Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones

First of all, let me say that I resisted buying the Bose QuiteComfort 2 headphones for a long, long time. I travel a fair amount for business, and had been looking for a pair of noise cancelling headphones for those long plane rides, but I didn't like the $300 price tag. I bought and returned a number of the cheaper Sony alternatives after finding them dramatically inferior. A business colleague had the Bose headphones, and I borrowed them for a test drive. There really isn't a comparison. Turn on the power and the ambient noise really does melt away, whether you have music playing or not. I now use them to review and edit audio files on my laptop when I'm flying, watching DVDs, as well as mowing the lawn while listening to my iPod. I never noticed the pressure that an earlier reviewer mentioned, but after reading their reviews it is there. However, it's never caused me any discomfort. Really, I have nothing bad to say about these headphones.

Ironically, while most people buy a version 2 before they buy a version 3, I bought the Bose QuietComfort 2 *after* I had purchased the Bose QuietComfort 3 newer headphone set.

Here's the issue. The QuietComfort 3 are the brand new version, they cost more, and they are "smaller and lighter". They offer pretty much the exact same noise cancelling quality, but they fit on top of your ear vs being a larger, bulky around the ear style like the QuietComfort 2.

However, when I tested out the QuietComfort 3 for a month, I found them to be quiet painful. Not in a "pressure on the ear" sense - they were quite comfortable to wear. Rather, when you turned them on, the pressure they exerted on the actual eardrum in order to "cancel noise" hurt. It was a physical sensation, when you turned them on and felt that WHOMP of wave energy pressing against your eardrum. Anybody who thinks the QuietComfort 2 is uncomfortable in that sense hasn't tried the QuietComfort 3 yet...Read more

After reading some of the other reviews, I feel I must weigh in with my opinion of these headphones. I bought them online from Bose after some research of similar products. I'm not made of money, but $300 didn't seem bad, since I do really enjoy listening to music, and I own some incredible Klipsch speakers. I believe the most important component in an audio system is the final link, the actual sound transducers, whether they are the speakers, or headphones, so I tend to not scrimp on either.

That being said, I have listened to a wide variety of headphones, and I own a pair of Sony V600's. The sound quality of the Bose QC2's are on par with the best I have heard. I personally do not get the sensation of "pressure" mentioned by others, however the noise-cancelling feature does produce a sensation that, frankly, you don't get anywhere else. It's not bothersome to me at all, and I don't even notice it after the first minute of listening. As a frame of reference, I...Read more