BOSE (R) In-Ear Stereo Headphones
by BOSE
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of BOSE (R) In-Ear Stereo Headphones
Customer Review: friendly, unbiased review
Summary: 3 Stars
Firstly I want to start off by saying that I am not one of those people who hate on Bose no matter what they make, even if they are good. I love Bose products; the QC is a great line of active noise cancelling headphones, but these IE headphones....??? they cant compare to the shine that their other headphones illuminate. I don't think these headphones are terrible, I just think they are WAY overpriced. I think it should have fallen below $60, but I know, they might run out of ad $$$.
Now to begin the review, what you see is NOT what you get. The design is top notch, and looks crazy cool. Although they are not the first ones to come up with that type of design, Samsung came up with one of these designs around 2001, but these look much slicker than the Samsung ones. The build of the IE is nothing less than great.
Just because they are In Ear, does not mean they block noise as most in ear monitors do. They fall right in between in ear canals like the Etymotics ER6i and the Sennheiser CX 300. They feel very unsecure on your ear; it feels like its going to fall off. Since they are just hanging there in your ears, there is a lot of open space which allow you to engage in conversations without having pull out your headphones.
The silicone tips get lost very easily, that's why they provide you with the leather case, so USE IT!! The silicone tips also get dirty very easily if not put in the case while not in use. You don't have to worry too much about your ear wax getting stuck to it because it doesn't really go real deep inside you ear. Other accessories include the cable winder and different sizes of the silicone tips.
I am used to getting a complete seal to enjoy bass response; these headphones surprised me with producing excellent bass response without the full seal. The bass is good but it empowers over the mids and highs. If you really love bass driven music but also want to enjoy the mids and the highs, Sennheiser's CX 300 is the way to go. The IE's reproduction accuracy of music is very poor, it exaggerates the lows and seems blurs out the other frequency ranges.
I am used to having my volume on 30%, but these headphones require 53% to enjoy the full sound. The CX 300 works smarter and is very power efficient compared to the IE, which eats up your battery life faster.
Overall they are better than the iPod stock buds (not to hate on them but their last revision was pretty impressive), but any headphones above $20 should be better than the stock (lol). Many people seem to worship these headphones, and I know that this might be a little mean but these are the ones who haven't tried the real stuff like Ultimate Ears, Etymotics, etc...
Customer Review: Excellent when used in low ambient noise environment
Summary: 5 Stars
I like to listen to relaxing music while I sleep, so I needed headphones that 1) Would be comfortable to wear for 8 hours at a time, 2) Be good enough to let me hear the subtle sounds (water, rain, birds etc.) of some of my tracks, and 3) Let me hear the sound of the alarm clock or my spouse calling to me.
I found the Bose In-Ear phones fit the bill on all three accounts.
I use the large size of the tips, and I rarely know I'm wearing them. I am impressed at how well they stay in, even with the tossing and turning of sleep. I have woken a couple of times with a sore ear, but that was simply the result of scruntching of ear/pillow/earbud- nothing to blame on the phones.
As for the sound quality- I won't say I was blown away, but then when I'm awake I normally listen with Bose over-the-ear tri-ports, Sony Fontopia EX71, or Sennheiser PCX250 phones, so I wouldn't expect a drastic change.
When I first started using the Bose In-ear I was disappointed because I couldn't hear some of the sounds that I could hear with the Fontopias, but then I took the advice of some other reviewers and played with the Ipod settings. I changed the EQ from Bass Boost to Acoustic, and turned off Sound Check. After that I was very pleased with the sound.
As others have said, these are not designed to isolate sound. I tried them at my local Starbucks with the background music and customer chatter and found them useless. If I turned the volume up enough to hear, it hurt my ears. In the quiet of the bedroom or living room, they are a delight.
Other reviewers have talked about a breaking in period. I was skeptical at first, but after a week's use, I really do believe they sound better now.
BTW- I also used them to listen to a DVD on my portable DVD player, and heard background noises in the movie I'd never heard before.
Because these are not sound isolating, I never worry about not hearing the alarm clock. And there is the added bonus that I can easily hear my wife when she wants to talk to me.
Other reviewers have commented on the ease of the silicon tips coming off. The only time I have had a problem with that is when I pulled on the hard plastic or cord to remove the plug from my ear. As long as I pull on the silicon itself, there is no problem. Howerver, I do see how there could be a problem pulling them from a pocket or purse. Now that I know what size plug I use, and have decided to keep them, I am going to order a pair of replacement plugs - just in case.
I give the Bose In-Ear phones 5 stars because I believe they live up to their advertising, and because they fulfill my needs so perfectly.
Customer Review: A mediocre product with an expensive brand name
Summary: 2 Stars
Anything Bose has to be great right? Wrong.
We've all been waiting for years for Bose to come out with a set of In-Ear Headphones that would steal the market. The first time I saw them, I was so excited, I figured these things would be worth ANY price. After all, it's Bose! You can't go wrong with Bose right? I even read the reviews on Amazon.com and disregarded any/all warnings that this product wasn't actually all it was made out to be. I figured anybody who didn't like Bose was being ridiculous. ...and now that I own these headphones, I can say in all honesty that I deeply regret paying this much money for such a lousy excuse for a set of headphones.
If these headphones came for free with your iPod, that would be a good deal. Even if they sold for $20, that might even be a reasonable investment. But for a whopping $100?? You've got to be kidding me! Have a listen and you'll understand immediately what I mean when I say they are NOT worth such a ludicrous price.
First off, the bass is so overpowering, you won't be able to hear half of the music you're listeing too. I don't even enjoy listing to my iPod with these things anymore because the sound quality has been cut in half. And yea, I've tried every EQ setting there is and it still doesn't even come close to saving these headphones.
Second, these are absolutely impossible to exercise with. I was always under the impression that people used In-Ear Headphones BECAUSE they could use them while they ran, worked out, or even walked. But these things will fall out of your ear if you so much as turn your head!
Some people are bass-a-holics, and I understand that. If you just want to listen to Hip Hop, then these are probably for you. But if you want to hear any kind of quality music in it's full capacity, then I wouldn't even give these a second thought. In my humble opinion, the earphones that the iPod comes stocked with sound much better than these do. I would choose the iPod earphones over Bose any day of the week. At least they stay in your ear and sound halfway decent.
Bose will probably keep pushing this product, charging this price, and with any luck, keep selling a lot them. Why? Because they are capitalizing on a widely accepted brand name which has been perfected through years of excellent audio products. Why they chose to go to market with such an inferior, pathetic excuse for a set of earphones is a mystery to me, but I can only imagine it will hurt their company's reputation in the future.
Do yourself a favor, save your money and get something much better.
Customer Review: Where is the detail? Save your money, you'll need it
Summary: 1 Stars
Having listened to many headphones in my pro sound career, on and off stage, including many offerings from Sony, Sennheiser, Beyer Dynamic, and the entire range of Shure products. I would like to believe I have an idea of what sounds good. First off, let me say these earphones have bass. Alot of bass. Bass is a good thing, and I know there are many people out there who only want TONS of bass. These deliver. However, there is more to the music you are listening to, regardless of genre, than just low frequency. These lack ALL other frequencies to an overwhelming fault. I couldn't believe that Bose would produce something with sound quality this poor, after having heard their somewhat decent line of way overpriced for the quality QC2 and QC3 headphones. I tried finding optimum isolation with these Bose in ears, and that doesn't change much except the bass. You can barely hear the instruments. I have owned 15 dollar sony "sport style" headphones with better overall sound. Here is the catch. I had been listening to these straight thru an iPod (other sources might sound better). When coupled with a higher end headphone amp ( I used a Ray Samuels amp that cost about 320) using a line out from the iPod, these things suddenly come alive. There is actually some high end and mid detail, but would only then justify their 99 price. However, headphone amps like that can easily cost well over 200 or even 300 dollars for the basic stuff that will do you justice. say at least $299 for an amp and these earphones. For that price you could buy a fantastic set of In ears from a company that specializes in in ear design that will sounds 3 times better than these Bose even with an amp. On a note other than sound, these will not stay in your ears if you plan on doing anything other than sitting. Similar concept to regular iPod earbuds. I don't want to insult the others here who made such great reviews, but they sound like Bose employees. I can't believe anyone with a musical background or a decent set of ears on them could find these acceptable for the price. These seem better geared toward young kids who don't know any better and labeled as "ear Subs" or "head thumpers" and priced in the 15-20 dollar range. Gimmicky at best. If you want to find a something that will really sound good in this price range, please do your research before you buy and don't just buy because you recognize the name. There are many audiophile websites out there where they would be happy to recommend something to fit your budget that will sound terrific. Do a google search or check out head-fi.org which I have found helpful.Customer Review: EXCELLENT
Summary: 5 Stars
for the record: the sample picture on the descripiton of this product shows the OLD model of these...the current ones redesigned by BOSE have a black and white chord and more confortable fit.
anyways, i have had these for over a month now i figured it was time to give them a review. i had the Sony IN-ear bud style headphones before these, and it took me a while to get used to the way these sound. now that im used to them...these things are powerful both in sound and performance,wayy more powerful than my old sony's!!!! the chord is solid and sturdy as is the actual material of the earphones, the rubber buds WILL stay in your ears because they are of sticky rubber material. so they wont fall out with sweat.
Now it has been said that these have way to much BASS....my veredict: They have Powerful rich deep sounding bass, that sounds fantastic on the low end but interfere just a BIT on the MIDS, meaning that depending on the music you listen to, the artits voice might sound a bit loud and cause vibration. however they DO NOT HAVE WAY TOO MUCH BASS, just enough. The HIGHS are so clean on these phones that you will forget about any type of distorion on the bass. I dont know if they are worth $100 (i did not pay that much) but these things do have superb quality and are definatelly expensive. Bose has definatelly made a good product here, and YOU WILL ENJOY THEM. are there better headphones out there??? ofcourse but these are really good for the price and are not overshadowed by more expensive ones.
SO TO SUM IT UP:
PROS: Powerful and abundant bass, crisp clear sound especially on the high ends,(these things sound VERY GOOD) Sturdy and excpensive material, chord will resist strong pulls, Rubber Buds DO stay in your ear(try different sizes if they dont), nice color and quality.
CONS: The headphone jack is big(i dont know why bose made it so big)Bass may cause a bit of distortion on the MID freqs. are not noise cancelling(although this is not needed for these earphones, simply turn up the volume and you wont hear any outside noises) Buds pick up dust(because of sticky material)(none of these cons are significant enough for me to take away stars, there are more cons than flaws)
OVERALL: if you are an average listener you will be very happy with these, the standard ipod earphones are crap compared to these. and if you are an audiophile like me, you will also enjoy them even with its tiny bass flaw. VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED!