Bose Quietcomfort 2, good, bad or great?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello.

Yesterday I ordered a Bose Quietcomfort 2 noise-canceling headphone set for $322.00, including tax. (At the moment they’re selling them with the incentive of free shipping and an inexpensive MP3 player. This deal, if that’s what it is, will go on until June 30.)

I did quite a lot of research for headphones over the Internet and narrowed it down to the Bose and Beyerdynamic’s DT 880 and Sennheiser’s 650 HD but, as I said, went with the Bose in the end.

I picked the Bose because it seems better suited for less powerful devices, whereas the other two, according to what people wrote about them, would require a headphone amplifier (because they’re bigger and have heavier cords), with those costing at least $300.00 for a decent one. All three of these headphones got, for the most part, really great reviews. (Though I can’t help but wonder if some of the “reviews” were posted by competitors trashing other makes while overstating their own.)

After I placed my order I went out to the local Apple store to check-out in person what I’d just ordered. And I must say that the thing sure as heck didn’t look all that great, like it didn’t exude $300.00 worth of quality. The thin non-curling cord and the cheap looking cases (cans?) really made me think that there was maybe $10.00 worth of materials to the things.

Of course I did listen to them for a bit, but the song coming from the Ipod sucked so I didn’t listen any further.

Anyway, I can’t really get hurt in this venture because they do come with a 30-day no questions asked return policy. And that’s good. But I’d love to know if any of you have the Bose Quietcomfort 2s? And if you do, do you feel they’re worth the money?

Thanks in advance for your replies, if any. :slight_smile:

P.S. I intend to use them mainly for listening to music over my Bose Wave radio as well as the computer, and not so much for the purpose of quieting lawn mowers and such. Thus the quality of sound for music is more important to me than the noise canceling abilities (though the noisey refrigerator behind me makes me wonder if it should be the other way around).

2

Among the audiophile community you won’t see a lot of love for Bose, but I think they may get bashed a little more than they deserve.

My opinion of the Bose equipment I’ve seen and used over the years is that most of it is decent (not great, but decent) equipment at price higher than the competition for the same quality gear.

For virtually all casual listeners, their stuff will be just fine, will sound good, will be of good quality, it’s just that you might have found similar (or slightly better) equipment for a little less money. In other words, you don’t get burned, you just don’t get the best deal available.

As it happens, I purchased and listened to the Bose QuietComfort (original version, I’m pretty sure not the II) for someone in our office a few months ago, and thought they sounded pretty good. They have been in use for several months now, and show no signs of the cords going bad, or other mechanical defects. Their noise reducing ability (and this was the main reason for the purchase) ranged from quite impressive to not very noticeable depending on the source and type of extraneous sound. All in all, although they were a little pricey, they delivered what they promised.

However, I own the Sennheiser HD 600s, and they have better overall sound, without a doubt. But I think the 600s were more expensive also. And although they came with a headphone amp as part of the package my wife purchased, I don’t use it and I have no problem with the volume. IIRC, from the reviews I’ve seen the 650s are virtually identical in sound the 600s, and less money.

IMHO, the biggest difference to me in the sound between the Bose and Sennheisers is in the high end. The Sennheisers are so clean in the upper frequencies that it almost makes them seem base shy in comparison. They aren’t (any more than any headphone is) but that extended high end can fool you on some material. As I’m now older (51) and my high frequency hearing is not what it used be, I love the sound. Others may not need that range of high frequency response.

If you’re looking for noise cancellation, I’ve think you’ve got the best deal there is. If not and you just want the best sound for the money, I would have gone the other way, but there are definitely differences in taste.

In any event, IMHO, you didn’t get ripped off, even if there may have been a little better deal to be had.

3

The thing I don’t like about Bose is that they never supply any specs with any of their equipment. It would be nice to know things like frequency response, sensitivity (db), resistance, etc. so you could compare them with other sets.
Of course Bose never does this because of their “listening is believing, specs mean nothing” motto. In reality it’s becuase the specs would show it to be an inferior product.
Oh, and thicker cords would actually offer “less” resistance in theory and require “less” power to drive. And the only real way to tell which requires more power would be a (db) rating however since Bose won’t supply that your kind of SOL.
I have listened to the Sennheisers and they are truly magnificent. I have only owned Sony MDR series and they were great also.

4

That’s what I don’t like about Bose. They act like they have a patent on soundwaves and charge you accordingly, when what they’re selling is, by and large, pretty mediocre equipment.

5

IMO you need to rethink your audio buying strategy. You laid out a hefty hunk of change for your Bose Wave radio, and you now plan to listen to it through headphones, making that pretty much a wasted expense. And you want very pricey noice cancelling headphones to replace your pricey Bose speakers, but you say you don’t really need the noise cancellation. And you have already ordered the headphones, and now you ask for opinions on whether you should buy what you’re already bought.

At this point, my best advice is to listen to them for a few days. Bring them with you to a good stereo store and listen to them against a few other pairs – same music, same amplifier, just different phones. Keep or return them after your test.

6

I used to work for Bose headquarters here in Massachusetts. Bose gets a lot of flack because some people don’t understand what the company is about. Bose is almost directly analogous to Apple computer in that they try to invent or radically improve on existing ideas to make the technology simple to use, technologically innovative, and stylish in nature. Dr. Bose himself is like Steve Jobs (except much older so perhaps the order should be reversed). He was a professor at MIT until a few years ago and he is a billionaire. Bose headquarters not that far from here has about 6000 working in it and some very impressive R&D labs with the best scientists money can buy. I say that to illustrate why they aren’t a discount brand (and never claimed to be). Bose sinks massive amounts of money into audio R&D (and a new car suspension system as well) and has to regain that expense. They don’t do knockoffs either.

Bose products aren’t meant for audiophiles like Apple computers aren’t built with computer geeks as a focus. They are designed just to look good, sound good, and be simple to use. I get pissed at Bose because I got laid off from there after 9/11 but I do know how the company works and a lot of the criticism has little to do with what they are about.

7

Can’t argue much with any of that, and I agree that Bose takes more bashing in the audio community than it should.

But part of that is their fault; to listen to their advertisements, they’re the Maserati of audio companies, when the reality is they’re a Ford or Toyota. They make decent sounding equipment, some of it in impressively small and unobtrusive packages. But it is not high end sound reproduction.

Again, my biggest complaint with Bose is that comparing performance and features, they’re often more money than you need to spend. And having been a techy audiophile for most of my life, I always knew what I could buy that would be a better value. I understand that many people don’t have the time, inclination, or geek quotient to do the same, and that’s fine.

I listened to the original 901s shortly after they first came out. They were pretty innovative at the time, with a very unique sound, and especially soundstage. But at the time, I was heavy into rock, and bass was paramount. Compared to my preferred speakers, the KlipchHorns or even Klipsch Heresys, they had no low end at all. (Actually, compared to KlipchHorns, damn few speakers then or now had much bass.)

Over the years, that has continued to be my experience with Bose. Good stuff, particularly for their target consumers, but expensive for what it is.

But that said, I can’t think of a piece of Bose home audio equipment that I’ve seen that I’d call bad. They’ve made some nice stuff, much of it innovative, and some impressive in its niche. But kind of pricey, and good sound, even very good sound, but not great sound.

I will say that some of the best factory installed sound systems I’ve heard in cars have been Bose. Very impressive. Not quite up there with custom designed and installed systems, but an order of magnitude less expensive, and plenty of sound for any sane person.

8

Thanks All for the GREAT info!

I’ll be getting them near the end of the week and am looking forward to it. And as I said, I’m not sure I’ll keep 'em but of course I will if they work as well as they’re cracked up to be. Basically I was just happy to not hear any real strong negatives about them (though I personally feel that they could look better for that kind of money).

I, incidentally, very much do like my Wave stereo. It’s simple and seems well built and plays good enough sound for me. Hopefully these Quietsofts will be a nice compliment to it and my Imac.

Again, thanks much for your friendly replies!!

9

Honestly, the big reason they do do that is that many of Bose products are based off of cutting edge psychoacoustics instead of just plain acoustics. The brain and not the ears is really the primary hearing organ and there are ways to produce a desired auditory effect without looking at it as simple input-outputs of sound-waves. I am not saying that to be wishy-washy or even that everything is subjective. Like optical illusions, you can also create auditory illusions that regular measuring equipment just won’t know about. Bose uses that to fit things into smaller packages than they could if they just relied on straight acoustics.

10

I have owned these headphones for about four years now. I am not an audiophile but do travel very frequently and wanted them for the airplane. The first pair I bought sounded great, but a plastic piece broke after only about a year and a half of use. I called them up and they agreed to replace the headphones right away, no questions asked (the replacements I got had a slightly different design that eliminated the plastic piece that broke, so I am guessing that was a common problem).

They really do eliminate a lot of the noise from plane rides and such, and for that I’m glad I bought them. The only thing I don’t like about them is the large amount of space they take, and that they don’t have an AC adapter available. Otherwise I am very happy with them.