Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones(Old Version)
by Bose
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List Price: Our Price: $222.00 You Save: $77.95 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones(Old Version)
Customer Review: AMAZING Noise Cancellation! Very Comfortable! Adequate Sound Quality.
Summary: 4 Stars
As a quick background: I've owned the Bose QC-1s. Gave them to a friend after buying the Sennheiser PXC 450s for work. The Bose headphones (both the QC-1 & QC-15 use the same shell) are lighter, smaller & maybe slightly more comfortable than the Sennheisers. Though the Sennheisers are bigger, they are more shallow, and sometimes my sticky-outie ears touch the 'phones on the inside of the cups, which is a bit annoying. The Sennheisers sound quite a bit better to my ears, and can be used with the noise canceling off, where the Bose headphones require batteries to function at all. On a plane, the QC-1s and the PXC-450s canceled about the same amount of noise, but the QC-15s are AMAZING! On my way over here to Afghanistan the first time, I had my iPod Touch connected to the QC-1s, and the C17 was so loud that I had to crank the iPod up all the way to hear it. On this trip, I had the QC-15s, and it was a different story: The C17 noise was much quieter and I didn't have to turn up my iPod nearly as far. It was a huge difference! I'm totally sold on the new QC-15s!
In summary:
For military-loud flights and high-noise environments (or if your ears stick out!), get the Bose QC-15 headphones. They are also good for regular jet flights if you don't want to hear music at all, but just want to cancel out the normal jet noise.
For average-noise environments, or listening to music on flights, or just for the audiophile who wants the best quality sound in a noise-canceling headset, the Sennheiser PXC-450s are great! I use them at work with the NC switch off so I don't waste batteries, and they are quiet enough. They have fairly good passive noise canceling because they're over-the-ear headphones and are substantial, so turning on the noise canceling isn't always necessary.
If you fly a lot, the Bose headphones take up less space, are lighter, and are easier to carry around. They sound fairly good, and the noise canceling quality is amazing. Personally, I think I would have been better off getting the Bose headphones for travel and the regular Sennheiser HD-650s for work, since I'm not using the noise canceling function of my PXC-450s at all.
If you want the best noise canceling in a consumer headset, with decent sound, you can't go wrong with the Bose QC-15s!
Customer Review: Best over the ear Noise Cancelling Headphones Evar!
Summary: 5 Stars
Purchased directly from the Bose physical store, rather than through Bose store on Amazon.
A lot has been said about these headphones already, and I'm no audiophile, but having travelled a lot on business, I've had the excuse of owning quite a nubmer of noise cancelling headphones: the earliest were Sony NC-1 in the ear buds that I bought in Japan in 2000. The NC-1's are still my favourite in-the-ear headphone buds, though they don't block as much noise as I often need; so I've always been searching for the ideal fully enclosed, over-the-ear, headphones.
I've used some of the previous Bose products before - the original QC was good, though too bulky for my liking. The QC3 were less effective at noise cancellation than my NC1s due to their design sitting on top of the ear rather than fully enclosing them - so my interest was piqued by these these newer fully over-the-ear headphones from Bose. I decided to try them out at the local Bose store here in Seattle and bought them on the spot. After 3 days I am still extremely happy with my purchase.
Pros:
+ Lightest, most comfortable, over-the-ear noise cancelling headphones I've ever tried. I can wear them for 3+ hours and not notice.
+ Noise cancellation quality is great. Not only for plane wind/engine but also for desktop PC fans and general office noise. No irritating buzz, though you do get the usual "dead air" feeling - a GoodThing(tm) in my opinion
+ Comfortable enough to lean head against airplane seat with minimal sound transfer from the seat into the inner headphone inner acoustic space.
+ No cable required. I often like to work in complete quiet and the lack of cable just removes another thing which can get tangled up.
Cons:
- These are active headphones. No battery means no sound. Luckily the AAA battery I've been using for > 20 hours seems to still be going strong. I would recommend keeping a spare in the case though.
- Case is rather big for frequent travellers. Often I will day-trip with a shoulder bag and these consume a lot more space than I budgeted for - not a slight on Bose as these fold down as much as they likely can without compromising comfort. Though worth noting if you're a light traveller.
- Price: These are expensive.
If you can afford them, travel a lot and/or require quiet to work, or know someone who does then I unreservedly recommend you to buy these. Truly great.
Hope this helps, Mike
Customer Review: Amazing Headphones. Downside is Price.
Summary: 5 Stars
I borrowed the QC3s from a friend for a trip from San Diego to Buffalo, NY and it was love at first listen.
Once I got back the search began, I wanted to find headphones that were the same quality (both in noise cancellation and sound quality) for a cheaper price. I don't really care about brand names so I searched and searched. Asked for recommendations, read reviews online, tried different headphones on at different stores and about 4 months later ended up purchasing the QC 15s.
It helped that I came into a $700 windfall so I didn't have to pay out of pocket but I couldn't find something with quite the sound quality and quite the noise cancellation and quite the comfort that the Bose had. There were others that had better sound quality, but couldn't match the Bose on comfort and noise cancellation.
The 300 price is a little steep and its hard to pull the trigger on something that is not a necessity but man was it worth it.
Plus, my buddy that has the Bose QC3s has had em for over three years and he regularly flies from SD to Miami and has no complaints. Secondly, he called the customer service to see if he could get a discounted second pair. Although they wouldn't give him a discounted second pair they were willing to sell him a replacement headset (he would have to send his back) for 100. Not bad, considering they run 350 in the store (the QC3s) and I can't think of any other company that would be willing to do that once you are out of warranty.
I guarantee if I call Samsung about my 7 year old TV they will laugh in my face, or Hoover with my 2 year old vacuum.
The sound quality, if you are looking for the best sound quality, these are not your headphones. Don't get me wrong, these are GREAT, prolly a 8 or 9 out of 10, but there are professional headphones out there that are superior. Look at Grado's, if you want the best sound quality.
Comfort? these are UNBELIEVABLE, I play poker with these headphones on and there are times where I've forgotten I have them on. They feel like air (what does air feel like?), you know what I mean. I normally hate headphones cuz they bother me, my ears get itchy, and turn red etc . . not with these. These feel like a pillow. They weigh like negative 3 ounces (yea negative). they are sick.
300 bucks is steep, but if you want comfort, noise cancellation, and great sound quality, you are not gonna get better than this pair.
Customer Review: alright Bose, you win...
Summary: 4 Stars
To tell you the truth, I didn't want to buy Bose. The nonconformist, wannabe-audiophile in me really wanted to go the route of Sennheiser or even Audio-Technica. After trying out several different brands, I decided to purchase the Sennheiser PXC-450s. On a test run through the noisy streets of Chicago, I couldn't help but feel let down by the subpar noise-canceling. It just so happened that I ended up walking past a Bose store and out of sheer morbid curiosity did I go in. The salespeople there were nice and patient enough to allow me to compare the 450s with QC2s and the QC15s (I'm not a fan of the QC3s) in a variety of different environments including back on the streets outside.
Suffice it to say, I returned my Sennheisers the next day and bought myself a pair of QC15s. They really were superior in every way.
- much better noise-canceling
- smaller in size and easier to store (the PXC-450s required an origami-like manipulation to fit in the case)
- more comfortable to wear
- better at physically sealing out ambient noise
- both exhibit the weird pressure on your eardrum when the cancellation is flipped on, unfortunately it's irritatingly noticeable in the Sennheisers while with Bose, it's easy to get used to..
- sound quality is similar if not better (yeah yeah, Bose likes the warmer tones by boosting the bass a little, I recognize that and yet still find it fantastic sounding)
- It has the inspired design of having a detachable cord which is the weakest/most easily damaged component of the headphone. I rest easier now knowing that I can easily replace the cord if needed. I usually don't use the word "easy" so much btw..
- speaking of weak/easily damaged, I made sure to ask about the brittle plastic construction of the QC2s. It turns out Bose addressed this issue and did a little reinforcement of the plastic right above the ears on both sides.
Yes $300 is still a hefty price to pay but I'm now convinced that it's the best bang for the buck. Let's see, what else?
- it looks like but is better than the QC2s
- it has excellent battery life (AAA), I use mine intermittently and the first battery lasted me about a month
- if you buy the product in the Bose store, be sure to ask them to throw in the 1/4" adapter which is not included with the QC15s (they have plenty of extras and seem more than happy to oblige)
Customer Review: Bose noise cancelling headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife gave me a pair of these for Christmas and I just got around to giving them a good tryout on the noise canceling feature. (my lawn mower was in the shop having annual maintenance and I just got it back yesterday.)
I fired up the headphones and my Sony MP3 player and they worked like a charm. I had been using a pair of Peltor Realtunes with the aux input for the MP3 player (few decent receivable radio stations in the area). The Peltors used sound isolation via tight ear muffs which made them uncomfortable after more than a few minutes. In addition, the Peltors did not sound very well and my Sony player would not drive them very loud. My understanding is that they designed them so they would NOT play very loud with an aux input. The Bose are a 100% improvement over the Peltors and on top of that, the noise from the lawnmower is actually lower with the Bose than with the Peltors even though the Bose headphones were not designed for such loud use.
The other good thing about these headphones is they do sound very good. It has been a long time since I listened to music over a set of good headphones and I was immediately impressed. In non-noisy environments I have recently been using Sony MDR-V150 headphones, and most recently, a pair of JVC HAS150 headphones. The Sony's sound pretty good for the $20 price tag but became uncomfortable after a while. I used them extensively on walks and working outside. Eventually the ear pieces deteriorated away. I replaced them with the JVCs in an attempt to get more comfortable. The JVC headphones were much more comfortable but the sound was not as good as the Sony. They had a "boomy" sound on the bass. So the bottom line with the Bose headphones is they sound as good as any set of headphones that I have ever had, including some expensive "audiophile" quality ones I had years ago and they are as comfortable to wear for extended periods as any I have every had.
They have only one drawback, they are very expensive. I probably would not have bought these for myself because of that. Fortunately my wife did it for me so I will not have to feel guilty spending this much money on a pair of headphones for mowing the grass while listening to music and drinking beer.