overheard at the San Antonio airport yesterday:

[TomDac]

I was in the SATX airport yesterday waiting for my flight back to SFO from the U-Connect conference. A 50-something Canadian business man arrives in the same waiting area 30 minutes later than his 4 slightly younger business partners, who are already there waiting near me. They exchange pleasantries and 50-something sits down behind them. He's overweight and sweaty.

I'm playing with my iPhone and not really paying attention, but about 30 minutes later, i see 50-something get up from his chair and approach his colleague from behind, offering his ipod and earbuds out.

50-something: Hey, you're the big audiophile, right? take a listen to these earbuds (hands them over)

colleague: well, remember, i'm 75% deaf in my right ear. (he reluctantly starts to put in the earbuds)

50-something waits till colleague puts in both earbuds

colleague: wow these are nice

50-something: BOSE!

colleague takes them off

colleague: yeah, those are nice, doesn't your wife sell those?

50-something: yeah, they're the "super duper" ones. Pretty nice, huh? Hard to believe they produce such great bass

colleague: yeah.. nice.

50-something then tries to get the other 3 colleagues to try them out also, using the phrase "super duper" about 10 times, but they all refuse and give each other looks while rolling their eyes, unbeknown to 50-something.

I love people-watching and then trying to figure out the story behind what i see. Here's the story I figured out about these guys:

4 younger guys left for the airport without 50-something because he's annoying and a buzzkill. My guess is that they ditched him last night too and went to the titty bar and had a late night, as they all seemed pretty hungover.

I doubt that audiophile guy has hearing loss in his right ear... he prolly just didn't want 50-something's greasy, wax-covered earbuds in his own ears! YIKES! :ROFL:

It was also classic that 50-something says "BOSE!" and immediately associates that name with "super duper" high quality sound.

 

[Kenscollick]

You have to admit Dr. Bose is a master of marketing and a self made billionaire. I think most of us wouldnt consider a Bose system but Millions do. capitolism worked.

 

[Double D]

Lovely.... I'm sure this will turn into another "Blame Canada" thread in about 4 posts..

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Bose: Better sound though marketing.

 

[timm]

Ok - shoot me now... I think the Bose headphones sound good off an ipod... for what that is worth.... I think their headphones are fine -- just wouldn't consider them for my main system... Oh, yeah.... I'm 49... so I guess I think they sound 'super duper' :ROFL: too.... Then again, I have never really 'committed' to headphones.

 

[jtwrace]

What a small world...I would've said hello if I knew that was you.

 

[Longez]

Question: Since ML does not make in ear monitors (for all I know), what would you use for an iPod/mp3 player? I have seen the Boase and the Sony ANR but have not tried them.

Personally, I have used Etymotic ER-6 (close to the ER-6i now) for years. They fit great under the helmet when I had my Duc(s) and had 20+ dB passive noise reduction. That allowed me to listen (and enjoy) at low levels and still hear horns, sirens etc.

Had to sell the Paso and the MH900e but I still have the Etymotics. They are getting pretty old now and could stand for replacement. My biggest gripe with the Etymotics is having to change out the filters, but they do sound sweet to me.

Carl

 

[Feltran]

I'm pretty satisfied with the sound quality of my Bose QuietComfort headphones.

 

[tonepub]

What does Canada have to do with headphones? There's a lot of good Canadian speakers, is there a Canadian headphone company?

 

[timm]

Lovely.... I'm sure this will turn into another "Blame Canada" thread in about 4 posts..

Well since you bring up Canada and I am from the Detroit area - and since Chicago just broke their Stanley cupless streak - I would say the leafs are on the clock??

 

[amey01]

There's nothing wrong with Bose. They are a great premium (if not specialist) product.

They know their market niche and produce products accordingly. They do not try to swindle audiophiles. They are not an audiophile company.

Yes, they cost more than Sony or Pioneer, but they perform better too. It's no different to BMW or Mercedes Benz - yes, they're nice, but you can't tell me for one second that a BMW 335i is four times better (yes, FOUR times - 1x2x3x4!) than a Mazda 3 MPS or Subaru WRX say. (that's what the price differential is here at least).

Knocking Bose is no different to a bunch of F1 drivers sitting around laughing and knocking us consumers for buying BMWs and Ferraris and thinking they're high-performance cars.

 

[timm]

There's nothing wrong with Bose. They are a great premium (if not specialist) product.

They know their market niche and produce products accordingly. They do not try to swindle audiophiles. They are not an audiophile company.

Yes, they cost more than Sony or Pioneer, but they perform better too. It's no different to BMW or Mercedes Benz - yes, they're nice, but you can't tell me for one second that a BMW 335i is four times better (yes, FOUR times - 1x2x3x4!) than a Mazda 3 MPS or Subaru WRX say. (that's what the price differential is here at least).

Knocking Bose is no different to a bunch of F1 drivers sitting around laughing and knocking us consumers for buying BMWs and Ferraris and thinking they're high-performance cars.

but I will tell you that the diff between my MLs and Bose is immeasureable. I got my odysseys for about 4 times the cost of a Bose system.

 

[TomD]

My wife gave me a set of Bose TriPort headphones and i was a bit upset with her for spending so much money ($100). I insisted that they be returned until i tried them; i got greedy real fast.

For a struggling audiophile wanna-be like myself, they sound very satisfying. I do not listen to music much with HPs but when plugged into the Yamaha Portable Grand or my guitar effects board, they make the instruments sound amazing.

Wait a second. . .could she have gotten me HPs so she doesn't have to hear me playing

 

[SteveInNC]

Yes, they cost more than Sony or Pioneer, but they perform better too. It's no different to BMW or Mercedes Benz - yes, they're nice, but you can't tell me for one second that a BMW 335i is four times better (yes, FOUR times - 1x2x3x4!) than a Mazda 3 MPS or Subaru WRX say. (that's what the price differential is here at least).

Knocking Bose is no different to a bunch of F1 drivers sitting around laughing and knocking us consumers for buying BMWs and Ferraris and thinking they're high-performance cars.

Well lets see. I own a Honda Fit Sport (manual). It's a Jazz in Australia as I recall, and is in roughly the same category of car and price as the Mazda 3 in the US. The car I had before the Fit? A 2007 335i, pretty well maxed out with options. In the US, it's right at 3X the cost of the Fit.

Is the BMW 3X the car of the Fit? No, but it is a dramatically better car as a whole car in most respects, just like a pair of CLX are probably not 5X better than my Ascent Is, but they are better. Diminishing returns is a big factor in both of these.

Now then, if the Fit/Jazz chasis had BMW skin on it at 3X the cost, it still would not be a better car. IMO, Bose is Sony/Pioneer with better skin/marketing. Bose makes some decent products. I happen to think that their higher-priced audio gear is simply over-priced.

I used to ride a 84 Yamaha FJ1100, the first of the street superbikes in the US. Even today, it would still outperform pretty much any car that normal people can buy, but that makes it better in only one respect: sheer speed and acceleration off the line.

The Subaru has a great reputation as a rally car. For a complete sport sedan, with all of the creature comforts and good performance, I'll take the BMW.

 

[Jimna]

There's nothing wrong with Bose. They are a great premium (if not specialist) product.

They know their market niche and produce products accordingly. They do not try to swindle audiophiles. They are not an audiophile company.

Yes, they cost more than Sony or Pioneer, but they perform better too. It's no different to BMW or Mercedes Benz - yes, they're nice, but you can't tell me for one second that a BMW 335i is four times better (yes, FOUR times - 1x2x3x4!) than a Mazda 3 MPS or Subaru WRX say. (that's what the price differential is here at least).

Knocking Bose is no different to a bunch of F1 drivers sitting around laughing and knocking us consumers for buying BMWs and Ferraris and thinking they're high-performance cars.

Well said! It's nice to see things put in an apples for apples frame of reference.:bowdown: This a most avoided POV for most audiophiles since they had to overcome this logical hurdle in their own mind to make the purchase in the first place. (not that there is anything wrong with that!)

 

[Andrew Pratt]

There's nothing wrong with Bose. They are a great premium (if not specialist) product.

The problem is other the price they aren't a premium brand. Their headphones aren't bad but tend to be more expensive then similar products while their acoustimass products are terrible...and very expensive.

As a company Bose does make some solid products, unfortunately most are for the commercial world.

 

[DrJRapp]

I'm doing a gut renovation to a condo in neighboring Jupiter florida... My customer asked me to put in a "high end music system" "like bose" I politely explained that Bose was far from "high end". They decided to let me decide...

 

[TomDac]

I really wanted to say, "can i take a listen to those?" to the guy, but the thought of having someone else's earbuds in my ears kinda skeeved me out.

I'm sure they sound pretty good... It just funny how people associate certain branding with high quality, regardless of reality.

I didn't mean this as a bose-bashing thread... more of an observation of sharing ear-buds...

So, would you?

 

[amey01]

The problem is other the price they aren't a premium brand. Their headphones aren't bad but tend to be more expensive then similar products while their acoustimass products are terrible...and very expensive.

You're basing it on sound quality performance ONLY. Bose provide other things that consumers like - least not small size and decor-sympathetic designs!! A lot of people just don't want something as simple as a stereo system overpowering and dominating a room!

Heck - I don't want it either, but it is the sacrafice I make because of my love and obsession for music. A love and obsession a lot of people just don't have. And why should they? Good luck to 'em.

Combine that with the fact that they really do provide enhanced performance to the rubbish from mass market manufacturers such as Sony/Pioneer/Panasonic/Samsung/et al. and you find you have a eminently marketable product.

And combine that with the fact that for most people, music is a background persuit - something to have on while cleaning the house or entertaining guests - Bose is more than enough to satisfy them.

They're not an audiophile comany. Bose would never say that their silly little cubes would out-perform a pair of Martin Logans on sound quality. But they sure will out-perform the Martin Logans when it comes to integrating into an ultra-modern living space for a owner who uses it to keep him entertained when he has friends to visit. And they'll be cheaper than the Martin Logans too!

Good luck to them - they have my full respect. Like the iPod, they are encouraging people to listen to more music, not less!

 

[amey01]

so, would you?

Hell no.......