Bose QuietComfort 20 QC20 Acoustic Headphones

I wanted noise cancelling earbuds to wear at the gym to defeat the obnoxious, raucous noise the management insists on pumping through their PA system, telling me most clients love this “music.” My word, music it most assuredly is not. What’s on my iPod is music. And that’s what I want to hear. But I couldn’t with the simple earbuds I had. The noise pollution at the gym is so intrusive, there’s no way I can enjoy my own music. Why do these people think it’s conducive to exercise to inundate the space with that noise at an ear-splitting volume? No attempts on my part get them to change, not even to turn the volume down to a reasonable level. So . . .

I went shopping for active noise cancelling units. Every review (more or less) contains the comment, “Well, these aren’t Bose, but for the price, these aren’t awful.” I took people at their word . . . as I went through 3 other sets trying to find one that worked. Invariably, the other units made my iPod sound like it was in another room at the bottom of fish tank. There was sometimes a button I could push that would improve the sound a little, but the button sprang back as soon as I let go of it, returning me to their underwater environment. One unit didn’t even include a charging cable. I didn’t even plug them in before I returned them. Sure, these units were only in the $30 price range, but what good were they if they didn’t work?

I decided maybe there’s a reason the Bose ones are the price they are. Maybe there’s a reason people keep comparing every other unit on the market to Bose. I decided to find out for myself. I decided to break down & let the moths out of my wallet & spring for these.

I don’t do very well with earbuds. They tend to fall our of my ears easily. The Bose earbuds have little extenders that fit in the crevices of the ear & hold them securely in place without any discomfort, no matter how long I wear them. Score 1 for Bose.

The first time I stuck these in my ears, I was astonished at how much the background noise was blocked out. This is without even turning on the active noise cancelling. I’d say the ear pieces by themselves block a good 80% of ambient noise. Score another 1 for Bose.

And then I turned on the active noise cancelling. It was like an out-of-body experience. There’s you & the music, & whoever might be around you simply isn’t there. Score another 1 . . . no 1,000 for Bose.

Try wearing them in the car while you’re driving. You’ll feel like Luke Skywalker. Suddenly your car becomes even quieter than an electric car, more like a nuclear-powered aircraft. No engine noise, no noise from other vehicles, not even any tire noise from your own car. Simply extraordinary. There’s no point in even bothering to still keep score. There’s no competition.

The instruction manual for these says they’re compatible with iPhones. There’s no mention of any other brand. I recently acquired an Android phone & thought I’d give them a shot. My expectations were low. I should have known better. Plug them in. They work. Period. I don’t know if the buttons do fancy things like skipping around in playlists or stop music so you can take a phone call. But for basic phone calls, they just work. You hear the other party on the line just fine. The other party hears you just fine. This is without turning on the noise cancelling. Turning on the noise cancelling has no effect on how the other party hears you, but of course it transports you to that other sound world I described above. I don’t make it a habit to use the active noise cancelling for phone calls because I haven’t used the unit to talk on the phone in a noisy environment. Maybe somebody else can comment on that. I would imagine if it’s noisy, the other party won’t hear you all that well over the background noise. Maybe the microphone is noise cancelling, too. I just can’t comment on that. My take is it’s more polite toward the party you’re calling if you make the phone call in a quiet place.

My only complaint is the carrying case. For an item this expensive, they sure give you a cheap carrying case. It’s soft & about the only good thing I can say about it is it would keep the unit dust-free. Protect them it will not. I happen to have a steel-shell glasses case that I wasn’t using. That is a far more appropriate place for my earbuds to live when they’re hibernating. That’s what Bose should have included with these: something made of steel. And they should have done that without adding to the price. These are expensive enough to warrant the inclusion of a steel carrying case.

These earbuds live up to the hype. They prove you get what you pay for. My voice is not being added to the chorus of, “Well, these aren’t Bose, but . . .” These ARE Bose & there’s no buts about it.