Bose Quietcomfort 2

Bose are renowned for their superb sound quality equipment and have been around for many decades. This fact in itself will make Bose the first choice if you appreciate great sound quality, however, it is a company that you really need to start saving for as their units do not come in cheap.

So, we have the fairly recent (newly designed) QuietComfort2 headphones and certainly with a price to match. £275. You're probably thinking the ...
...the price...slightly.

Bose supply a nice hardish bag to store your headphones in along with the other accessories (see further below). The bag can be zipped up and comes with a strap to carry about easily without a conscience of breaking those little gems!

ACCESSORIES

Headphones

Portable Carry Case - Convenience at it's best. Headphones fold flat and can be carried easily without the bulkiness.
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Bose are renowned for their superb sound quality equipment and have been around for many decades. This fact in itself will make Bose the first choice if you appreciate great sound quality, however, it is a company that you really need to start saving for as their units do not come in cheap.

So, we have the fairly recent (newly designed) QuietComfort2 headphones and certainly with a price to match. £275. You're probably thinking the same as what I was. "who in their right mind..." or words to that effect.

I think it's my job now to justify the heavy price tag that accompanies the work of art that these headphones are.

LOOKS

Initially, these are a nice set of headphones to look at. As they are 'over the ear' type, naturally expected would be that they are big and bulky, but they are not that at all, or at least in relation to other 'over the ear' type headphones.

A simple combination of Black and Grey makes these headphones appealable to a wide audience, and mixed with some genuine leather on the head strap and ear cups help justify the price...slightly.

Bose supply a nice hardish bag to store your headphones in along with the other accessories (see further below). The bag can be zipped up and comes with a strap to carry about easily without a conscience of breaking those little gems!

ACCESSORIES

Headphones

Portable Carry Case - Convenience at it's best. Headphones fold flat and can be carried easily without the bulkiness.

Extension cable - Great for listening to television and any other device that is out of normal reach.

1/4" Stereo headphone adapter - Amplifiers, home cinemas, and other devices can be used with this adapter giving great variety.

Dual Plug Adapter - If you're a frequent traveller by plane (unfotunately I don't travel by plane often) then this will come in handy for you and inflight movies.

SOUND QUALITY

To start off, the soft leather earcups fully SURROUND the ear rather than sit on top. So naturally, the sound is minimised. Although sound can still be heard when no music is playing, it's a start. However, flick the switch on the side of the 'right' earcup, and your ears feel like they have been pressurised. But what's also noticeable is that all lower frequency noises disappear and all you are left with is the higher frequency noises.

To test this, I went into the kitchen with the headphones on my head, but switched off. I flicked the kettle switch on and waited for the loudest point. Although the sound was drowned out, both high and low frequencies were still audible. Time to flick that switch again. Unbelievable, the rumbling of the kettle had disappeared into nowhere and I had a surreal moment trying to understand how this was happening.

Apparentely, according to Bose, the sound waves coming in are measured by microphones located on each of the outer side of the earcups. Each sound wave that is deemed 'unwanted' for listening to music is cancelled out before it reaches inside the earcups. Which all makes sense.

So, the biggest offender of musical listening pleaure, outside noise, has been dramatically removed or reduced.

At this point I hadn't listened to any music as yet, I wanted to understand how the headphones functioned before going any further.

Because outside noise stops you hearing the full potential of your music, it only makes sense to attempt to eliminate this.

If you are at home and you have the television on, the washing machine can be heard, flushing toilets, running water and so much more, this will interfere with what you are listening to. This is where this Bose technology is truly unbeatable.

Listening to an Acoustic song is utterly amazing and an unforgettable experience. Every single note can be heard, every strum of the guitar, every key press of the piano, just everything can be heard that wouldn't normally be heard in a standard set of headphones. And most of this is mainly due to the noise reduction, because it means that you can concentrate on what YOU want to listen to rather than accepting those other noises are around you too.

Bass is amazing too, and not in a way that your ear drums won't be functioning properly for the next few days, but in a way that the headphones decide what level of bass to pass through and always end up sounding smooth and precise. And most of all, not artificial.

So far, so good. High musical frequencies and low frequencies can be heard with amazing clarity.

How many times have you put some music on, along with the televison and been cooking at the same time. Your music becomes background noise. Something that is just there. Not really noticeable.

When you put these headphones on and press play on your music system, everything around you seems to disappear. All you can see is movement around you, and no outside sound can be heard. Lay back, close your eyes and you're now in a world of your own. You become more embraced in the music and feel part of what your listening to because it's all that you can hear. No one shouting at you (or at least not that you are aware of), no washing machine or television to interupt that truly bewildering sound experience going on inside your head. And that's just the first 10 seconds of the track.

Using standard headphones, I have only listened to my 'own' taste of music. Never before have I considered listening to anything such as Big Band type music. If you can find a live Big Band musical stereo recording, play the recording through these heaphones. There's nothing else in the world that will put such a big smile on your face. Again, with my eyes closed, I pressed play. First the drum solo to begin with, sounding amazing. Then the Brass section start, and WOW. I was there! music flying from left to right and just in real amazement as to what was going on. Saxaphone comes in with stunning clarity. Never would I have thought I was sitting in front of a live Big Band watching and listening to everything that was going on...But, of course, I wasn't. I was just lying on my bed with my eyes closed and wrapped up in musical genius. Clarity through these headphones is exceptionally phenomenal and not to be understated at all.

I was really curious how all this was happening from such a small source. So, time to look inside those magical earcups. Wondering where the sound was coming from, of course the obvious answer is the speakers. But after a closer look, I noticed that the speakers were at a slight angle. At an angle that would mean music will be directly positioned down the ear. Excellent, it all makes sense. Could this be the reason for the sound feeling like there's a band inside your head? Quite possibly one of many reasons in my opinion.

Vocal clarity is just as respectable as musical clarity. How often have you heard the 'hiss' when there's an 'f' or 's' pronounced in dictation or singing. I know for myself it's one of my pet hates. Especially when listening to a television programme and there's constant hissing because the presenter is using words with 's' in it.

Needless to say, this is nothing of a problem for Bose. Never will you here those 'sssstupid' 'FFF' words again! It's how it should be.

My experiences above weren't enough for me. A good friend of mine has been playing guitar for 6 years now and the quality of his playing is outstanding. And if you're musically orientated then you will know that using headphones through an AMP will result in distorion. Using the headphone adapter I decided to test this. The words from my friend were "I wouldn't bother using that socket, all you will get is distorion". However, I had faith in Bose and decided to carry on.

The electric guitar was used. Headphones plugged in. Everything set up. And with surprise, the headphones didn't only just cope, they produced the usual amazing and outstanding clarity, if not better than listening to the Big Band music I mentioned previously. The reason; this WAS live, not a recording.

With this in mind, any guitarists out there, piano players, in fact, any musician with an instrument having a headphone socket would benefit from these 100 percent!

I think that's enough of the sound quality. I really could go on all day about how good the sound is, but I think you all get the picture. Or sound.

PRACTICALITY

As for practicality, you know I mentioned before that Bose supply you with a case. The case is flat and has a strap for easy mobility and can be stored in a small bag, which will come in handy for hand luggage on a plane.

Although, how can these headphones fit in a flat case? Answer; both ear cups rotate 90 degrees and fold flat thus fitting snugly into its little home. Also in the case is a pouch for all your attachments and extension cable.

Thinking ahead, Bose have placed a removeable velcro pouch inside, containing some business cards. Why? How many passengers who you will sit next to on a plane will want a set of these after trying them? So, prepared you will be with these handy cards to give out.

Whether you have a small head or a big head, these headphones will fit not a problem. The headband is adjustable, and with a nice soft part-leather headband, comfort is not an issue.

In relation to comfort, as I mentioned before the ear cups are soft geniun leather. And also replaceable. So as well as being extremely comfortable, if you wear them out you won't have to pay for another set of headphones, just replace the cups.

The cord coming from the headphones is removable. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that when you remove this cord, the connection part has a switch. 'Hi' and 'Lo'. These settings are to suit the device that you are using. Ie for a small CD player, use the 'Hi' setting. Anything that is amplified, such as a home cinema, use the 'Lo' setting. So, in terms of practicality, this is a great feature. The second reason for this is that when you remove this cord you can be completely wireless and remove yourself from the outer world and enjoy silence and relaxation from the technology of Noise Reduction. One thing to bear in mind is that these headphones will not COMPLETELY remove outer noise, but will dramatically reduce it.

One slight problem I have come across is that it needs one AAA battery to power it. It's not really the fact it needs one AAA to power it, but without the battery you cannot use these headphones at all. My impression was that the battery was for noise reduction only and still useable as standard headphones. But this is not the case. However, with a Duracell Ultra M3, my estimation was around 35-40 hours before a replacement was needed. So power consumption is really not bad at all. Just be sure to take a spare battery, or batteries with you on your journey. The newer QuietComfort 2 headphones accept this AAA battery inside the right side earcup which is easily accessible.

DURABILITY

I have had these headphones now for around 4 months now and they still look as new. The leather is in pristine condition and do not seem to have faded at all. Of course after 4 months of ownership, I can only give you the durability for 4 months and so far so good. There is no sign of any degradation as yet and it seems as though the build quality is of a hight standard. But, what would you expect for £275!

WHO IS THIS FOR?

Anyone who appreciates good musical sound and wants to hear absolutely everything going on in their favourite song.

More especially, these haedphones will perfectly suit long distance travellers who want to relax and be in a world of their own.

If you have a spare £275, then these are the headphones of choice.

If you're the type of person who doesn't really listen to alot of music then stick with a standard set of headphones and save some money. For everyone else, these are quite accurately priced.

Justification done.

Throughout this review, there was one thing I had forgotten. On my ears were the Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones. 3 hours and no discomfort, literally didn't realise they were on my head!

 

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