Bose QuietComfort® 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones?

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Sid Post

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I had the pleasure of using an earlier generation of these headphones on an International flight. With the constant interruptions for drinks, dinner, etc., my evaluation of them was probably not the best.

Now I see a new generation hitting the marketplace. With an easy call to BOSE, I got my first question answered, these headphones run for 20hours on a single AAA battery.

Now for the real question, do they work? Have you used them? If so, where and under what conditions?

My intended use will be at work primarily where there are way too many loud conversations. Often people speak so loud that I cannot hear parties on my phone! Yes, I know the headphones will not help that situation but, if it cuts down on the volume it is a step in the right direction. I also work in areas with air blowers, machinery of different types, and other mechanical devices that make noise. I would like to plug into some non-distracting music and cancel out the noise so I can concentrate on the tasks at hand. I have some very good hearing protection but, I am not looking for total isolation. When people walk up to speak to me, I want to know they are there without being tapped on my shoulder or looking into a bug-eye mirror to see who is behind me.

Are these $300 headphones worth the money? Do they work well enough to justify the price?

THANKS!
 
For a lot of headphone reviews, check out www.head-fi.org.

Instead of the Bose, I recommend Etymotic Research canal phones. Not only do they block out a lot of external noise, they also are among the best sounding headphones around, period.

Their ER-6 are $129. They are at the ideal price-to-performance point.

Their ER-4P phones are the high end of headphone listening. They are very popular among the www.head-fi.org crowd. They can be had for $249. Note, there's also an ER-4S model that is slightly better, but usually requires a headphone amp. Same price.

Recently, www.the-gadgeteer.com did a great non-audiophile review of the ER-4P and ER-6.

Personally, I own the ER-4S and use them at work. The isolation is so good that I can listen to music at a very low volume and not be distracted by the conversations going on around me. Sometimes, I won't even hear my phone ring. LOL. :D
 
Personally, I'd stay away from Bose. Like Tag Heuer watches and most Cold Steel knives, Bose is more about marketing than producing a good product, which is why I don't like them.

However, for what you need, they might not actually be that bad. If you're wearing them at work all day, you might not like in-ear headphones, though that depends on how they fit your ears. The audio quality probably isn't a big deal for you at work, so pretty much any set would be good enough in that department.

Not that I'm a big Sony fan, but they make a set for about $150 that's pretty good - MDR-NC20. Here's a thread about them

The Etymotics sure seem to come up a lot on noise-reducing headphone discussions.

Anyway, just for fun do a Google on "Bose sucks" and you'll get some entertaining reading if you're into rants.

What it comes down to is that they make OK stuff, but try to pass it off as the best you can buy through marketing, deceptive demonstrations in stores and people's tendency to associate high price with high quality. It's really profitable for them, though.

This doesn't apply as much to their headphones, since the companies that do make good headphones, like Grado and Sennheiser, don't offer good noise-cancelling models.

Finally, if you do end up getting headphones that run on AAA batteries and you use them every day, check into getting some Ni-MH rechargeables. Alkalines will get pretty expensive... and that's a lot of batteries to end up in a landfill.
 
Originally posted by MikeGram
However, for what you need, they might not actually be that bad. If you're wearing them at work all day, you might not like in-ear headphones, though that depends on how they fit your ears. The audio quality probably isn't a big deal for you at work, so pretty much any set would be good enough in that department.
Click to expand...

It's really a personal preference between full sized headphones and ear phones. I've tried wearing my Sennheiser HD455s at work and I get annoyed with "hot ears" after only 30 minutes.

On the other hand, I wear my ER-4S with the foam ear pieces for about 6-8 hours a day at work and I find them very comfy. Yeah, it does depend on the individual, and some prefer the plastic ear pieces while others like me prefer the foam. There are also custom fit ear pieces if neither is satisfactory.

If you can deal with the ear phones, the ER-6s at $129 are a steal for audiophile grade phones that provide up to 15-20dB isolation. The Sony MDR-NC10s and MDR-NC20s only provide up to 10dB isolation. (My co-worker had the MDR-NC10s..)
 
The ER-6s sound tempting. I have tried cheaper "ear buds" in the past with less then satisfactory results. What I have found, is that the cheap office furniture, combined with a good dose of generic industrial quality and engineering, make for an area that grabs the cords and yanks them out of my ear canal. I really dislike shredding the cord on a good pair of head phones too. :(

I tried a set of cordless head phones, but the audio quality, while not critical, was noticably bad. For 9 or more hours a day, reasonable audio quality is a must or I will just turn it off. I have used hearing muffs (both 29bd and 31db models) and ear plugs (31db but, they itched), and good headphones at work without noticing a "hot ears" condition. I should note that I wear eyeglasses, so that may affect things slightly.
 
Hmm, snagging cords is a big no-no for canal phones. They do come with a shirt clip which should help some, but it's up to you to decide.

If you want to stick with full sized headphones, then I would recommend just getting good quality sealed headphones. I would avoid noise cancelling since they really don't perform as well.

Lots of choices here: http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26
 
I thought this was pretty funny. It's from this page

It is estimated that Bose has spent more dollars on advertising last year than ALL other high-end companies COMBINED. Does it have an effect? Sadly, yes. A few years back, the United States Air Force signed Bose onto a multi-million-dollar contract to design noise cancellation headsets for Air Force flight crews. Bose won the contract over two other companies simply because of their "more established name" (brand recognition). The concept of a noise cancellation headset is to actively monitor the noise frequencies emitted from a jet engine and the turbulent wind, and reproduce the exact signal 180 degrees out of phase, thus theoretically canceling it out completely. Many reputable manufacturers have successful done so as well. Bose produced a model that cost approximately $1000 per unit, which failed to cancel out a significant amount of noise. The company used the contract as an opportunity to unload obsolete parts from years back. Bose pawned off thousands of outdated interface connectors for which there were no longer commercially available mating jacks, and incorporated them into the headsets. The Air Force, proud as it was, didn't scrap the project, but instead spent countless millions more replacing the consoles in a number of aircraft to make them compatible with the said headsets. In the end though, the Air Force did terminate the contract when test crews found that the headsets were ineffective and non-durable. This whole mess was created over a brand name's alleged reputation and prestige. Bose is now selling a downgraded version of these headsets to commercial airlines and to the consumer public. They now work to a minor degree, but are not surprisingly still easily outperformed by their competitors. These consumer market headsets are also very, very poorly crafted. I browse many online audio forums and have heard stories about these very expensive headsets falling apart prematurely.
 
I have both the original Bose Quiet Comfort and Tri-Port headphones. I like the Tri-Port better. The sound is just as good, and you don't need a battery. Personally I don't feel a need for "noise reduction", but that's just me. The Quiet Comfort was a gift so I'm not out anything.

Paul
 
Thanks for starting this post, Sid. I'm going on a trip soon and am interested in the ER-6. Does anyone know if this earphone comes with a plug that fits into a commercial airplane's movie/music jack?


Edited to add "commercial" to the above.
 
The bose headphones for aircraft? The ones that just noise cancel for pilots etc? They are expensive but they would be great in the back of a c130. (I am aermedical in AF reserves)

Paul
 
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