The Bose, like many noise-canceling headphones, cease all sound when the battery dies, or if you turn them off. However, they have a passive mode, as in they’ll work when the battery runs out. One more thing: The PSBs run $100 more than the Bose. However, if you’re buying noise-canceling headphones specifically for the noise canceling, the Bose QC15s are the absolute choice.” The noise reduction isn’t as good, but it’s still decent. The sound quality from the PSBs is incredible, and much better than the Bose. So, for me, it really comes down to the PSB headphones as the step-up from the Bose for people prioritizing audio quality.Īs I wrote previously, “It comes down to this: If you’re just in the market for headphones and you think you’d occasionally use the noise canceling, get something else. Also, the Polks are $50 more than the Bose, and are larger. However, in neither case is the noise canceling as good as the Bose. They sound good, but I think the PSBs sound better. He liked the Polk UltraFocus 8000 better, saying, “Holy guacamole, do these sound good! Easily the best sounding headphone of the bunch.” I’ve heard the Polks, and I’m not as much of a fan. Tyll Herstens, in his roundup of noise-canceling headphones, found the Bose to be the winner, but placed the PSBs only third. Still the Bose are better at canceling noise. These PSB M4U 2 Headphones are the best sounding noise-canceling headphones around, at $400. The comfort and build quality are superb." When he reviewed them for S+V, as part of a huge multi-headphone/multi-panelist roundup feature, Butterworth concluded that, “Not only does the M4U 2 sound like a really great speaker, it sounds like a great speaker in a great listening room.” "Only the best of the big, open-back audiophile headphones (such as the HiFiMan HE-500) can beat it. “In my opinion, the M4U 2’s are the best-sounding NC headphones you can buy," Butterworth said. However, they can’t hold a candle to the Bose’s noise canceling. The M4U 2 headphones, by storied speaker company PSB, gets praise as one of the most accurate and best sounding headphones on the market. A little dull for my taste, but obviously a lot of people like it.” And Guttenberg: “If sound quality is a priority the Bose scores lower than the PSB M4U 2 and Polk UltraFocus 8000.” Those two models came up repeatedly when discussing noise cancellers as alternatives to the Bose. No one seems to think the QC15s sound bad, but all say there are other options that sound better. Where the Bose falters in every review, and among the experts I interviewed, is in sound quality. When it comes to noise canceling, they really are that much better than other headphones. Geoffrey Morrison, of Sound+Vision magazine… hey, wait a second, that’s me, said: “if you’re buying noise-canceling headphones specifically for the noise canceling, the Bose QC15s are the absolute choice.” At lower frequencies, the QC15s reduced noise by up to 26 dB more than competing headphones. Butterworth agrees, saying: “The QC15s have what's probably the best noise cancellation of any NC headphone on the market.” Hertsens had a similar opinion: “ noise canceling capability is extraordinary.” Guttenberg: “If you're looking for the best noise-canceling headphone, the Bose QC15 is the one to buy.” Subjectively and objectively, the QC15s offers the best noise canceling out there. There are two main factors to consider when buying noise-canceling headphones: how well they cancel out the noise, and how they sound overall. These are the experts I generally talk with about gear.įirst, if you’re curious how noise-canceling headphones work, I recommend reading this article from HowStuffWorks. ![]() He does some of the most comprehensive headphone testing on the web, so much so that several headphone manufacturers have come to him to see how to do it. ![]() Brent Butterworth was editor in chief of Home Theater, Home Entertainment, and is currently West Coast tech editor of Sound+Vision magazine. Tyll Hertsens is editor in chief of InnerFidelity, a sister site to Stereophile, and does some of the most extensive headphone testing out there. Steve Guttenberg is one of the most respected audio reviewers in any medium, having written for Home Theater, Home Entertainment, Stereophile, as well as his own blog at CNET called The Audiophiliac. But to help me nail this pick, I also interviewed several of the top headphone reviewers around. Who am I? I’ve been reviewing audio for over a decade for a number of magazines and websites. ![]() I make this pick based on the reviews and opinions of the top headphone reviewers, plus having reviewed the QC15s and its competitors myself. They offer the best noise canceling available, and sound decent to boot. When it comes to noise-canceling headphones, I’d buy the $300 Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones. This article originally appeared on The Wirecutter.
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