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Anyone have these? I slot of traveling and have been looking at a descent pair of headphones.

Help would be appreciated

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

Spend a bit more and get some Shure SE532s. They're in ear, but with the range of tips you can get as close to a perfect seal as possible without going custom and the sound will blow Bose out of the water.

If you have a specialist audio store near you go in and listen to some and you'll know what I mean. It's a cliche but there's a lot of truth to "no highs, no lows, must be Bose"

The QC3s bass isn't bad, but the highs are weak and the mid range is nothing more than 'OK' - certainly can't stand up to the Shures.

Are the Shures comfortable enough or extended use?

They come with 7 or 8 different tips so it's very easy to find something comfortable. There are three different sizes of a memory foam like material that you compress when you put it in and then it expands to take on the shape of your ear. That makes them very comfortable and because it forms a good seal it makes them very good at sound isolation and eliminates the need for active sound cancellation.

I have tried a lot of different types and models over the years and short of custom they are the most comfortable that I have ever worn - and you can get replacement tips cheaply.

I've got the QC2's, I NEVER fly without them... and I fly pretty often for work. Mine take the single AAA battery, so I don't have to worry about charging them and the ipod / iphone / ipad etc. They may not be up to an audiophile's standards, BUT they cut the engine noise out just about completely and sound great to me!

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sco
Breitling Chrono Superocean
Omega Aqua Terra 8500
Rolex Submariner Date Ceramic

I have the QC15's and I love them, I never fly without them. I chose the 15 over the 3's because I wanted an 'around the ear fit' and the AAA battery option as opposed to a rechargable Li battery was also a plus for me. It's easier to carry an extra AAA battery than worry about recharging a battery. They canceled out airplane noise wonderfully and the sound is quite good. It was well worth the $299 price tag.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Looked at the Shures but for my needs couldn't justify the price difference, so I ordered the Bose 15's.

Personally, I don't understand the malevolence some people have against Bose products. I've got a number of Bose components in my house, and I find them all to be excellent. Maybe I'm just not discriminating enough, but I'm pretty picky about the sounds I listen to, and my dad was a professional audio engineer; so I don't think I'm completely clueless when it comes to audio products. I grant, however, that I'm not a died-in-the-wool audiophile, in the truest sense.

That said, I have QC2s. The QC3s use the same technology, but are on-ear, as opposed to over-ear. Personally, I think they're outstanding. They're better than any pair of Sennheisers or Sonys I have had. I have not tried the Shure in-ear monitors that Roff recommends. I've read positive reviews of them, and I don't doubt they're excellent. (For the price, they should be.) However, the big problem I have with in-ear phones in general is that the fit and seal of the tips has to be dead on, or the sound will be poor. Finding the right tip is only half the issue. Even with the right tip, sweat or motion can cause them to shift out of position and have to be reinserted or positioned. In contrast, over-ear and on-ear headphones always keep the transducers positioned correctly relative to the ear, so they always sound the way they should. I wouldn't want to be without my ear buds, but to me they're no substitute for a good, traditional over-ear phone.

My QC2s actually died recently, and Bose has been good enough to let me trade them in for a pair of the QC15s, for 1/3 the price of retail. They're on order, so I haven't received them yet. When I tried a pair on at Best Buy, I was blown away by the noise cancelling - much better than the QC2s in that regard. I hope the sound is as good as on the QC2s.

There are a lot of variables to any situation - most notably the source, the amp and the type of music, but when we are talking about digital then there are alos things that people won't generally think of like the digital to analogue conversion.

Seal can certainly be an issue with in ear monitors, especially for bass and Sennheiser has been a huge problem with that in the past for me. A lot comes down to design and ear combination, and there is never any substitute for custom, but then you are in $1,000 plus territory.

Over ear wins over in ear for size of sound stage every time, and when you get to some of the professional units there is just no comparison - the over ears win hands down. I've just never personally found any over ear to be able to compete on a pure dollar for dollar comparison - but again that's based on my combination of source, amplification, music type, etc.

In terms of Bose, I have always found their headphones to be too much of a mass market compromise for my liking - they excel in the mid range that is most noticeable, but don't have the same frequency range. I do think that some of their household units are excellent value for money.

It could be I don't know what I'm missing. Although the QC phones are in the $300 range, my understanding is the sonic component is the same as their AE2 phones that go for around $150; the rest of the cost is for the noise-canceling technology. And that's right in line with my other headphones. So really, I've never stepped up to something in the $500 range, to say nothing of thousands of dollars. Perhaps ignorance is bliss. At any rate, I've been pleased with them. Since my QC2s died, I've been using my Sennheiser HD 570s, and I find myself missing the Bose.

Treat yourself to a trip to a high end audio store where you can actually listen to some of the higher end models and you will be amazed. Treat yourself to a listen on some high end Ultrasones or Grados.

All that said, if you are going to listen to relatively low bit rate mp3 files then the best headphones in the world aren't going to be able to pull the best from the music because too much is lost to compression.

I wouldnt call myself an audiophile, but I know good sound. My cousin had the over the ear Bose on our last flight, and I really didnt think too much of them. Noise canceling function was good, but the actual sound quality was seriously lacking. For perspective though, he gave me a pair of sennheisers that he hated, and I thought they were much better.

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-RJ

I ended up purchasing the Bowers and Wilkins P5 after much convincing from the dude from Bestbuy. I figured worst comes to worst I will just take them back. However, NO NEED FOR THAT! WOOOOOOOW! The sounds quality blew me away and the build quality was top notch, with not one bit of plastic! These are not the"Noise Canceling" I was originally looking for like the Bose, but wow am I glad that I did get the QC's. The only thing lacking is the bass, but I'm not a rap junky much anyways. For $300 I HIGHLY recommend!

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

Sorry if I'm dense, but I'm not sure I'm understanding you: did you go with the Bowers and Wilkins, or the Bose?

EDIT: After re-reading your post, I'm thinking the "QC" reference was just a typo. Those Bowers and Wilkins look like they're worth checking out. If Bose weren't sending me the QC15s for $100, I might expand my search and audition other options. Having said that, the Sennheiser HD 570s still sound great, and are probably the most comfortable headphones I've yet worn - if a bit big and silly looking for public use.

No I do not, I was looking into them but after running across the B&W headphones I took a chance. Based on sound quality the B&W's crap on Bose. However the Bose are a bit better in the bass category, but this wasn't a deal breaker since I'm not a huge hip hop guy. Another thing was the noise canceling.... Bose wil also excel in this compared to the B&W ones but the B&W still block out all noise when music is playing. One thing that I loved with the B&W's is that since I like my music loud, you don't have to worry about the person next to you ease dropping on your music. The way they are built, you can crankmup the tunes and no one will here...the Bose are like more other phones in this category.

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily