 I just love it when a company takes a good product and turns it into an outstanding one. That’s the story with the Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling headphones. The first QuietComfort headphones were comfortable, produced excellent sound and greatly reduced outside noise making them extremely useful for air travelers and those who frequent noisy environments. Bose kept all these great features in the QuietComfort 2. Bose then tweaked the headphones with small changes that turned them into an all-around excellent product.
The QuietComfort 2 headphones are small and lightweight. The adjustable headband makes them as comfortable for me as for a six-foot man with a much larger head. Bose has eliminated one of the cables, so the headphones have only one cord leading to the music input device of your choice. This cable is also completely removable if you prefer to use the headphones to cancel outside noise and surround you with peaceful quiet. (Great on an airplane!)
Another great innovation is that the headphones now fold flat. They come in their own carry case that has room for included adapters to accommodate all types of input devices. The adapters can also be used to hook the headphones up to a home stereo system, and come with a five-foot extension cable, as well. The carry case also has a stretchy side pocket on the outside. This holds my iPod music player quite comfortably, but is able to accommodate players of almost any size.
In my testing, everyone who tried these headphones labeled the sound quality “fantastic”. I’ve found in the past that audio is very subjective with some people favoring different levels of treble, bass, volume, etc. It is truly amazing that these headphones produced such overall satisfaction.
You must turn the headphones on to listen to music. The switch is easily accessible on the outside of the earphone. It has a red light that indicates that the unit is on. You may be able to remove the headphones without turning them off, but because of Bose excellent design, you cannot put them in the case without noticing that they are still turned on. The headphones use a regular AAA battery. An extra battery can be easily carried or purchased wherever you travel.
The only design function that I questioned is the location of the volume switch. It is located on the plug that goes into the headphones. Although the volume of the music is regulated by the music audio device, the headphones themselves have a two-button volume switch. There is a lower and higher volume. In normal use, this switch is used very little, so its inconvenient location is really not an issue. At first, however, I couldn’t get the volume as loud as I wanted and had to resort to reading the manual before I even realized this switch existed. I bet there will be as least a few users that will never know of the existence of this volume switch.
At $299, these headphones are not cheap, but you won’t be disappointed and satisfaction is guaranteed. These are by far the best headphones I’ve ever used. Hats off to Bose!
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