BOSE IE2 Earphones

Does anyone own a pair of these? I'm considering buying a pair to replace my old Apple earphones.

How good is the sound quality compared to various on-ear headphones, and how well do they fit in the ear?

 

Bose products are overpriced for the quality that you get. You can do better. For under $100, Etymotic ER-6i, Klipsch Image S4 (or S4i if you like the headset version), and Shure SE115 will all kick the pants off of Bose for sound quality.

You know how you see Bose advertising in every magazine you open that is targeted towards middle-aged middle-class people (e.g. Time, Newsweek, etc)? And you know how every store has it's own little "Bose" branded section / kiosk / endcap? That's all marketing. You're paying for that marketing when you buy Bose. Buy a brand where your money actually goes into better sound quality in the headphones.

 

Avoid Bose. At first, I was skeptic about people saying "Buy Other Sound Equipment", but then I tried out some Bose products and I was appalled by the sound quality for the price. Not at all worth it.

Amazon usually has the UE Triplefi 10's on sale every couple months. They normally retail for $250 to $400, but Amazon sells them during their special sales for $100. I have them and they are amazing. You could also try the other IEM (inner ear monitors) by Ultimate Ears. IEM's are earphones.

 

Buy Other Stereo Equipment
Bad Or Sad Experience

You know what they say, no high's, no low's, it must be BOSE!

Avoid.

 

lol funny! I have a pair of boses and you guys are right about over paying for them. Honestly, I don't have a problem with their sound quality.

 

Indeed. I picked up two pairs of these IEM's the last time Amazon had them on sale for $99 with free shipping. The TripleFi 10's really are some of the best IEM's you can affordably buy without being taken to the bank (like most of Bose's products).

 

There's a fine line between cheap, and inexpensive. Cheap being a bad product, inexpensive meaning cheap in price but not always quality.

BOSE IE IEM's are cheap.
Image S4, TripleFi 10, ER-i6 are inexpensive.

The three IEM's above hands down beat the BOSE IE1/2 at build quality, sound quality, pricing, ???, profit... I have personally tried the S4 (I own)/triplefi 10's (I tried) and both BOSE IE/IE2 (Demo'ed).

 

I have a pair of the Bose IE2 in earphones.

I used apple earphones for 5 years before buying these. I was never into paying money for headphones, once i bought these there 100% worth it.

Sounds are very crisp! You can hear everything, the little sounds the little bass, everything! Very clear, very crisp.

Was it worth the money?
I got mine on sale, about 30dollars off, i would say there worth the price 100%. I would have bought it at full price.

Once design feature i like is the fact that they never get tangled... ever. Thank god for that, its a beauty.

The buds they give you is awesome as well, they have the new generation type buds they give you a size in S, M, L. Then they give you the old generation buds in S, M, L.

You can call Bose and get another 6 for free as well, great customer service and for a year if you find the sound quality goes down, or anything happens call Bose. they will replace it.

^^ i haven't had experience with that, but my buddy had the IE1's and he got the IE2's for free when his old ones were sent in for repair, just by sending it into Bose.

 

@littleark94

Not to demean your opinion but have you had chances to try out other well know audiophile brands@ the $100 market (the ones listed in previous posts.

To say a product is worth $100 is not proper unless you compare it to another product. Worth is subjective to other products, you can't say a pencil is worth $10 if there are no other pencils in existence, the term would be priceless (doesn't mean expensive just means without price).

Apple headphones are sucky tbh. There are far better headphones for similar or cheaper price.

 

Did anyone bother asking what he'd be listening to with the headphones> As in music, movies, what kind of music?

 

Obviously not, so why don't you go ahead and ask?

 

If he didn't initially say what he wanted the earphones for, he probably wants a good, general, multi-use set.

 

Saying they are better than the horrid apple earbuds is not saying anything at all; it's like saying your car is faster than a lawn mower; nearly EVERY car is as well. BOSE products may be decent, but not when compared to others in their price segment. You can tell that their products are geared towards people who know very little about audio, since they rarely ever specify ANY technical details about their products at all. Instead of the frequency response or distortion level, you get "rich, strong bass" and "warm sound," or whatever generic unverifiable subjective marketing crap they can think of.
I had an opportunity to use a family member's bose noise cancelling headphones; instead of listening to music on them I simply wore them over my sennheiser in ear headphones for the active noise cancellation only since the sound quality was significantly worse than my $50 ear buds. They are also FAR worse than my HD280's, which also cost less.

 

No, but it is somewhat irrelevant. Under no circumstamcr would buying Bose be a good idea. It is like buying Monster Cable... Never a good idea

 

@Mayz...What's your budget?

Lil Mayz
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,463

 

Believe it or not Monster actually DOES have some decent IEMs(their Turbine Pro series are well reviewed, even at headfi), they're just WAY overpriced.

And btw it is relevant... for suggestions at least. If the OP is more a mid or highs person or if he prefers bass it will affect what IEMs we suggest over the Bose. Each earbud company has a different sound signature and every person will prefer some to others.

 

I LOL'ed at Best Buy the other day...$39.99 for a 6-foot HDMI cable. Same cable costs under $10 shipped online. Lesson being, stay away from Monster and BOSE, you overpay and get the same, average stuff.

 

Compared to iBuds, anything is better lol

As mentioned S4's, Turbines and ER-6i's and TF10's are better choices

TF10's are great because they have multiple drivers (2x low/mid & 1x high). You can also get aftermarket/replacement cables if you do break them. If you can find them for under $150US (or whatever currency you use) i say its good value for money.

Fitment can be a hit and miss for the TF10's depending on your ear. It does come with 3x different sizes of silicone tips and 2x comply foam tips. I am getting my TF10's re-shelled soon for perfect fitment.

PS. Turbines are the only monster product id ever consider buying.

 

So, you basically used your relative's $300 set of Bose headphones as a pair of earmuffs?

 

Logitech has been known to sell these same UE TripleFi 10 IEM's for $99 from time to time as well.

 

Well, my post was really a jab at Bose. Unless someone can get a pair of Bose or Monster headphones for free, I would personally *never* recommend them as a purchase. They aren't bad headphones, just overpriced for what you get.

As for the "irrelevant" comment - Yes, the OP's taste in music matters tremendously when determining what other brand / model of headphones to buy. But the OP's taste in music was irrelevant when it comes to buying Bose... the answer should always be "no, do not buy Bose."

 

Sometimes Bose are the Correct thing to get in terms of Brand Recognition. For instance just last year when I built my home theater with movie seats I used a Bose Lifestyle System as compared to the overwhelming inkling and encouragement from outside sources to go with klipsch or some other brand. Problem is Bose offers the smaller size and the Famous Brand Name. Regardless if you think they're good or bad or horrible, the Brand is very recognizable which will go a long way when trying to Re-Sell the home, to a more common average individual. And you can call those individuals dumb, retarded or whatever you want, but those individuals are the individuals who are going to pay me well for my home.

 

Well my comment was aimed at those who were starting shooting recommendations left and right without actually assessing (or in that case asking about) the OP's needs, not the people saying "don't buy Bose". Besides, half of the people who said that also shot some kind of recommendation.

 

Yes, that seemed to be the best use for them.

 

I actually haven't, so i you can't really rely on my review. But i am just giving my review based on what i thought since i have had them. I use them everyday for couple hours at least each day. But i haven't tried out anything else, so yea....

 

Except you forgot that going with BOSE means as soon as you buy the merchandise the price drops dramatically. BOSE does not hold as good as retail value as you think. Now where you to get some higher end audiophile equipment, that stuff holds value and sometimes even appreciates over time.
If you are really looking to pay for BOSE equipment in your home, just so you can resell it later then perhaps you should become a BOSE merchant, or the like. Also tricking out your house is as useless as pimping out your car, you can have the highest end sound equipment, but the truth is someone looking for a car or home is NOT going to be looking for sound equipment, if they're the average joe they would careless. If someone truly was looking for an awesome media experience in a home, then you obviously don't have an average joe and might know more then you think and be put off by the BOSE equipment.
Perhaps you like the ego stroking when your friends come by and say WOW YOU GOT BOSE. But others prefer the subtle stroke of when your friends come by and say HOLY THIS IS THE BEST SOUND SYSTEM EVER.

IMO Money is far too common to waste on inferior products just because they are cool. Then again different strokes for different folks.

Well everyone has to start somewhere, maybe next time your in the market give the Ultimate ears Triplefi 10 a try, or Klipsch Image S4's, or etymotic eR6i.

 

anything sounds good if you're coming from ibuds.

 

WOW. Comprehensive feedback

My budget is £100 ( approx $120 ?). I've listened to Bose On-ear headphones and was amazed by the sound quality...perhaps because I've only ever use Apple and Sony earphones. I wonder if the in-ear phones have similar quality.

I'm looking for earphones that "sit" on top of your ear canal like the Apple earphones. I don't like the type where you have push the "buds" into your ear canal.

And I'll be listening to various genres of music...classical, rock, metal, electronica...

I'll have a look at some of the other brands suggested. Thanks everyone! Very Helpful!

(I'll send around "rep when I can be bothered to go so)

 

Okay lets just clarify somethings first

In-Ear, the tips go into the first bend of your ear canal.



Ear Buds/ On Ear are generally referred to sitting outside the ear canal (aka iphone earbuds)



In-ear is much better than buds in terms of seal/isolation and quality. Which one are you after?

 

As far as I know there aren't really any decent apple earbud style headphones. All of the decent ones go into your ear canal, because it is hard to have any sort of bass of there isn't a proper seal with such a little driver.

 

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Multiple IEM Shootout v.3 - Head-Fi.org Community

The best available in ear microphones for listening to a broad range of music in the sub $100 dollar category are head-direct's RE-0's. No-name branding and packaging, but they will rival the sound quality of established manufacturers like Shure at less than half the price. There are of course a slew of alternatives both cheaper and more expensive, depending on your price range and musical preferences. So go on ahead and read all the reviews at the link for what you want.