Looking for Headphones; Bose On-Ear?

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GCTonyHawk7

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
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Hello guys. I know there are threads about this and such, but I have read most of the stuff and can not find what I'm looking for. Basically, I want to buy some new headphones; I got some Z-5500 speakers and they now make the audio from my Sony MDR V300 ($30) headphones sound rather pitiful. I am looking for the following things:

- Under $200
- Small, not around ear, but on-ear like the Sony V300s
- No earbuds, hate wearing them
- Comfort is a big key, want to wear for long time
- I love bass, so lots of bass is good

Basically, after searching around for what I want, the Bose On-Ear headphones seem like perfect match. I put them on in the store and they are extremely comfortable. I have read endless positive reviews, and tons of very unhappy reviews. Basically, I gather that they are good, but should be more like $75.

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So, my question to you amazing people; are there similar headphones to the Bose On-Ear that sound better for the price?

Thanks for any help you provide.
 
I've not heard the Bose set, but I would recommend the Sennheiser PX-100 or even the Beyerdynamic DT-231.
 
I'm actually currently eying the AKG K 28. They seem small, comfortable, lots of bass, and are about $130. they also have noise canceling which is really only a plus, no a want/need.

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Rivaling the sound quality of most Bose sets isn't too difficult due to how overpriced they tend to be for how they sound.
 
http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1200129965&sr=8-4 is what i Recommand. There better then those over price bose. Bose tend to price there products way more then what they really worth. They use marketing pr bs to get you.

These headphones are better then bose headphones. if you can spare 9 more dollars. I recommand you grab the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO. and you said you love bass. You def will love these.
 
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GCTonyHawk7 said:
Those are an interesting suggestion. Only $60? Seems really cheap. do you think the sound quality and bass levels are equal or better than the Bose. Also, I don't think it is possible to rival the comfort of the Bose. Hmmmmm.
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I have personally heard both the Bose OE and the AKG K 81 DJ and I can say that the AKG's are definitely superior to the Bose OE. The reason the price startles you is because Bose vastly overprices their equipment, so other more reasonable brands look cheap in comparison.
 
AdmiralFlameberg said:
http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1200129965&sr=8-4 is what i Recommand. There better then those over price bose. Bose tend to price there products way more then what they really worth. They use marketing pr bs to get you.

These headphones are better then bose headphones. if you can spare 9 more dollars. I recommand you grab the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO. and you said you love bass. You def will love these.
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See, the issue with those is that they are around-ear design rather than the smaller on-ear I want. I want them to be portable, and don't want to carry around a big pair of cans.

Iceroid said:
I have personally heard both the Bose OE and the AKG K 81 DJ and I can say that the AKG's are definitely superior to the Bose OE. The reason the price startles you is because Bose vastly overprices their equipment, so other more reasonable brands look cheap in comparison.
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Hmmm, I knew that coming into this. So, what do you think of the AKG K 28? they are about $50 less, amazing responce rate and such. They seem pretty nice to me. Cnet reviewer said if you love bass, you'll love them. They have some noise canceling as a plus.
 
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This is my first post on the audio forum because I just have to tell you that Bose headphones are very overpriced. You can get something that costs a lot less and sounds just as good. Bose spends most of its money on marketing, not R&D.
 
bose = overpriced/average quality. i owned some bose headphones a while back and honestly, i was far from impressed. the quality itself isn't bad, just the price far from justifies it. and the sound quality is pretty average compared to other headphones half its price. do your ears a favor and pick up those akg's. btw, i wouldn't look at cnet.com for headphone reviews, i usually read up at head-fi.org.
 
Thanks. So, if I can get the Bose at CompUSA or something for 50% off, should I go for them over the AKGs?
 
My bother has those Bose. Yes, they are extremely comfortable, but it stops there. The noise blocking is poor, and I swear they artificially enhance the bass in order to make up for the lacking sound fidelity.

The only Bose I would suggest are the Quiet Comfort ones, but more for the excellent acoustic noise cancellation, and less for the audio fidelity. They are extremely expensive, however, and you definitely shouldn't pay MSRP for them.
 
I tried out a pair a while back.

It's like listening to a monkey gargle marbles, with a ton of EQ, instead of 'stairway to heaven'.
 
Hmmmm. Anyone have comments on the AKG K 28? It seems to be really hard to find information on them.
 
Can't comment about the 28s, but I use AKG's K 26 Ps for my portable recording rig. Fantastic value, very low impedance, and nice and small.
 
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Bose.. one of the worlds greatest marketing programs. Seriously. My first home theater setup was a Bose (501, 701, cannot remember the centre channel), and I had a terrible time getting the sound to center where I was sitting. Soundstage was poor, as was midrange reproduction. For the amount of money that I spent (Thanks BB), with a bit more time and research, I really feel that I could have done better.

I tried the QC3 for about a week, and ended up returning theme. Poor balance, very tinny and the Quiet part was not so much. The sound improved after 5 days of white noise therapy, but not enough to justify the price. Hell, my DT770's have better isolation vs. QC3.

I'm a firm believer that the more commercials that I see endorsing a product, the worse the product is; and there are ALOT of Bose commercials (TV and XM Radio).
 
HyperTension said:
I tried the QC3 for about a week, and ended up returning theme. Poor balance, very tinny and the Quiet part was not so much. The sound improved after 5 days of white noise therapy, but not enough to justify the price. Hell, my DT770's have better isolation vs. QC3..
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Yeah, the QC3s are really bad, they brought back the QC2s after trying to phase them out because of the backlash from the QC3s. On-ear designs just can't provide the isolation that over-ear phones can.
 
I went ahead an ordered the Audio-Technica ES7s. We shall see how they sound once they arrive. :D
 
I know you've already bought, but I thought I'd throw out that the Shure E2C's are great in-ears if you're ever looking for some ultraportables.
 
InorganicMatter said:
I know you've already bought, but I thought I'd throw out that the Shure E2C's are great in-ears if you're ever looking for some ultraportables.
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Thanks for the suggestion. But ya, I already did make my purchase, and I really don't like the in-ears.
 
What's so great about Bose is that they are marketing geniuses. It is widely believed that they are the best available, so they can charge that kind of price and people will gladly pay it.

It's a shame that their major audio-related innovating stopped 20 years ago... The only neat thing I've seen from them in recent memory is their car suspension system. (Ever seen a car jump?)
 
Thrash said:
What's so great about Bose is that they are marketing geniuses. It is widely believed that they are the best available, so they can charge that kind of price and people will gladly pay it.

It's a shame that their major audio-related innovating stopped 20 years ago... The only neat thing I've seen from them in recent memory is their car suspension system. (Ever seen a car jump?)
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Wow, that is some really neat suspension. I want some. :D
 
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