As I have stated in a previous post, I have to travel a lot to UK due to my work. You will agree with me that the noise in the plane is really annoying. I like to watch some TV shows while airborne and sometimes due to the combination between low output volume and environmental noise, it is impossible to follow any dialogue, specially if we are talking about "Revenge" where the dialogues are everything (it is not a Rambo movie where dialogues are not so important for following up the plot). So I was again going to look for some gadget to solve my problems.
I already own a pair of headphones, which in my opinion are pretty decent. Both are from Klipsch, the Image One (on-ear) and the Image S4i (in-ear). Both are bassy and in my opinion better than Beats. For my trips, I usually use my S4i as they do a good work blocking external noise. However there are not so great dealing with airplane engine noise... and my image one are just ok for listening at home and office.
This time I decided to analyse all active noise cancelling headphone on the market. I highly recommend to visit this exhaustive review which compares some of the best active noise cancelling headphones available in the market. The conclusion is clear, if you are looking for the best pure active noise cancellation, your choice should be to buy the Bose QuietConfort 15. I am not an audiophile but I want to enjoy good sound.
Despite negative comments on QuietConfort 15 sound quality, I decided to pull the trigger during my last trip to UK. I bought them in London Heathrow Dixons with a 10% off discount. I finally paid £242 and there they were after so long waiting for them.
I tested them that day during a very short flight to Manchester. My feeling... well... it was not what I expected after try them on the Bose display. If you go to any store with a Bose display, you know that you can try them with an aircraft engine noise in the background, and this test is really impressive, you barely listen any noise. But friends... real world is a bit diferent and engine noise it is not the only noise on an aircraft. Before I continue, I am one of those lucky (or not so lucky) guys with ears more sensitive to high frequency than most of the people. Thus while wearing the QuietConfort I was not able to listen the low frequency noise coming from the engine. But there was a harsh sound which the headphones were not able to remove giving me the overall feeling that this headphone faulty. FortunatIy I was travelling with a workmate which wasn't as sensitive as me to the high frequency sounds, and for her the headphones were simply amazing removing all background noise.
Once I was sure the headphones where working right and as I didn't want to give up on these headphones so quickly. I decided to use them as much as possible during that week and try to convice myself not to return them. First shot was at the office, well they did a good job, I could still hear my colleagues talking but they removed a fair amount of noise... And here it came the worst problem I got with them... they give me headache and dizzness. I thought yeahhhh, I'm one of those lucky guys... I still didn't want to give them up and tried again in my hotel room while I watched a movie. Here a surprising thing, when I used them in quiet enviroments, I could hear the noise cancelling technology working, it was like it was raining around me. I need to confess that in this situation noise isolation from my in-ear Klipsch was far better than that from the Bose as they do not produce any signal to cancel outside sounds.
On the other hand, I read some reviews complaining about the sound quality produced for these headphones but I was looking for the best noise cancelling technology. When using them to watch movies they were quite good but when you use them for proper music playback... they are a complete different story. The sound stage is too narrow like all the sound are put together in bundle and there is no way to appreciate the diferent instruments playing the song. I was really dissapointed with sound quality because they sounded worse than my current klipsch which costed me a fraction of the price. Of course I am not an audiophile but if I pay £242 for them I want them to sound better than my £60 (£130 RRP) headphones.
From that momment I decided I wanted to return them. I read that when you buy anything from a Dixons store at any UK airport you can go to any Curry's/Pcworld store to return them. As I used to have express connections in London I didn't want to take my chances on Friday so I wanted to try first at the Currys in Squiresgate Retail Park. There, I was told that due to health issues they do not accept any return for headphones, but anyway they wanted to check if they were faulty. Here I was smart enough and I let them try them... they almost ripped off the package and broke my headphones, so after an aurgement with them I decided to leave for good and never ever come back again to that store... I can understand if they don't want to acept returns when they should but after that... please do not try to break anyone goods.
At the end I returned them at Dixons in the Manchester airport, they were really helpful and aware of the issues that some people find when using the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones.
At the end, acknowing that I can not stand active noise cancellation I decided to try with better noise isolation but that will be a different story in other post.
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