Digital Trends

Bose QuietComfort 2 January 24th, 2005 | by Brandon King

Performance and Testing

The noise canceling performance was outright excellent. We tested them several ways including a two hour flight, in an apartment next to a busy Chicago street, and in a room with two air purifiers and a loud heating system. The QC2's did exactly what they said they would — they eliminated around 80-90% of the noise. We could still converse with others and hear regular everyday sounds. We tried to foil the noise canceling by switching noise sources abruptly, but they followed every one of our movements.

Sound quality tests were mixed. We decided to use the same mix of music used for our Shure tests, and added a few. Bjork's “Vespertine” (DVD-Audio and MP3), Mahler Symphony 10 (Berliner Philharmoniker — conducted by Sir Simon Rattle — DVD-Audio), The Cure's “Disintegration” (Audio CD + MP3), Gary Numan's “Exile” (CD and MP3), and Delirium's “Karma” (CD and MP3) from a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum (for DVD-Audio, CD, and MP3), iRiver SlimX 350 (CD and MP3), and Apple iPod (MP3).  All MP3s were encoded with VBR 160kbps through 320 kbps/44kHz. We added Beethoven: Berliner Philharmoniker & Herbert von Karajan - Sym. No.2 & 5 and Juilliard Quartet - Quartet No. 11 (CD and MP3), Danny Elfman's Music for a Darkened Theater I (CD and MP3), Louis Armstrong - All Time Greatest Hits (CD and MP3), and Frank Sinatra - The Capitol Years 1953-1962 (CD and MP3).

First of all, there is a definite lack of soundstage localization — we could not close out eyes and locate different members of orchestras. It was a disappointment, and probably a trade off for the better low frequency response, but the sound was disappointingly flat for the price.

Frequency response was good, but highs could easily reach shrill levels, making a few Louis Armstrong tracks hard to listen to. The lows were a little muddy, but reached deeper than many headphones. Mids were presented nicely, and voices were clear. A good indication of the sound was in the Beethoven choices — the symphonies sounded very good, but the quartets were too harsh.

Smoother intended sounding music, like Delirium and Gary Numan sounded very good since they rarely reach the upper highs, and the slight muddiness at the lows added atmosphere. The Cure sounded exceptionally good.

For kicks we tried a couple games, Unreal Tournament 2003, Half Life 2, and Doom 3. Explosions were satisfyingly deep, and gunfire accurate. Localization was surprisingly good, considering the poor soundstage performance with music. The QC2 had a little trouble with layered high pitch and low pitch sounds, like a metal grating sound during the sound of an engine.

Conclusion

The most important factors when considering whether the Bose QuietComfort 2s are right for you are your lifestyle and usage. They make excellent travel headphones, and the noise canceling technology is startling when you take them off after wearing them for a while. However, in our audio reproduction quality tests, while subjective, we heard what many audiophiles complain about: somewhat flat and middle of the road performance. At an MSRP of $299, consider this a $100 worth of decent headphone, and $200 worth of noise reduction. While the QuietComfort 2 headphones from Bose don't compete in sound quality with other $300 headphones, their noise canceling ability is first rate.