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Bose is getting screwed by the competition and they know it. On the speaker side you’ve got Sonos and the smart speakers, plus tons of low cost home theatre sys

Bose is getting screwed by the competition and they know it. On the speaker side you’ve got Sonos and the smart speakers, plus tons of low cost home theatre systems that sound plenty good (heard a Visio system recently, sounded fantastic). Then on the headphone front, everyone is going with first party systems like AirPods. And it’s only a matter of time before Apple brings out over ear headphones. I’ve been a loyal QC customer for over 10 years, but the second Apple brings out its competitor I’ll probably switch (and Bose knows it).

philligr 7y ago
I worry a bit about the audio space. I think there's a lot of good competition out there but see it as becoming increasingly siloed due to network effects of connectivity standards. Maybe this has changed but it kept me from purchasing some Sonos equipment a few years ago and Apple seems hellbent on pulling everyone into it's system to lock them in (I say this as someone who owns Apple products). I think the backlash against Bose is a bit undeserved. There's plenty of good products by other companies now, but Bose still makes some really great sounding equipment. A lot of the criticism of their products I think is a kind of contrarism due to the hype that existed at one time. I have one pair of speakers of theirs that every so often I become convinced I could find something better by now, but when I actually listen to the alternatives, they sound nowhere near as good (including Sonos and other, audiophile type brands). It seems there's always these cycles of one or more brands being the hipster equipment to buy, some audiophile non-conformist backlash, and then the reintroduction of a new cycle. That being said, it's hard for me to imagine any brand having standalone audio only stores, except maybe a couple of locations or something. People either buy blind online (which leads to really distorted statements about relative quality on the internet imho) or go somewhere to compare multiple brands' products in person.
jjeaff 7y ago
Apple already has over the ear headphones. They own Beats.

philligr 7y ago

I worry a bit about the audio space. I think there's a lot of good competition out there but see it as becoming increasingly siloed due to network effects of connectivity standards. Maybe this has changed but it kept me from purchasing some Sonos equipment a few years ago and Apple seems hellbent on pulling everyone into it's system to lock them in (I say this as someone who owns Apple products). I think the backlash against Bose is a bit undeserved. There's plenty of good products by other companies now, but Bose still makes some really great sounding equipment. A lot of the criticism of their products I think is a kind of contrarism due to the hype that existed at one time. I have one pair of speakers of theirs that every so often I become convinced I could find something better by now, but when I actually listen to the alternatives, they sound nowhere near as good (including Sonos and other, audiophile type brands). It seems there's always these cycles of one or more brands being the hipster equipment to buy, some audiophile non-conformist backlash, and then the reintroduction of a new cycle. That being said, it's hard for me to imagine any brand having standalone audio only stores, except maybe a couple of locations or something. People either buy blind online (which leads to really distorted statements about relative quality on the internet imho) or go somewhere to compare multiple brands' products in person.

jjeaff 7y ago

Apple already has over the ear headphones. They own Beats.