Bose products. Very much on the decline

[TheVTCGuy]

I used to be a die-hard Bose customer, home theater, workout headphones, over the ear noise cancelling headphones for the plane. I know you audiophiles will scoff at my naivety, but I found them good products. Well, apparently they are seriously on the decline and its not just me.

First, I purchased a pair of NC 700 noise cancelling headphones to replace my wireless QC35s that had served me for years. They sound great (to me) and the noise cancelling is excellent. I was very satisfied for the first 10 minutes, then they automatically shut off. There is a feature included where if the headphones sense no movement they shut down to conserve battery life. There is a setting in the firmware that allows the user to select (from memory) 10 minutes, one hour, three hours and never. The problem is, REGARDLESS of what the setting is in the firmware, they automatically shut off after 10 minutes of not sensing movement. EXTREMLY aggravating if you are trying to sleep on a plane, or just relaxing at home listening to music; 10 minutes and you get a loud and obnoxious shut down noise (which wakes you up) and the headphones shut off. I was so infuriated I sent a certified letter to Bose with a written list of all the complaints from their website, (if you go to the Bose community you will see several threads with hundreds of users complaining) basically asking WTF!? To my surprise, and Bose credit, I received a phone call from the head of customer service, (can't remember his name) and had a very cordial conversation. He stated there would be a firmware update soon that increased that time to one hour. I wanted to bring up the fact that I sometimes sleep longer then one hour on a plane, or meditating at home while just listening to music (being still) for longer then that as well, but since I had replaced my Bose headphones with Bang and Olufsen I didn't bother.

Bose has another product that I truly liked using but had problems, they are called "Sleep Buds" I am on my third pair in about a year and a half. The first, one bud would not charge, and was replaced by Bose. The second, the exact same thing happened but being over-seas I had no choice but to buy a new pair. I can not sleep in hotel rooms, especially if it is too quiet (call me a weirdo). Sleep buds are tiny-wireless ear phones that play white noise or relaxing sounds like waves on the beach or rain, anyway they were essential for me to get a good night's sleep while traveling and WHEN THEY WORKED an excellent product.

I am in Canada and powered on my sleep buds last night going to bed, there was a note in the firmware of an important announcement; Bose was discontinuing the sleepbuds product and would give you a full refund.

Wow.... A major company doing that is practically unheard of. I am sending mine in and there are a couple competitors I will choose from, but what the hell is going on with that company? They used to be the top of the line, now they are recalling products and offering free refunds? This is bad... I am disappointed and sad but no more Bose for me.

[Blansky]

I hear they were bought by Tumi.


Seriously though, for non audiophiles, Bose was a pretty impressive name with pretty great sound at one time. I hate when these companies get acquired by other companies and go into the dumper.

I used to drink a lot of Teavana Tea and the were bought by Starbucks and then disappeared down the rabbit hole.

[pickettt]

The quality of all products are on the decline. Further fueled by acceptance and lower expectations.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

. . . . . The second, the exact same thing happened but being over-seas I had no choice but to buy a new pair. I can not sleep in hotel rooms, especially if it is too quiet (call me a weirdo). Sleep buds are tiny-wireless ear phones that play white noise or relaxing sounds like waves on the beach or rain . . . . .

You're not a weirdo, Paul, you're just normal in your own, special way.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by pickettt

The quality of all products are on the decline. Further fueled by acceptance and lower expectations.

Seems like this is also now true for KitchenAid Stand Mixers as well. Always thought they were the gold standard. Does not appear that way when checking out various reviews.


Cheap labor, cheap parts, and share holders demands for ever increasing quick profits with little regard for making solid products that are built to last.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by dddrees

Seems like this is also now true for KitchenAid Stand Mixers as well. Always thought they were the gold standard. Does not appear that way when checking out various reviews.


Cheap labor, cheap parts, and share holders demands for ever increasing quick profits with little regard for making solid products that are built to last.

Yup. Black and Decker too.

Globalization took the pride and prestige away from the brands where before the workers and the company cared about what they produced. Now is just bang out the product and the bean counters count the money so the CEO can get bonuses and the poorly produced crap ends up in a landfill. Then Amazon can send you a new one in 2 days.

It would be interesting if there were a law that the country of manufacture of this junk had to take it back when it fails in a couple of weeks/years. Amazon picks it up for free and sends it back to China.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Yup. Black and Decker too.

Globalization took the pride and prestige away from the brands where before the workers and the company cared about what they produced. Now is just bang out the product and the bean counters count the money so the CEO can get bonuses and the poorly produced crap ends up in a landfill.

Yeah, really does suck for so many different reasons. Used to be able to count on certain products that were the gold standard and you can't do that anymore. People used to make a good living and take pride in in their job. Todays work force is in such a sorry state it really is and there are so many reasons but this certainly has something to do with that.

[Noonan]

Not only did they recall the sleep buds but they're also now having to go to customer homes to figure out why a new software for their QC headsets make them work worse.

After people realized the issue, they started downgrading the software so it would work again. Of course, Bose then made it impossible to downgrade software.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by dddrees

Seems like this is also now true for KitchenAid Stand Mixers as well. Always thought they were the gold standard. Does not appear that way when checking out various reviews.


Cheap labor, cheap parts, and share holders demands for ever increasing quick profits with little regard for making solid products that are built to last.

Hilarious you should mention it; I just had a conversation with one of my employees yesterday about KitchenAid products. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer and blender that I bought over 20 years ago.....still going strong. We just bought a KitchenAid food processor a few months ago and I’m afraid it’s gonna bust at any moment.

BTW, I think the biggest travesty ever was Black and Decker’s acquisition of Porter Cable. Those who know tools will know what that meant.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by pickettt

Hilarious you should mention it; I just had a conversation with one of my employees yesterday about KitchenAid products. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer and blender that I bought over 20 years ago.....still going strong. We just bought a KitchenAid food processor a few months ago and I’m afraid it’s gonna bust at any moment.

BTW, I think the biggest travesty ever was Black and Decker’s acquisition of Porter Cable. Those who know tools will know what that meant.

No, I get it and KitchenAid Mixers were just one that was a recent surprise but not a shock for me. If I stopped and thought about it I could probably list many more myself.

[Syed117]

Bose has survived on it's name and legacy for at least a decade at this point. It's the high priced (therefor it must be good) option for people who don't know any better or don't care.

Even I loved those cube home audio systems when I was young. They looked so cool. Wasn't until much later that I learned that speakers from other companies that cost half as much sound five times as good. They just didn't look as cool.

Their headphones sound like trash. Their home audio equipment is terrible relative to the price you pay. They are good at marketing and producing products that are cleanly designed and somewhat user friendly.

There are far better alternatives to any product that Bose has made in the last 10 years.

[77T]

I hope they sort it out for you, Paul - whatever process you wish like refund or replacement. On the firmware, it would appear from your narrative that the “sleep” settings are not saving properly via the App.

In the meantime, have you tried playing the white noise or surf via small BT speakers? Headphones or earbuds are great but in hotels I want to hear the fire alarm


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Syed117

Bose has survived on it's name and legacy for at least a decade at this point. It's the high priced (therefor it must be good) option for people who don't know any better or don't care.

Even I loved those cube home audio systems when I was young. They looked so cool. Wasn't until much later that I learned that speakers from other companies that cost half as much sound five times as good. They just didn't look as cool.

Their headphones sound like trash. Their home audio equipment is terrible relative to the price you pay. They are good at marketing and producing products that are cleanly designed and somewhat user friendly.

There are far better alternatives to any product that Bose has made in the last 10 years.

When younger and this was late sixties early seventies it was their Bose 901s that I always wanted so bad. Yes, I am sure there may have even been better speakers back then but when I finally got a pair in the mid eighties I know I was pretty happy.

[Syed117]

Originally Posted by dddrees

When younger and this was late sixties early seventies it was their Bose 901s that I always wanted so bad. Yes, I am sure there may have even been better speakers back then but when I finally got a pair in the mid eighties I know I was pretty happy.

I would have killed for any number of Bose products when I was younger. Back then there was a legitimate reason to have them. They really stood out and the performance was great for the time.

A lot of these newer companies didn't get popular and gain mainstream attention until much later. Sony makes the best noise cancelling headphones now, but Bose despite sounding mediocre were the gold standard for so many years.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Syed117

I would have killed for any number of Bose products when I was younger. Back then there was a legitimate reason to have them. They really stood out and the performance was great for the time.

A lot of these newer companies didn't get popular and gain mainstream attention until much later. Sony makes the best noise cancelling headphones now, but Bose despite sounding mediocre were the gold standard for so many years.

Understand, and please don't take my comment as an argument as much as just how good or at least how good I thought they were back then.


Frankly when looking at their noise cancelling headphones years ago I was amazed at how poorly constructed they appeared to be. Everybody said the noise cancelling was always great but the headphones or at least ear pieces were crap.

[Syed117]

Originally Posted by dddrees

Understand, and please don't take my comment as an argument as much as just how good or at least how good I thought they were back then.

No no. Of course not

That name meant something to everyone at some point. Myself included.

[John45]

At one time, Bose did not allow dealers to place Bose speakers where they could be directly compared to the competition. I don't know if that's still the case. Obviously, the policy was meant to discourage direct comparison to better speakers.

Bose was also known for "coloring" the sound output to make it more pleasing to the human ear, rather than producing accurate sound.

I've always considered Bose to be hype over quality, much like Grey Goose vodka. Just my opinion, of course.

[daveathall]

I am a big fan of American products, I started this thread some 5 years ago, please excuse the lack of "photo bucket" photos.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=354726

[SearChart]

I usually fall asleep with simple apple airbuds, they're comfortable for me.

And for noise cancelling I'd check out that recent Sony headphones, they are supposed to be quite a lot better than Bose, and are similarly priced.

[swils8610]

People buy Bose because of the name. Its familiar and it used to represent quality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ashbaug2]

It was previously mentioned, but these big companies are just shells of what they used to be, riding on the coat tails of previous generations of ingenuity and quality. I have a 20+ year old Kitchen Aid mixer that I got from my grandmother when she went into a retirement home, and it's still beating away. My grandpa's Craftsman tools, also. I wouldn't touch those brands, now.

My dad had a pair of giant Pioneer speakers that he bought in the early 70s in a PX while in the Air Force. They were ugly by 2000s standards, but boy did they sound great. He thought he'd upgrade and bout a Bose system in 2015, used it for a month, hated it, returned it, and went back to his 40 year old Pioneers...

It's weird, where some things get better (Rolex movements now are much more robust than their 1960s-70s counterparts, I think we can all agree on that), other things deteriorate. I have to wonder if it's our consumerist society that wants to have new things every year or two so the need for quality isn't important for the gross majority of consumers? I'd much rather buy once and have something for a lifetime...

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by ashbaug2

It's weird, where some things get better (Rolex movements now are much more robust than their 1960s-70s counterparts, I think we can all agree on that), other things deteriorate. I have to wonder if it's our consumerist society that wants to have new things every year or two so the need for quality isn't important for the gross majority of consumers?

I think it was first the Walmarting and then the Amazoning of products that people wanted because they were cheap.

Walmart wiped out most small town business and soon overtook the country with cheap crap from China. Globalization was just blossoming and selling cheap was the order of the day. Companies realized this and soon everything was cheap and the parts were cheap in them and ironically just as we were entering the era of people caring about the environment we began filling the landfills with inferior junk that didn't last.

There was a time not too long ago that products also had a warranty. Now you have to buy one.

[NYC6]

One of the first things I did when I bought my Corvette was pull out the whole Bose sound system and replace it. It was subpar in my opinion and most who had it also. Wife and I did purchase noise cancelling headphones made by Bose and they’ve worked perfectly for about 4 years now. I do think that the company’s best is behind them, perhaps they can right the ship and get its status back to where it was.

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by ashbaug2

It was previously mentioned, but these big companies are just shells of what they used to be, riding on the coat tails of previous generations of ingenuity and quality. I have a 20+ year old Kitchen Aid mixer that I got from my grandmother when she went into a retirement home, and it's still beating away. My grandpa's Craftsman tools, also. I wouldn't touch those brands, now.

My dad had a pair of giant Pioneer speakers that he bought in the early 70s in a PX while in the Air Force. They were ugly by 2000s standards, but boy did they sound great. He thought he'd upgrade and bout a Bose system in 2015, used it for a month, hated it, returned it, and went back to his 40 year old Pioneers...

It's weird, where some things get better (Rolex movements now are much more robust than their 1960s-70s counterparts, I think we can all agree on that), other things deteriorate. I have to wonder if it's our consumerist society that wants to have new things every year or two so the need for quality isn't important for the gross majority of consumers? I'd much rather buy once and have something for a lifetime...

Well yes and no. The steel used for pinions was much harder back in the day. Vintage movements running with dried lube for years and years and hardly any wear. They don't properly burnish the steel anymore, so it wears quicker....

[droptopman]

Good marketing and living off past performance--as in the way past...Sad we see so many products do this.

[GSDLover]

This is a great thread for me. I am one of those uninformed that think bose is the best.
For tabletop stereos, what would you guys recommend?

[daveathall]

Originally Posted by GSDLover

This is a great thread for me. I am one of those uninformed that think bose is the best.
For tabletop stereos, what would you guys recommend?

Sennheiser, Focal, Beyerdynamic, Grado, Hifiman, Audeze to name some.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Sennheiser, Focal, Beyerdynamic, Grado, Hifiman, Audeze to name some.

Wow. Am I out of the loop.

Never heard of any of them.

[bondtoys]

Originally Posted by daveathall

Sennheiser, Focal, Beyerdynamic, Grado, Hifiman, Audeze to name some.

And B&W ;)

[Noonan]

And McIntosh