I have a new favorite band. Honest Bob and the Factory to Dealer Incentives. Has to be one of the best band names ever. Yes, I learned about Honest Bob through Guitar Hero 2 which had their song Soy Bomb as one of the bonus songs in the game. So I checked them out on iTunes, and the more I listen, the more impressed with them I am.

And saddened, too. Because Honest Bob has accomplished what I had only dreamed of with Green Chili Burp and the Aftertaste. These guys have nailed Facetious Rock.

Long and short, they win. But hey, at least the music is good to listen to while I wallow in defeat, enjoying every minute I listen to.

Labels: coolness

As I was milling around in the SeaTac airport, waiting patiently on my return flight to DFW, I finally stopped by the Bose airport kiosk near Gate A4 and asked about the QuietComfort 2 noise reduction headphones. I've passed this display every return flight that I can recall, and I thought I'd at least kill some time pretending to want to get information about the headphones, but mostly wanting to kill time. I certainly didn't expect to drop $300 on a set of headphones when my Skullcandy earbuds did a very nice job of letting me listen to my iPod Shuffle.

I was actually rather blown away by the product. I tried both the over-the-ear QC2 and the on-the-ear QC3, and I was amazed by the amount of noise that was eliminated by the active noise reduction in both units. Still, I figured that at worst, it was a nice gimmick where the headphones were tied into the display and had some voodoo connected that allowed the imitation airplane engine noise to get cancelled out. And when they told me about the 30-day no questions asked return policy, well, I thought I might try it out.

Like a good consumer, though, I walked away from the display and went to have my traditional broccoli beef lunch at the Chinese-esque place between gates A5 and A6. I then went to the seating area in the corner, fired up my wireless networking, and did a little research on the Bose haadphones. I found a lot of negative consumer comments, and a lot of positive consumer comments. Practically no one, at least no one who commented on any of the forums I searched (and there were quite a few, I still had a 2-hour break to wait for the plane to board, possibly more if the flight was delayed again), posted any average reviews. All stellar or suck. Interesting. And most of the "good god these are awful" comments came from people who had the earpieces break off because of flimsy construction. It did appear that Bose addressed the construction issue in later models of the QC2, but I made note to ask the sales guy about it. Otherwise, I couldn't find any comments from reviewers or consumers that gave me any reason to expect anything other than what was advertised, which was a much quieter ride on my 4 hour flight back.

When I returned to the booth (and I must admit, the guy was surprised to see me return after I had left earlier), I asked the sales agent about the construction issue, and he not only commented that it had been fixed, but actually showed me on the unit itself where the connector had been reinforced. Then I asked him if I could check out the actual sound quality of the headphones compared to my ear buds by plugging the demo unit into my iPod, fully expecting him to decline. Instead, he readily unhooked the phones and offered the plug to me. I listened to several tracks on the iPod, including an Alan Parsons track that I forgot I had on there, but it one I use to compare audio systems when I'm doing serious research, and the sound quality was quite good, mostly due to the over-the-ear design allowing all the audio to go to the ears and not out to the rest of the world.

Since I had no other excuses, other than I really didn't want to drop $300 on headphones and they had an out for that wiht the return policy, I purchased a pair and made my way to the gate. An hour later, I was on the plane and unpacked the phones and hooked them to my iPod. I fired up the music, opened my book, and settled back for what seemed to be one of the shortest return flights I've ever had from Seattle. Save for the time we slept on the flight from LAX to DFW after 14 hours on a plane from Sydney to LAX. But I digress.

My flight landed at DFW a little after 7pm, and given that I had been up and "traveling" for about 12 hours, I was amazed at how rested and relaxed I felt. Normally after a return flight, I'm ready to crawl in the car and let my wife drive me home. I had enough energy to make the drive myself, and my spirits were higher than I could remember any time after a flight. Can I contribute all of this to the QC2 headphones? Possibly. Let me explain.

Once I turned on the phones and started listening to my music, I couldn't really hear any of the engine noise. Sure, I was aware that it was there (the phones are called "noise reducing" and not "noise eliminating" after all) but it was so far in the background I really didn't notice it at all. Periodically, I either turned off the phones or pulled one can off an ear to compare how much noice was in the plane, and I was amazed at how loud the engine noise was in flight, and I wasn't sitting right next to or immediately behind one of the wings. Until I heard the environment wiht the greatly reduced engine noise from the QC2s, I guess I had never really noticed just how loud those engines really are. And the toll they must take on the ears, because I really felt like I've never felt getting off a plane. Ever. Wow.

So even though I could have (and honestly thought I would) gone straight into the Grapevine Mills Mall on my way home from the airport and returned the phones to teh Bose store there, I instead kept them and brought them home, getting them ready for my next set of flights in April and May. And August. And who knows when else.

Are these things worth $300? It seems maybe so. We'll post more after the next use and see if I'm still as impressed as I was after this trip.

Labels: coolness