Bose QuietComfort 15 - Hear Only the Good Stuff

Noise-Canceling Pioneers

Bose is one of the more prominent brands when it comes to noise-canceling headphones and it's not without good reason. In fact, they were arguably the pioneers of noise-canceling headphones, releasing the first active noise control headphones for pilots back in 1986. Allegedly, Bose’s founder, Dr. Amar Bose, was so displeased with the headphones provided during a flight, mainly because of the engine noise, that he decided to work on a pair that would significantly attenuate the incessant droning noise of the engines. And after a decade of research, the first pair of noise-canceling headphones were born. And because of Bose’s rich history in noise-canceling headphones, it is no surprise that theirs are amongst the best in the world.

The QuietComfort 15 is the latest addition to Bose’s stable of noise-canceling headphones, and it replaces the older QuietComfort 2 as the new entry-level model in Bose’s QuietComfort line-up. Crucially, the new QuietComfort 15 has more sophisticated electronics for active noise cancellation, and it even features microphones inside and outside the ear cups to better sense sound in the environment to produce an opposing canceling signal. The ear cushion has also been redesigned to use materials that have superior attenuation properties to passively block out noise. To add, Bose says that the QuietComfort 15 will block out more noise and provide a less intrusive listening experience.

Generally, the new QuietComfort 15 is very comfortable to wear. The padding is soft and feels luxurious and breathes well so our ears didn't feel stuffy from extended testing. Damping is also spot on as the headphones didn't clasp too tightly on our heads, and yet passive noise isolation is commendable.

Here’s quick look at the headphones.

Test Setup

Since the Bose QuietComfort 15 is most likely going to be paired with portable media players if not the plane’s in-flight entertainment system, we will be testing the headphones with our CD audio and MP3 testing material, as well as movies. Furthermore, we are also using an iPhone 4 as our source, with the CD tracks ripped to Apple Lossless to ensure no loss of musical fidelity and compatibility with the iPhone 4. As for the movies, they were ripped and converted to a format suitable for iPhone 4 using Handbrake. We also test the the noise-canceling abilities of the QuietComfort 15 by simulating an airplane cabin environment using several CPU fans in our listening station, which also produce an equally annoying droning noise.

Again, we must remind readers that different people have different musical and sonic tastes. Some are bassheads while others are treble freaks, so your preferences with headphones may vary. Nevertheless, we strive to be as objective as possible when describing the sound and rating the headphones.

The full list of testing material used:

CD Testing:??

• Pod Race Scene from The Phantom Menace?
• Tyrannosaurus Rex Sound Effects from Jurassic Park
• Theme from Jurassic Park
• Apollo 13 Lift-off Sound Effects
• Theme from Cutthroat Island
• Fanfare for Louis, performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony

MP3 Testing:

• Hotel California - Eagles
• Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead
• Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele
• Elements of Life - Tiesto

DVD Testing:

• Lord of the Rings - (Starting sequence, Balin's Tomb & Bridge of Khazad-dum)
• Swordfish (Starting sequence)

Report Card

Like most active noise-canceling headphones, the Bose QuietComfort 15 requires batteries for the active noise-canceling circuitry to work. Technically, the headphones will still work without batteries, but it is likely your source alone won’t have sufficient juice to drive the headphones because of its high impedance. Bose claims a battery life of 35 hours, which should suffice for most long-haul flights, and we personally clocked up over 30 hours on a single battery so Bose’s claim seems to be right on the money.

We begin first by seeing how well the noise-canceling circuitry works. For those new to active noise-canceling headphones, it must be noted that the circuitry works best at canceling low frequency noises, which is why it is so effective at nullifying the droning noise made by jet engines. And although we didn’t have the chance to try it out by being on a plane, we found that the low pitch whirring noises made by CPU fans to be a good enough substitute.

Turning the headphones on, its amazing how much of the whirring noise it cancels out. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much ambient noise it canceled out, but it did cancel out a great deal to the point where we could no longer hear the whirring noise. Furthermore, passive isolation provided by the improved ear cushion helps too.

While noise-cancelation was top notch, we are pleased to report that audio performance was equally good as well. On first listen, it was immediately evident that the Bose QuietComfort 15 has that typical “Bose sound”, which is strong, full and well-rounded.

Beginning with our CD test tracks, we found that the QuietComfort 15 made listening to the two orchestra tracks, Theme from Jurassic Park and and Theme from Cutthroat Island, enjoyable because the headphones imparts a good sense of grandiosity and spaciousness. However, we noticed that the highs did tend to roll off a little and lacked sparkle and clarity.

The QuietComfort 15’s power voice allowed it to do well on the Pod Race scene from The Phantom Menace too. The pod racers’ engines had a very nice rumble and they sounded fast and powerful. The stereo effects of the pod racers racing past you was nicely handled too and had a good cinematic feel, while dialog was sufficiently clear.

Moving on to MP3s, the QuietComfort 15 displayed great prowess in delivery clean and strong bass notes. This was apparent on the opening sequence of Hotel California when the bongo drums kicked in, where the headphones showed great control when delivering ample amounts of bass cleanly. On Hotel California, we also noted that the guitars sounded clean and bright.

Elsewhere, Adele’s vocals sounded warm and textured on Melt My Heart to Stone, while the QuietComfort 15 continued to show off its good bass control on Tiesto’s Elements of Life, as it never felt hurried and always sounded in control despite it being a fairly fast and relentless track.

Movies buffs looking to use the QuietComfort 15 for watching movies will also be pleased to know that the headphones did well in our movie tests too. Playing the opening sequence of Swordfish and Lord of the Rings, we found that dialog was clear and that the QuietComfort 15 also had sufficient lungs to carry it through the more action-packed sequences, leading to satisfying explosions and fight scenes.

Frequent Flyers' Respite

On a whole, we are very pleased with the Bose QuietComfort 15. Acoustically, the QuietComfort 15 is very strong and has the signature “Bose sound”, and so it sounds very smooth, well rounded, and powerful. Like other Bose products, it sounds impressive on first impressions, but after spending more time with it, we found cracks in its armor. But first, here's a quick summary of the QuietComfort 15's performance.

On lossless tracks, we found that the highs weren’t handled as crisp and there was also significant roll-off causing the QuietComfort 15 to sound less bright. Oddly, this wasn’t apparent when playing MP3 material. Also, because the QuietComfort 15 has that typical “Bose sound”, it also means that if you listen to it for extended periods or even critically, you’d find that it the overall sound is very processed and feels manufactured. Whether you like the “Bose sound” or not depends very much on the individual, but we would certainly prefer a more natural sound signature. Nevertheless, overall, the Bose QuietComfort 15 excels aurally and is a very decent, if not good, sounding pair of headphones.

We were also impressed by its active noise-canceling performance, and the ear cushions did a good job of passively isolating noise well too. Also, they are very comfortable to wear as well, such that even after a day of listening in the office, we didn’t feel fatigued.

However, despite being an entry-level Bose headphone, the QuietComfort 15 still comes in at a considerable price of S$599. The question, therefore, is the QuietComfort 15 worth it? If you are a frequent traveler and you find it difficult to sleep when flying because of the engines’ incessant whirring, then yes. The QuietComfort 15 will help a great, great deal in attenuating cabin noise, which could possibly help you catch a bit of shut-eye. In that respect, the Bose QuietComfort 15 comes highly recommended as it offers a neat package of audio quality, noise attenuation and comfort.

On the other hand, if what you are looking for is a regular set of headphones for everyday use, S$599 can easily net you better sounding gear. Furthermore, the active noise-canceling feature works best only on consistent and low-frequency sounds, which means it’ll won’t be able to mute out your mum’s never-ending nagging or save you from your colleague’s inane chatter.

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