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Anything half the price will outperform what Bose has to offer. It’s all based on deception and marketing. For example, in store Bose displays have to be set fa

Anything half the price will outperform what Bose has to offer. It’s all based on deception and marketing. For example, in store Bose displays have to be set far away from other speakers so you can’t make a fair comparison and the demos are played very loud to mask the thin sound quality. You have to stand in awe of their excellent capability to convince so many that their cheaply made 1000% markup junk is worth the money.

reeses 13y ago
The over-ear Quiet Comfort 'noise canceling' headphones are one exception, and I gnaw my own liver whenever I have to replace a pair I donated as a "seat back prize" to the passenger on the next flight.
paradox95 13y ago
Spoken like someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. I worked at the Stanford Bose store for a year. On many occasions we'd let customers bring in other products and put them side by side with Bose. Bose won every time. This was especially true for the Wave Radio and SoundDock. It was also an outdoor mall so if the door to the store was open, which it almost always was, there was a ton of background noise. Didn't matter. Bose always won. Bose is completely overpriced. As is Apple, Monster and a ton of other "high end" electronic brands. But there is no better audio equipment for the average person than Bose. For a home theater or headphones or bedside radio, Bose wins every time....if you're willing to pay. And like I said, I worked in the store, A LOT of people are willing to pay for that quality.
- timc3 13y ago
  My experience, not working in retail, but about Bose speakers and SoundDocks is somewhat different, I say also check X and Y, and Bose usually is dropped. In fact I don't know anyone that has bought Bose (apart from coming in their car or for headphones in noisy environments) that has done serious listening to other systems.
- jthol 13y ago
  Let's not get all crazy and start acting like you get anything for your money with Monster (at least the cables, I can't speak to the headphones).
lambda 13y ago
> Anything half the price will outperform what Bose has to offer. So, if "anything half the price" is supposed to outperform Bose, would you be willing to point out something half the price of an equivalent Bose product and show me some kind of unbiased test that demonstrates it? I feel like I hear this kind of sentiment a lot, but I almost never see any evidence to back it up. Bose doesn't cater to the high-end audiophile market. They don't sell big, bulky, expensive equipment that audiophiles go for. Instead, they sell small stuff that's expensive for it's size but cheap compared to audiophile equipment. And I think that it it does pretty well for its size and price. Sure, you can get better sound quality out of bigger, bulkier, more expensive equipment. And you can get reasonable audio quality out of other small, cheaper gear. But I'm wondering if you can get gear that beats it in every way; smaller, cheaper, and better? I have never done any kind of blinded experiments, or measurements of frequency responses, or other such scientific comparisons, so I can't say for sure. And that's why I'm asking if you know better. Is there something out there, at a similar size and price point, that is better than what Bose offers? Do you have good evidence for this?
- jakejake 13y ago
  Jellyfish won't be able to give you such a product because they don't exist. Your comment is 100% accurate. Bose is not the absolute best, but the absolute best is 10x or even 50x the price. I would maybe agree that Bose has cultivated a reputation among ordinary consumers as "the best" which is not accurate. There are other equally good brands with a similar price point that don't get as much attention. There's also audiophile gear which is much better, but also much more expensive. What does not exist, though, are products superior to Bose as half the price. (Assuming you're not factoring in used gear or some kind of blowout sale) That goes for any brand, though.
  - gareim 13y ago
    I've never put on a pair of Bose so I can't attest to the sound quality, but I have held a few pairs and it bothers me that headphones in that price range can feel so fragile. There's this cheap plastic feel to it. My Sony MDR-V6 feels like a tank compared to them and these are plastic too.

reeses 13y ago

The over-ear Quiet Comfort 'noise canceling' headphones are one exception, and I gnaw my own liver whenever I have to replace a pair I donated as a "seat back prize" to the passenger on the next flight.

paradox95 13y ago

Spoken like someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. I worked at the Stanford Bose store for a year. On many occasions we'd let customers bring in other products and put them side by side with Bose. Bose won every time. This was especially true for the Wave Radio and SoundDock. It was also an outdoor mall so if the door to the store was open, which it almost always was, there was a ton of background noise. Didn't matter. Bose always won. Bose is completely overpriced. As is Apple, Monster and a ton of other "high end" electronic brands. But there is no better audio equipment for the average person than Bose. For a home theater or headphones or bedside radio, Bose wins every time....if you're willing to pay. And like I said, I worked in the store, A LOT of people are willing to pay for that quality.

timc3 13y ago
My experience, not working in retail, but about Bose speakers and SoundDocks is somewhat different, I say also check X and Y, and Bose usually is dropped. In fact I don't know anyone that has bought Bose (apart from coming in their car or for headphones in noisy environments) that has done serious listening to other systems.
jthol 13y ago
Let's not get all crazy and start acting like you get anything for your money with Monster (at least the cables, I can't speak to the headphones).

lambda 13y ago

> Anything half the price will outperform what Bose has to offer. So, if "anything half the price" is supposed to outperform Bose, would you be willing to point out something half the price of an equivalent Bose product and show me some kind of unbiased test that demonstrates it? I feel like I hear this kind of sentiment a lot, but I almost never see any evidence to back it up. Bose doesn't cater to the high-end audiophile market. They don't sell big, bulky, expensive equipment that audiophiles go for. Instead, they sell small stuff that's expensive for it's size but cheap compared to audiophile equipment. And I think that it it does pretty well for its size and price. Sure, you can get better sound quality out of bigger, bulkier, more expensive equipment. And you can get reasonable audio quality out of other small, cheaper gear. But I'm wondering if you can get gear that beats it in every way; smaller, cheaper, and better? I have never done any kind of blinded experiments, or measurements of frequency responses, or other such scientific comparisons, so I can't say for sure. And that's why I'm asking if you know better. Is there something out there, at a similar size and price point, that is better than what Bose offers? Do you have good evidence for this?

jakejake 13y ago
Jellyfish won't be able to give you such a product because they don't exist. Your comment is 100% accurate. Bose is not the absolute best, but the absolute best is 10x or even 50x the price. I would maybe agree that Bose has cultivated a reputation among ordinary consumers as "the best" which is not accurate. There are other equally good brands with a similar price point that don't get as much attention. There's also audiophile gear which is much better, but also much more expensive. What does not exist, though, are products superior to Bose as half the price. (Assuming you're not factoring in used gear or some kind of blowout sale) That goes for any brand, though.
- gareim 13y ago
  I've never put on a pair of Bose so I can't attest to the sound quality, but I have held a few pairs and it bothers me that headphones in that price range can feel so fragile. There's this cheap plastic feel to it. My Sony MDR-V6 feels like a tank compared to them and these are plastic too.