Travel Technology - Where can you find the best deal for Bose headphones?

I keep flip flopping between the QC2's and the ATH-ANC7's. But after reading a bunch of reviews of the AT's and the "sound leakage" problem they have, I don't think I'm going to like them.

So if I decide to get the QC's, I obviously want the best price. I understand that they rarely go on sale, and that I should look for authorized dealers only. They are always on the list of excluded brands when a store has a coupon. I see they're even excluded from the AA miles bonuses on skymall. That level of control over the prices of a product seems insane to me.

Are there any offers that you know of to get either a discount off the price, or a few miles?

Thanks!

Buy them used on Ebay for about $140:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bose-QuietComfort-2-QC2-QC-2-Headphones-Quiet-Comfort_W0QQitemZ290291559812QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item290291559812&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

Why pay more for Bose? Their entire sales system is such a scam.

Used headphones sound kinda skanky to me. Yuck.

Why pay more for Bose? Their entire sales system is such a scam.I agree their pricing thing sucks, and sure seems illegal to me (IANAL). But if they're better than the next best option, why shouldn't I consider getting them?

Used headphones sound kinda skanky to me. Yuck.

I agree their pricing thing sucks, and sure seems illegal to me (IANAL). But if they're better than the next best option, why shouldn't I consider getting them?


I'm assuming you have never used headphones on a plane then? Do you think they completely clean them every time they are handed out? :D

I wouldn't get them because they are simply not THAT good. Their high price creates the effect that they are the best thing money can buy.

There ARE better headphones out there, personally I'm a big fan of the Creative Aurvana X-FI's, and Etymotic Research (in-ear).

Why pay more for Bose? Their entire sales system is such a scam.



I wouldn't get them because they are simply not THAT good. Their high price creates the effect that they are the best thing money can buy.


I'd agree 100% on those points. There are many better options.

This isn't a thread to debate the quality of the headphones. There are dozens of other threads for that (and I've read through a bunch of those already).

I'd appreciate it if we could stay on topic here.

I keep flip flopping between the QC2's and the ATH-ANC7's. But after reading a bunch of reviews of the AT's and the "sound leakage" problem they have, I don't think I'm going to like them.

So if I decide to get the QC's, I obviously want the best price. I understand that they rarely go on sale, and that I should look for authorized dealers only. They are always on the list of excluded brands when a store has a coupon. I see they're even excluded from the AA miles bonuses on skymall. That level of control over the prices of a product seems insane to me.

Are there any offers that you know of to get either a discount off the price, or a few miles?

Thanks!

It's over now, but I guess you could have bought on ebay with the live.com search cashback that was going on in November/December. Otherwise, ebates/fatwallet/live.com for at least a little bit of a discount... Since the price is fairly standard, go with the best combination of free shipping/no tax/largest cashback...

This isn't a thread to debate the quality of the headphones. There are dozens of other threads for that (and I've read through a bunch of those already).

I'd appreciate it if we could stay on topic here.

Hey, no offense, but you yourself said:


But if they're better than the next best option, why shouldn't I consider getting them?

So, I gave my answer. I'm terribly sorry if it wasn't what you wanted to hear.

I hope someone else is able to help you get them for the price you want.

fuzz - Thanks for your help. Any Bose posts on deal sites get blasted by people immediately, so people don't even bother posting them anymore. I looked at live.com cashback, but I couldn't find these headphones when they had the bigger offers late last year. I've looked at ebates before, and last time I checked I couldn't find anything for more than 1-2% off. I'll check again.

FWIW; Bose themselves are giving $50 in promotional credits on the purchase of the QC2's, but of course, you can only use it to buy more Bose stuff.

There are more QC2's on Ebay, including some in "perfect condition" for about $150. Add a brand new set of earpads for $30, and you have as good as new headphones.

Brand new ones go for about $250 on Ebay, which is still a much better deal than any Bose retailer.

Frontgate has them on sale for $269:

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemID=4551&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1,2,113,115,&iProductID=4551&k=XX23159

Please forgive comment if you only want Bose: majority of reviews do not rate Bose as best buy.

Are there any offers that you know of to get either a discount off the price, or a few miles?


I have never gone in to check the prices of the QC headphones, but I have noticed that there is a Bose store at my local factory outlet mall (AUS). Perhaps they sell reconditioned ones for less than new prices? If so, maybe there's one in your area.

I have never gone in to check the prices of the QC headphones, but I have noticed that there is a Bose store at my local factory outlet mall (AUS). Perhaps they sell reconditioned ones for less than new prices? If so, maybe there's one in your area.

They do not. I've been to several of the Bose outlet stores around the country, and they never EVER sell refurbished headphones. Every now and then they'll have some cheap speakers, but the majority of what they sell is all new.

Someone will not doubt correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that if you have a pair of QC1s, Bose will allow you to upgrade to the QC2 for $188.00 (according to this Wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Previous_Bose_headphones and this site: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Previous-Bose-Headphones).

If so, buy a skanky and damaged pair of QC1s on E-Bay cheap and you can then upgrade to a new set of 2s and save on the direct purchase of a set of 2s.

This isn't a thread to debate the quality of the headphones. There are dozens of other threads for that (and I've read through a bunch of those already).

I'd appreciate it if we could stay on topic here.

Headphones - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-products/877319-best-ear-noise-canceling-travel-earphones.html

Earbuds - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/917630-best-value-ear-buds-75-best-buy.html

Someone will not doubt correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that if you have a pair of QC1s, Bose will allow you to upgrade to the QC2 for $188.00 (according to this Wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Previous_Bose_headphones and this site: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Previous-Bose-Headphones).

If so, buy a skanky and damaged pair of QC1s on E-Bay cheap and you can then upgrade to a new set of 2s and save on the direct purchase of a set of 2s.

last time I did this, it was 99$, that was three months ago.

I'm assuming you have never used headphones on a plane then? Do you think they completely clean them every time they are handed out? :D

I wouldn't get them because they are simply not THAT good. Their high price creates the effect that they are the best thing money can buy.

There ARE better headphones out there, personally I'm a big fan of the Creative Aurvana X-FI's, and Etymotic Research (in-ear).

i just tried the ER6 isolators and found them to not be noise canceling at all. Sitting in my quiet office, they were NOT able to cancel out NPR streaming from my computer. Want to buy a pair? only used for about 3 minutes total.

Depending on who you are loyal to, Skymalls might be an attractive place. you get 5 to 1 on your purchase dollars and if the price is over $200, you get an extra 500 miles. This is for AA, but there might be equivalent offers from other carriers. So, with AA skymall, you'd get about 2000 miles. not the best price, but an easy 2000 miles for something you're going to buy anyway.

Sitting in my quiet office, they were NOT able to cancel out NPR streaming from my computer.The ER6 are noise isolating, not noise canceling. Anyway, you may be better off with earplugs. I've owned Bose (QC2 & QC3), Shure, and AR headphones. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but neither isolating nor canceling phones/plugs seem all that great for anything beyond ambient noise (jet engines, noisy coffee shops, etc.)

Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but neither isolating nor canceling phones/plugs seem all that great for anything beyond ambient noise (jet engines, noisy coffee shops, etc.)

This is exactly why I love my QC2's... to simply get rid of ambient noise.
It's virtually impossible to get perfect silence, all the time, with the current technologies. People need to realize this!