I'll start by saying I've avoided BOSE, Beats, Monster and their ilk in the past but recently I needed a new pair of earbuds. I recently lost my Jaybird Bluebuds X Bluetooth earbuds. The Bluebud X sounded great but was very uncomfortable because of the enormous diameter of the inflexible plastic shaft that holds the rubber inserts on plus when worn in the slightly more comfortable sports mode (behind the head) the microphone was useless for phone calls.
Not wanting to go backwards in quality and wanting to stay with earbuds vs headphones I thought I'd see what were my options. I would have liked Bluetooth but I wasn't planning on buying another set of Bluebuds (the adjustable rubber inside your ear bit was getting very loose and ready to fall off so nope). There isn't much to choose from so I looked back to wired.
Searched on Google and found very favourable reviews for the BOSE Q20i $329 CDN almost twice the price of the premium Bluebuds but with active noise reduction. So I bought a set for the commute.
BOSE Q20i
Pros:
Rechargeable (common micro USB connector)
Bypass mode if the battery is dead
Active noise reduction works great, slight hiss but this is normal with ANR
iOS compatible playback/volume buttons on the cord with excellent tactile feel
very comfortable, will stay put in your ears
ANR means you can cut out ambient noise with pushing them deep into you skull
solid build quality
Cons:
Price
RA audio plug might not fit iPhone with cases
Indifferent (may or my not be an issue, it's not with me):
large cable compared to most earbuds
large battery pack
I wish they offered a Bluetooth version (the battery pack seems large enough to contain it).
Summary they're excellent, wish they were cheaper but watch out for counterfeit Q20i's on eBay & kijiji.
Not wanting to go backwards in quality and wanting to stay with earbuds vs headphones I thought I'd see what were my options. I would have liked Bluetooth but I wasn't planning on buying another set of Bluebuds (the adjustable rubber inside your ear bit was getting very loose and ready to fall off so nope). There isn't much to choose from so I looked back to wired.
Searched on Google and found very favourable reviews for the BOSE Q20i $329 CDN almost twice the price of the premium Bluebuds but with active noise reduction. So I bought a set for the commute.
BOSE Q20i
Pros:
Rechargeable (common micro USB connector)
Bypass mode if the battery is dead
Active noise reduction works great, slight hiss but this is normal with ANR
iOS compatible playback/volume buttons on the cord with excellent tactile feel
very comfortable, will stay put in your ears
ANR means you can cut out ambient noise with pushing them deep into you skull
solid build quality
Cons:
Price
RA audio plug might not fit iPhone with cases
Indifferent (may or my not be an issue, it's not with me):
large cable compared to most earbuds
large battery pack
I wish they offered a Bluetooth version (the battery pack seems large enough to contain it).
Summary they're excellent, wish they were cheaper but watch out for counterfeit Q20i's on eBay & kijiji.