The Short Form

bose.com / 800-999-2673

Snapshot

Though expensive, these super-comfortable headphones deliver the goods on all counts.

Plus

•Good sound quality •Excellent noise cancellation •Superb comfort

Minus

•No sound without battery •Expensive

Key Features

•Active noise-canceling circuitry •Tri-port vented earcup design •QuietComfort foam ear cushions •20-hour rechargeable lithium-ion battery •Compact battery charger •Hard protective carry-case with shoulder strap •Detachable 4.5-foot cord •5-foot headphone extension cord •Airplane headphone jack adapter •Overall headphones: 7.4 x 5.3 in; 5.6 oz (with cable); earcup outside dimension: 2.9 x 2.3 in •Price: $349

The result is an overall warm sonic character that wasn't as crisp in the highs as some headphones and speakers but had the benefit of revealing the instruments without being fatiguing over long listening sessions. I was concerned at first that heavily-engineered pop recordings, like John Mayer's "No Such Thing," would sound too bass-heavy on the QC 3s, but when I cued up this and other tracks like it on my portable music player, they merely sounded rich without being overly thumpy. On "Baby, Dream Your Dream," a jazzy number performed by piano-playing lounge singer Tony DeSare on his Telarc CD Want You, I delighted in following the steadily ascending and descending string bass and listening to the resonance of the instrument's wood cavity. DeSare's Tony Bennett-like voice and virtuoso keyboard work filled in the mids, and the texture of the struck cymbals, while not sounding as brash as real metal, was still revealed nicely.

Best of all, music came from a greatly subdued background during all my travel thanks to Bose's excellent noise-canceling circuitry. Like other active noise-canceling headphones, the QuietComfort 3s are most effective on constant "random" noise — the steady drone of a jetliner cabin or the rumble of a train car. In situations like these, the headphones provided blissful peace — I needed only to flip the switch on with no music playing to see how remarkably effective they were, and to hear that they were free from any of the "clicking" or other odd effects that afflict some noise-canceling headphones. A transatlantic round trip to Europe was made considerably more tolerable thanks to the QC 3, even just for sleeping during the flights. Although the QC 3s did less well suppressing individual voices, a cacophony of them, such as in a crowded train coach pulling out of New York's Penn Station after a Rangers hockey game, faded nicely and was easily drowned out by the music.

Finally, I have to comment on the QC 3's comfort. I have simply never before put on a pair of on-ear or around-ear phones that could provide this level of background noise isolation and still be so easy to wear over long periods. Their light weight, especially for noise-canceling phones, is an advantage. But Bose obviously spent some time finding just the right density memory foam for the earcups and coming up with just the right pressure to apply to the ears with the headband. The combination simply has to be experienced to be appreciated. Maybe it's just me with my admittedly small cranial cavity, but I hardly know they're on.

BOTTOM LINE Bose may charge a lot for its technology, but it's a company that isn't afraid to keep innovating and reengineering products to make them uniquely their own. Though I've not used the QC 2, the QC 3's reduced size, lighter weight, and on-ear design have no doubt pushed the envelope for noise-canceling headphones. Meanwhile, the Bose QuietComfort 3 noise-canceling headphones' performance, fit and finish, and "presentation" out of the box have instilled in me a pride of ownership whenever I pull them out on the train amid all those losers with generic white earbuds. I can't even tell you what that's worth.

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