I’ve always cared about the headphones that I use, but if I am honest the depth of that care extended mostly to price and design alone. I wanted something priced higher than grocery store checkout line level, but far less than an audiophile would pay — mostly I just wanted my headphones to look cool.
There was also another thing: I liked the Apple headphones back then. I liked them for the same reason everyone else did back in the day: they told the world you had an iPod. So I really didn’t need portable headphones.
Christmas of 2004 (maybe 2003) my Dad gave me a set of Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones — big, noise canceling, and the Bose name. I loved those headphones, in fact I still love those headphones.
Up and until yesterday I still used those 6+ year old headphones for almost everything — including travel. ((They are great for blocking out crying babies on the plane.))
But I knew I needed a new set of headphones, I mostly knew this because here is what those old Bose headphones look like today:
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-1.jpg)
Yes, that’s a zip tie holding them together along with a piece of tape. The zip tie was added to them somewhere over the U.S. in a cramped cabin of an airplane. ((For the life of me I can’t remember why I had a zip tie with me.)) The tape was added later to secure other plastic bits that were cracking.
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-2.jpg)
The right side held up much better, not requiring tape until sometime in 2009.
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-3.jpg)
You guessed it, this is the reason I needed new headphones. Sometime last year the ear pads started to disintegrate and leave little black flecks all over my ears and face. They still work fine and fit nice — they just kinda gross me out now.
But that’s a long life for a set of mid-range headphones.
Perhaps my favorite part of the old Bose was the stack of courtesy cards that it came with — and that store in the case — for handing out to other people:
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](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-4.jpg)
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-5.jpg)
How perfectly arrogant.
This isn’t a review of any new headphone — it’s a goodbye to a great set of headphones.
But, to save some emails, here is what will be replacing the Bose: two separate pairs of Sennheisers.
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-6.jpg)
Those are for my home.
[
](http://c276381.r81.cf1.rackcdn.com/headphones-7.jpg)
Those are for my office.
I hope they last a while…
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