So one of my christmas presents was the new Bose in-ear headphones.
Since I moved to the UK and started listening to music in quantity I've always had strictly average sound hardware -- a laptop, then a series of cheap sound cards and speakers, and finally an iPod with some £20 Sony in-ear headphones. So the difference for me from my old setup to these things was pretty extreme: they're amazing. It's like having a completely new music collection full of songs that are vaguely familiar but are a hundred times richer.
I initially noticed the difference because I got into a frenzy of re-rating songs: suddenly songs I'd not cared about were sounding like 3-star songs, all my 3-stars were going to 4 and 5 stars, and then I realised it was just that everything was sounding much better. I had to start listening to my entire music library from scratch: every song is full of new subtleties and background noises and basslines that I've never heard before, and I'm having to restrain myself and be a lot stricter about what gets stars, otherwise everything is going to end up in the 5-star category.
So, yeah, I recommend these headphones. And nobody's paying me to say so.
Comments
Robert
Ade B
The only annoying things are the replaceable eartips. They come off far too easily.
I have already lost one, and have to pay Bose £3.50 to get a replacement.
But other then that, they are the most comfortable in ear headphone i have found that actually does good quality sound.
Worth every penny.
Stephen
All the professional advice I hear about Bose is that they're overpriced overhyped crap that's tarted up to look shiny but don't really do much more than the competition, and come at a significant price premium.
Perfect to go with Apple hardware then.
Laurie
Ade
With the bose ones they are much more flexible as they don't create a 'seal'.
Stephen
I shall remain skeptical until I hear these in person, mainly due to the hugely tarnished Bose name.
http://www.firstadopter.com/fa/archives/001749.html
Adrian B
Plus they had the unfortunate side effect of totally shutting out the outside world making it quite dangerous to wear them and walk down the street.