« They were probably very good at one time... »

I am a bit of a headphone aficionado and collect for fun. As every pair of headphones has different EQing and structural qualities that shape the timbre of the sound, it is fun for me to listen to as many different kinds as I can. As with most of the headphones I own, I received a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 2's used from a friend who had recently acquired customized Dre Beats and didn't want his five year old QC's anymore. I gladly took them off his hands but quickly found out that the mini-phone to 8th inch cable was badly frayed around the jacks on both sides. Unfortunately this drastically affected the sound quality, creating a strange left - right balance that was uneven and uncomfortable to experience. However when I purchased a replacement cable the stereo output went back to normal and left me with a signal that sounded as if it was sent through a high pass filter. That is not to say that the mids and highs weren't rich and colorful, but just that the lows were lacking for my taste. This could've been due to wear and tear over the years, but I listen to my music on them anyway as an effective test of a song's mid and high ranges. All in all the Bose Quiet Comfort 2's are certainly a great product and a poster child of noise canceling headphones with a comfortable over-the-ear design, but have become a little out dated in today's ever expanding market. Unless you can obtain these used, I don't think it is worth paying the large sum of money for a new pair. One thing I can say is that like the other Quiet Comfort products by Bose, the QC 2's make for a much more enjoyable day at the airport.