2. Bose QuietComfort 3, Continued

• QuietComfort 3 Noise...
• • Crutchfield.com
  • $349.00
• • compuaddons
  • $347.99
• • BOSE
  • $349.95

There's no volume control on the QC3s, and no controls except the power switch. The cable is removable, so it won't dangle if you just want the noise cancellation rather than to play music, but the angle of the plug could make it hard to buy a cheap replacement.

If the noise cancellation isn't turned on you won't hear anything from your player, so if you run out of power, you can't just listen to music to drown out background noise. Instead of the single AAA battery of the QC2s, the QC3s use a proprietary rechargeable lithium ion battery that gives you around 20 hours of playback from a 15 minute charge, and you get two batteries. The charger looks a lot like one of the headphone cams, comes with full set of travel adapters and fits neatly into the case without adding much weight. Because of the memory foam and since the headphones are quite large already - there's nothing to be gained by leaving the travel case behind, so taking the power adapter with you isn't much of a chore. The hard case stores the headphones, charger, spare battery, hi-fi adapter and headphone extension cable neatly, and there's an elasticized pocket on the back for your media player. But it still means being more organized before you travel; the total travel weight is similar to that of the larger QC2s and replacing a lost battery will cost a lot more than you'd spend on alkalines in a year.

Because of the noise cancellation and since they're designed for noisy, distracting environments, the QC3s have a harder job delivering high quality sound. We'd call the sound good, but not great, which is disappointing for the price if you're buying them for sound quality - and possibly less important if you seek noise cancellation. The volume needs to be a lot higher than with noise-isolating canal phones; overall we found the QC3s a little too quiet at low volumes, and you need to turn the volume up to get enough bass. It's a warm, soft, smooth sound in the midrange, with definite coloration that can turn into compression on some tracks, but some listeners will prefer that for a noisy environment, like a plane. With sufficient volume the bass is powerful and the treble is clear but not always distinct.