I was able to begin using my Christmas present early for one
simple reason.  I was home when Federal Express delivered it and
my wife was gone.  I knew what it was, or was pretty certain I
knew, and so I opened it while she was gone and began using it.
No.  She wasn't happy.  It was my Christmas present anyway so
what's the beef?  What was it, you ask?  It was a set of Bose
headphones you have heard advertised so I thought I would report
on these 300 dollar headphones just in case you were thinking
about getting them for Christmas.  Are they worth it, is the first
question you are asking.  Of course not.  Nothing Bose sells is
worth what they charge for it and we own two Bose small radios and
that big thousand dollar hummer called the Bose Acoustic Wave
Radio.  Yes, they all sound wonderful.  Yes, I have compared them
to other systems I have and I do believe they sound better.  No, I
don't believe they are worth nearly what they ask for them and the
same goes for the noise canceling headphones.  However, you put
these headphones on as a blind person, and it drives you crazy
until you turn some music or sound on.  Why?  Because, you can't
hardly hear a thing with them on.  The pads are as soft as, well,
I won't say it, but they are soft.  Mind you, they aren't as good
as sex but few things are.  Come to think of it, nothing is but I
digress.  This also depends highly on your age, of course, but
again I digress.  No, there is only one tiny, little, itty bitty
switch on the wire which plugs into the headset.  This switch is
used for double the volume based upon the type of output you are
plugged into.  It comes with a very fancy, zippered, sturdy,
carrying case but I have never carried headphones in a carrying
case in my entire life.  It is a fancy carrying case, however, and
you can store the cables inside the zipper case, too.  It comes
complete with extra adapters for various jack sizes and an extra
extension cable incase you want to sit 400 feet away from the
sound source to which you are plugged into.  I hate wires.  I also
got the free, if you want to call it that, little battery powered
CD player and I like it quite a lot.  It uses two double A
batteries.  The headset, by the way, runs on a single double A
battery.  Yes, all batteries are included.  For 300 dollars, I
should hope so.  The CD player is very user friendly for the blind
user, that is, and you can select mixed songs, that is, at random,
repeat the same song, no skip mode, very handy of course with a
portable CD player, and start over again automatically.  There's
one other menu setting but I forget what that is right now.  you
can also pick nothing.  Less than correct grammar but those are
the choices.  No, unfortunately, for your 300 dollars, you don't
get a stupid carrying case for the portable CD player.  Beats me
as to why.  Are they better than the forty dollar models of
headphones at Radio Shack?  Well, yes, I think so.  The plus here,
of course, is the noise canceling feature which is built in.  No,
you cannot control the noise canceling feature, unless, of course,
I have somehow overlooked something.  If you own the CC Radio Plus
from C Crane, the jack for the headphones on FM is in stereo.
That's nice so the Bose headphones sound very nice with the CC
Radio Plus.  Keep in mind, absolutely nothing that Bose makes is
fancy with lots of bells and whistles.  this is, I have been told,
for the benefit of the elderly, a category I am rapidly fitting
into, so they don't have to get things to confused for the
decrepid users.  Come to think of it, I do fall into that category
right now.  It all sounds good, of course, but for the price you
pay, it should sound good.  Would I call these headphones
professional?  I think so, but that is largely based upon the
price.  I am dead serious when I say that it drives you crazy to
wear the headphones without any music turned on.  I can hardly
hear my own talking watch speak unless I hold it up to my ear.
With music or sound playing, I cannot hear anything but what I'm
listening to.  My grand son came out the other day and had to tap
me on the knee because I flat out could not hear his voice.  Oh,
yes, they are super comfortable to wear.  If you buy these extra
expensive headphones, however, and are expecting all sorts of nice
do dads, like individual volume controls, base and treble
controls, levers and switches and buttons, and a fifteen button
equalizer you can diddle around with, forget buying the headphones
from Bose.  If you like music, and if you want super quiet luxury,
and if you want to brag to your friends that you own a 300 dollar
pair of headphones, then I recommend you buy them.  If you don't
feel the necessity of bragging to your friends, spend the 300
dollars on a bottle of Viagra instead.  One final word of advice.
Don't leave the headphones any place where your dog can get to
them in order to chew them up.

Phil.
K0NX

www.RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG