The Bose Company has touted itself as an audio leader for years. These days you can hardly fly anywhere without seeing the ubiquitous Bose Noise-Canceling Headphones on at least a few of your fellow passengers. The Bose product line includes far more that just Wave Radios and Noise-Canceling Headphones however. This review covers their smaller, more affordable In-Ear Headphones.
While not quite on par with their bigger noise-canceling siblings QuietComfort 2 and 3, the lightweight Bose In-Ear Headphones offer excellent sound in a less costly alternative. Being ear-bud style headphones they cannot come close to the noise canceling ability of the QuietComfort models, but they were not designed to do so. They do deliver clear crisp sound as long as background noise is not too loud. As almost all of my listening involves music, I tested these headphones listening to a variety of types of music. From the violins (and fiddles) in symphonic music (and bluegrass) to the cymbals in jazz, all sounded clear and true. The bass is not overpowering as I have found with cheaper ear-bud style headphones. Since I don’t have the ability to change the bass setting on my player this was important to me.
Ear-buds with adapter removed on one earbud
These are by far the most comfortable ear-buds I have ever worn. They come with soft rubber adapters that fit right over the ear-bud so they fit more precisely in your ear. Bose offers (and includes) three different sized sets of adapters for different sized ears. These provide an excellent seal in your ear, but also are the source of my major complaint about these ear-buds. Even minor movement like walking quickly broke this seal and I found myself constantly pushing them back in my ear. I finally switched back to my old buds for walking or running.
Closeup of ear-bud adapters
Bose sends along a very nice leather case in the $90 kit as well. Unfortunately, it is just a case, and you must jam your iPod and the headphones into it and attempt to close the case without catching the cord in the zipper. If you use a smaller player such as a nano you hardly need a case this large. I already had a nice case for my iPod and would prefer a case made just for the headphones, such as the one that came with an old pair of Sennheiser ear-buds I used to use. With that case the headphones wound up into a small hard plastic case which also kept the cords from getting tangled.
If you are looking for comfortable ear-buds with great sound these are a winner. Unfortunately, it you plan to use them while working out or walking, you may experience the frustration I did with the headphones coming loose and end up switching back to your old ones!
 |
Subscribe to our RSS feed. |
Product Information
| Price: | $90.00 |
| Manufacturer: | Bose Corporation |
| Pros: |
|
| Cons: |
|
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
After 6 months (of continually pushing them back in my ear) one of the cables broke (strands inside the insulation) and rendered the pair useless. A common fault I’m told. Not impressed, I’m now on the Etymotics hf5 and much better fit and quality…
I agree with this review: the Bose Ear Buds sound great, but suffer from some ergonomic problems. In addition to the case issues mentioned, the rubbery cord seems to seek out objects with which to get entangled, and the ear-bud adapters also come off the ear buds too easily. For the money, Bose should have included more than one spare pair in each size, although you can order more from the company online. Finally the black-and-white cords look sort of doofy and draw a little more attention to themselves than one would like…
I tried these earbuds shortly after they came out. They just don’t stay firmly inserted in the ear.
I’ve tried many other in-the-ear products and the Etymotics hf5 are defintely the best. They insert well into the ear and with a bit of moisture (saliva) around the flange, they cut out extreme amounts of noise. They are good enough to wear on the NYC subway and still listen to music without having to crank up of the volume.
The Etymotics do have a design problem that causes a short where the wire connects to the audio plug. This happens after about 1 year of use.
But even though my Etymotics fail, I always go back and buy another.
Thanks for the review of these Don. I have been contemplating switching to some ear bud style headphones for awhile now but am wary of getting a set that keep falling out. Could you tell me what type you usually wear? (the ones that you switched back to after testing these?)
thanks
Have one myself. Can’t live without it!!
I have never really been able to wear in-ear phones before… they’ve always been just a bit too big or something – never stayed in. I’ve been using these for a year and not only am I very impressed with the sound quality, but they’re so comfortable I can wear them all day with no problems. And compared to most Bose products they aren’t ridiculously expensive.
I just change 3 ipod, but I don’t change my bose In-Ear Headphones. When I do sport activity I prefer my Bang & Olufsen Earphones, This is very stable in every position (I use in downHill) but the sound is not the same of bose.
The Bose earphones I purchased come with both good and bad. First, the good. The sound is quite lovely compared to Shure headphones I had recently purchased. It’s full, bright, has a good base, and generally an overall nice level of sound reproduction. However, every time one of my friends wants to listen, they look at the ear pieces strangely and wonder how it fits in their ear. Their concern is only a microcosm of the flawed design of the ear pieces. They are loose, uncomfortable at times, prone to quick dirtying, and the silicon buds come off too easily. However, the real reason I’m writing this review is because of durability. Originally, I had the headsets for about 4 months before one of the headphones completely stopped making sound. Politely, Bose offered to replace them with a new set for me. However, after using the new set for about 5 months, the SAME problem has arisen. Bose will not replace them a second time. Some might say this comes with poor care, but I assure you that I LOVE music and am quite frugal; I can’t spend money on expensive headphones every half of a year. I never wrap them in a coil, smashed them, left them in high or low temperature for any amount of time, twisted them, bite them, pinched them, or ANYTHING. Sure, choose Bose if you like good sound. But be warned: it won’t last nearly as long as other brands (my Shure set lasted me 9 years…).
Hi,
I have also had many problems with other brand name in ear headphones falling out however i have just got a pair of the bose in ear headphones and they are so good a fit on all the buds provided they sit tight and dont move even when walking.
I have just one problem though to get the true bose base we all love end enjoy i have to put pressure on them and i shouldnt have to do that really but other than that these are brilliant headphones i would really recomend them. My thoughts are if they made the little canal part that goes in your ear canal just a few mill longerthey would be just fine. Overall though i would recomend these to any audiofile.
Hi
I had QC2 headphones for about 2 years before it got burgled.
The performance was amazing for an year and 2nd year of usage was not great. Speaker is gone and it started dying.
After i lost my QC2, i scaled down myself to Bose in-ear headphones and now it has been about more than a year. I have no compaints about fit. But I am seeing the problem with speaker and performance is not great after an year.
I cant keep paying huge royalty to Bose. My next head phone will not be bose.
Same issues as the above in general.
Great sound. For me they are actually very comfortable but the build quality is shocking for such a renowned company.
Sent back to Dixons twice now after a wire breakdown and loss of sound in one ear. Only ever treated very carefully…they just don’t last for daily use. Cord is a silly colour scheme and a sticky rubbery material. Buds com off all the time!
What a shame…..had hoped that this present to myself would have lasted a lot longer.
If you want durability rule these out. Sorry.