We spend a lot of time listening to music and when it comes to enjoying it, a good quality pair of headphones is all you need. There are many brands of headphones, right from ultra-affordable ones to the ridiculously expensive ones. The QuietComfort series from Bose is highly popular for its noise cancellation feature. We have the affordable SoundTrue around-ear headphones with us today. Priced in the Rs. 13,500* range, are they worth spending your money? Let’s find out.
Design and Build
The Bose SoundTrue around-ear headphones look stylish, elegant and have an eye-catching design. Unlike previous models, Bose is no longer sticking to single colour design. The SoundTrue around-ear headphones are available in a variety of colours to choose from, such as black, white, mint and mint-white.
To catch up with the latest trends, Bose has tried to mix and match colour combinations to make their headphones as attractive to audiences. The casings of the headphones are made from thick and sturdy plastic material, and has a matte finish to it. The earcups are very soft and comfortable to wear. They are flexible and can be rotated to a certain degree. Also, the softly padded headband is comfy and does not create any pressure on the scalp.
One good thing about the headphones is that the audio cable is detachable. Both sides have 3.5mm connectors, one fitting inside the dome of headphones and the other goes into the audio jack of your device. The cable is of good quality, but we were a little disappointed that it wasn’t very thick like the one that comes with the QuietComfort 25. You also get the in-line microphone, play/pause and volume control buttons, designed to work with iPhone and iPods.
Performance
One thing we liked about the Bose SoundTrue headphones is the comfort it offers. The earcups have a very good cushioning and wearing the headphones for long hours shouldn’t be an issue. These headphones comfortably fit over the ears, and the way they are designed, they also isolate well so you don’t hear a lot of background noise. We started testing these headphones by playing songs of different genres - right from trance to hip-hop, metal and some Bollywood music too. The audio output was loud, crisp and we liked the details these headphones offered. We played some trance songs such as Armin Van Burren's In and Out of Love, DJ Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise and Elements of Life. Here, we noticed that the bass-levels were pretty good and it didn’t distort, even at full volume. However, the treble was slightly on the higher side.
Next, we played Eagle's Hotel California (MTV Unplugged version), where the guitar solos at the beginning sounded very crisp. The bassy bongos which come later were detailed and we could feel good thump in low frequency sounds. Mids were up to the mark and the good isolation the earcups offer. We also played Pink Floyd’s Time, from The Dark Side of the Moon album. Here, we were really impressed with the details the headphone offered, the sound of the clocks at the beginning and clarity of other instruments such as the drums, guitar and piano sounded detailed. There wasn’t a second when we thought that the music sounded flat, like some other headphones. We would have loved if Bose had tweaked the treble slightly lower. If you’re the one who like listening to music at full volumes without compromising on clarity, the Bose SoundTrue around-ear headphones might just be the apt choice.
Verdict
The Bose SoundTrue around-ear headphones are priced on the affordable side compared to its QuietComfort counterparts. Selling for Rs. 13,500*, they are perfect for those who are looking for a comfortable and good sounding headphone. These headphones look good, are available in flashy colours and the audio quality is very detailed too. For casual music listening or watching movies, the Bose SoundTrue around-ear headphones could be a good choice.
