Customer Reviews

BOSE (R) In-Ear Stereo Headphones

5 star:		(117)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(62)
2 star:		(47)
1 star:		(61)

 

 

I'm tired of posting reviews on here for headphones, mainly because if I like something I get people calling me "deaf" or that I work for Bose. I'm sure the dozens of people who gave these 5/5 work for Bose. Uh-huh.

I'm one of those people who pretty much will try any new headphone there is. My limit is three hundred and I refuse to pay any more in most cases.

My first pair was a cheap Philips over the ear kind for $20. They worked just fine and sounded ok. I upgraded to a pair of the in-ear fontopia from Sony and loved them. Upgraded yet again to the Bose Triports and those sounded even better. Yet people insult me for liking the original Triports!

BTW i'm not a Bose "fanboy". I own their Sound Dock (which is great) and personally think their PC speakers are terrible, yet some love them. No problem there. I also had a Bose home theater system, which wasn't bad.

I noticed that Bose had some new headphones available so I gave them a try. I upgraded my Triports to some Sennheiser HD-555 headphones and for the record, they sound better, but when I bought them they cost $50 more than the triports. Of course they're going to sound better.

I went with these and previously had a bad experience with the Shure E3c. They are painfully uncomfortable and never seem to stay in your ear. I even went as far as special ordering a special ear piece from their webpage. One of the few times i've hated an earbud from day one.

These are extremely comfortable. They mostly sit just outside of your ear. You can shake your head if you wanted and they would not fall out. Unlike the Shure e3c you can put these in your ear in a second and don't have to worry about getting the perfect fit.

The reviews on here are quite funny. Someone said they have no bass. That was the case with the Shure E3c. Those had absolutely no bass at all and these have almost way too much. That's the biggest negative about them. Only on bass heavy sounds that is. On regular music it's not so bad. Then someone says you can't hear the instruments! Huh?! I'm listening to all my favorite songs and they sound perfect. There is absolutely nothing missing! NOTHING. Every single thing is there.

I compared three different pairs of headphones for hours and hours. I did my best to try and hate these, but I just honestly can not. I compared the same tracks over and over with these and the Sennheiser HD-555's and those are just slighly better.

I put in the Shure E3c and it honestly sounds way too harsh, too tinny and just plain hurts my ears. There is NO bass at all! If you love them, then that's perfectly fine. The sound from those felt just so artificial.

I'd also like to point out that the Audio-Technica ATH-EC7 Inner Ear Headphones are great. The have really light bass, but they have more detail and clarity than the Bose In-Ear headphones. They blow away the Shure E3c headphones by far in terms of sound quality, but they're somewhat expensive and hard to find. I just felt that after an hour they started to give me a headache. They sound a little too bright, but not nearly as much as the E3cs. Everything on the Bose headphones just seemed more balanced out and more "pleasing to the ear" (do I sound like I work for bose yet?).

Anyway, I think it's safe to say I was impressed with these from the day I got them. I've been using them for hours and hours and they're almost as good as my main headphones (Hd-555). I might end up switching to these full time.

Please, no negative comments! If you don't like them, then just post a review.

I have been looking for a great pair of in ear headphones for 2 years to use with my iPod and all of them have disappointed. I have purchased pairs for up to $250 that were not even worth half of that! This Bose pair changes all of that in a hurry. These babies are wonderful. The bass is amazing and the treble is excellent. The mid-range is a bit muted out, but the overall depth of sound is extremely impressive.

Adding to that is that this pair comes with 3 different sizes of "in ear rubber" so that they fit perfectly into your ear for optimum sound and comfort. I bought these on impulse at the Bose store because they had just come out that day and Bose has a 30 day return guarantee...and I can tell you that I will NOT be returning them. These are WELL worth the money and possibly...dare I say...underpriced compared to the competition? Bose has a real winner here. I doubt you will be disappointed.
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As a follow-up to my above review and after having listened to these ear buds for about 10 days, I must say that I love them even more. Until reading several of the reviews below, I had no idea that the iPod even had an EQ! The EQ is the key to getting these to sound exactly as you like. True the bass response can be very heavy, but once you adjust the EQ to your listening desires, my bet is that you will be wonderfully pleased!

As a musician and audiophile, I feel that I know what I'm listening for when assessing sound quality. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who was torn between buying the Bose in-ear and the Shure e2c, so I bought both of them.

Bose Triport IE

The bose earbuds are simply put, remarkable. The drivers pump a healthy range of tone without distortion. The bass is especially good. By good bass I mean that low frequencies such as cellos in classical music crawl on you during crescendos. I Played at least 6 different genres of music through these. The buds definitely bring the concert to your head with pure warm tone.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: you might find that you have to change the eq on your device to match the bose circuitry. My personal preference on the ipod is an eq set to acoustic. Others recommend disabling the eq.

For those considering the Shure E2c:

- The shures are very good! They're not great but when fitted properly in your ear (i used the foam tips) they too pump a nice range of tone. However, I found that the shure sound felt "artificial;" it lacked the warmth and pureness that the bose had. I didn't find a bass deficiency as some other reviewers mentioned although the bass frequencies were nothing special. The shures have that great noise isolating design that blocks out external sound, a big plus if a majority of your listening is spent in very noisy areas.

The bottom line:
You can't go wrong with either bud.
If you want the best audio experience, go with the bose.
If you're willing to sacrifice some sound quality for isolation, the shures might be for you.

Well.. I just got ahold of BOSE TriPort IE In-Ear Headphones about 30 minutes ago and I thought i'd shoot my feedback to this forum, since I did review the comments herein before purchase.

I bought these babies to use with my iPod Mini. I've gone through a few headphones in search for the ultimate iPod headphones (in ear) - the "Apple Bass Booster" headphones, high end (not cheap) Sony Headfhones, and.. finally I have found the perfect headphones to compliment my iPod.

Forget about the negative posts, they don't do justice to these headphones. These headphones are ideal for the iPod. The Bass, I have only heard Bass like this from my $320AUD Sennheisher DJ Headphones (literally).

From what experienced thus far, disabling the EQ within the iPod gives perfect sound quality.. The Bass DOES NOT distort at full volume with Bass Booster enabled, however the treble seems to lack a little while using this EQ configuration. Without Bass Booster, the Bass and Treble are perfectly balanced and the headphones can hit really low frequencies to give that "hidden Bass" you can only hear with quality speakers.

Bose, you have held your reputation IMHO.

Thumbs up from me, forget about the other posts and get yourself one if you are considering it. You won't be disappointed..

I have been searching for an in ear replacement for my apple headphones since my first IPod. I purchased some Shure headphones from an Apple store and was sadly disappointed. They had many different attachments to fit the ear, but none of them fit comfortably. The Bose in-ear headphones have a nicer style for the rubber piece that is on more of a slant than an entire big piece of rubber in your ear. I liked the fact that when I was listening to these at nice volume levels people around me couldn't here any sound coming from them. The headphones also have very rich sound at lower volume levels. The highest volume is probably too loud for the average user. I have been a happy customer of the noise cancelling headphones that Bose has sold for years, but haven't liked having such a bulky set to carry with me on planes and around town. The in ear set sufficiently cancel outside noise and provide incredible sound. Most earbud type headphones are useless on planes because of all of the cabin noise. If you want great sound, privacy (nobody else hearing everything you're listening to), and a comfortable smart design, these are for you. No buyers remorse here.

These headphones have great promise but are ultimately frustrating.

The good:

- They sound GREAT! Balanced response with good but not overpowering bass, clear mids and trebles: very musical sounding.

The bad:

- Terrible ergonomics, starting with the silicone ear inserts. The design of these makes them extremely prone to slipping from your ears. They're just awful.

- Again, the silicone ear inserts are a problem: they refuse to stay attached to the buds, slipping off with even the slightest tug. Expect to lose at least one within just a day or two.

- The cord is a constant tangled mess. Sure, Bose provides a case you can use to wind up the cord and store the set, but it's a pain to use. I like to be able to gently wind up a set of buds and stuff them in my pocket so they're ready for use at an instant. Do that with these and you're guaranteed to have a tangled mess, and in in addition expect to find the silicone inserts floating around somewhere in your pocket as you extract the set, that is if you're fortunate enough that they don't fall off and roll/bounce away never to be seen again.

I would have rated these a 5 if only the inserts didn't fall off so easily (I can deal with the flimsy, easily tangled cord). I'm thinking of trying a set of Shures or Etymotics for my next pair. I want something that sounds as good as these, but with a better ergonomic design.

I have the Bose in-ear headphones for 2 weeks, and I had read all the positive and negative reviews. I can understand the love/hate relationship because they sound so different from all other earphones, and I've tried them all, namely, the Sennheiser CX300, Shure E2c, E3c, Sony MDR-EX71 and 90LP. I am a long time audiophile and I do not like Bose in general. My reference is live music/instruments and my high definition home audio system. In this case, I have to admit that the Bose is the most accurate (with some adjustments) earphones I've heard to date. Let's go into detail....

Bass - They have the best bass I've heard from any earphones, period. They go quite low, and have definition. For the other earphones I mentioned above, some of them do have acceptable bass but all of them give one-note basses. That is, nothing follows after the initial note, no decays at all. And none of them go as low as the Bose. They really sound like a subwoofer in a home audio system.

Highs - This is the area they got heavily criticized. Yes, the high frequencies (>10KHz) are significantly rolled off, no doubt about it. In order to compensate, you need to bring them up using the eq settings. Otherwise they sound like dead tweeters. If you correctly boosted the highs, you'll find them sweet and crisp, without exaggeration. Now, here is the problem, most people like and used to listening to exaggerated highs. This is what they referred to as clarity. So, accurate reproduced high frequencies to them are dull and lack clarity. If you're one of those who prefer extra sparkles, you need to look elsewhere. If you're an audiophile, you should know what I mean. The easiest way to check if the highs are exaggerated is to listen to a violin or a female vocal with lots of sibilance (words beginning with "s"). If they don't sound natural, the highs are exaggerated.

Every one of the above mentioned earphones exaggerate the highs and the upper midrange, except the Bose, hence giving them a false sense of clarity.

Lower Midrange - This lies the magic of the Bose. They reproduce the most accurate lower midrange to capture the realism of music and human voice. Listen to Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" CD, the Bose is the only one in the group that can accurately reproduce Jennifer's voice. All the others make her sound like 20 years younger. Listen to a well recorded grand piano, the Bose will give you all the foundation and authorities of the lower keys while others make them sound like an upright Yamaha.

Sound Space - Due to their open-air design as opposed to others' air-tight isolation, the Bose also recreates the most natural and convincing sound field compared to the others. All the noise-isolation type earphones give a feeling of jamming the whole soundstage in your head but the Bose positions the images beyond and outside of your head. They sound more like headphones than earphones.

Comfort - Because they don't sit inside of the ears, they're easily the most comfortable earphones I've tried. Sometimes I don't even feel I'm wearing earphones. And they can be used many many hours without hurting your ears. No, they do not isolate noise. So if you're always riding a train or in other noisy environment, they are not for you.

Fitness - This is another area where most people have disagreement. Since everyone has different ears, it's hard to fit everyone perfectly. For me, I at first thought I have small ears and need the small caps. But in fact, the medium caps fit me perfectly. Don't try to push them all the way in because they won't. I don't find them loose either, even shaking my head or jumping up and down. Another benefit is that their sound do not rely on perfect fit to your ears, so you can wear them in 2 secs while others are struggling for a tight and perfect seal to get decent sound.

In conclusion, if you do not like the idea of, or used to pushing plugs deep in your ears, and you seek accurate audio reproduction rather than exaggerated highs, I doubt you can find better earphones for the money.

First, I want to say that I strongly disagree with B.J. below about the sound quality. They might not fit in everyones ear, but that's why you try them on before buying. This is my first Bose product. I just picked these up at the Bose store at the Block, where I wanted to make sure they fit securely and the sound was up to my expectations for dropping a hundred bucks. Since then I have been using them nonstop. I'm listening with them right now as I write this and I'm just amazed by the wide range of clarity. Rap, hip-hop, rock, alternative, jazz and classical, all sound amazing. I can pick up minor details I couldn't hear before. It produces deep, clean and smooth bass and midrange that is not muttled. Before these I was using the Sony MDR-EX71SL for ear buds and Grado SR80 as my head set. The less than 100 dollar range. After buying this, I'm going to ebay the Grado's and trash the Sony's. The Bose blow both of them away, even the Grado's clarity and the EX71's bass. The Bose literally make my Ipod 10 times more enjoyable. These ear buds don't isolate sound from ambient noise as well as the MDR-EX71SL's because they don't really cause a suction effect in your ear. They simply sit in my ear comfortably where I can run and do jump rope without them falling out, although they might loosen a bit from my ear. The weight is not heavy in my ears. The cable is even on both ends and don't tug on one end more than the other like the lame Sony's. The cable isn't heavy or too short, but they're about 8 inches too long for my 5'9" frame from my ears to attaching it to my Ipod where I place in my front pant pocket. But that's a minor nuisance that I can fix with a tiny zip tie. I'm just amazed, the clarity is awesome and vibrant. I guess that's what you can expect from Bose. I've tried the similar priced and more expensive Sure, Etymotic, and Ultimate Ears. I returned all of them b/c I wasn't satisfied with the sound or they didn't fit in my ears with all the optional ear pieces it came with. But these Bose are a keeper. I totally agree with one of the other reviewers that said these are under priced compared to other more expensive models. For $100, these are a steal. I'm going to try to make these last forever.

Do you ever get the feeling that everyone is in on the iPod accessory business? You give the product a try and your disappointed? Well, this is not the case with these earphones! I was unhappy with the factory issued Apple ear buds and decided to give these a try because they were made by "Bose" despite the $100 price tag. Just to be fair, I also tried the in ear phones made by Sony. Within the first 10 seconds of play, I realized that I made the right decision to by the Bose IEs.

The bass is real bass. Its a thump. The treble is real treble. You can hear the artist taking in breaths while rapping. You can hear the subtle sounds that you normally miss with the Apple earbuds and usually realize once you play your music on a Bose home stereo.

Not to mention, they actually stay in your ear if you properly use one of the three extension buds given. I walked around the house cleaning up and the only time they fell out was when I accidentally pulled on the wire connecting it to the iPod.

I wish I could write a better description of the crisp and lifelike sound, so I'll just say that its well worth the $100 dollars and it exceeded my expectations for sound quality.

I received my new Bose in-ear headphones yesterday and have been playing with them all night and this morning. My previous in-ear headphones had been the Sony MDR-EX71SL's, which for the price and 3 years ago, were wonderful. Lately though, my Sony's have been starting to fail and being the long-time fan of Bose QuiteComfort series it was a natural choice to try these out. I will admit some of the higher price Shure in-ears were on my list, but I couldn't make the leap to spend the couple hundred for the pair I wanted (besides, I have my QC2's for true isolation). Right off the bat the Bose in-ears were very bass and mid heavy. I was getting very nervous. I quickly figured out that the rubber ear adapters make a HUGE difference in the bass & mid performance. The tighter the fit in your ear will also mean that the bass and mids will be extremely boosted. I installed the large rubber fittings first since I like isolation from the outside world.... and of course the bass and mids greatly overpowered the highs. I then installed the medium size rubber fittings and the sound was becoming more natural, but a little heavy on the bass and mids. Next step was to use the EQ on the iPod to match the headphones to my listening preference. Bingo!!! Perhaps it would have been nice to have the sound I wanted right out of the box without adjustments but then again it may not be realistic with in-ears due to the wide variations in fitments in the ear. If you really enjoy bass and clear mids, these ARE for you (which is quite opposite of my old Sony's unless I shoved the headphones DEEP into my ear). The included case for storing the headphones is top-notch too. The cables are indeed a little beefier than the Sony's, which is good and bad.. Slightly heavier and less flexible, but the will more than like NOT break over time.