Bose QC-1 Quiet Comfort Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset.(Brief Article)(Evaluation)

Manufacturer: Bose Corporation, The Mountain, Framingham, MA 01701

Price: $299.95

Source: Manufacturer loan

The Bose QC-1 Quiet Comfort Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset provides noise canceling and the ability to hear music and/or dialogue in many noisy situations. For a very interesting and effective presentation of this device, I suggest you check the Bose Corporation Website at www.Bose.com. It is a very well designed site, well worth a visit.

My daughter gave me a trip to Great Britain as a birthday present. (If you keep your children around long enough, it pays off.) Unfortunately, she couldn't afford first class, so we didn't get to try out Bose Noise Canceling Headsets provided by some airlines. The flights were noisy, crowded, and unpleasant. My last trip to Great Britain had been on the S.S. United States under much more comfortable conditions and I mourned the passing of the luxurious days of my youth. Escorting my daughter from point to point and place to place, I found myself mourning my lost youth period.

I couldn't recover my youthful verve and energy but I could explore the uses of noise canceling headsets. I contacted Bose and requested a set to test. Initially, I tried them out mowing the lawn. My electric mower isn't the noisiest device in the world but I hate cutting the grass and listening to music seemed a palliative. While I had tried listening to FM on a radio with headphones, the only way I could hear the music was to threaten my hearing with full power and too much distortion.

The Bose Noise Canceling Headset did take care of the noise but wearing them while wrestling with the mower proved a problem as it took me twice as long to mow the lawn. I always seemed to end in the middle of the some lovely piece of music and lost more time waiting for the end. I decided that the headset was at best a mixed blessing.