Dec 102011
Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones
- The best Bose® headphones reduce noise across a wide range of frequencies
- Enjoy music and movies with clear and lifelike sound
- Comfortable, around-the-ear fit; ideal for frequent flyers
- Includes cable with remote for iPhone®/iPod® control, mic for hands-free iPhone calling
- AAA battery: 35 hours average life
QuietComfort 15 headphones feature exclusive Bose advancements in noise reduction technology. You hear less noise and more of your music and movies-with quality sound and a long-lasting comfortable fit. You won’t find this combination of benefits in any other headphone.Connectivity Technology: Wired,Jack Type: Angled(3.5 mm) and One (1) Year Warranty.
List Price: $ 299.00
Price: $ 299.00
Bose QC15 vs. Sennheiser PXC 450 vs. Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7b,
Bose QC15 vs. Sennheiser PXC 450 vs. Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7b
Disclosure: I have tried all these on an airplane. I am not an audiophile. Noise Cancelation is the most important attribute to me.
The Carrying Case: All three are quite durable and stiff.
1.) Bose- the smallest, a low profile, room for an Ipod, accessories too.
2.) Sennheiser- Square shape, low profile, however not a lot of room for anything else in case.
3.) Audio Technica- Nice big case if you want to carry extra stuff (Nintendo DS, ipod, etc).
Build Quality:
1.) Sennheiser- you can tell this is built VERY well. Strong plastics, good components, thick cord. Top notch. You feel like you are getting something really high quality.
2.) Audio Technica- Nice solid construction, appears durable.
3.) Bose- If this had a Sanyo logo on the side, I would not have flinched. How can something $300 be so incredibly cheaply made.
Size:
1.) Bose- as far as over the ears go, these are pretty small.
2.) Audio-Technica- mid-sized.
3.) Sennheiser- These are big. No question, but they store flat.
Comfort:
1.) Sennheiser- Very comfortable, will fit almost any size ears. Keep on for hours.
2.) Bose- Also comfortable. I did not experience “highs” discomfort.
3.) Audio-Technica- Perfectly satisfactory. Larger opening than previous AT model.
Sound:
1.) Sennheiser- I actually wore these at home too, simply to hear parts of songs I had never heard before. Astounding. My 10yr old music collection sounded totally NEW.
2.) Audio-Technica- Well balanced, good sound.
3.) Bose- Great sound, but very heavy on the bass. I listen to a lot of rap and pop, so it was mildly annoying. I ultimately had to turn my treble settings up on my ipod to balance the sound.
Features:
1.) Sennheiser- nice cord, push to talk button (temporarily mutes NC and sound which is great for interruptions on airplanes).
2.) Bose/Audio Technica- just the basics. Bose simply an on/off switch.
Price:
1.) Audio Technica- $150 to $225 depending on how you shop.
2.) Sennheiser- $200 to $275
3.) Bose- Hard to find below $300+.
Noise Cancelation:
1.) Bose- No question here, far surpassed the other two. Best Noise Cancelation.
2.) Audio-Technica- Good Noise Cancelation.
3.) Sennheiser- Not sure what happened here. Incredible sound, satisfactory noise cancelation.
Summary:
I ultimately kept the Bose because I was only using these for flying and the Sennheiser’s (as much as I loved them) let me down in the Noise Cancelation department. The Sennheiser’s had by far the most superior sound, but the Bose Noise Cancelation was night and day. The Bose are made very poorly for a $300+ product, it was disappointing.
Final assessment:
Audio-Technica- best balance of value for money
Sennheiser- Best sound and comfort
Bose- Best Noise Cancelation
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|The BEST NR headsets – period,
I decided to cheap out earlier and bought a pair of Sony NR headsets for $30 and change. They seemed pretty good but on flights, the NR wasn’t good enough – way too much background noise. Finally I decided to man up and get the real deal. And boy, what a change (for the better)!
With the Bose headsets, NR means NR, they ain’t kidding about when they say NR, absolutely no background noise on the flight. My quick thoughts on this so far:
- You haven’t heard true HD sound if you haven’t heard it on this headset. And the sound is not like bass or treble heavy, it’s just crisp and you can hear every water drop and every single instrument being played. And NR works great both ways on this headset – the surrounding noise is almost cancelled out completely for you when you’re using the headsets, and the sound of the sound from the headset doesn’t carry out of the headsets either. I can listen to music or movies at a fairly high volume and the person sitting next to me won’t hear a thing.
- The leather trim around the headsets makes them extremely comfortable to wear. I wear them on 15-hour flights and don’t feel any strain by the end of the flight. My ears or head don’t hurt because of the headsets and the plastic strap. They truly are made for comfort.
- It comes with airplane adapter so you can turn it from a single 3.5mm audio cable into one that fits in the airplane sockets. The cable is also detachable completely from the headset, which I actually find very useful when I want to doze off and not be bothered by surrounding noise. You don’t realize how effective the headsets are till you take them off and realize how much of background noise they were eliminating!
- The only one downside of this headset is that it runs on a AAA battery. So I always need to make sure I have fully charged batteries with me at all times. I carry rechargeable batteries (Sanyo Eneloop are the BEST) with a charger. So if I do run out of battery, I can always charge it on the flight itself. ON a full charge of the Eneloop AAA, I am yet to run out of battery on a 15-hour flight.
Yes, these headsets aren’t cheap but they are worth every penny. Bose puts so much research and effort into developing their products, I have absolutely no reason to complain!
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|Fantastic for air travellers,
I bought the Bose QuietComfort 15 Noise Cancelling Headphones about a month ago and am thoroughly impressed thus far.
Sound Quality: As odd as this may sound, I feel like I haven’t ever listened to any of my songs! This headset completely revamps every song. You will hear things in some of your favorite songs you haven’t heard before. As it says in the title, this is an acoustic headset so don’t expect loud and powerful base. If you like a lot of base then this isn’t the headset for you.
Noise Cancelling: I find that I can still hear people talking while I am on a plane but most of the background noise goes away. I would describe the sound as if you are underwater or plugging your ears, to give you an idea of the sound. When you play some light music in the background, all the people talking tend to dissappear. I take up anywhere from 50 to 100 flights in a year and now that I own a Bose headset, I couldn’t imagine not having it with me.
Comfort: The headset is extremely comfortable with leather around the ear and the leather on the top of the headset. This makes it very comfortable for long periods of time. I used to use ear buds and found that my ears started to hurt after 30 minutes. The only thing I will mention is that your ears do get a bit hot a sweaty after a while so it is good to give them a breath of fresh air every hour or so.
Carrying Case: In this box comes with a carrying case to help protect your Bose headset. This was a huge selling feature for me because with all the travelling I do, I was worried about ruining my headset. This allows me to put the case in my bag and not have to worry that I am crushing it. Great addition Bose!
Cord: Although this headset isn’t wireless, it has a detachable cord which I find very useful. If you don’t want to listen to anything, don’t attach the cord and you can relax with noise cancelling feature. If you do want to listen to music or watch a movie, attach the cord. Easy.
Batteries: The headset runs on (1) AAA battery which fits right into a nice location on the headset. I keep an extra AAA battery in my carrying case just in case it dies while I am travelling. I haven’t had to replace the battery yet and I have used it for quite a few flights. I am very impressed with how long it lasts!
Airplane connector: Bose also included an airplane connector which some airlines still use. I haven’t come across a time I have had to use this but it certainly is nice to have if I need it.
Downfalls: There isn’t much I would change about the Bose QC 15 but the most important one would be that I can’t listen to music if my battery is dead. Again this hasn’t happened to me but if my battery were to die, I can’t listen to music. You have to have the noise cancelling feature on to listen to anything. Other than that, there is nothing I would change.
Price: This headset is quite pricey so it isn’t meant for the average person. There are other headsets that I would recommend. But if you are the type of person who travels a lot of find yourself in locations where the noise bothers you (ie train, bus, etc), this is the headset for you.
Well done Bose, you have turned my into a believer and I couldn’t imagine travelling without my Quiet Comfort 15!
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