Category Archives: Reviews

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

For the longest time, I didn’t particularly care about my headphones. I had two basic requirements—playing music, and no just kidding that was it—and beyond that, I didn’t really think about them.

Then, by virtue of working at PC Magazine, I got to try out some actually good headphones. You know, like $1,000-plus headphones. And I realized, quickly, that headphones are one of the few things where you definitely get what you pay for. The difference between the Apple headphones that came bundled with my iPod and a pair of decent, $100 headphones, is absolutely astounding: music is clearer, louder, crisper, more accurate to the recording, and is a much more enjoyable listening experience.

I should say this before going any further: if you don’t want to spend money on a decent pair of headphones, that’s fine, but don’t even test out a nice pair. Once you hear what good headphones sound like, you won’t be able to go back. I couldn’t, and that’s why I started shopping around. I landed on the Bose IE2: in-ear headphones, with controls for Apple products and the fantastic StayHear tips. But more on all that in a second.

I’d been vacillating back and forth on buying IE2s for a few weeks, when all of a sudden a pair showed up at my door courtesy of The Greatest Girlfriend In The World (my girlfriend Claire). She bought them for me, and they just showed up. The pair I got was the MIE2i, which include an in-line microphone and iPod controls. I’ve been using them almost non-stop for a few days now, and have put them through all of my tests (the names of which I totally didn’t just make up):

The “Does It Stay?” Test

The most important thing for me with a pair of headphones, more even than how they sound, is whether or not they stay in my ears. I need to be able to walk around, go to the gym, or get the cord a little caught on my zipper, and not have them fall out of my ears.

Thanks to Bose’s proprietary StayHear tips, the whole IE2 line passes this test with flying colors. The StayHear tips are made of silicone (they come in three sizes), and they sit in the bowl of your ear and create a super-snug and comfortable fit that’s much better than most in-ear headphones. Running, jumping, or just during normal everyday use, the IE2s always stayed snug—they feel a little loose, but that’s a sign of how comfortable they are. They’ve never fallen out, except when I wanted them to.

The IE2s don’t actually go in your ear canal—they poke into the canal, but don’t actually seal in there. It’s a much more comfortable solution for your ears, and are much easier to wear for a long time than most. Even if there were nothing else notable about the IE2 headphones, I’d still recommend them because they’re so comfortable—if you wear headphones for hours at a time, you can’t beat these.

There’s an extra bonus, too: the IE2s have a shirt clip on the cord, and the cord is crazy-long (45.25 inches), so it’s extra easy to keep the IE2s connected and secure, even if you put your iPod in a bag or a backpack. Clip the earphones to your shirt or strap, and it’s a perfect fit.

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The “Sounds Like…” Test

As with all things Bose makes, the sound of the IE2s is the hallmark feature. And the headphones do sound great—they need less volume to play music at listenable levels, and they don’t distort even at extremely high volumes.

Bose has a tendency to accentuate the bass a little on its headphones and speakers, and the IE2s are no exception. Bass is heavy, but I haven’t found it to be too much. PCMag’s audio analyst, Tim Gideon, a Guy Who Knows These Things, is much smarter about the intricacies of sound quality than I am, so read his review of the IE2s for more on the sound quality.

The other thing I really like about the IE2s is that they don’t leak a lot of sound, meaning I’m never that guy on the subway playing embarrassing music that everyone around me can ear. They leak a bit, and at really loud levels the headphones are audible from a distance, but at moderate volumes (all that’s normally needed, since these are loud headphones), they leak little to nothing. Most in-ear headphones have at least a bit of a leaking problem, and the IE2s aren’t the best available, but they’re far better than the Apple earphones I’ve been using for forever.

The “Say What?” Test

Sometimes—particularly on the subway, on a plane, or when I’m at work and my co-workers are especially obnoxious—I need to be able to pop in my headphones and not hear a darn thing. The IE2s aren’t really designed to be noise-canceling, and they’re certainly not as capable of it as some other headphones, but they get the job done. Low rumbles and the like come through a bit (meaning they’re not the ideal thing for blocking out plane noises), but as long as I have music playing the headphones drown out talking and most other ambient noise.

Noise-canceling headphones are typically a lot more expensive than $99 or $129, and if that’s what you want most these probably aren’t the right one for you, but the IE2s are a totally serviceable way to drown out distractions around you when you need to focus.

The “Can You Hear Me Now?” Test

When headphones have a microphone in-line, the obvious test is to see how it works with your cell phone. For me, the unfortunate answer is that it doesn’t—well, not completely anyway. If you buy in the IE2 line, you get three options, all with trade-offs: you either get the headphones without any in-line controls (the $99 IE2), headphones + microphone that supports most phones (the $129 MIE2), or headphones + microphone + audio controls (the $129 MIE2i). No matter which model you buy, the headphones work with anything you plug them into, but the controls don’t always work. The MIE2i, for instance, won’t control volume or phone calls on my Samsung Fascinate, but audio sounds as good as ever.

If you’re primarily going to be using them with an Apple device, there’s absolutely no downside to the IE2 line of headphones. If you listen on something else, you’ll lose the in-line controls, but still get the great audio. For me, someone who listens to an iPod much more often than on my phone, it’s a worthwhile tradeoff to have to actually, you know, hold my phone to my ear sometimes.

If you’re in the mood to upgrade something in your tech arsenal, headphones are a great choice. For $100, you can take a giant step up from the headphones that came with your phone or music player, and you’ll notice a huge difference in your music experience.