
Bose's new beat - zwrose
http://www.cnet.com/news/bose-behind-the-scenes/
======
beloch
Audiophiles rag on Bose pretty hard. It's easy to see why if you look at their
product line. They have home theater systems, but all of them use tiny plastic
cube speakers that trade sound quality for unobtrusiveness. They have
soundbars and waveboxes. Bose 901's are arguably their "flagship" audiophile
product, but these are designed to bounce additional sound off your walls to
make your room sound like a concert hall. The problem is that nobody masters
recordings for speakers that intentionally add reverb. These gimmick speakers
are designed to wow in the showroom with the right tracks, but do you really
want everything you hear to sound like it's in a concert hall?

Bose simply doesn't target audiophiles. They don't make audiophile products.
However, they've carved out a niche for themselves that makes them billions
every year. That niche is basically one step removed from snake-oil. Bose has
somehow managed their image so that people think Bose really can cram
audiophile-grade performance into precisely the kind of tiny, plastic boxes no
other audio company can get halfway decent sound out of. Bose fails as hard as
anyone else at that, but somehow people believe they've succeeded and line up
to buy their products. Whatever Bose is doing for advertising, it's elite.
This article is probably an example of what they're doing.

~~~
jordanthoms
I do think some of their headphones are best in class - Not the greatest value
for money though. Their QC line have the best noise cancelling, and if that's
the most important criteria they are the ones I recommend to people.
(Personally I use Sennheiser for my ANC cans as the sound is better and noise
cancelling is not too far off).

Their sports in-ears are great also - I've never found any in-ear headphone
that beats the MIE2 in comfort and not falling out, and the sound isn't bad
either.

~~~
overcast
I have the inner ear version, and the noise canceling is ridiculously good.
$300 was hard to swallow for the sound quality, but you're paying for the NC.

~~~
beloch
A good pair of canal-phones that fit properly _should_ provide enough noise
isolation (on the order of 25-40 dB, depending on design) that active
cancellation is unnecessary in most environments. People performing in front
of heavy-duty speaker stacks often use canal-phones to be able to hear what
they're doing without going deaf. The caveat is you really do need to mess
around with different tips to find ones that fit and shove those suckers in
deep enough to get a good seal, which a lot of people hate doing. Noise
cancellation is great to have in over-ear cans but would be of very limited
utility in canal-phones, assuming their isolation doesn't suck. $300 will get
you a very good pair of Etymotics or Shures, which you should be able to get
very good isolation with. If you can afford more, custom molded canal-phones
are the gold standard.

I've heard, in many places, that Bose's noise-cancelling over-ear cans are
decent though.

~~~
lobster_johnson
Having had Shures, and now Bose QC20s, there is a significant difference. The
noise canceling definitely works.

------
oxide
You're a knowledgeable lot, so I think I'll put this question out to you all.

I'm looking for a budget pair of cans, I usually spend about 20 bucks because
I'm both cheap and poor. I was considering the HD202's, I usually get by with
HD201's but the cords short out and fray after a year or so of everyday use.

I only have two requirements: over-ear headphones with a comically oversized
cord

appreciate any recommendations in advance.

~~~
danielvf
I've used my Sony MDR-7506 daily for 18 years now. They sound good. You can
get new pair from Amazon for $80.

And it has you totally covered in your wish for an oversized cord.

~~~
Someone1234
Sony's studio headphones are seriously underrated. I suspect because they
aren't marketed to the hip and trendy crowd. They actually look pretty ugly
(like a 1970s reject) but they work so freaking well.

I've had mine for twenty years, no issues, no frays, and I'd replace them with
other Sony studio headphones if something were to happen.

The cord is a beast. I'm not worried about it failing.

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stcredzero
This guy generally has good advice:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeosReviews](https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeosReviews)
(But let me know if he turns into an affiliate marketing shill.)

Headphone guide:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/3ttvhy/guide_headphon...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/3ttvhy/guide_headphones_general_music/)

Gaming headphone guide:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/3tu9gl/guide_headphon...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/3tu9gl/guide_headphones_gaming/)

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igor_a
I had QC25, $300, needs fucking piece of paper to be put into ear cup to work.
Bose is a rip off. Just look into this vid - 40000 views of how and where to
put piece of paper into your $300 headphones -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OYva0hOW0Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OYva0hOW0Q)

~~~
what_ever
The description says that he slept while wearing the headphones so I suppose
damage should not be that surprising. Since when 40k YouTube videos became the
gold standard for anything?

I was one of the group which said Bose are overpriced but my work has open
office layout and it gets really loud. Manager agreed to expense the noise
canceling headphone and I must say QC25 are great noise canceling/dampening
and VERY comfortable and light. Earlier I could not keep headphones on for
longer hours but I have no issues with QC. Also they work great on the planes.

~~~
igor_a
I didn't did anything bad with them just used them in office. I was happy
customer until they broke (after 7 month of usage)

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_rob
Wow that suspension is amazing. If you don't have the time to watch the entire
article you should at least watch the video demonstration.

I wonder why they don't integrate it into ambulances. In that application cost
or weight shouldn't matter as much.

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wickawic
Is this anything more than a puff piece for Bose? I really like the vignette
of a dying old man being overjoyed by the state of their noise cancelling
technology

~~~
dang
It isn't binary. Something can both be a puff piece and be interesting. An
aware reader adjusts for bias, and finds what's useful, in any kind of
propaganda.

~~~
usrusr
But how will adblockers draw the line?

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hellofunk
I have been using the Bose QC noise-cancelling headphones for many years. Bose
has been great. They even replaced my pair for a 70% off upgrade price after
being a loyal customer for only 3 or 4 years, so I could get some new features
and nice cushy new soft ear muffs. They take a beating. I constantly drop them
on hard floors, the travel with me all over the world constantly, and their
quality has never diminished.

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chiph
> The idea was to invent a system that anticipated and rose above bumps in the
> road. A little like riding on a magic carpet.

This became the Bose Ride seat for commercial trucks.

[http://www.boseride.com/](http://www.boseride.com/)

It has a linear actuator that is run by a computer monitoring a set of
accelerometers.

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kanche
I am really not a fan of these kind of companies - Beats, Bose who claim to
provide the best sound experience with their mumbo jumbo patented technology,
sell earphones at an astonishingly high price which do not even sound good. I
search for good earphones/speaker in head-fi - it's a good source of earphone
reviews.

I bought MEElectronics A151[0] (1st gen) in 2012, they were at half the price
of Bose earphones, and to me, sounds so much better than them. I treat them so
badly - throwing them anywhere after coming back home, still going strong.

[http://www.meeaudio.com/a151p-balanced-armature-in-ear-
headp...](http://www.meeaudio.com/a151p-balanced-armature-in-ear-headphone-
with-inline-microphone-and-remote-2nd-generation/)

I think one should not make any compromises with earphone and eyeglasses. It
was a significant purchase as I was a student then and I feel it was worth it.

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ArchReaper
This is obviously a very thinly veiled marketing piece for Bose.

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soundlab
For decades Dr. Bose held an aggressive "not invented here" bias, which they
are now finally moving on from. It's great to see Bose becoming active in the
startup scene in Boston, including a sponsorship of the MassChallenge
accelerator. Say what you will about the marketing hype or sound quality, it
is an extremely well run diversified business that goes way beyond headphones.

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bequem
I might read like a puff piece to some, but it was insightful nonetheless.

Thanks for sharing it!

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aidenn0
I met an engineer that worked at Bose. They had some quirky rules like "no
eating in the office" not because of mess, but to get you out of your office
at least once every few hours.

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bumbledraven
The Bose L1 Model II is a good sound system for small bands.

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Shorel
Bose sounds like a really nice company to work in.

~~~
colanderman
I have two friends who work there who enjoy it very much. Good company culture
and work/life balance, while still working on interesting products.

