My Bose noise cancelling headphones came in really handy 2 weeks ago.  We needed to take a trip from North Carolina to Philadelphia PA, but ran into some trouble when one of our airlines went belly-up and another was grounded ‘til further notice (it was all over the news).  Neither my wife or I felt like driving so we decided to take our very first train ride.
We packed our stuff (clothes, my laptop, my ipod and my QuietComfort 2 Bose head phones) and headed to the train station.

      Bose QuietComfort 2 Noise Cancelling Headphones

My daughter was extremely excited to be traveling by train, and I have to admit I was pretty excited myself.  It didn’t take long for that excitement to dissipate though.  Our bedroom was tiny, as in really tiny (did I mention it was tiny).  The bathroom just big enough to take care of business.  I didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t shower in there.

I’m glad to report that I don’t get motion sickness, because if I did I could’ve single handedly redecorated our little cabin if you get what I’m saying.  Besides the constant sway and occasional violent jerk, the train was just plain noisy.  I ended up sleeping while wearing my Bose headphone set.  I thank goodness for Bose noise cancelling technology.

Food on the ride was much better than expected.  With the exception of my daughters excitement and happiness, I’d have to say the food was the highpoint of the ride.  The dining cart felt roomy and open compared to our tiny bedroom quarters.  The big picture windows and the skylights that ran along the roof of the train provided an interesting and constantly changing view.  It was without a doubt the best part of the train ride experience.

While using my laptop in our cabin, I used my QuietComfort 2 Bose noise cancelling headphones to make the ride more bearable.  One of my favorite features of the Bose head phones is the ability to use them to quiet background noise without having to plug in and listen to anything.  I unplug my Bose headphone set right at the earcup, turn them on and.. tada, blissful quietness.

Anyway, that was my first train ride in a nutshell.  Sorry it wasn’t more detailed but I’m stuck for time right now.  More later.  In the mean time, check out this review.

Bose noise cancelling headphones have a strong reputation for removing background noise, being comfortable to wear, and accurately reproducing recorded sound.  Right now, I’m going to specifically review the Bose QuietComfort 2 model.

The QuietComfort 2 Bose headphone sets ARE comfortable.  First, they are extremely light for a full size headphone (they weigh in at just 7 ounces, including the battery).  The earpieces go completely around your ears to seal out outside sounds, and are made from a soft form fitting foam wrapped in leather (The leather on my Bose head phones is extraordinarily soft).  I’ve comfortably worn these phones for hours at a time at home on my computer and traveling.

Bose noise cancelling utilizes two methods to squelch outside sounds.  I’ve already mentioned the earpieces and how they surround your ears to seal out external noise (this is called passive noise cancelling).  The other method is active noise cancelling which works by monitoring outside sound and creating an inverse to that sound effectively cancelling that sound out.  The technology they use for noise cancelling on the Bose headphone sets is exclusive to Bose and it’s arguably the best active noise cancelling system in use today.  I’m not saying they’ll block out all external noise (only uncomfortable canalphones can do that), but they do effectively eliminate the constant hum of computers, jet engines, fans, air conditioners, etc…)

As far as sound quality goes.  I have yet to find a pair of active noise cancelling phones that rival the QuietComfort 2 s.  I can’t say they are the best sounding phones I’ve ever heard, they’re not.  The Bose head phones are however, the best sounding phones in this category IMHO.  You can hear a slight hiss from the active noise cancelling and the upper frequency range isn’t as crisp as I’d like it to be but the bass and midrange are nice and punchy thanks to the three ports Bose has designed into the earcups (TriPort® acoustic headphone structure).  Overall, the sound quality is much higher than I would have expected from earphones in this category.

Are these Bose noise cancelling headphones for you?  That depends.. If sound quality means more to you than comfort, you might want to look into a pair of good quality canalphones.  If you expect to be wearing your headphones for long periods of time, comfort is a priority, and you’re willing to sacrifice some sound quality than these QuietComfort 2 Bose head phones are just the ticket.