The brand Bose draws a lot of criticism from
audio circles for making overpriced
and under-performing products and marketing the heck out of them.
Well I got a pair of the new Bose SoundTrue
on-ear portable headphones. What do I think of them? Have I finally sold my soul to the devil?
Well you're watching Lachlan Likes A Thing, and let's find out!
Hey everyone!
Welcome to Lachlan Likes A Thing, the show where I take a thing and see
whether or not I like it.
Now the thing we're looking at in this video is the Bose SoundTrue
On-Ear portable headphones. Now this is the first Bose product that I've
ever owned - well technically it's the second Bose product I've ever owned because
the first was the Bose
SoundTrue around ear headphones wichh I bought and unboxed on this channel and
then had to return because I found out that they weren't sealing properly with the
pair of glasses that I was wearing
and I swapped them for these, these are the Bose on ear versions.
And then I found out that those glasses actually prevented a lot of headphones from
sealing properly so I had to swap glasses as well, so
long story short this is the Bose SoundTrue
On Ear. This is part of Bose's new SoundTrue lineup of headphones.
It retails for $180 recommended retail
in the United States and $229
recommended retail price in Australia though I got my pair for $200
at JB Hi-Fi. Anyway let's start with the design! So as soon as you pick up the
Bose SoundTrue you can tell that this
is an extremely compact, extremely
light weight headphone.
It almost feels a little flimsy just because of how lightweight and flexible
it really is but at the same time all the materials chosen
seem to be high quality plastics so it's hard to say,
I would have to really look at long-term durability from people's kinda
reports of this headphone. I think that it should be a pretty well built headphone
apart from general light weight does have a decent build to it.
It is also an extremely compact headphone
because you can basically fold this up
into this kind of tiny shape here which is really remarkable.
The only other headphone that I've seen that can fold up into
as small shape is the Koss Porta Pro and that thing is basically -
you know - that basically is a headphone with drivers attached -
sorry a headband with drivers attached. So that's an exxtremely simplistic design so,
I have kind of commend Bose for making a product which
is, you know, very very compact and very very easy to just
tuck away so if you don't have much room in your bag
I suppose this is a big selling point for the SoundTrue.
The other thing about the Bose SoundTrue
is that it does have a detachable cable
though it uses a what looks like a
proprietary connector so you're not going to be able to replace it with any
aftermarket cables. This is a 4 pin,
maybe even smaller than 2.5mm, Im not sure, so you gonna have to go to
Bose if you ever break the cable. The cable itself has
a kind of smart phone remote on it and the actual cable
is... it's not the greatest in terms of quality, as you can see it retains a
fair bit of memory.
It's not particularly supple and it does tangle quite easily.
On the end of the cable there is
a 3.5mm four
pin terminal. The thing about this connector
is that it is a straight angle connector which is really quite
unfortunate because it is gonna stick out of your pocket little bit and I
would have preferred a ninety degree angle
connector. So that's a bit of an oversight. So moving on to comfort
the Bose SoundTrue on-ear is probably
the most comfortable on ear headphone
that I have ever tried and this is both because of
its low clamping force and also
because of its very very lightweight. So
its - you're not going to completely forget that it's on your years because it
actually is sitting right on top of your ears and it's still going to touch your skin
and not everyone loves on-ear headphones for that reason but apart from that
they are headphones that are just very very easy to just
wear for hours and hours. Because of the low clamping force
they don't feel is stable on the head as I think that they
could feel. They're certainly not going to be good for running or anything like that.
They're not gonna fall right ahead if you do some head banging or
anything like that but they will shift around a bit so
they are a little less stable on the head than something like the
Sennheiser Amperior.
And also noise isolation on the Bose SoundTrue on-ear
is just a little bit on the poorer side. You do find that you have to turn up the
volume just to get above the average background noise.
So how did the Bose SoundTrue on-ears sound?
Well after listening to this for a while
I now understand why opinions on Bose can be so divided
because this is a headphone that is
inoffensive to the point of being offensive.
What I mean by that is that the SoundTrue has a really warm
agreeable sound, it's definitely been tuned to a specific
kind of signature. It has a surprising amount of bass
for such a small headphone. The mids are smoothed,
there's a nice amount of energy to the vocals
but where it really runs into trouble is with the
treble because the treble is rolled off
on the Bose SoundTrue. And its rolled off in a way that
it doesn't make it sound congested but it does mean that
it is rolled up to the point where it really is lacking
in detail in terms of sound. It makes the soundstage
seem more compressed and more intimate than it really is so
as a result its it's going to be a headphone it's really going to be
pleasing to people who
who are - who are sensitive to sibilance. It's gonna be
good in terms of signature for noisy environments when you have to turn up the
volume and
and you don't hurt your ears from aggressive treble
but at the same time it really lacks a degree of detail
when you put it up against things like the Sennheiser Amperior or
a number kind of portable on ear headphones.
So its, its the kind of sound where I wear it
and you know if I wasn't comparing it directly to anything else I could
quite enjoy it. I actually think it's a nice enough tuning
but as soon as I put it up against anything that's in its kinda price range I
think 'Oh',
I'm missing out a lot in terms of
energy and shimmer and kinda detail and texture
in the treble. Looking at it overall I think the Bose SoundTrue
doesn't sound bad but it is a bit disappointing
for the retail price. If it was price closer to 100 to 130 dollars I'd
be happy to recommend it because it is a very comfortable headphone
It seems decently bill at the same time.
But right now I just don't think it's a good buy compared to other options
like the Sennheiser Amperior and
I'll actually be reviewing the V-Moda XS
on the channel soon so I suspect that this headphone
won't compare favorably with the V-Moda XS
either. But, you know I don't love the
Bose SoundTrue on-ear but if you think that comfort
and compactness are you absolute top priorities
I think you'll find a lot to like in the SoundTrue on-ear.
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Thanks to all my regular subscribers and happy listening!