 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Advertisement |
 |
 |
 |
|
DriverHeaven Review |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Since it’s foundation in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, the Bose Corporation has been making breakthrough sound products and changing the way people and companies look at audio. They won international acclaim by setting a new standard for lifelike sound reproduction in 1968 with the introduction of the 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system. Today they have a diverse household product lineup ranging from speakers and radios to headphones. Today we will be reviewing their Bose Triport headphones and look at the performance, wear and tear after one years use, and our dealings with Bose. The Package
The Headphones Acoustic Structure of the TriPort®
headphone system Acoustic equalization Adjustable headband TriPort ear cushions Most of that is what I’d consider marketing speech. For example, “ergonomic design” means comfortable fitting design. The following are specifications from retailers that carry Triports.
Most of the headphone design is straight forward, the Triport headband rests on top of your head, they aren’t made to resist water, they don’t have a noise canceling feature although this is hardly an issue. As for the other aspects of the bose design and information about impedance and sensitivity please head over here. So enough mumbo jumbo, let’s see some pictures!
I purchased the glacier blue color as silver was not in stock. As you can see the color isn’t a solid normal blue, it’s more of a metallic speckled blue which gives it a more unique feel. The ear cushions are very thick and soft which make for a very comfortable fit. There is one serious thing lacking for me when it comes to these headphones, they lack a volume control. This makes things awkward when for example you are wearing them listening to your IPOD (in your pocket) when your recording material has varying dynamic levels.
Triports feature individual cords which can prove rather messy if you are frequently moving around.
I have provided a reference shot with the Triport headphones and a Logitech MX 500 mouse, this is to give everyone a better indication of size.
Many of you might look at that picture and think the headphones are big, bulky, and therefore heavy. this is in fact quite the opposite, they are not heavy! The Triport weighs 5 ounces, that is less than 1/3 of a pound (1/3 of a pound is 6 ounces). Your head will not feel bogged down with these headphones at all. As for the size, they do cup your entire ear comfortably and securely, but they are not that much bigger than your normal run of the mill headphones by comparison.
Something that I did find a bit of a nuisance is the 6’ (that’s 6 feet or 182.9cm) cord. I’m a pretty short guy at around 5 feet, 5 inches, and I wear my music player on my pant’s belt. Because there is probably 2 feet from my head to my waist, the cord has an extra 4 feet dangling around, so a little preemptive planning is required if you are going on long journeys.
The Triport also has a gold connecter (the adapter is gold as well). Gold connectors are associated with high quality speaker equipment giving better conduction (which means better quality sound, but it’s useless if you don’t connect it to a gold jack), it also has the added benefit in that it won’t rust, corrode, or go through any other types of oxidation which will lead to sound detoriation over the years.
Comfort As I mentioned before, these headphones are very light and have thick comfortable ear cushions that cup your whole ear and don’t apply any painful pressure anywhere. I’ve had these headphones for a year and have worn them jogging, sitting at my computer for hours, walking around campus, they were never uncomfortable, Headphones of this size are usually heavier and provide varying levels of discomfort with sustained use (The Sony Studio Monitor Series DJ headphones carry the same retail price of $149.99 but weigh twice as much, 10 ounces). Performance When it comes to audio there are a few things to listen for such as: clarity, treble, bass (even though to some people the only thing that matters is bass). Unfortunately for those of you craving 5.1 audio, these phones are only stereo, they were designed for normal music which is only 2 channels. -Testing Setup- Clarity Treble Bass Movie Testing Movie 1: Star Wars – Attack of the Clones
Everything came through crystal clear, and even though the headphones aren’t made for 5.1, I noticed that almost all the sounds were still being produced, just not obviously given the directionality of 5 separate channels. Movie 2: Akira – 2 Disc Collector’s Edition
The Japanese track of this movie is Dolby Surround (2 Channel). Even though the sound was still as clear as the 5.1 track of Star Wars, there was better use of directionality because the soundtrack was made for stereo. 3rd Party Testing -Outside Testing Setup-
As you can see from the graph, Triports have excellent bass and are more balanced than their retail priced brother. Longevity / Dealing with Bose As I have said before these headphones are ultra light with a long cord which means one thing, they will get a lot of abuse. I don’t know how many times my headphones fell to the ground, or got snagged and pulled hard but it was definitely a lot. If you are going to keep these headphones strictly to your computer desk this shouldn’t be a problem, but I took my headphones everywhere. And surprisingly enough these headphones didn’t break with the constant abuse. But on a plane ride home and some twisting of the headphones caused a problem. The problem that happened to me (and from my understanding) is a fairly common problem amongst Triport owners, a piece of the adjustable headband broke off on one side which allows the metal slider to slip out and the cup to detach from the headband.
Now the headphones still worked, but it was annoying having them slide out (and it kind of hurt too if it slid off and the metal hit you in the head). Now the problem happened nearly a year after I bought the headphones but I knew when I bought them and still had my receipt, so I e-mailed Bose about a replacement. Considering the abuse these things took (I’ve gone through headphones every few months until I got the Triports) and that it took nearly a year for something to happen to them I’d call them durable. But since they do need returning I’ve supplied copies of the e-mails that were sent and received from Bose during the RMA process (edited for privacy). _______________________________ I have a set of Bose Triport headphones and on my last plane flight coming back from Philidelphia I was resting the headphones around my neck as the flight attendant had told me to turn off my ipod. I dropped my bottle of water and looked down to get it and a piece of the sideband broke off. I knew that the breaking of the plastic bangs is common so please don't tell me it was my own fault. These headphones are excellently designed and are lightweight which are all pluses, but it also makes it fragile. I still have the receipt for the headphones and they were purchased in May of last year, if you need me to fax over a copy of the receipt I'll see what I can do as it is a little faded. Please give me the RMA address and I'll have it shipped out to you as soon as I can. Kind regards, _______________________________ Hello Aaron: We would like to exchange the unit for you at no cost. Please ship it to Bose Factory Repair, ***** ******** ***** Dr. Door **, *********, South Carolina, *****. On the outside of the box please write the Return Materials Authorization (RMA) number "*********-**". Once your unit is received a new order will be entered for you. Shipment will take between two to three weeks from that point. We recommend shipping UPS insured when you ship the old headset to Bose. In turn, we will ship the new headset to you via UPS ground service. You would have to pay for incoming shipping but Bose will pay for return shipping. We will ship the new headset to the address you provided. You will receive a new one year warranty on the product. Please ship the old carrying case and all the accessories that came with the headset back to Bose with the headset. All these items will be replaced when you send the new Triport headset to you in Glacier Blue. Regards, Thank you for contacting
Bose Corporation. _______________________________
-Pros- -Cons- Carrying a retail price tag of $150, the Bose Triport headphones are not for those looking for a new cheap pair. These are meant for those who can afford the expensive models. The bass, clarity, and treble is excellent with no distortion, exquisite "highs", and powerful yet tight "lows"; there is nothing lacking when it comes to how they sound, however they are limited to only 2 channels. These headphones are best suited for living room or desk use only as the long cord, size, and light weight of the headphones may make things complicated when traveling. But they can take a good amount of abuse, so don’t be afraid to take them with you. If you’re particularly worried about something happening to them, take out an extended warranty with your local/online retailer when you buy them. TIP: A lot of headphones
require a burn-in process of blasting a variety of music
very loudly for roughly 48 hours to get optimum sound quality.
I’m not sure if this is needed for Bose Triports,
but it wouldn’t hurt.
|
|
|
