I have been traveling a lot for the past 2 years and its literally been that long that I have been agonizing over this purchase. If you are reading reviews you are probably in the same boat I was. $300 for head phones?? Its a tough one for sure. Let me put it this way, even if you travel once a year its worth it. Most trips I have taken I want to strangle someone, not sure why people are such retards when traveling, but I am just trying to get from point A to Point B. The more you travel the more it gets amplified. I could see where someone that can use these at work would be very happy with these too. Bottom line is I wish I had bought these 2 years ago.
I bought some cheaper noise canceling headphones from Sony (MDR-NC7) and I have some decent in ear headphones from Sony also. The in ear block out as much noise as the noise canceling ones so the noise canceling ones from Sony where a waste of money. Not only do they not perform the noise canceling function very well they also sound very weak. Now keep in mind that I am comparing $40 headphones with $300 ones. I never expected the $40 ones to do as good as the Bose but seriously, if you just get some cheap in ear head phones you would be just as well off.
Noise Cancelation:
The test at Best Buy with specific noise (Jet noise simulated) at the Bose display is astounding to say the least. I agree with several other reviews that the Bose head phones seem to pick particularly easy frequencies to block and it is most certainly aimed at lower range. I first tried these while watching a rather loud movie and I felt that gave me a much better representation of what to expect in an airport or airplane while traveling. Most noise was blocked and the voices where lowered a great deal, with music at medium levels most of the noise was blocked out. From what I read on the Bose website there is a Mic on the outside AND the inside of each cup. You can read up on the specifics, I can tell you that it does a very good job.
Sound Quality:
I saw several complaints in reviews about the sound and all I can say is its Bose. I have a Bose stereo in my car and immediately had to replace the speakers. I totally expected the same mediocre sound quality with the headphones. Decent sound that is brought to you from the cheapest drivers they could get away with. Profit driven? You bet. Unfortunately with headphones there is not a darn thing you can do about it. Personally I am happy with the sound but know I should be getting a "Little more" for my $300. Because of the noise canceling you don't have to cut the volume up as high as you would without to hear details as clearly. For me the overall sound is very good but its no Dr. Dre's either.
Construction Quality: ****Update below \/ \/ \/ *****
I have not had these long enough to know about defects or short comings. I appreciate the fact that the head phones come with a decent case and I think the overall feel is ok. I have seen a few people ram these into the seat back while on a plane and a back pack before, I suppose these are the people complaining about the head phones falling apart.....imagine that. I understand how someone paying $300 for head phones and having it break right away could be frustrated but take that with a grain of salt.
Package includes:
Head Phones (Can be used without a wire for just noise cancelation)
Semi-hard Shell case
Wire for regular mini plug connection wth High/Low settings for Airplane adapter use
Wire for Iphone/Ipod/Itouch use (Has same features as OEM Apple ear phones, i.e. volume up, down, pause buttons and built in mic)
2 prong to 1 Airplane Adapter
1XAAA Battery (MAKE SURE YOU PACK A SPARE AAA) you can not use the headphones to listen to music with out a battery
Warranty book
Instructions in many languages
UPDATE ###### 07-05-2012 I have had these headphones long enough to add additional comments on the construction quality. I strongly urge people to use the semi-hard shell case to carry your headphones. I took one trip that I had very limited room to carry my case so I left it in my luggage. I will never do that again. I see clearly now how people break these while traveling. Its not practical to wear these the entire trip especially when its 100 degrees outside and parked in a plane for an hour on the ground, this exact situation happened to me so I put them as gently as I could in the seat pocket but I almost broke them taking them out. Just bring the case and deal with it. Keep in mind you are buying cutting edge technology headphones that sounds decent and cancel a majority of outside noise....not indestructible headphones. They are not butterfly wing fragile but I could not see a single failure point either that would have me overly concerned.
Since my purchase Dr. Dre has come out with noise canceling headphones for about the same price. Personally I would buy those instead after listening to them but all in all I am still happy with my purchase. By far the best money I ever spent for traveling. My last trip there was a totally annoying child screaming his lungs out and all I could do is put my headphones on before take off and cut them on (I could care less when the flight attendant said) I played music at the highest clear volume and was smiling away as I looked around and saw one after another passenger's face filled with disgust and aggravation. The trick is to point the LED AWAY from the flight attendant side and just tell them it is off and they will leave you alone. To be clear, the highest undistorted volume on this headset is probably 60-70% of the Dr Dre's. Good thing is it can drown out pretty much anything. Another good thing is you did not have to have it at unsafe levels for total sound blockage.
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Compare with similar items
 | Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones | Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Canceling Headphones (Old Version) | Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones (Discontinued by Manufacturer) | Bose QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones for Apple devices - Black, Wired | Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones - Limited Edition (Discontinued by Manufacturer) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | (3980) | (123) | (532) | (509) | (270) | (384) |
| Price | $84.99 | $109.99 | $159.93 | $151.83 | $199.99 | $249.93 |
| Sold By | True Bargains 101 | Peifinator's Treasures | Renovar Tech | Renovar Tech | Fairfaxer International | Renovar Tech |
| Color | Black | Silver | Silver | Black, Silver | Black | Brown, Black |
| Fit Type | Over-Ear | Over-Ear | Over-Ear | Over-Ear | Over-Ear | Over-Ear |
| Headphones Form Factor | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear |
| Item Dimensions | 8.5 x 8.75 x 2.75 inches | 1.5 x 5.98 x 7.52 inches | 8.8 x 8.25 x 2.5 inches | 8.5 x 8.75 x 2.75 inches | 0.91 x 5.98 x 7.52 inches | 1.5 x 6 x 7.5 inches |
| Item Weight | 7.40 ounces | 6.81 ounces | 2.00 lbs | 7.36 ounces | 1.30 lbs | 6.72 ounces |
| Special Features | ios-phone-control | Noise-Canceling | Noise-Cancelling-Feature | lightweight | Noise-Canceling | ios-phone-control |
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Customer reviews
Unprovoked failure of the headband support material (constructed of plastic)!
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016
As an aviation professional, I wore BOSE MIL-spec noise-cancelling aircraft headsets for years and expected equal quality when I decided to purchase a pair of the acoustic noise-cancelling Quiet Comfort 15. As regards the sound quality, no argument that BOSE noise cancelling technology works extremely well, However, this past evening, when I was putting them on to listen to some much anticipated Yuja Wang interpretations of Rachmaninoff, the right sided load-bearing earphone support simply fractured and broke off cleanly (the plastic material snapped). The break is completely unrepairable, given the tension force that the earphone is subject to (i.e. it's not simply a matter of supergluing the broken earphone support back in place). This sort of material failure on the part of BOSE is simply unacceptable, given the high cost of the headphone set (I paid US$ 300 for them when new), and I am extremely dissatisfied with this unexpected failure of the (plastic) material used to produce the head band supports. Clearly, metal would have been wiser and far more durable choice than plastic for the important load-bearing assembly of the headband. Although the Quiet Comfort 15 model is now discontinued by BOSE, I would suggest that any potential purchasers of the unit (which is still available for sale on Amazon and other retail venues) consider this when they think about buying this model. Given the highly touted reputation BOSE claims for its products (along with their high cost), this sort of occurrence is not supportive evidence of those claims.
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016
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