Headphones
I have, for about two years, been a proud owner of the Grado Labs SR60 headphones. They have served me well. But as the POKE office has grown in size - as in population and as in sq. ft per person - it also automatically updated to a new version of Dolby Office Surround Sound.
So I needed to change headphones. And this time the change is called Bose QuietComfort 3.
Now, of cause, it is a bit unfair to compare a £60 to a £275 headphone. But the difference here is not value for money, it’s the different types of headphones. The SR60 is a ‘Open’ type of headphone while the Bose QuietComfort 3 is a Noise Canceling headphone.
The Grado Labs SR60 works perfectly if you are in a quieter environment. It’s an ‘Open’ headphone. So it has an open grille on the back and allows the sound-waves to propagate away from the ear freely. This mean a lot of sound “leaks” in and out. Quite often I have forgotten I have had them on and just left the desk with a small bang.
The Bose QuietComfort 3 are Noise Canceling headphones. You put them on and it’s quiet. It might leak out a bit of sound, but the biggest different is that nothing leaks in. Basically the headphones are equipped with small microphones that absorb the sound around you, and then a speaker sends a sound that cancels out that sound the microphone caught.
And it works. It works beautifully.
But, £275…? No, $350. And $350 is about £180. If it wasn’t for that fact that the dollar was so weak when I was over in Florida, America, the Bose QuietComfort 3 would still have been on my “wish list”. Now, instead, I will have a very pleasant flight to New Zealand.