Bose QuietComfort 3

reply on November 14, 2007 by jgario

First of all I consider myself an above average audiophile. I love music to the point that I once owned a post production company and was part owner of a recording studio.<br>I have used the very best of the expensive studio monitor headphones to the bottom of the barrel airline give a ways. The QC-3 unfortunately is more in the airline give-aways as far as the sound quality, but the comfort level and the noise cancelling ability is in the top of the line studio monitor level.<br>The price is up in that level also but I cannot see the average consumer purchasing this product at this price just for sound quality, and if they did it would only sound good because of the price they paid for it, and the brand name of the company.<br>When it comes to the noise cancelling ability, it is the best that I have ever heard, and I have heard a few. I had the opportunity to actually compare the QC-3 and the QC-2 side by side, and other than the size I did notice some significant differences. The QC-2 has the over the ear muffs, while the QC-3 has the on the ear muffs. The QC-2 sounded better than the QC-3 but the noise cancelling was much better in the QC-3. <br>I did the comparison on a four hour flight and also while cutting my lawn on my lawn mower. The QC-2 to me let in more ambient noise which had a hollow sound due to the over the ear muffs, but the music that I was listening to from my i-pod had more vocals and a nicer high end sound. The bass is very good on both models. <br>The QC-3 felt good on the ears even after hours of use and I was surprised that it did a better job of noise cancelling than the over the ear QC-2 type. <br>Noise cancelling technology is not new, it has been used in audio amplifiers for years and the principal is simple. If the noise is constant and steady all you have to do is split it and re-direct it at its self and in essence it cancels itself out. The steadier the noise the easier it is to cancel, that’s why I used my lawn mower for the final test.<br>I chose the QC-3 because of the superior noise cancelling ability, that’s what I bought it for. If I wanted a top quality headphone for the sole purpose of listening to music this would not be my choice, they are too many very good top quality headphones out that can blow the sock off of these headphones for a lot less. <br>Bose is still a top quality speaker manufacturer as I own a pair of 501’s and 901’s so I know they can have both sound quality and noise cancelling if they choose to.