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 enlarge | Brand: Bose
Category: CE
List Price: $349.00
Buy Used: $209.99
You Save: $139.01 (40%)
New (5) from $312.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  128 reviews
Color: Silver
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 2.3 x 5.3 x 7.4
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: TJ539VC/A
Model: 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling
UPC: 017817391276
EAN: 0017817391276
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
My experience with Bose QC3--excellent noise cancelling; not so good sound quality for the price. October 20, 2006
61 out of 62 found this review helpful
I've been looking for a pair of noise cancelling headphones for working out at the gym. As much as I love my $20 Koss KSC75 portable stereo headphones, I find it hard to hear my own music over the gym's music. (And since the gym basically plays the worst songs of every genre over an ancient loudspeaker system, I had no intention of giving up and just listening to their music.) Also, the sound of treadmills, clanking weight equipment, and people talking compete with my MP3 player for the attention of my ears. I have wanted to solve the problem for a while, but the reviews saying the 'hissing' sounds of most noise cancelling headphones were more distracting that the actual sounds they block made me very hesistant to invest in a pair. And unfortunately, most in the ear headphones don't actually fit in my ear (I have very small ears, I guess) and the ones that do are extremely uncomfortable (one pair made my ear canals bleed they were so tight). So, as much as people have been raving over the Shure's and the Etymotic's in the ear headphones, I have to have over the ear headphones.
So, I visited a Bose store recently and they told me I could try out a pair of their noise cancelling headphones for a month, and then return them, no questions asked. Of course, I jumped at the chance. I've been using them for two weeks so far and here's what I think:
Noise cancelling: I've never used any other brand of noise cancelling headphones before, so I have nothing esle to compare it to, but I must say that my expectations were more than exceeded. Actually, I was totally blown away by how much noise they blocked out. I could hear no hissing sound at all, for one. I also expected that just the low, droning noises would be blocked--that I would still be able to hear about fifty percent of the noises around me. It is actually more like ninety percent of the noises were blocked out. At my very noisy gym, their very loud music sounded like a distant hum with just the noise cancelling on. With my own music on, I couldn't hear it at all. The air conditioning system, the drone of the exercise machines were completely blocked with just the noise cancelling on. I could only hear the chattering of the people closest to me, and I couldn't understand a word they were saying. The only thing I could still hear was the occasional clinking of the weight machines. With just the noise cancelling on, it felt like the gym had only two other people in it instead of twenty. With the music on, I felt like I was virtually by myself. It works well at home too; my very noisy fridge was silenced and for the first time I could listen to music while vaccuuming (which was impossible with my other ear phones.) I can still hear the vacuum, of course, but it's only a humming sound in the background instead of roar right next to me. Actually, I find the noise cancelling feature so handy that I find myself using it for other things too--like reading and gardening. I am EXTREMELY impressed with noise cancelling feature. I don't know if all noise cancelling headphones work this well, but they definitely should.
Comfort: I was expecting them to be heavy and uncomfortable, since my only experience with headphones close to this size were my Dad's full size Aiwa headphones from 1972 (they still work and sound terrific, but they weigh about fifteen pounds and they're very uncomfortable.) Actually, despite their size, they are very lightweight and comfortable. They are maybe a little heavier than my Koss headphones, but not by much. The fake leather earcups didn't make my ears sweaty, nor did they press very tightly on my ears. The only thing that was maybe the slightest bit uncomfortable was the 'pressure' in my ears when I turned the noise cancelling on. After a while though, I became used to it.
Sound quality: Since I've never bought headphones for more that thirty dollars, I expected the sound to be at least ten times better than my Koss headphones. Actually, the salesperson at the store said I would 'throw my old headphones away after listening to these'. Uhh...not exactly. The sound quality is good, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't a good as I expected. It was definitely not $350 good, that's for sure. A lot of the other reviews describe the sound as muddy or like listening to music underwater. I definitely agree. The bass was a lot better than on my other headphones, but it was so strong, it drowned the other sounds out. It was sort of like listening to one those stereo systems in one of those 'pimped out' cars--except it's right next to your ears. I like bass, but not that much. So, on this count, I was pretty disappointed. So I'm definitely not going to be throwing my old headphones out, which overall, sound much better.
Price: Well, what can I say, they're definitely overpriced. Most of the noise cancelling headphones are in the 100-200 dollar range. I doubt they're THAT superior to the Sennheisers or the Sony's. Actually, this is my main turnoff to them. If they were 150 dollars instead of 350, I'd probably keep them. But 350 is WAY too much to spend on headphones.
Other features: Another thing I don't like is that if the battery dies, the headphones die--you can still use the other noise cancelling headphones even if they battery wears out. You also can't use the headphones without the noise cancelling on--whereas other headphones you can. I like the case it comes with though--nice--and how streamlined the battery is.
Overall, I'd recommend these headphones if you prefer the noise cancelling over the sound quality, and are willing to drop 350 dollars on a pair of headphones. If not, I'd try other noise cancelling headphones first, before deciding on these.
 QC2's Sound Better to Me... July 11, 2006
51 out of 52 found this review helpful
I have owned QuietComfort headphones (both series 1 and 2) for quite some time due to my job requiring me to make many overseas flights that last in excess of 10 hours. The Bose phones were the only ones I could find that were not painful after 3-4 hours of wear, and they sounded great to boot. So I was naturally intriqued by the new QC3's smaller size - the '2's are rather bulky and bothersome to carry around - and auditioned them in the Bose store using their music source. The noise reduction was very impressive considering these are "on-the-ear" phones that do not surround your ears. You put them on, and background noise goes down to a remarkably low level, very similar to the QC2's, if not better in this respect. So I took a pair home and compared them with my QC2's.
Careful A/B testing at home is where I found that the QC3's do not sound quite as clear and well defined to me as the QC2's. I used an iPod with 320kbps encoding (this is what I use on trips), and found that if I turned on the treble boost in the iPod's EQ settings, it more closely approximated the QC2's sound. I would have been okay with this if the phones weren't so expensive - at $349, these cost $50 more than the QC2s. For that much, I expected better sound without having to compensate with an EQ setting. Granted, this may have to do with the type of music I listen to (lots of jazz these days), but even Supertramp albums sounded a bit mushy to me compared with the QC2's.
Another issue for me is the rechargeable battery. Many seem to consider this a beneficial feature, but to me it would have been another $50 for a spare since it's always a possibiity that there won't be time to recharge the battery after a long flight and short stay somewhere (who wants the battery to die midway through a return flight?). The QC2's allow you to use a standard AAA battery in a pinch, and I usually have a couple of long-lasting alkalines in my bag that cost a couple of dollars at most. So for me this brought the total price to $400 -- quite a lot for headphones that didn't sound quite as nice (to me, at least) as what I already have. So I reluctantly decided to return them.
Strangely enough, when I returned the phones to the Bose store, the guys at the counter didn't ask me a single question about why I didn't like them. Disappointing, as I really wanted to like them (really!), and would have been happy to tell them as constructively as possible. Oh, well.
All that being said, I must say that Bose did a remarkable job designing these for physical comfort and noise reduction. On-the-ear phones are usually pretty uncomfortable after extended wear, but I felt these would be fine for 8-10 hours. If they ever make another version that sounds more like the older phones, I would buy them in a heartbeat.
 The QC-3s on the subway, buses and trains November 29, 2006
48 out of 50 found this review helpful
As a NYC commuter I am subjected to the very loud sounds of the subway system up to 80 to 100 decibels at times. And I want to use my iPod without going deaf. For a while a set of in ear headphones worked really well. The problem being is they aren't large enough to produce an expansive sound and wide dynamic range. I gave the QC-3s a try. I got everything I wanted with one or two tradeoffs. The sound quality is excellent. It reproduces AAC files ranging from 128 to 192 kps with superb fidelity in the bass, midtones and higher ranges. The sound is very clear and perhaps just a bit warm as Bose seems to prefer its audio products to sound. The noise cancellation is impressive performing at 15% of the effectiveness of the in ear headphones without the hassel of sticking something into my ears. All continuous low frequency sounds are eliminated entirely. You can hear other people speaking but if they aren't right next to you and/or speaking loudly they will be pleasantly muffled out as are other higher frequency noises. The build quality of the headphones is excellent but I would use the included case if you are throwing them into a bag with a lot of other stuff in them. They are substantially smaller than the QC-2 and lighter. They seem to stay on place on my somewhat round and a bit large head well. Only after 8 to 10 hours of use in a 24 hour period did I feel some discomfort on my ears. The lithium battery charges very fast and seems to have good battery life. The charger is very small. The headphones come with a larger stereo plug adapter and an adapter for planes. The headphone cord is adequately long for a commuter such as myself. So there are a few tradeoffs with this headphone. The first is the proprietary battery. If you run out of juice then no sound. Fortunately the battery seems to charge pretty quickly and the charger is very small. The second is that the headphones though less bulky than the QC-2, they are not as compact as my Shures. Certain individuals may not find them comfortable because of the way the headphones rest on the ears and the head. Others may not like the warm sound that is trademark of Bose. So I would recommend you try before buying these fine headphones.
very nice, but check the sound quality July 26, 2006
38 out of 39 found this review helpful
I've enjoyed using the original QC for years and needed another pair, so I bought the QC3. The ear cup design tends to flatten your ear after a while, so if you have sensitive ears and a long flight, expect some pain. I was disappointed with the sound quality -- very muffled on the high end, leaden on the low. I returned it to the store to swap for a QC2, but decided on a whim to try another pair of QC3s. The new pair sounded much crisper on the highs and significantly richer on the lows, and to my surprise, the salesman agreed.
So there appears to be a quality control problem with the QC3. It is possible (as in my case) to get one with poor sound quality, especially for $350 headphones, but then the very next one you try can be spectacular. I'm glad I bought this in a store so I had a chance to easily swap it.
Rethink about the rechargeables before you buy November 26, 2006
38 out of 41 found this review helpful
I tend to think the Bose 2 is still better in as much as you can replace the battery any time. while the Bose 3 requires recharging. If you would want to keep using your "expensive" Bose for a long, long, time think twice about rechargeables. Rechargeable batteries do not last forever. With the Bose 2 all you have to do is carry an extra AAA battery. Good news about the Bose 3 coming out, they may have the better Bose 2 on sale now. By the way, no need to lug a battery charger that my be damaged or lost. The Bose 2 does not need one (obviously).
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