[captian73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnalogJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif You see their products being advertised everywhere.

That’s just nonsense. In the UK until the apple stores got going, Bose was very hard to come by. Sure Bose have they're own dedicated stores now, but Sony have had the 'Sony centres' for years, and there's far more Sony centres than Bose stores. Even Panasonic/Technics have their own stores.

Go into any electrical store and you see more Sennheiser, Sony, Philips JVC headphones being sold than Bose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnalogJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif The end result is that no real negative reviews are published.

so you wouldn't consider this negative pictorial review on the most influencial headphone website as a 'negative review'.

Like LUCIDD said about the HK system being better than the Bose, fare enough I can accept that. But then try a Pioneer system and I bet someone would say that it's better than the HK system, then try a .... Sony system and someone would say it sounds better than the HK and Pioneer system, then sit in a Volvo with a Dynaudio system and someone will say it better than the others, then sit in a Lexus with your Mark Levison and someone will it's better than that. We could be here all day with that kind of discussion.

It's down to the individual. I know there are better sounding headphones than the Bose, I've got 30+headphones to choose from, but at times, I enjoy them. But somehow saying that sends people into a massive girlie fit.

 

[fatman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by janchadley /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought a pair of Triport OE's a few years back and I remember getting a kick out of the fact that my girlfriend put the bose OE's on and loved them, she said, "its like the headphones are having sex with my ears". Then, I said, "Really? try these" and let her try on a pair of AKG K702s. She was kind of like "hmmm, there ok, but I like the bose" Whah? lol Interested by this, I went and got out my Grado 225's and she liked them but preferred to bose comfort. The moral to this story is that the price tag may just well be worth it to the average consumer. An audiophile is a dramatic minority in the headphone market. And the Majority love that boom boom boom, sloppy though it may be. The other thing I notice is that when I let someone listen to my nicer sets of headphones, they like listen to it for a little bit, maybe a couple of songs, maybe just a few minutes, then they give them back and say, "Thats nice" or something. A great example is the experience I recently had in Best Buy. I was looking around and I asked an employee in the stereo area if they had any docking connectors or an LOD for iPod. He had no idea what I was talking about. I pulled out my rig and showed him and he marvelled at it, "No, we don't carry them, I didn't even know they made that". Have previously been the home and car audio industry for many years, I am not suprised by this, but it does seem like so many posters on this site don't realize how rare people like us are, even in the audio sales industry. Another example would be the time I walked into a high end audio store (well, Mcintosh and Magnapan high end, but still) and they knew about this stuff but didn't care. I showed em my Grados and they looked unimpressed and told me they preferred the Klipsh Image X10's for the sole reason to have headphones with lots of bass during workouts. You could tell they didn't care about audiophile level performance. I wondered how they sold the equipment they sold, probably just to rich people who want something that looks fancy and costs a lot. My overly verbose point being, Bose aren't hifi headphones, nor audiophile headphones, but they are top of the line average consumer headphones. And they make a damn good gateway drug to real hi end...well maybe not with my girlfriend. I do think, with a nice touch up on the equalization you can counterbalance the bass a bit and get some really great treble out of the Triports. But the midrange just sucks in my opinion. You do have to give it up for there amazing marketing of their product, though. Holy cow, every mall has a Boss store. If only the same were true for Grado, Senn, Beyer...so on.

I do agree with your opinions on the consumers electronic products market. The general salesman and customers reallly has less knowledge on audiophiles devices.

To many of my friends, they really don't know what is the difference between the audiophile grade rigs and the normal Toy grade gears. They don't know what is the standard of the music reproductions. Even some don't know what is bass ( from where can be defined as bass in the tracks).
So at the consumer market, the audio maker only need to pay biger money on advertisment, most of them OEM , they enven don't do R$D.

The same to IPOD, Apple never care about our small group audiophiles' criticizing. for compare to their 200 million users, our Headifer members can be ignored.

 

[RPHC]

Bose. Muahahahahahahaa.

 

[chubristic]

maybe my hearing is just horrible. but i've had the bose on ear for about 3 years and i love them. i love the comfort and the bass. i bought the Sennheiser HD 25-1 ii and needless to say, i found myself using the bose more. don't get me wrong, the sennheisers were great, it was a lot more clearer and it had smooth highs and neutral mids. but i felt like the bose were so much more comfortable. and i wear headphones hours on end, so that was one reason. and i was so used to the bose's deep bass. i switched on and off between the two. then i decided to return the Sennheisers. and i just ordered the Audio Technica M50s since i was too obsessed with bass. so i'm hoping this is a good upgrade.

 

[donedj]

If you want good bass and much better sound quality than Bose, get the Denon 1100s
 

 

[Yossarian33]

Quote:

 The jack is also extremely flimsy, which is ridiculous for any headphone over $100. On budget 'phones the jack is usually the first thing to go, and the Bose ones are no exception.

 

 
I created an account here to respond to this. I've owned 2 pairs of these now (managed to get the first pair replaced after the jack broke) and it was the flimsiest jack on any pair of headphones I've ever owned. I took one look at it after I bought my initial pair and took it out of the box and knew right away it was only a matter of time and I was right. It was not long at all before they got worn out and the wires became exposed.
 
The second pair it happened much sooner, the cord snagged a bit and ripped right off. Now if I want to use them I am able to make a short cord by connecting the 2 extensions I had that came from both pairs, it isn't long enough to use with my ipod in my pocket when out, but is long enough for using with my laptop. However I don't use them anyways, though i've tried several times to give them a chance. I actually prefer some over the ear cheap 30$ Sony's that i inherited from a friend.
 
And the OP review is spot on imo. The first pair was broken in as i used them as a last resort after my Denon's broke on me and honestly if I had literally any other choice (well, maybe other than the stock ipod earbuds) I would have gone with anything else. Bass is overpoweringly wompy and that is just for normal rock songs. If you listen to hip hop or electronica/house etc. forget about it.
 
I also found them too tight and not comfortable for extended periods of time, my ears would get hot and sweaty and it felt like a great relief taking them off.
 
I was one of those people who just walked in to the store and looked at the tag, thought Bose was good cause hey they're expensive and I've seen the commercials so allegedly these are going to sound good but no, not at all. If anything I had a positive bias towards them before I owned a pair. In fact, it may not be fair but I'm pretty confident in saying that I will never willingly own another Bose product again, certainly not headphones. There is a slight chance if a speaker or little stereo really blows me away I might do it, but it really isn't likely.
 
Started reading these forums btw after getting some Koss Tony Bennett heaphones at Staples today (for 30$) and doing a google search on them. Sound wise, the TBSE blow the Bose out of the water imo and it isn't even close. So yeah, these don't even match up against the better >100$ headphones.
 
I think I grabbed my first pair on sale for 100$ (the tag was 170$ the second time, though i didn't pay for them it was just a replacement) and that is still far more than they're worth imo. I suppose if a person had some obsessive masochistic love for bass then they would be decent enough, they certainly don't skimp on the thump-age factor. I do occasionally pull them out for those odd times I really want to headbang to some really bassy and drum heavy thumpin track, but the novelty wears thin soon enough.
 
Also, the cord and jack just scream planned obsolescence to me. If you're thinking of using these while doing anything physical with a smart phone/ipod etc. be prepared to replace them sooner than later, it is only a matter of time. I used them treeplanting for a month and they didn't go the distance at camp. The jack on the second pair lasted even less time at my landscaping job.

 

[GramKraker]

if anybody wants a pair i've got some for sale $100 obo