Bose QuietComfort 3 user reviews

Pros These headphones have a great new battery feature along with a sleek new design for those who don't like the over-the-ear headphones.

Cons Price is outrageous. Basically, the only thing new is the design.

Summary The new Bose design (which is pretty much the only new feature) has the price raised to $350. Bose is absolutly crazy asking for this price. I personally have tried these headphones, and they aren't much different from the Sennheiser 280 Pro's. Bose goes through tons and tons of experiments and advertising to promote and create these headphones. That's why the price is so high. They overcharge you about $200, which is a waste of your money. As an added downside, these headphones feel cheap. They're very flimsy and bendable, so they feel as though they could break. I'm not a critic of Bose, because they do make wonderful audio equipment. In this case, this product is NOT worth your money. Don't listen to people promoting these. Most of them have never tried some of the other cheaper headphones out there in the market. So no wonder they think that these things are great. They've never tried any others!!! I have Sennheiser 280 Pro's and they are at the top of my list. They cover my ears, which I like. They are also sturdier than the Bose QC3, but are nonetheless foldable. The 280 Pro has noise cancelling also. They are about $200-$250 but worth your money IF you buy them from the right place. DON'T buy them from bestbuy or from Sennheiser directly. I got mine from shipdog.com and they were $72 plus about $20 for 3-day shipping. It's a great buy. I love shipdog and I wouldn't recommend going anywhere else. (By the way, shipdog doesn't carry Bose QC3 - I already checked.) Even those who frequently ride on airplanes wouldn't really need these. You can get 32dB of ambient noise reduction on the 280 Pro's, which is WAY more than anyone needs. So if you are looking for some inexpensive and durable heaphones for your iPod or mp3 player, go with the Sennheiser 280 Pro's. The new Bose QC3 are not worth your hard-earned 350 bucks.

Pros First Supra-Aural Headphones to be closed-air, rechargeable battery, suitable for MP3 players, ergonomical earcups, memory cushion for enhanced noise blocking

Cons $350 is rather expensive for a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. The "No-Power, No-Sound" Syndrone is still there. Plus you have to take really good care of them as well.

Summary I tried these headphones and compared them with the Bose QuietComfort 2 Headphones. The Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones, once you give them a chance, blocks out noise as much as, if not, then better than the QuietComfort 2. Not only that, but the sound quality of the QC3 might be enhanced over the QC2 SE. While the headphones itself are kind of overpriced and while the headphones aren't low-profile, ideally the Bose QC3 should be used in airplane flights, but can also be used in a variety of applications as well related to sound listening. I really don't like the price of the headphones, but the new rechargeable battery makes the Bose QC3 more environmentally safe than the QC2. However, for those who live their lives mainly for active noise cancellation, not for the world of passive noise isolation, these are the headphones. Finally, given peoples' past beefs with the initial TriPort Headphones release, you really have to take very good care of it, but hopefully, the durability of the headphones are as good as the QC2 SE's. It may not be suitable for audiophile use, but an average user probably would benefit from Bose's proprietary Acoustic Noise Cancellation feature for better audio, game, even movie listening.

Pros Styling (slimness vs. QC2), rechargeable battery

Cons Price, bulky travel case, decreased treble response, borderline loose base response

Summary I just got through doing my own side-by-side comparison of the QC3's to the QC2's. Bose is close to getting it right, but the QC3's aren't a significant improvement over the QC2's from a noise cancellation or sound quality viewpoint.

The treble response on the QC3's was more muted than the QC2's. The base response was more noticeable in QC3's, but seemed to be on the verge of becoming sloppy. This was especially evident when selecting a bass-boost setting on the music source. For those of you who can't do a side-by-side comparison you probably won't miss the performance difference from the QC2's. But there is a negative difference, in my opinion.

The QC3's, being an on-the-ear design, tend to become more noticeable after extended listening sessions. I can wear the QC2's for at least an hour before I really start to notice any discomfort. I get that same feeling after wearing the QC3's only after about 10 minutes.

The travel case really negates any benefit in size reduction with the new styling. The QC3 case is only about 3/4" less wide and about 1/2" less tall than the QC2 travel case. Both are about equally as thick. However, where the QC2 case has a nice zippered mesh pouch for adapters, cables, etc., the QC3 case only has a pre-formed felt covered mold that has a slot for an airline adapter, the battery charger, and a spare battery (should you have the desire to toss out another $50), with the 1/4" stereo adapter not having a designated storage slot. The adapter will fit into one of several nooks/crannies but has the potential for becoming a lost component fairly soon. If you buy the QC3's then I recommend you removed the 1/4" stereo adapter and store it in a safer place (next to the stereo?).

I store an iPod Nano and cable splitter along with the QC2's and associated accessories in the QC2 case; you'd have to remove the battery charger in the QC3 case in order to do the same. Of course, if you did that and wound up having the battery die without packing the charger with you then you got a pretty expensive pair of non-functioning headphones. At least with the QC2's you can buy another AAA battery at the airport.

And my biggest beef is the price. The QC2's are overpriced to begin with, and the QC3's are just plain ridiculous. I'm kind of a gadget freak and usually don't have a problem spending money on new electronics, but the QC3's leave me feeling like I've been ripped-off. Fortunately, I am going to return these about 4 days into my 30-day trial so this will be only a temporary feeling.

Pros Good noise cancellation, good form factor, acceptable sound quality

Cons Uncomfortable for long use, carrying case design is not optimal

Summary I have used noise cancellation headphones from other brands and by comparison, this QC3 performs pretty well overall. I like the fact that there is no additional electronics dongle or box to worry about when wearing the headphones and also not hvaing to worry about the soft earbuds disappearing on me, making the earphones useless.

However, this headphone can certainly improve to make this the best choice possible.

The headphones do not sit well inside the carrying case and that's a bit annoying when putting them back in place. However, due to enough space the case allows, it's not critical to sit components inside the case exactly, I found out. Bose should redesign the insert inside the case and allow for a pocket to put the extra cables, adapters and etc separately, allowing better fit for the headphones in a bit larger fitting holes.

After using the headphones for more than a couple of hours, my ears felt a bit uncomfortable and it's not from the pressure in the ear drums but physical discomfort around the ear caused by the pressure from the headphones. Senheizer headphones didn't have such discomfort, although QC3 performs a little better with noise cancellation. But, I would still choose QC3 instead of the other one simply because I don't want to have to deal with the additional noise cancellation circuitry dongle.

QC3 is a pretty good product but not at the $350. I only got it because it was free after exercising my credit card reward points. If I had to spend my own money, I would have seriously re-considered in-ear headphones again instead, especially at that high price level.