Bose QuietComfort 15

Full Review

Being an inventor and a pioneer in noise cancellation technology, Bose has been constantly upgrading its Quiet Comfort series of noise cancelling headphones. Their latest model, the QuiteComfort 15 features exclusive Bose advance noise reduction technology and lightweight design for extra comfort.  Let’s tighten up our seatbelt and try them out loud.

Features & Design
The Bose QuietComfort 15 has an active noise cancelling circuitry which is powered by one AAA battery.  Bose incorporates two microphones – one on the inside and the other on the outside of each earcup to block noise more effectively. Unlike passive noise cancelling in-ear-monitor which sits inside the ear-canal and seal the outside noise ,  the active noise cancellation works using the concept of phase cancellation.  Due to the active noise cancellation process, there is a slight pressure that you can feel in your ears. This pressure on the eardrums made it uncomfortable to use at times but it varies from person to person. So, we advice you try it out before you buy it.

The overall sound reproduction was far from natural, however, we could also hear much more details than we did on the similarly priced headphones like beat by Dr Dre.

The Bose QuietComfort 15 has a circum-aural design which sits around the ear than sitting on it. The body has a full black finish except for the silver caps on the external part of the earcups. It looks good and the build quality is up to par. The head-band which has a nice leather-soft pad inside and it is extendible which ensures snug fit for different head sizes. The earcups are also padded with soft leather inside which made using the headphones extra comfortable even after long hours of usage apart from providing nice seal. These earpads can also swivel which aid in fitting on both the ears and on its bundled carrying case.  The headphones weighs just 207.5 g , so portability despite being a full-size headphone is not a big deal with the QuietComfort 15.

The headphones have a detachable cable which has a 3.5mm plug at both the ends and the cord is quite soft and thin, so make sure you use them with good care. The cable plugs in to the base of the left ear-cup while the right has a power-on button and a battery housing which is nicely hidden under the hinge. One disadvantage about the headphone is – it works only with the battery and the noise cancellation feature on. This can become a deal-breaker as it is not possible to use the headphones as passive-one or without the noise cancellation feature.

Sound quality
Trying out its noise cancelling headphones first, we just turned on the headphones and it felt more like you were isolated from the outside world. While in a noisy environment where we played music in full blast, , the active noise cancellation feature did an impressive noise albeit we could still hear the sound .  Even without playing music on our iPod, just switching on the headphones is enough to let you distant yourself from external noise even though the noise were not completely blocked out. However,  the amount of noise blocked out is impressive and we found it very effective as we could listen to our music without the need to crank up the volume at ear-drum damage level – be it on a plane or on a train.

On the sound front, the QuietComfort 15 is not actually a studio grade headphone.  The overall sound reproduction was far from natural, however, we could also hear much more details than we did on the similarly priced headphones like beat by Dr Dre. The bass presence was felt , the mids never sounded sharp and the highs were devoid of any shrillness. For listening to Hip Hop or Trance, the bass was not as deep and tight as what Beats by Dr Dre would offer though s. It was not the deep low-end that we were expecting , rather it was more of t mid bass that filled our  tunes.  However, the overall bass was not bad either it was just that we expected more depth and articulation from a headphones costing this much.

The mids on the other hand sounded slightly thin and laid back but more impressive than what I heard from Beats by Dr Dre. It still let us hear a soft and pleasant mids but we expected a crispier mids that has more attacks at this price.  The highs were also not the sharpest and brightest we heard as there were more sparkles and better extended we heard from a cheaper standard closed-back headphones like Creative Aurvana Live. When cracking up the volume the mids and the bass also tend to become distorted which is a bit of disappointment. Soundstage is also just average given their close-back and noise-cancelling feature. However, the overall sound quality for a noise-cancelling headphone is good enough for casual listening.

Bottom Line

The Bose QuietComfort 15 is an expensive full size headphones at Rs. 17,55. It has exceptional  noise cancellation feature but don’t expect great audio quality out of these cans.