Now hear this!

[Oldnick]

Or don't actually.  For over a year I have had a pair of Bose QC20i noise cancelling earbuds....which broke down just as I bought my Valk trike. I had known they were good and in fact bought a pair of Audio Technica ones that are not a patch on the Bose.

Anyway, I borrowed my wife's Bose ones yesterday, because she had tried them on the trike and raved about them. They are stunning! My trike is not that quiet in the exhaust dept, and the 250mm wide car tyres make a LOT of road noise on rougher stuff. Add to that the wind buffet noise that creeps over the windshield and riding without ear protection is pretty unpleasant and probably not eardrum friendly.

We had been using industrial expanding earplugs. I have used them for years and know how they work. So I tried the Bose and was just  blown away. I actually stopped and turned down Google Maps on my phone, because it was too loud and not needed at that level at all. Music and intercom would be a doddle. I had trouble judging my speed because I could hardly hear the exhaust and from habit even with industrial plugs, I was using the note to feel the speed. I could hear a very faint rushing that was wind noise even at 100kph into a strong (30+kph or so) head/cross wind, and  road noise was non-existant.

In that head/cross wind I was getting loud pops and static crackles from time to time. I worked out that it was sudden puffs of turbulence hitting, and for the few milliseconds it took for the noise cancelling to work, I was simply hearing what unprotected sound levels were! Under most conditions, this did not happen.

A HUGE plus is the earpieces themselves; they have silocone frames that fits _inside_ the ear and hold the bud in extremely well. I can slip my full face on without dislodging the buds, with just a slight widening that is pretty much what I do to clear my crown and tips of my ears anyway. Yesterday, the second time I used them, I was talking to somebody as I donned my helmet and was not even thinking and it all went well. My helmet actually snugs them home.

So. They are not cheap! Maybe I have missed something but I challenge anything else to perform like them.

As to the failure of my pair, they started whistling loudly as I removed them from my right ear and the whole sound was affected in normal use. Bose asked for some info that I could not find on the buds and it looked as if I may have bought a ring-in pair. Maybe grey market at least. But Bose Australia paid for them to be sent in, and have replaced them without t question. So again, I got service I paid for. I have not read other complaints about failures.

Not in any way affiliated etc  . Just FYI for anyone who wants a quiet cruise and to hear some music.

Nick

[Pappy!]

Nice review!
Good thing I was sitting down as at $299.00 a pair they better be that good....and make you breakfast in bed!

[Oldnick]

HAH! Yeah no BnB I am afraid. All they do is...nothing!   Because of their comfortable and positive fit, they can help you sleep though, with a bit of white noise!

I bought them to stop nuisance noise and like you I was appalled by the $$$$ (they cost more than my unlocked phone!), although I had read several positive user reviews. I needed the best I could find out about. I had tried my dud ones with my helmet and was happy they stayed put. But it was not until I used a working pair on the trike at speed that I realised how good they were.

They do have one fault. They affect the tone of the music you are listening to when you activate them, compared to when the cancellation is turned off. It seems to be caused by their extreme sound modification. It can be equalised for easily enough.

The Audio Technica, to give you an idea, turn up the volume when you activate them, presumably as a way to make it seem they are working (??). If anything the Bose set's music gets a bit quieter when the cancellation is on. Their real beauty is that you can kill real noise levels and listen to music without deafening yourself to hear it well.

So basically the price is higher than can really be justified, but most of the makes are, as far as I can see, becuse the AT ones basically are a joke as noise stoppers.

If anyone reads this and knows of anything of  equal ability for less, believe me I want to know, for future reference!

Nick

[Leatherman]

Thanks for the report Nick. I've been looking for some way to preserve what little hearing I have left but I thought Bose only made the big ear muff style. Wish I'd have known in time to ask Santa Clause. Thanks !

[Pappy!]

Would like to know as well.
Between guns, racing 2-strokes and an inboard hydro with the exhausts within a couple feet away from my helmet, and loud engines in general I have pretty poor hearing.

[Oldnick]

Great! I hope they do as well for you as they did for me and my wife. If you get a chance to try some, please do. You can actually feel them "close down" as they activate.

I also have more than a bit of tinitus and hearing loss from too many years of wind noise, shop noise etc, back when I was too macho to use ear protection. STDs for young and foolish bikers and tinkerers?

Just give a thought, though. These are only _needed_ if you want to listen to music, Google Maps, or intercom. You can keep stuff pretty quiet with just straight plugs.

A funny thing. I was out of riding for ..23....25 years. Used to never wear plugs etc. I was worried that if I wore ear pluge etc I would not hear other vehicles and sirens and such. On my first ride on the trike I realised I was not going to hear any of that anyway, above the noise the gal made at any speed. So now it's silent bliss, with eyes everywhere and reflexes ready.

Oh yeah. If you are going low speed and low noise, say in the city, another advantage of the Bose is that you can deactivate the NC and have normal hearing.

[Oldnick]

Would like to know as well.
Between guns, racing 2-strokes and an inboard hydro with the exhausts within a couple feet away from my helmet, and loud engines in general I have pretty poor hearing.

OK yeah you have punished those poor little membranes...even more than me! I am not sure if these will help you hear better when you have hearing loss. They well might, but probably not. But their main idea is to hear better what comes from the stereo, cutting out what doesn't. They do not help much with hearing what the next guy is  saying in a noisy room.

I will qualify that. I know from my experience that if I am in a noisy environment with my ringy ears, lowering the overall sound level by damping MAY allow me to hear somebody shouting at me over the noise, because my eardrums get all ringy at loud levels. Even with good ears, they will "clamp down" on loud noise and tend to mash it. But you can't work with separating external sounds, without VERY complex ideas; nothing I know of yet beats the ear itself.

I have to say that I love inboard hydros as a spectator, just because of the sound and they look so sleek and cool.....and just GRUNT. So you have sacrificed hearing for a converted guy! It must have been fun. Sorry you have paid.

[Oldnick]

OK. Given the expense of the Bose units, I thougvht I would experiment further. The Audio Technica units are about Aud$90 each, so I can buy 3 for the price of one Bose set. That really is a bit "distracting". So I ride tested the A/T unit.

My take is a major failure. At first, I would have said if you want super-quiet, then get the Bose, but sub $100 stuff is usable.

A static, helmet-on test showed that they were adequate in allowing music and comms with the engine at 3000 rpm, no load, and would handle more noise and still do the job. So I did a road test.

With a full face helmet that pressed the earpieces in (Nolan),  static, the cheaper unit  were very good. BUT...when I rode, a couple of serious weaknesses popped up.

First is that the ear buds are likely not to stay seated properly when you put  on your hat. In all my (10) rides with Herr Bose, not once did I have to try again.

Second is that after you think you have it right, ANY shift of the helmet can almost completely open the seal between the earpiece and your ear and the already weaker electronic sound killing will fail. In the end the only way I could seal the deal was to ride with hunched shoulders, so my cheekpieces buried the buds into my ears.

The result is that as I rode along, any head movement meant I was intermittently roared at by all the noise; engine, wind, road...and it was probably more distracting than no protection at all.

So from my limited (but real life) testing:
- you NEED to have the Bose-style earpiece, which has a flappy piece of silicone around the bud. It seals the ear at many angles, so the electronics can do their job.
- If you can get something that is cheaper, but also has the Bose slilcone flappy seal, and  hook that fits inside the ear-flap and holds in the bud, then all the better; it sits even when you scrape the helmet over it.
     - a far softer bud surround than the AT unit I had may also help
     - even with a good fit, the A/T unit gave more noise, because it relied on a physical seal and an electronic seal, so you  got more rumble.
- Given all that, if you want to ride at 60mph and have the wind sound like somebody is maybe flapping a piece of cling wrap behind you,  rather than the real wind noise (seriously, I keep hearing this flappy whispering and wondering  wha...) then get the Bose
- the Bose unit talks of 30dB kill and the A/T 20dB. That 10dB is $$ friggin luxury.

So (again ). I really want to have good Nav, good music, good comms, good phone while on the road. A smart phone allows all of that: google maps, excellent  mp3 players, phone that cancels music in a call, intercom with passenger. I am VERY happy with the $$$ (I admit) Bose unit for its bud design and electronics. Others may be better than the hard-foam  earpiece A/T unit I have.

I would like to hear.

[Jess Tolbirt]

now after you get it all sealed up and riding down the road with your music playing, will you be able to hear the sirens and other things going on around you?

[Pappy!]

Jess...I used a pair of cheaper ear buds last year for a day or so. Didn't like them but yes, you can hear a siren coming up on you easily.

[Oldnick]

The siren thing is a sort of valid point. But I have found that in any situation over 80 kph or so I would be struggling to hear a siren even without earplugs.....engine, wind, yre noise. I have not encountered a siren yet witgh the plugs in, but you can still hear stuff; it's just that it's all a lot quieter. If the really loud noise is quieted, then quite often the quieter ones become clearer. I used to sound engineer for live bands and I was always picked on by the players for sticking my fingers in my ears (not a good look) , but I could actually hear more details by killing the loud stuff. Your ears are logarithmic in response to loudness, so they tend to quash everything as it gets louder.

The noise cancelling also does not sound the same as a simply plugging your ears. Simple plugs deaden and muffle sounds, where the buds tend to get rid of the middle, with less emphasis on very low and high sounds.

Also even in a car, if I hear a siren I am always struggling to work out where the darn thing is coming from anyway. I reckon that I am 10 times as aware of my surroundings as the average motorist anyway, after years on a bike. Back on the trike I have again become conscioius of my senses working flat out.

Anyhoo...I feel that if you want to wear plugs, then get the right ones and the actual earpiece design is very important.

[Oldnick]

Basically it's pretty much like closing the car windows and having the music on, or maybe not having the music on. I do not listen to music while driving and probably won't on the trike, but I doubt mny wife would hear a siren in her car until it was darn loud!...and her music listening is nothing remarkable

[Jess Tolbirt]

i und

The siren thing is a sort of valid point. But I have found that in any situation over 80 kph or so I would be struggling to hear a siren even without earplugs.....engine, wind, yre noise. I have not encountered a siren yet witgh the plugs in, but you can still hear stuff; it's just that it's all a lot quieter. If the really loud noise is quieted, then quite often the quieter ones become clearer. I used to sound engineer for live bands and I was always picked on by the players for sticking my fingers in my ears (not a good look) , but I could actually hear more details by killing the loud stuff. Your ears are logarithmic in response to loudness, so they tend to quash everything as it gets louder.

The noise cancelling also does not sound the same as a simply plugging your ears. Simple plugs deaden and muffle sounds, where the buds tend to get rid of the middle, with less emphasis on very low and high sounds.

Also even in a car, if I hear a siren I am always struggling to work out where the darn thing is coming from anyway. I reckon that I am 10 times as aware of my surroundings as the average motorist anyway, after years on a bike. Back on the trike I have again become conscioius of my senses working flat out.

Anyhoo...I feel that if you want to wear plugs, then get the right ones and the actual earpiece design is very important.

i understand about the finger thing in the ear.. i have a head banging son in law and when we attend his concerts i wear ear plugs so i can actually hear the band

[IamGCW]

I use those Bose when flying.  There is a button on the control that allows you to open the mic for listening to the surrounding environment.  They also can be plugged into a cell phone allowing it to be hands free.  They work great for about 12 hours, then they are just ear buds until recharged.  Usually run them with no music, keeps the neighbor passengers from chatting.

Never tried them on the bike, use those foam tampons instead. 

Gil

[Oldnick]

i understand about the finger thing in the ear.. i have a head banging son in law and when we attend his concerts i wear ear plugs so i can actually hear the band

HAH! Yeah but the image is not good when the front of house mixer guy is doing it!

[Oldnick]

I use those Bose when flying.  There is a button on the control that allows you to open the mic for listening to the surrounding environment.  They also can be plugged into a cell phone allowing it to be hands free.  They work great for about 12 hours, then they are just ear buds until recharged.  Usually run them with no music, keeps the neighbor passengers from chatting.

Never tried them on the bike, use those foam tampons instead.  

Gil

Love the no music part. Just peace. My FIl, rest his soul, used to sit at parties with an earplug in and everybody assumed he was hard of hearng. Truth was he was listening to the tote and ignoring everybody! So...sort of the opposite of your idea, with the same desire.

The foamies are simpler, I agree, and serve well for killing noise. But if you want comms, maps guidance or music, use the Bose. For me and my wife there is no trouble with the helmet going on over them, and the noise cancelling beats the foamies, both for quiet and for still hearing other stuff.