Robespierre

"It looks like when it comes to noise reduction, the Bose are the best."

Welcome to the ranks of the opinionated.

Zeus

Oh please. Sennheisers better than Bose? The former are ok if you're on a budget but there is absolutely NO comparison with the Bose products. I've actually owned both. And even though I'm no doctor, shoving those ear doodads down your ear cannot be good for you.

4ForTheRoad

Sorry, I was only commenting on what the reviews said.

Robespierre

Here are a couple of sites that anyone contemplating the purchase of earphones should read:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=191785
http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

CarolA

"A final agument for Bose is their great customer service. I had had my pair for 2 years when I cracked a plastic piece on them (my fault!). I called Bose to buy a part and instead they said they would send me a brand new pair. I am a fan for life."


Hmm.. considering this issue CONTINUES to arise on the Bose headphones wouldn't the BEST customer service be to FIX a known defect rather then continue to sell a product that does this????


I actually own a brand that I don't think has been mentioned. Plane Quite Solitude. I bought these several years ago after reading a LOT on various sites and they seemed to be the best combination of value and noise cancelling (But I do look like I could be parking the plane!) This article probably hasn't been updated since I used it, but maybe it will help.

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roa...honesindex.htm

(And Robespierre is not a troll, he just firmly believes that ONLY HE knows the right response and that the rest of us are always wrong. You get used to it!)

Robespierre

Yes - the best customer service is not needing customer service.

I <u>do</u> know the right response - and (some of) the rest of you appear to be trainable

But why do <u>I</u> get all the heat, when fnarf999 comes out with statements like &quot;Technological 'noise reduction' is a con&quot;?

fnarf999

Well, when the best they can do with their millions of dollars of research is about 75% as good as the cheapest earbud style, I'd say yes, it is a con. Do you want noise reduction or not?

scrb

Not a fan of Bose either. Their products tend to use signal processing. Not sure if that's the case with the QC models.

But thus far, I've not been tempted to use active NC.

There's a difference between in-ear phones and earbuds like the ones that come with iPods.

My first pair were these Sonys that were okay. Loved them on a trip to Europe but lost one of the buds and I tried retracing my steps looking for them. Also looked for replacements but wasn't willing to pay the high price.

Also tried Ultimate Ears, which are a bit big. Finaly got another pair of Sonys and this past July, got Shure E2Cs. They were fine.

Also have over the year AKG models which don't quite cover my ears. Take those and wear them for awhile before the pinching on my earlobes bother me and I switch back to the Shures.

The in-ear ones, I can fall asleep with, even with the iPod off or plugged into the plane's entertainment system playing a movie.

In a pinch, I could use the earplugs that Air France gives you but I would hate to be without in-ear phones for the long flight to Europe from SFO.

EuropeRookie

I like to take two &quot;zipper lock&quot; Glad sandwich bags and put them over my ears. This seems to work very well for my family and I. At about $.23 cents per bag it's quite a bargain. You may draw some interesting looks from your fellow travelers, but well worth the savings IMO. Or you could just stick with Bose!

infamous82

i have a pair of seinheiser hd260 pro, they look big, but they sure are comfortable. i listen to them for hours at a time. and at 80 bucks, worth my investment.

LilyY

I bought a pair of Sony MDR-NC50 headphones but found they were too wide for my head. There was no adjustment to make them narrower. I returned them the same day. Is the Bose 2 or 3 adjustable in this way? My city (fairly large) doesn't have a Bose store and I would have to order them by mail.

Sue4

I have the Bose QC2, and find them quite comfortable to wear, and work fine for me. I could never wear anything plugged into my ear canal! I've never tried the QC3's, so don't know if I'd like them or not. I'm never able to sleep on an overnight flight, so I probably don't need anything, but I like them to watch the movies,

Robespierre

Remember those &quot;sound pipes&quot; that you rented for $5 and hung on your ears like a stethoscope? That was pretty high-tech in the '60s. Then they rented over-the head cans - so it looked like you were traveling with a couple hundred Edward R. Murrowses. They had a double plug on them, like a telephone operator's, so people couldn't bring their own. So the aftermarket immediately produced an adapter that allowed your Walkman phones to be plugged into the airline sound system.

This whole &quot;free earbuds&quot; thing is a total novelty to me.

ShelliDawn

LilyY,

Yes the Bose QC2 have an adjustable band and according the Bose website, so do the QC3s.

Christina

I don't think anyone has mentioned the possible damage to your ears/hearing from these various types, have they? I think I've read articles that those in-the-ear or earbuds type are known to cause more damage to your hearing than the other kind. That makes perfect sense, of course, it can't be healthy to have something right in your ear that much blaring noise. Maybe it's not so bad if you really only wear them a few hours occasionally, but having a brother who has suffered irreparable damage to his hearing at a young age from noise, these things concern me.

I don't ever sleep with them in anyway, I take them off when I go to sleep.

tgyosh

I have both the Bose QC2 and the Shure earbuds that others have mentioned. I got the Shures as a gift after I bought the Bose. I prefer the Shures because they are so small and cut out a lot of the noise. They sound great too. With the Bose QC2, it would take up so much space in my carry-on it was a bit of a hassle. You also have to carry a spare AAA battery for the Bose. If I need to hear what's going on around me like flight attendant instructions, I just don't fit the Shures as tightly into my ears. I think they're great!

rkkwan

Christina - It just depends on the volume level. One could get his/her ear drums blown out by Krakatoa blowing up miles away.

Just have to be careful with the volume setting.

Seamus

I did not wan the over the ear type because hey are too bulky to have to carry around, even the ones that fold. I went with Sony earbuds (found on eBay for under $100) and am quite pleased. There are interchangeable silicone buds and the medium size works for me. They are single prong but include an adapter for use with two prong plugs such as on airplanes. Power is one AAA battery which the instructions say last about 13 hours but mine have lasted longer. They work as regular headphones without the NC function turned on, and there is a button to press to temporarily turn off the NC such as when conversing with a FA or neighbor. The control is barely large than he AAA battery and has a clip to anchor on a shirt They do no totally eliminate all background noise but certainly reduce engine noise and make for a more enjoyable flight.

Intex

Doesn't AA now use only one mini-plug for sound, that is compatible with most headphones??

LilyY

Thanks, ShelliDawn. I am going to see if I can find someone that owns one or the other and try it on for fit. After my Sony experience, I'm reluctant to order one through the mail and then have to send it back. It cost almost $10 for postage and insurance! I looked at the photo on the Bose site but can't see anywhere that will make the set narrower. I might send them an e-mail.