a pair from Future Shop (30 money back option in case they don't work with my Nokia 920 or I have buyers remorse). I will post some more comments when these arrive in the next couple of days.

I strongly urge some long time Head-fi members and anyone else willing to go to give these a listen at a Bose store. If for no other reason than finding out if I am nuts or not. If you do please post your thoughts here. I really am curious what others will think.

 

[Deviltooth]

Funny how you mentioned KEF earphones and Bose in the same message.  Exposure to KEF speakers when I was younger made me really regret my first 'serious' speaker purchase which came from Bose.  How bloody foolish I felt after I compared the two at my friend's place.
 
Bose may have some decent technology now but their marketing is misleading and in the speaker world their products are comparably ****.

 

[dweaver]

I think serious audiophile quality sound lies with the KEF, UE, ETY, etc. but this new offering from Bose offers a decent mid-fi quality sound matched with extreme comfort and isolation thats above average which is a compelling package for on the go use. When I can sit in a quiet environment I want the audiophile experience but on the go in transit and on city streets or the office mid-fi is mostly all I can distinguish unless I use deep insertion IEM's which I find to uncomfortable so they end up sitting unused.

But this an experiment at this point and one still in the waiting stage so I won't really know if I like these until I have them in hand.

I also use a CPAP machine when sleeping so look forward to a comfortable isolator for in bed.