I'd take them off personally, but I don't care beyond amusement value what anyone else does. Really an academic question for me as I don't have them. I want to hear any unusual noises or announcements when out of my seat.

It is amazing how cheaply some major brand electronics are made. By reputation, Bose doesn't get much respect from audiophiles (see AVS Forum for much Bose bashing.)

I think you'll find that fans of the Bose QCs aren't necessarily fans of the Bose speaker or HTIB lines. I certainly wouldn't own any Bose product other than the QC2s.

The QCs are well-regarded as circum-aural ANC headphones. Yes, there are better sounding noise-isolating canalphones and non-ANC circum-aural phones, but only lately have newcomers challenged Bose's place in the ANC world (see the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7s and the Sennheiser PXC450s . . . the latter of which cost 50% more than the QC2s!).

I am not an audiophile. I like the sound of Bose products. I own a Bose Music System, but not the headphones (but have tried them). Bose, a long time ago, figured out how to make music SOUND good to the human ear. They do not necessarily faithfully reproduce the entire sound spectrum, but emphasize those parts that appeal to most humans. Audiophiles seem mainly concernced with totally accurate reproduction. They also complain about compressed audio files (CDs, MP3, iTunes, WMA, etc.). These files do a similar thing that Bose figured out a long time ago---chuck out the stuff nobody cares about. I believe this is why Bose gets panned in audiophile publications. Bose is popular; compressed music is phenominally popular. Say, how are sales of DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD? Terrible. Shows how popular audiophiles are.

They could still be stolen from around your neck. They *have* to be on your ears to be protected.

Haven't you ever heard of the bathroom-airplane-neck-gnomes? Geez.

I love my QC2. Only with them and some vodkas I can fly and tolerate all the airline, TSA, tax-the-traveler etc crap. The other Bose products certain are fine but totally overpriced.

MisterNice

I'd agree that the Bose QC line is generally viewed more favorably by most. I did consider buying them, but decided against it. Aside from all that, something bothers me about the Bose marketing approach - it seems to me a bit hard sell and deceptive both in print ads and especially at Bose stores. Bose speakers are never displayed in any area where they can be compared to other brands, by design and contract with Bose. Not that other things I own and enjoy always have "clean" advertising profiles.

Able Planet is a new one this year also and has better sound then Bose has And the Audio Technica are less then 1/2 the price of Bose and block out more noise then Bose does (doesn't sound as pure as the Able Planet but blocks out a ton of noise). I don't even use my Bose anymore and prefer the Audio Technica for long hauls and Able Planet for short hauls.

I don't consider myself an audiophile either and everyone is certainly free to like what they like, at least in my book. Still, I don't consider any extrapolation of DVD-Audio or SACD sales indicative of much of anything. Other formats with higher quality audio tracks (HD DVD and Blueray) are doing fine and one of them will become the standard. Both HD audio and video formats still are in their infancy, in my opinion. And as bandwidth and storage density increases, lossless formats such as FLAC will make MP3s a distant memory.

Pobably about the same as Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet watches, Canon 1Ds MkII DSLRs, Veyrons and Enzos, and other top end proucts for enthusiasts. Timex and Fossil, "12 megapixel" point-and-shoots, Honda Civics and Toyota Camrys, etc., are fine for most of the population, as are Bose and mp3's. I prefer my SCD-777ES and collection of SACD's from purist producers (many SACD's by the majors sounded like $%& anyway).

We don't aim to be "popular".

Relevant to this thread, a set of Shures, Etys or UE's will sound much better and look nowhere near as silly walking down the aisle (if you really care what others thinka0.

Take them to a Bose store. I bet you're walking out with a brand new pair, replaced free under warranty, in less than 5 minutes.

Correct!

I had a loose wire on a pair of QC2s that were out of warranty and I wanted to buy a new wire. I was given a brand new pair of headsets. Those guys REALLY stand behind their product!