BOSE - Buy Other Sound Equipment....
Discussion
It's strange that so many people think the Acoustimass stuff sounds good, to me even my ancient and cheap (£80 I think!) set of Eltax Monitor IIIs sound much better. The sound is smoother and yet has more detail. I suppose that tallies with the strange frequency response plot in that article.
Not much to add but on the note (no pun intended) regarding performance below 45hz - speaking as a bass music producer, you will struggle to find tracks that have content below ~30hz (27.5hz is A0). There's nothing down there (at least harmonically) for speakers to reproduce. Even the majority of so called bass heavy dubstep has very little sub bass, the majority of the lowest prominent notes lie 60-100hz.
BOSE stuff works well in the environment it is demo'ed in as per the article. It's why I always try stuff in several locations if I cannot get a Home demo. When I was looking at speakers back in the eighties I demo'ed several designs including Some Monitor Audio 's that demo'ed in the shop pretty well. Unfortunately at home they were a bit "dead". I eventually tried and bought some Celestion DL8's that reviewed pretty averagely at the time. What Works in one place does not in another.
Anyone who thinks that Bose noise cancelling headsets are any good simply hasn't tried any decent (and much cheaper) alternatives.
I made the massive mistake when I was an impoverished flying instructor of spending more than a month's wages on one of the much vaunted Bose X headsets and used them in place of my faithful old David Clark 10-60's. (Which are passive only not active noise reduction.)
Initially I thought the Boses were great, they seemed quieter, but after a while I realised that I was very fatigued at the end of each day, far more than I was used to. I switched back to my David Clark's and immediately the fatigue disappeared.
Fast forward a few months and I'd started flying turbo prop's, which can be noisy so and so's, so I decided to try the Boses out again. Immediately I had the same problem.
One day I was flying with a skipper who was a bit of an electronics buff, he had a pair of Dave Clark's but they had wires trailing out them and a battery pack attached.
I asked what they were and it turned out he'd got a noise cancelling system and lobbed them into his pair of normal headsets.
He let me try them and the difference between them and the Bose was astonishing.
The Bose headsets had always been a bit flimsy in comparison to the tank like DC's, but I soon realised why DC made them like that, they offered passive sound reduction and with the addition of the fancy electronics, you also got the active noise reduction.
Basically to cut this short, the Bose system was pretty good at cutting certain frequencies out, but rubbish at cutting out the ones you actually needed to cut out.
If they'd built the things properly with earcups made of a decent material and proper ear seals, then they would have been brilliant, but as it was, I found them a total waste of money. All style and stuff all substance.
On a noisy aircraft, anything will help and seem effective compared to sitting there with no hearing protection. However, when you try out different types of headsets and in 15 years and nearly 8000 hours of flying I've tried everything out there and the Bose headsets are over priced tat in comparison.
Flimsy, expensive and really not that effective compared to much cheaper opposition.
They look good though and in audio performance, that's all that matters to some people seemingly...
As for their speakers, well, I'm sure that everyone who has spent thousands of pounds on them loves them. I hope you do, otherwise you'd have to admit to yourself that you made a serious mistake! A bit like I did with the Bose headsets I bought based on nothing but marketing.
I have demo'd Bose stereo stuff and to my ears it's rubbish, but if your ears like it, then great.
I made the massive mistake when I was an impoverished flying instructor of spending more than a month's wages on one of the much vaunted Bose X headsets and used them in place of my faithful old David Clark 10-60's. (Which are passive only not active noise reduction.)
Initially I thought the Boses were great, they seemed quieter, but after a while I realised that I was very fatigued at the end of each day, far more than I was used to. I switched back to my David Clark's and immediately the fatigue disappeared.
Fast forward a few months and I'd started flying turbo prop's, which can be noisy so and so's, so I decided to try the Boses out again. Immediately I had the same problem.
One day I was flying with a skipper who was a bit of an electronics buff, he had a pair of Dave Clark's but they had wires trailing out them and a battery pack attached.
I asked what they were and it turned out he'd got a noise cancelling system and lobbed them into his pair of normal headsets.
He let me try them and the difference between them and the Bose was astonishing.
The Bose headsets had always been a bit flimsy in comparison to the tank like DC's, but I soon realised why DC made them like that, they offered passive sound reduction and with the addition of the fancy electronics, you also got the active noise reduction.
Basically to cut this short, the Bose system was pretty good at cutting certain frequencies out, but rubbish at cutting out the ones you actually needed to cut out.
If they'd built the things properly with earcups made of a decent material and proper ear seals, then they would have been brilliant, but as it was, I found them a total waste of money. All style and stuff all substance.
On a noisy aircraft, anything will help and seem effective compared to sitting there with no hearing protection. However, when you try out different types of headsets and in 15 years and nearly 8000 hours of flying I've tried everything out there and the Bose headsets are over priced tat in comparison.
Flimsy, expensive and really not that effective compared to much cheaper opposition.
They look good though and in audio performance, that's all that matters to some people seemingly...
As for their speakers, well, I'm sure that everyone who has spent thousands of pounds on them loves them. I hope you do, otherwise you'd have to admit to yourself that you made a serious mistake! A bit like I did with the Bose headsets I bought based on nothing but marketing.
I have demo'd Bose stereo stuff and to my ears it's rubbish, but if your ears like it, then great.
V41LEY said:
Out of interest does B & O fall into the same category ?
I'm always suspicious of 'shops' where they have to buzz you in !
Back in the 80's, I used to repair B&O stuff.I'm always suspicious of 'shops' where they have to buzz you in !
Whilst there is a "form over function" argument there, I cannot deny that the kit was superbly engineered, and in many cases did actually sound quite good.
But on a value for money basis, it was poor value for money - unless you valued the looks as well.
I don't know about today's B&O products though - although from what I have seen & heard, they do sound good, but you're paying a premium for the (exterior) design.
I have some Bose OE2 headphones, lovely sounding IMO and nice and portable. Also have the Bose portable wireless speaker, easily the best of it's type.
The home audio stuff is way overpriced, you can buy Sony/Panasonic/Samsung home theatres in a box that sound just as good, although probably not as engineered as well or as 'trendy'. Generally an average A/V Amp and a set of Kef 3005 speakers will absolutely blow the Bose away for a cheaper price.
The home audio stuff is way overpriced, you can buy Sony/Panasonic/Samsung home theatres in a box that sound just as good, although probably not as engineered as well or as 'trendy'. Generally an average A/V Amp and a set of Kef 3005 speakers will absolutely blow the Bose away for a cheaper price.
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