What do you all think of Bose?

[soundeffect]

for me, I'm talking about the active noise cancellation feature.

 

[Mheat122134]

Great noise cancelling but average sound.

 

[falmouth]

I just bought some, but they are nothing special at all unless you are a big traveler. They are awesome in terms of drowning out low pitched but constant noises (like an airplane). However, I personally thought that noise cancelling would also be effective in removing the sounds of people talking, and other random noises. I am currently typing with the noise canceling activated and I can hear every single key as I press it. I did not expect that. This is admittedly my fault for having unreasonable expectations, but still, I am disappointed.

 

[kcazbarach]

Good at what they do (Noise Cancellation), but their overall quality leaves alot to be desired, better offerings in that price range.
 
Really only worth it, if you have travel alot and isolation is a must.
 

 

[kramer5150]

Dang I havent been here in like half a decade+ and I step back into it with a Bose comment... LOL
 
Anyways, I have an AE2 that I use for its passive noise isolation.  Its about on par with a portapro in a lot of ways sonically, so I find it decent.  Its VERY comfortable and extremely durable.  I have fallen asleep with them on and waken in the middle of the night ONTOP of them a couple times.  I have seen youtube reviewers bend and twist the headband FLAT across.  I use it for late night TV watching, but every once in a while I use them for non-critical music listening when I need isolation.  Biggest complaint is its bass heaviness and overall congestion, its not a very detail revealing headphone.
 

 

[Magicman74]

Bose 6X9's were pretty good in the mid 80's.   Decent Amps as well, But you needed to Match up, I ruined a pair of 6906's by using them with a Bose amp.

 

[MellonCollie]

I laugh when people hate on beats, then say bose is the better alternative

I always listened to the demos, they sound great just not 300$ great at all.

I stood there confused thinking how these are so expensive

 

[proton007]

Some of their models may have good sound, but they're horribly overpriced.

 

[Magicman74]

Anyone remember these? 901 series...Talk about wall o sound!!!
 

 

[Mani ATH 87]

Quote:

I have some cheap Bose speakers

 
I didn't know Bose had anything at "cheap" prices.

Bose has some decent gear (not just headphones), the problem is the pricing. This is the most apparent in the home theater systems they offer, the quality isn't terrible but the prices are completely ridiculous.

 

[obobskivich]

They try to stimulate wide soundstage and quality by focusing all their sound from their drivers into your ears by using a V-shaped driver configuration. By achieving this, people would perceive this as better quality and clarity, as well as wide in soundstage.

They're one of a few manufacturers that does this with their closed cans, and it works more or less imho (relative to the isolation their cans offer, the soundstaging is fantastic).

Dang I havent been here in like half a decade+ and I step back into it with a Bose comment... LOL

Anyways, I have an AE2 that I use for its passive noise isolation.  Its about on par with a portapro in a lot of ways sonically, so I find it decent.  Its VERY comfortable and extremely durable.  I have fallen asleep with them on and waken in the middle of the night ONTOP of them a couple times.  I have seen youtube reviewers bend and twist the headband FLAT across.  I use it for late night TV watching, but every once in a while I use them for non-critical music listening when I need isolation.  Biggest complaint is its bass heaviness and overall congestion, its not a very detail revealing headphone.

Whoa, blast from the past! You also have three of my favorite headphones in that picture.

Anyone remember these? 901 series...Talk about wall o sound!!!

They still make'em! They're expensive though (~$1600/pr).

Bose has some decent gear (not just headphones), the problem is the pricing. This is the most apparent in the home theater systems they offer, the quality isn't terrible but the prices are completely ridiculous.

And I think it's the home theater systems that give them the worst rap (and it just translates elsewhere) - I mean even if you look at their own internal pricing, the home theater systems are hilariously expensive (you can buy the raw speakers for $1k, or the system with their proprietary receiver for >$3k - yeah, unless that receiver is solid gold and can be controlled telepathically, I'm thinking it's a non-starter). But once you get out of that, they tend to be *relatively* competitive with other big companies like Klipsch. Sure if you spend a lot of time hunting for values and learning and researching and so on, you can beat them, but for an easily found, very well supported, and all packaged turn-key solution, they pretty much have that down (and their CS is fantastic).

Overall I tend to enjoy my Bose cans - sure, there's gonna be people who have an axe to grind with that, and some of them will say nasty things, but they don't have to live with them. I like them for mostly the same reasons as kramer listed - they're very comfortable, light, and I can wear them for hours and hours. The AE2 are one of my favorite headphones for gaming for that reason (plus the isolation), and the QC15 for gaming and when I'm generally sick of listening to my furnace or air conditioning or whatever other noise of the week (and yeah, it's really $300 just to address that, I get that that isn't "ideal" but it's my money and more importantly, my sanity). SQ wise they're not bad at all imho - both are fairly forgiving, relatively well extended, non-fatiguing - they sound about like they fit: pillowy and soft. Nothing to complain about on my end. Especially if one is to consider *other* ANC headphones (I'd really rather not - so many...just truly terrible sounding or fitting products out there).

Basically, they're comfortable, isolate well, sound alright enough (no, the QC15 aren't going to edge the ESP/950 anytime soon), and I can leave'em on my noggin all day or all night and not be sore or uncomfortable afterwords. Works for me. It's worth pointing out though that they have something of a house sound (let's say between the two pairs of cans I've got and various speakers I've heard over the years I have noticed something that I would describe as a "house sound"), and it's relatively colored - so I can see where not everyone would find them appealing. Of course they don't market it that way, and I think that burns a lot of people who expect a vanilla milkshake and get pistachio icecream.

 

[marlonmarabe]

bose arent that bad at all. i own a lot of better sounding headphones but for the convenience,design,customer service,etc. Bose are pretty good. I love the first version of around ear and their soundlink II

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

....Overall I tend to enjoy my Bose cans - sure, there's gonna be people who have an axe to grind with that, and some of them will say nasty things, but they don't have to live with them. I like them for mostly the same reasons as kramer listed - they're very comfortable, light, and I can wear them for hours and hours. The AE2 are one of my favorite headphones for gaming for that reason (plus the isolation), and the QC15 for gaming and when I'm generally sick of listening to my furnace or air conditioning or whatever other noise of the week (and yeah, it's really $300 just to address that, I get that that isn't "ideal" but it's my money and more importantly, my sanity). SQ wise they're not bad at all imho - both are fairly forgiving, relatively well extended, non-fatiguing - they sound about like they fit: pillowy and soft. Nothing to complain about on my end. Especially if one is to consider *other* ANC headphones (I'd really rather not - so many...just truly terrible sounding or fitting products out there).
Basically, they're comfortable, isolate well, sound alright enough (no, the QC15 aren't going to edge the ESP/950 anytime soon), and I can leave'em on my noggin all day or all night and not be sore or uncomfortable afterwords. Works for me. It's worth pointing out though that they have something of a house sound (let's say between the two pairs of cans I've got and various speakers I've heard over the years I have noticed something that I would describe as a "house sound"), and it's relatively colored - so I can see where not everyone would find them appealing. Of course they don't market it that way, and I think that burns a lot of people who expect a vanilla milkshake and get pistachio icecream.

The other thing I enjoy about the AE2 is that its pretty immune to your source, material and amp.  So its lack of detail resolution works to its advantage, in that it masks whats upstream of it.  They are my go-to cans for youtube vids, where I plug them straight into the macbook and stream away.
 
The big koss cans in my pic are the old A250 from the late 80s not the ESP-950.  They are traditional dynamic driver elements, and are a very "snappy-fast" sounding can, speedy and very detail revealing.  The are on-par with RS1 in that regard, but with less bass and WAY more soundstage.

 

[ssrock64]

I guess I'll echo the general consensus here. I've owned quite a few Bose cans (QC15, AE2, OE), and while they're pretty smooth and unoffensive-sounding, they lack value. I do like the generally warm sound signature of most of their range, but I regret paying full price every time I buy anything from the brand, because I could get a the same level of detail with a similar sound signature from another brand for generally $100 - $150 less.

 

[Kodhifi]

Quote:

If you've read my introduction thread or whatever, you'll know that I'm the owner of a pair of Bose QC15 headphones. I'm just curious-what do you all think of QC15's and Bose headphones in general? Personally, I think the QC15's are excellent, even if on the pricey side. The noise cancellation is great and it sounds awesome to my admittedly untrained ears. And that's thanks to my Samsung Galaxy SIII which has this cool custom equalizer thingy built into the music player app. But what do you all think?

I've only owned 1 pair of Bose speakers in my life. A set of small bookshelf's using their "acoustimass" technology that gave a decent bass response for such small drivers. I only did this because my 15" pioneers at the time would piss my neighbor off no matter what volume I had it at and I NEEDED music.
 
This is wholly my opinion, yours may differ.
 
Bose is to audiophiles what The Olive Garden is to foodies. It's mass market garbage that the general public gushes over due to branding and the mistaken belief that price = performance, the Sharper Image catalog crowd, those people who buy a laptop bag because it says "Samsonite" on it, nevermind that the brand hasn't been relevant in 20 years. Bose products are over priced swill, for people who care more about branding and how a speaker looks over how it sounds.
 
And their sin of making the general public think tiny little speakers and a central subwoofer were a good thing, deserves a war crime tribunal.
 
 
True story. A guy walks into a store and says "Do you have Beats by Dre?" doesn't like the way they sound, but likes the way they look so he walks out of the store with a pair of Bose and proceeds to sand and paint them to look like the Beats.
 
If you feel about Bose the way that I do, then that story is a punchline to a joke, not a story. It's true by the way, saw the video on youtube. I commented on his not liking the way the Beats sounded, walks out with Bose...stopped watching there. And another commenter chimed in "Finally! Somebody who gets it!" I felt like we had just exchanged a secret handshake.
 
 
What do I think of Bose? I think they are over hyped, over priced, and even their good products bring nothing to the table that other brands have done better and cheaper. They run direct marketing advertisements on television for their products.....that's how bad they are.