BOSE (R) In-Ear Stereo Headphones
by BOSE
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of BOSE (R) In-Ear Stereo Headphones
Customer Review: Great sound, great comfort but....
Summary: 3 Stars
I have purchased and tried these Bose headphones, the Sony MDR-EX71SL headphones, and the Sennheiser CX300 headphones. Using my iPod (5th generation), the Bose definitely offer better sound and comfort than the Sony and Sennheisers. Reasons why I don't like them:
The Bose plug is huge and really annoying when wrapping your headphones around your ipod. The plug is a solid, rectangular plastic piece (3/4" long x 7/16" wide x 1/4" depth), measure that out and you will find how cumbersome it is.
The Bose rubber earpieces are very soft and comfortable, much more comfortable than the Sony's or Sennheiser's. The main problem with them is that they fall off very easily. The Bose rubber pieces are a lot larger than the rubber earpieces of the Sony's and Sennheiser's. The type of rubber used in the Bose earpieces makes it more susceptible to catching on fabric (therefore easier to fall off and lose them) and also makes it easy for dirt, sand, and fuzz to stick to the rubber earpieces. In the 30 days I used the Bose headphones, the earpieces fell off at least 5-6 times. The earpieces on the Sennheisers have never fallen off in the 3 months I've used them, while the Sony's have fallen off maybe twice in the 9 months I used them.
With the Bose headphones in my ear, I find it hard to know whether they are all the way in my ear correctly. I usually have to fidget with them a little bit. With the Sony's or Senn's I just have to stick them all the way in, and that's it.
The Sony's earpieces hurt my ear over an extended time, the Senn's hurt less so than the Sony's (mostly because the rubber is much softer). The Bose are significantly more comfortable than both of them.
Sound Quality: Much clearer than the Senn's, which are even clearer than the Sony's. The bass is also deeper and less distorting then both of the Senn's and Sony's. Mids are decent and have room for improvement.
Cord: The Bose have a decently thick and durable cord relative to the Sony's and Senn's. The Senn's cord seems to be quite durable, while the Sony's are outright terrible and have frayed on me.
Because of these basic reasons listed above and the price of $100, I found these headphones to be 3 stars. There are still more headphones for me to try out such as Shure and Ultimate Ears Super.fi.
Customer Review: Finally!!
Summary: 5 Stars
First.. Let me say I give these a 5 star rating relative to other headphones in the same class. They will not compare to a $500 pair of Sennheisers. Having said that, I must say that these headphones are AWESOME! The perfect all around headphones for everyday use.
When I first put them on they sounded very muddy. The bass was way too heavy and drowned out the mids and highs. However, when I put in the right earpieces and adjusted the equalizer they sounded beautiful. These headphones have a very rich, full and dynamic sound. It should be noted that these do not fit like typical in ear headphones that form a seal. These sit lightly yet securely in your ear. If you try to jam them in your ear like you have to do with UE's or Shures, they will sound muffled and bad. The equalizer setting is also key to achieve finely tuned and detailed sound. Flatten out the bass a little and kick up the mids and especially the hi's. While I don't believe these have quite as accurate of a sound reproduction as the UE's or Shure's (they are very slightly warm), their sound is wonderfully rich, balanced and very pleasant.. typical of Bose.
What makes these headphones truly unique is how comfortable they are too wear. As compared to the Shure or UE headphones, which are both excellent for accurate sound reproduction but not very practical or comfortable. These do not need a seal in your ear which means you don't get that uncomfortable pressure build up or that "stethoscope" effect. This is a huge advantage and makes them wearable for very long periods without ear fatigue. You can also eat, chew gum, drink, walk, run, talk etc without any of the very loud and unpleasant sound disturbances typical of in-ear phones. Also, you do not need to take them out to have a comfortable conversation... just turn them down or off. For all these reasons, these are much more suitable to wear for normal active living conditions as there is no disconnect with your surrounding environment. To me this is far and away worth the VERY slightly less accurate sound reproduction.
So when I am laying at home all by my lonesome for intense blissfull listening, I will use my Sennheisers HD650's. For everything else, these are perfect, my new babies. My Shure and UE's have officially been retired.
Customer Review: I'm really impressed!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Customer Review: Good First Impression with my first "high-end" earbuds
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought these on impulse at the local PX for $89.99, since I had been poking around in the high-end earbud market for the past few months. I wanted something to use while running that would give me some decent sonics as well as not falling out. Also, I didn't want sound isolation as I prefer to hear vehicles as they approach on my run route.
I had been using some $3 wrap-around over ear phones which never fell off but would easily get drowned out by traffic as I had to max out the volume just to hear them. I also had a cheap pair of sony earbuds which performed much better in the volume dept, but were constantly falling out rendering them unusable.
The Bose IE Triports come with the M size buds "pre-installed". For my first trial run these were falling out almost as much as the sony earbuds. So I moved up to L buds, and I also tried cinching up the cord to the base of my neck with the cord under my shirt. After 3 successive 45 minute runs, I can confidently say they will not fall out while I'm running, even during one of those rare sprints...
Now that's not to say that these are good for any type of physical exertion. As good as they are for running (or biking) I can guarantee that any activity that involves tilting your head away from the vertical plane (and subsequently straining your neck muscles) such as weightlifting will resulting in these buds dropping out of said head.
But since I could care less about pumping iron, its a non-issue for me. And to address the issue of aural clarity/performance I am impressed with the Triport IEs. They definitely sound much clearer/better than the low end devices I have been using up to this point. I don't have any other "high-end" earbuds to compare these to, but I'd say they're on par with my Grado SR-60 over-ear headphones, and much more comfortable to boot.
Finally, the earbuds do pop off easily. If you're constantly pulling them out of pockets and other tight, crevice-like areas they will fall off, and you'll invariably lose them. Since I'll probably be hanging on to these despite the high price tag, I'll definitely be ordering the free upgrades from the Bose website.
Customer Review: Awesome sound, Crappy quality
Summary: 2 Stars
When I first got these headphones for Christmas and tried them, i was amazed at the sound. All my music sounded like i was in the room with the artist. They are great music wise!
Then I started noticing that after a few days with them, anytime I would be walking or move around at all with my ipod in my pocket (even with the ipod on lock) the ipod would pause. I figured out that any time the wire moved or wiggled, there was some kind of loose connection because, like the auto feature on an ipod pauses the music when the plug is pulled, it was registering that the headphones were disconnected, when in reality they weren't.
Also while I said the sound is great, I expected more noise cancelling with these, as they advertised. While much better than the stock i-pod headphones, I still have to crank up the volume to cancel out the noise, which we all know is how we get hearing damage. With better noise cancelling, you shouldnt have to up your hearing threshold or damage your hearing to hear your music. At home or in a library would be great for these headphones; not on a subway or walking down the street.
I also found that they dont stay in your ear as well as i expected. Walking is ok, but any sort of awkward movement or excersizing, they just dont stay put.
Finally, after using them a week, I've already misplaced an ear bud. I dont stuff my ipod deep into a bag nor am I rough with it. I would hope that the ear buds would not have a staying issue, but apparently they do.
I am usually pleased very easily but I am disappointed with these headphones, especially for what you pay for them. Bose sure must have spent a LOT of money on the tons of marketing and ads everywhere, as every person on a NY subway is suddenly wearing them after Christmas...
While maybe my set had a bad wire and are the exception, at $99, Bose gets one shot from me. I am going to exchange them for the Sony Fontopias. They are much cheaper and they were highly recommended to me for their noise cancelling, great sound, staying ability and at a MUCH more reasonable price. Read the reviews and it seems as if many people are happy with them.