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ARCHIVE: AA Drops Bose NR Headset for Bang & Olufsen (as of March 2019)

Old Dec 22, 2019, 11:51 am
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Last edit by: JDiver
This thread was for discussion of the switchover from Bose QC15 to B&O H9i noise reduction headsets on select AA longhaul flights in First and Business classes.

As these B&O headsets have been moved out through the fleet, theres a new thread for further discussion, etc. relating to the B&O H9i Beoplay corded headset here: Bang & Olufsen H9i NR Headset Discussion, Issues (master thread)[


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ARCHIVE: AA Drops Bose NR Headset for Bang & Olufsen (as of March 2019)

Old Apr 18, 2019, 9:03 am
  #106  
 
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Originally Posted by DWFI
That's unfortunate.

As someone who owns both Bose and B&O headphones, Bose is far superior when it comes to comfort and better in noise cancellation as well.
Having tried B&O on several recent flights, I found their noise cancellation to be weak v. Bose. And the cushions were much harder/ headband tight and hurt my ears after about 10 min of wear.

My Bose traveling companion
Fortunately, I always travel w/my trusty 6+ year old Bose QC15 in Blue. They are superior in every way to the B&O!
...and no, I dont work for Bose (just a happy customer).
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Old Apr 18, 2019, 9:11 am
  #107  
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Originally Posted by no2chem
Just got a pair of these new Bang&Olufsen Headsets on my 321T lax-bos in F. The Fa still referred to them as boses, and I really wish they were.

First these have an on/off button. But after turning them on, any rubbing of the headset against my pillow results in really annoying high pitch noises. They were so bad I had turn the headphones to off, which disables the noise cancelling. Did anyone at AA test these things?!

Anyone else had to deal with these?
having used these 5 or 6 times now, I dont think the switch does what it says it does. If I turn it ON, the noise canceling stops. When in OFF, they seem to do noise cancelling.

I'm wondering if ON switches over the battery and turns on the noise canceling in the standard headphone. Since these are specially modified 3 pin units without batteries, the noise canceling works in OFF as a bypass.
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Old Apr 18, 2019, 10:22 am
  #108  
 
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Originally Posted by no2chem
Disagree, this is a serious complaint if you've ever used these headphones. The high pitch scratching is almost unbearable. Not acceptable considering how much a F ticket costs and "turn off the headphones" isn't really a remedy.
Seems like maybe you had a bad pair? I've had the B&O headphones on three flights and not had any experience like what you're describing.

By contrast, my last couple of international flight seemed to have lots of problems with the Bose headsets. On one flight they had to seriously search around for a replacement pair for me because 7 other people had also had problems. I assume this is mostly just end of life problems as they're not repairing/replacing the Bose anymore, but it's probably good they're getting some new inventory based on recent experiences.
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Old Apr 19, 2019, 9:16 am
  #109  
 
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Originally Posted by jordyn
Seems like maybe you had a bad pair? I've had the B&O headphones on three flights and not had any experience like what you're describing.

By contrast, my last couple of international flight seemed to have lots of problems with the Bose headsets. On one flight they had to seriously search around for a replacement pair for me because 7 other people had also had problems. I assume this is mostly just end of life problems as they're not repairing/replacing the Bose anymore, but it's probably good they're getting some new inventory based on recent experiences.
Its perhaps the case. Admittedly I didn't think to ask for new headphones, I just opted to grab my own headphones out of my bag after dealing with the scratching noises.
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Old Apr 20, 2019, 4:37 pm
  #110  
 
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Just tried these on the DFW-HNL route and they were great. FA said it was the first time for the headsets in our flight, so they were brand new.
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Old Apr 20, 2019, 5:34 pm
  #111  
 
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Originally Posted by living near shamu
Just tried these on the DFW-HNL route and they were great. FA said it was the first time for the headsets in our flight, so they were brand new.
I think this is the first report of them being offered outside of JFK-LAX routes. Nice.
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Old Apr 21, 2019, 6:49 am
  #112  
 
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Originally Posted by Antarius
having used these 5 or 6 times now, I dont think the switch does what it says it does. If I turn it ON, the noise canceling stops. When in OFF, they seem to do noise cancelling.

I'm wondering if ON switches over the battery and turns on the noise canceling in the standard headphone. Since these are specially modified 3 pin units without batteries, the noise canceling works in OFF as a bypass.
Noticed the same thing on more than one flight where "off" turns on noise-canceling and "on" turns it off. I didn't give it more than a second's thought beyond "that's weird...", but your theory makes sense.
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Old Apr 22, 2019, 12:55 am
  #113  
 
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Still old Bose QC15 on flights in/out of PHL. in both the directions, the first one offered did not work - needed to hunt for a replacement and it also died (Poor Battery) after a while.

Also what's with not offering the 2 Pin converter - both the times had to flag down a cabin crew to get one.
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Old May 27, 2019, 6:38 pm
  #114  
 
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Had the new headseats on fly 20 DFW to LHR. Didn't work at all. FA swapped them our 4 times nothing, no sound. But when I puled my earbuds into the jack I got sound. Had to give up. Mrs. Deac83 had the same problem. We both used our earbuds for the flight. On/off switch did nothing. There is no light on these to indicate that they are in fact on, and assuming it has a batter that it's still good.

I also found them uncomfortable, just used them to block noise while I as sleeing, but my ears were sore and I had to fiddle with the head adjustment.
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Old May 28, 2019, 8:51 am
  #115  
 
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The light on my B&O headphones didn't work, and the on/off switch seemed reversed. When I switched it off, the noise cancelling stopped. I would have expected the opposite.
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Old May 28, 2019, 9:08 am
  #116  
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Originally Posted by ShortDog
The light on my B&O headphones didn't work, and the on/off switch seemed reversed. When I switched it off, the noise cancelling stopped. I would have expected the opposite.
I posted this above, but this is consistent across the 3 pin B&O - my speculation is the "on" toggles battery mode for normal B&O headphones; as these do not have batteries it just doesn't work. "Off" works as the power is coming from the 3rd pin on the aircraft.
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Old May 28, 2019, 9:23 am
  #117  
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Originally Posted by sailor279
Fortunately, I always travel w/my trusty 6+ year old Bose QC15 in Blue. They are superior in every way to the B&O!
...and no, I don’t work for Bose (just a happy customer).
Meanwhile, my QC35IIs stopped working in one ear after a year and a half of regular use. Bose oh-so-generously offered to sell me a new pair for $250, so I picked up a pair of Sony's latest model instead.

Which is all a long way of saying that the quality of the Bose product has gone significantly downhill lately. I'm willing to give B&O a shot.
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Old May 28, 2019, 9:35 am
  #118  
 
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Used the new B&O headphones on AA72 SYD-LAX yesterday when my Bose QC35's ran out of power. They initially had this nails-on-a-chalkboard screeching sound — probably defective wiring in the left speaker — which went away eventually. Aside from that, I thought the ambient noise cancellation to be okay but the comfort to be a hinderance: my small ears just did not fit wholly inside of them the same way they do with Bose headphones. This became pretty uncomfortable and I stopped using them as a result.
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Old May 28, 2019, 10:29 am
  #119  
 
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Originally Posted by Beltway2A
...so I picked up a pair of Sony's latest model instead.
I did the same last year for Black Friday at half off. (Actually Sunday, but it was still marked on the Friday price.)

No complaints, and Sony has really upped their game. I still use my in-ear monitors more often though. Mainly from the size difference.
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Old May 28, 2019, 11:52 am
  #120  
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Bang & Olufsen uses advanced noise cancelling technology to automatically silence the Baclay's pitch. It's amAAzing!



Not really, but it would be cool.
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