Bose (017817401494) Consumer Headphones

Lets face it, we live in a world of over priced merchandise. I went to the store the other day looking for a new pair of headphones since the pair that came with my new Sensa MP3 player had bad sound and hurt my ears. I looked at several different pairs and was confused on which one to buy. I narrowed it down to 3 pairs. The pairs in my price range were the Bose tri-port in ear, the Shure E2s and a pair by Sony. I have had a pair of the E2 and I LOVED them (I lost them too) but if there was one complaint about the E2s for me, it would be the lack of bass in them. Great clarity but no thump. On the suggestion that I could always return them, I decided to give Bose a try on their reputation. This was a great move because of the clarity, deep base and the comfort they offer.

Clarity is a very sensitive subject for me. I spent many years in theatre and production and having an accurate recreation of sound makes the whole experience that much better. I tried one of the hardest tests on any speaker let alone any headphones. I turned on Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny. This is a very quiet song with mostly guitar and very little anything else. When listening to this song with my eyes closed, it sounded like I was there. I wanted to pick up my guitar and jam with him. It almost made me think he was still alive! The definition these headphones give is almost better then expensive speaker systems.

Deep bass and headphones usually do not go together. With such a small driver it is hard for manufacturers to get it right without having distortion of the bass. These little guys pull it off. The Tri-Port created smooth roll off on even the lowest of lows (used bass test from Best Buy to hit low end). It felt like someone implanted a sub in my mind. Even when I turned up the volume the smooth was there just a whole lot more shake. So much bass that my ears started to tingle.

Bose made what once was not a very comfortable situation (shoving hard plastic in your ear) one of the most comfortable situations you could be in. Usually I would relate the raw feeling that a person could expect to feel when shoving a in ear headphone in to a prostrate exam but in this case, these little guys don't even feel like they are in. I thought that the Shure E2s were comfortable unless you plan on wearing them longer then 50 min. but the other night I wore these Bose headphones for 5 hours straight and the whole time I did not even realize that I had them on. It was like great speakers were following me no matter where I went. Comfort to the extreme.

Basically, even though some things we run across in this world are not worth the high price tag, the clarity, smooth bass and comfort make these headphones worth every cent. After having them, I would have paid more if I had realized they were this good!