[The-One]

well I guess it's because Bose make their products sound inaccurate in a way that isn't unpleasant to listen to though probably not worth the money to most audiophiles.

for eg, i have heard a range of iems, and I own customs. So when I walked past the Bose store in London, I asked to have a go on the Triports.

The mid bass was way overdone, but it at least gave the impression of a warm big sound signature. There was a lack of deep bass, with treble roll off, and in general detail and clarity in the mids wasn't good.

But it sounded alright, I guess if I just listened to gangsta rap or whatever on the Tube I wouldn't have been bothered about it.

 

[Dr Evil Dan]

When I first saw the name of the thread, I thought "Wow, is that a rhetorical question or something?" and then I realized you were serious. It would seem, nobb, that you must be reeducated...

 

[nobb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Evil Dan /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I first saw the name of the thread, I thought "Wow, is that a rhetorical question or something?" and then I realized you were serious. It would seem, nobb, that you must be reeducated...

Yea, I am serious. I am not sure what you mean by re-educated. If a person has personal preference to a certain sound signature, I see no reason why that should change. As I mentioned, Ive read and understand all the anti-bose reasoning. But I just could not bring myself to hating the sound of the headphones, or the companion series speakers. I agree they are overpriced, but in terms of sound I actually prefer them to my old Shures. They are actually quite enjoyable (for me) to listen to. But to be honest, I wasn't listening to my own music or anything. It was just a quick impression with the music that was loaded onto the display iPods. Although I do admit that I forgot to check if the equalizer was flat...

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nobb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea, I am serious. I am not sure what you mean by re-educated. If a person has personal preference to a certain sound signature, I see no reason why that should change. As I mentioned, Ive read and understand all the anti-bose reasoning. But I just could not bring myself to hating the sound of the headphones, or the companion series speakers. I agree they are overpriced, but in terms of sound I actually prefer them to my old Shures. They are actually quite enjoyable (for me) to listen to. But to be honest, I wasn't listening to my own music or anything. It was just a quick impression with the music that was loaded onto the display iPods. Although I do admit that I forgot to check if the equalizer was flat...

so see if you can audition with your own music, see what you think
honestly, if you prefer the Bose to other stuff on the market, go for it, its your ears, and more importantly, your money

I would honestly suggest trying out other hp's or speakers before going with Bose though, just to see what else is available, if you still like Bose, then go with them, otherwise, go with whatever else you find that strikes your fancy

 

[rembrant]

When I worked a circuit city, there was one customer who just could not understand why we wouldn't recommend the BOSE 2.1 system he wanted. After several minutes of my co-worker begging and pleading with him to listen to something else first before he made up his mind, I decided to see if he was up for an experiment. We told him to have a look around for a few min while I set something up. The co-worker grabbed the BLOWS 2.1 system and headed for the video room. I went over to the computer department and borrowed a 2.1 computer set made by Polk and headed to the video room. We set the two systems up post haste and covered them with a black sheet. The co-worker left to retrieve the customer. We seated him on the couch and played SRV's version of littlewing through both sets.
To make a long story short, he could not believe that the $49 set of Polk computer speakers so handily trounced a $500 BOSE set. He left with a stereo Marantz receiver and some Infinity reference bookshelf and still payed about $80 less than he would have.

 

[Videotape7372]

^^^^^^^ That's pretty funny. I think that Bose would be decent if their prices weren;t so high. I personally don't like them though, my first headphones ever being a Bose Triports. Then I got HD 280's for $50 bucks less and never touched them again lol.

 

[skeptic]

Just like with any other manufacturer - you have to evaluate the gear on a product by product basis - not on brand name alone. I'm trying to sustain this chorus, because I'm really weary of the countless brand name fanboys on head-fi.

I stand firm by my position that the Bose IE's are pleasant buds in the sub $100 range. Are they Hifi? No, but they sound full, have ample bass and are super comfortable to wear for hours.

edited: I'd still probably take the Bose IE's over another pair of Er-6i's due to the Ety's uncomfortable tips, "lean" bass and artificial level of detail/over-articulation. But for $50, NE-7m's trounce the competition and are reason enough to steer clear of the Bose.

 

[Brighten]

Although the chaps at Bose are a bunch of con men, reading through this thread just made me sick- and I don't even own any Bose products...

 

[realmike15]

it seems like theres a lot of heavy bias going on here. i just came across this in a google search, so i thought i'd chime in with my thoughts.

i do recording engineering, and have been doing it for the past 12 years. here's my input on the matter, take it for what it is.

the Bose headphones are an extremely colored sound, whether or not that's what you're looking for, is entirely up to the buyer. i can tell you, no recording studio would ever consider using them for reference... they are just not accurate.

most Bose systems i can think of, are extremely overpriced for their performance. my mom owns the wave music system, and that thing is nothing short of a rip off. bass is muddy, there is a false sense of clarity in the mids, and highs are almost scooped completely out. i think the wave music system, could possibly be one of the most expensive poorly performing music players on the market, if we're talking about a price to performance ratio.

the acoustimass system is another example of their Marketing driven business. they'd have you believe there's all this technology into the system, but it's actually just a standard satellite speaker system you'd find on your friends computer. it sounds ok, but the subwoofer is unbelievably weak and muddy. satellite speakers are ok, but show no real transparency or clarity in anything.... except specially designed Bose Test CDs where they EQ the music specifically to only sound good on those speakers.

bose is a marketing machine, similar to apple... except even though i'm not an apple fan, i have slightly more respect for the products they crank out. those articles are no joke though, bose goes out of it's way to hide the fact, that they have no hard evidence backing their product... just lots and lots of consumer manipulation.

however there was a time when bose designed good stuff, probably 20-25 years ago. i think they are starting to realize they can't ride their good name to the bank anymore, i think the headphones may be an indication of that, in my opinion they are no where near the competition, but they are an improvement to what we've seen lately. i doubt they'll ever compete with Paradigm, Dynaudio, Boston Acoustics, Martin Logan, etc etc... but they could find a spot for non-audiophiles who like that colored sound.... if they actually started making quality sounding products like they used to.

 

[Alai]

Thanks for that. Finally someone with a bit of credentials has spoken lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by realmike15 /img/forum/go_quote.gif it seems like theres a lot of heavy bias going on here. i just came across this in a google search, so i thought i'd chime in with my thoughts. i do recording engineering, and have been doing it for the past 12 years. here's my input on the matter, take it for what it is. the Bose headphones are an extremely colored sound, whether or not that's what you're looking for, is entirely up to the buyer. i can tell you, no recording studio would ever consider using them for reference... they are just not accurate. most Bose systems i can think of, are extremely overpriced for their performance. my mom owns the wave music system, and that thing is nothing short of a rip off. bass is muddy, there is a false sense of clarity in the mids, and highs are almost scooped completely out. i think the wave music system, could possibly be one of the most expensive poorly performing music players on the market, if we're talking about a price to performance ratio. the acoustimass system is another example of their Marketing driven business. they'd have you believe there's all this technology into the system, but it's actually just a standard satellite speaker system you'd find on your friends computer. it sounds ok, but the subwoofer is unbelievably weak and muddy. satellite speakers are ok, but show no real transparency or clarity in anything.... except specially designed Bose Test CDs where they EQ the music specifically to only sound good on those speakers. bose is a marketing machine, similar to apple... except even though i'm not an apple fan, i have slightly more respect for the products they crank out. those articles are no joke though, bose goes out of it's way to hide the fact, that they have no hard evidence backing their product... just lots and lots of consumer manipulation. however there was a time when bose designed good stuff, probably 20-25 years ago. i think they are starting to realize they can't ride their good name to the bank anymore, i think the headphones may be an indication of that, in my opinion they are no where near the competition, but they are an improvement to what we've seen lately. i doubt they'll ever compete with Paradigm, Dynaudio, Boston Acoustics, Martin Logan, etc etc... but they could find a spot for non-audiophiles who like that colored sound.... if they actually started making quality sounding products like they used to.

 

[Stoin]

I know this started about the Bose headphones, but it seems to have become a tad more general. Anyway I don't mind the sound of Bose systems when I hear them in the background at a friend's house.

Once you leave the world of hi-fi there are uses for Bose gear. I have a pair of the older style mediamate speakers for my computer. The sound is not hi-fi and I wouldn't want them as my main source of music, but for computer noises, casual watching of DVDs etc. they do their job. Buying again today I might go for one of the Creative 2.0 sets, but 6 years ago the Bose was the best small 2.0 system I could find.

In some cases I might even recommend Bose gear to a friend. Big speakers need big rooms to work best and most bookshelf speakers still need a decent amount of space to sound their best. I do know people who want very small, discrete 5.1 systems for TV and movies. While I think the Yamaha sound projectors are pretty good not everyone agrees. In this case Bose is expensive, but if that's what they want...

 

[jonathanjong]

Can't resist joining in.

Assuming we're not aesthetic objectivists (= people who believe that there are aesthetic facts, as opposed to preferences), which I'm not most days of the week, there are no "good" or "bad" headphones. If I like headphones that distort music to make everything sound like static, that's my call. So, why all the Bose slamming? Well, although there are significant sound sig. variations among us, audio enthusiasts have similar tastes. Most of us want accuracy, want detail, etc. And sometimes these desiderata come at a price, and sometimes the price is (oddly) musical enjoyment. I know some disagree, but in my experience crappy files/recordings sound worse on good (read: more detailed) headphones. Why does Bose sound good? Because they're engineered to produce pleasing sounds. And if you like that sort of thing at the price of accuracy, fine. But a lot of audio enthusiasts don't. Is there a "right" or "more rational" take on this? Not really. I suppose the utilitarian might claim that the Bose-lovers have it right. Ignorance is bliss, etc. But there's something to be said for wanting to hear the music as accurately as possible, for what it is. Knowledge is a basic good, etc. Meh.

Ah, someone posted something about coloured sound that's pretty close to what I'm saying. Drats.

 

[milkweg]

I started a thread similar to this one not long ago so it's not just me and my cloth ears. In fact, took a freind to the store that has the Bose headphone display and he agrees with me that the larger pair of on-ear headphones sounds quite good. I don't like on ear headphones but for $150.00 CAD I think they are nice sounding headphones and you are all just biased against Bose because of what you have been taught by others to beleive.

 

[realmike15]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif I started a thread similar to this one not long ago so it's not just me and my cloth ears. In fact, took a freind to the store that has the Bose headphone display and he agrees with me that the larger pair of on-ear headphones sounds quite good. I don't like on ear headphones but for $150.00 CAD I think they are nice sounding headphones and you are all just biased against Bose because of what you have been taught by others to beleive.

what you are talking about is whether or not you like the sound they produce. other people are describing whether or not those headphones give an accurate reproduction of the instruments and rooms they were recorded in.

apples and oranges my friend.

i'm glad you like them, feel free to buy as many pairs as you deem necessary. there is plenty of evidence posted in the thread to support the contrary whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

 

[milkweg]

I'm not buying any because I don't like on-ear headphones, friend. My main headphones are DT990pro. And don't recording engineers use speakers and not headphones anyway? That's what I read just two days ago.