Pros: REALLY cancel noise; comfortable; great sound quality
Cons: Expensive; short chord (without adding attachment)
The Bottom Line: If you spend a lot of time flying or in noisy environments, you will NEVER want to take the Bose headphones off once you've tried them on!
kc10driver's Full Review: Bose QuietComfort 2 Consumer Headphones
I'm a military pilot, often flying 14-16 hour missions around the world on notoriously noisy tanker & transport aircraft. With the Bose Noise Canceling headphones plugged into my laptop computer's DVD player, I can watch movies, play computer games or listen to CDs while the drone of the engines and air conditioning packs is virtually eliminated. (For the uninitiated, most military transports were not designed for passenger comfort...and as such, have minimal soundproofing or dampening features. They're usually extremely noisy...much more so than commercial airliners.)
You know how sometimes with "regular" headphones you frequently have to turn your laptop or CD players' volume up to nearly max to hear just the faintest of audio? With the Bose headphones, I find my volume set no higher than mid-range at the most, and I hear every sound (music and voice), no matter how quiet or subtle. Also, using my Dell laptop's Dolby digital audio playback, the Bose headphones give what amounts to a virtual Surround Sound feel to them. Very impressive! You'll think you're listening to a five speaker home theater system.
Very often, many of the crewmembers or passengers on a flight see my Bose and ask to try them on. Even the folks who have cheaper noise canceling headphones are very impressed with the Bose. Nothing compares to them.
The Bose headphones also come with adapters to use on most commercial airliners. They work great!
My wife has used them while watching movies in the minivan on roadtrips. They actually significantly dampen out normal driving road noise as well. (They work best at dampening low frequency noise such as engines, tire rumble and wind noise.)
Lastly, I've spent a lot of time living in tent cities in various locations around the Middle East. The tents there are often filled with the noise of nearby diesel electric generators, or noisy air conditioning units. With the Bose headphones, I could watch DVDs or listen to CDs on my cot while virtually every outside noise was canceled out. They also worked well just canceling the outside noise, not necessarily watching movies or listening to music, but just to provide a quieter sleeping environment. Overall, they're very lightweight and comfortable.
Undoubtedly, the Bose are by far the most expensive headphones out there. But, definitely worth it! Great acoustic qualities, and the noise canceling feature is phenomenal. The only drawbacks I've found is the relatively short chord that attaches the phones through a small processor box (about the size of a small pager). But, it's a small inconvenience...and you can always buy an extension chord.
If you live near a Bose store, go try them out. Even if you don't, Bose offers a 30-day money back trial. You've got nothing to lose. If you spend a lot of time flying or in other environments plagued with low frequency noise, the Bose headphones are a must have.
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