The first nice of headphones I ever had was a pair of the original noise-cancelling Bose QuietComforts, when a friend who worked there gave me an extra pair he had (thanks Steve!). I was working in a busy newsroom at the time, and they changed my life. For once, I could work in peace without listening to George yell about politics to someone on the other side of the office from three feet away from my desk.
I wore them literally every day for two years until they wore out, but with a $349 price tag in 2008 dollars (about $535 today), that was the going to be the last pair I owned for a long, long time.
Well, if they’d been this cheap back then, I would have been able to replace them, because for the first time I can ever remember all eight (!) color choices of the current model Bose QuietComfort Headphones are under $200, a full 40% the list price. They have up to 24 hours of battery life plus quick charge, and are Bluetooth compatible with anything, or you can plug a regular headphone cable into them, too, for your Walkman.
The great noise cancelling is their main feature, letting you shut out all kinds of background irritations, but I love that there’s an Aware mode that lets in exterior sound, important if you’re wearing them when you need to hear your environment. I’m so happy that I can finally afford another pair.
