Unspeakably good!
I've been seeing quite a few people on aeroplanes lately wearing Bose QuietComforts lately. I'm one of those that tries to buy the top of the range as I would otherwise find myself wondering what I would be missing for an extra £20 or so, know what I mean?
So shall I tell you about the comfort? These are amazingly comfortable. I have quite large ears, but these are comfortably encased by the softest (leather?) material, which I can only suppose has been rendered from the best of unicorn hide. Whatever it is it, it's lovely and just on their own, without switching on the noise cancelling, they do a pretty good job of noise blocking.
Sound quality? Wonderful. I know you would think that this would be a given from Bose, but I've since read articles about earlier models which were less than wowwed by their headphones, but these seem universally praised and I agree. A largely unbiased performance, leaning towards the warm-and-bright, not overly bassy and competent at playing a range of music. I like both classical and rock and these are both handled with aplom.
Noise-cancelling? Well, this is why you are spending such a lot of money, right? I guarantee you will feel safely cocooned in your own private music world. Screaming child on a bus? No problem! Chatty plane passenger? Anhiliated at the flick of a switch!
Battery life? These are USB rechargeable headphones and there pros and cons to be had here. Of course the obvious pro is that you don't fork out a fortune for batteries which, for reasons of their own, seem to leak when left on their own in the dark. But on the other hand, if you have some spare batteries you can swap them out immediately for run down ones. With rechargeable you need to have the presence of mind to charge first and hope that they don't run out before the end of your flight to Bangkok (or wherever). Happily the battery life on these is amazing. Tens of hours of high-quality, uninterupted audio.
Bluetooth connectivity? While there is a 2.5mm to 3.5mm custom audio lead provided with the splended case these come in (don't lose it, a replacement cable might cost you £20 and nothing else will do except a Bose replacement because of the special shape of the lead at one end) these things are designed to be used wirelessly. This is fantastic as they won't get tangled in your briefcase, seatbelt, soup(!), and don't restrict your movements in any way. Pairing with your phone is painless and the built-in mic allows you to immediately take phone calls without removing the headset. However, I have noticed that I tend to speak a lot louder than perhaps is necessary, as the noise cancelling is so good that you can't hear yourself speak! But that's just how good they are and I think it just makes me sound more confident! :-)
If you can afford them, I would certainly recommend them. They generally seem to sell for around £350 so if you can get them for less, with a decent guarantee, and they are not Chinese knock-offs, you will love them. But you should also compare them with the Sony bluetooth alternative, which are a lot cheaper. You may find these suit your purposes just as well and will save you a heck of a lot of money. I bought mine because I didn't want to wonder whether I had bought the best or not. I am sure that I have, but 9.5 out of 10 for £100 cheaper is probably still good enough for the majority of us.Read full review
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