Bose QuietComfort 3

I received a pair of the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones for Christmas in 2006, six months after their release. These were my first pair of noise-cancelling headphones and they did not fall short of my expectations. A smaller, more compact product than their predecessor (the Quiet Comfort 2's), the QC 3's improve on both the quiet and the comfort. Designed as an on-the-ear device, the QC 3's rest on your ears with a soft, cushy pad that covers the speakers and is, after a while, ignored by the user in favor of the clear, colorful sound produced. In terms of the sound, the bass in these headphones is unbelievable, and with a little EQ boost from your favorite mp3 player can really bump. And even when playing on full volume the sound transmitted through the headphones remains clean and expressive. As far as portability goes, the QC 3's come with a handy carrying case that, along with storing the headphones folded flat, contains two audio cables, an adapter for dual 8th inch airplane conversion, an 8th inch to quarter-inch adapter, and the lithium battery recharger. However, heading towards the down-falls of the product, once the case eventually gets misplaced (if you are as clumsy as I am sometimes) the headphones can not be safely stored anywhere else. Even around one's neck causes unwanted strain on the joints that allow for smooth rotation of the ear cups. In addition, the 25 hour battery is rechargeable - sweet! - but is only able to be recharged via the wall plug-in charger. Although it is fairly standard and recharging the battery doesn't take too long, it is inconvenient when you want to listen to music on a plane and the battery light begins to flicker. When the battery finally dies the music cuts out immediately and you are left with no way of plugging in and getting the noise-cancelled sound you want. Finally, although it's sound is great and it is a comfortable pair of headphones, the Bose Quiet Comfort 3's are even more expensive than their predecessor and unfit for proper music production. But if you have money to spend and want a high quality way of enjoying your favorite tunes, this is a great option.

I bought the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones about two years ago. I got them because I wanted to get a set of headphones that I could bring around with me both to listen to my iPod and to listen mixes on and use with Pro Tools, as I have an Mbox Micro that enables me to use Pro Tools LE 7.4 on the go. When I got them, I disappointed as I had higher hopes for them. The sound quality is pretty good overall, but to me it colors the sound too much and projects a low mid low end that I only hear on these headphones. For this reason and other, I have come to the conclusion that while these are not suitable for recording and mixing purposes of any kind. These are consumer audio headphones and need to be treated as so. Expecting them to be more I have found is unrealistic. I thought that it would help me to block out noise if I needed to work in a situation where there was some noise, but found that they didn't do enough to allow me to hear clearly enough what I was listening to. The main reason I expected so much from these headphones was because of the price. For the price I was expecting a great set of headphones that are versatile and that I could use for both listening purposes and for editing on the go. I have since sold the pair of these that I bought as they didn't meet my needs. This being said, these aren't bad headphones at all, I just had higher hopes for these and have since moved on to using real studio headphones made by Sony and Sennhesier. If you are working with professional audio gear, I would recommend to stay away from these and check out some of the real studio headphones made by the companies I mentioned above.