Why Do Audiophiles Hate Bose?

[gene]

Bose is one of most recognized brands in the world. Ask anyone on the street who they think makes the best audio products, and you will likely hear Bose as their answer. So why is it that most audiophiles HATE Bose? This YouTube attempts to answer that question to give you a better perspective on the company and people’s expectations of them. We go over the history of their products and "research" discussing everything from their home speakers, headphones, soundbars and more...

Tell us your thoughts on Bose and if you own any of their products.

 

[andyblackcat]

Okay I might get roasted for this. Is it me or is Bose top secret with frequency specifications as I have looked at their site and home cinema with one product manual and no frequency specs none listed, so must be no lows no highs.

I'll keep my JBL professional.

While watching/listening to Hard Target on dts laserdisc that I brought few years ago I happened to notice in this capture one of the bad guys was wearing Bose headphones.

Bose targeting on the market.

 

[andyblackcat]

While eating out at Toby Carvery pub restaurant I happened to notice and take a picture of Bose surrounding around while trying to eat a roasty dinner with flies buzzing around and only recently this year I got so fed up having flies buzzing around while I look around and see Bose , I told my dad I want to leave as the flies was bothering me.. "allegedly".

 

[andyblackcat]

While watching/listening to Strange Days on THX laserdisc AC-3 , I happened to notice in a scene some Bose 802?

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Strange days is a great film!

I hate bose because of forums like this. Perhaps unfairly as Ive never owned any bose but all I hear from pros and audiophiles is how bad they are. Its been imprinted on my brain to bash them. Is that fair? IDK.

 

[CB22]

I own a pair of the quiet comfort 25s and they are not bad at all. They are my go to travel headphones... after over three years of owning them I have no complaints. Actually got a pair of replacement pads earlier this year. My dad has a portable speaker of theirs and I think it sucks though. It’s only good for listening to NPR IMO

 

[Johnny2Bad]

BOSE is a different company today than when Dr Bose owned and ran it. Their headphone offerings are reasonably good, sometimes excellent.

Like a lot of companies who struggle to overcome past poor performance or value ... an automotive corollary is FRAM; very poor quality oil filters in the past but their current offerings are actually quite decent ... the XtraGuard is perfectly good, for example ... they struggle to win back customers who became disgusted with their previous offerings.

Anyone who has serviced a non-headphone BOSE product knows how cheaply they are made and how expensively they are sold. Doesn't make the audio industry as a whole look good either.

And then of course you have to struggle to contain yourself at Xmas dinner when relatives brag about their recent BOSE speaker or radio purchase, or when visiting innocent acquaintances. Lord Help You if they discover you work in the industry or have a reputation as the "hiFi Guy", as they prod you for assurances of how wisely they have spent their HiFi dollars.

What do you say? Offend them with your true opinion, or hold your tongue and do them a dis-service by going along with the conspiracy? That's no way for a brand to make friends. Not to mention a habit of suing reviewers who fail to leave flattering prose. Of course once you silence the audio press, you are free to say whatever you want in your own ad copy. No fool, that Dr Bose.

It annoyed people who know or learn it's a multi-billion dollar company that earned that money by selling really bad speakers before venturing on and marketing a really bad BOSE radio product(s). These days the company is owned by some form of MIT nonprofit that offers scholarships and bursaries to deserving students. In America, anyone can be redeemed.

 

[highfigh]

I haven't heard any Bose speakers I actually liked and I first heard them in the late-'70s. Never used their headphones and I rarely use them anyway, but I have known the Koss family almost my whole life, so.........

I did a system that has Bose Acoustimass for the front and with people talking, they sounded OK. For music, not so much.

In Milwaukee, we have Summerfest, which is the largest music festival in the World. One year, they changed the audio contractor as a way to save money and the new one used Bose Professional. That was worse than the first years, in the late-'60s. The Jazz Oasis only had a few speakers and subs on each side, so it wasn't able to cover the whole area as well as it should and then, it was unable to handle the output from the Pat Metheny Group- the HP amps went into protection several times.

 

[highfigh]

Anyone who has serviced a non-headphone BOSE product knows how cheaply they are made and how expensively they are sold. Doesn't make the audio industry as a whole look good either.

It annoyed people who know or learn it's a multi-billion dollar company that earned that money by selling really bad speakers before venturing on and marketing a really bad BOSE radio product(s). These days the company is owned by some form of MIT nonprofit that offers scholarships and bursaries to deserving students.

Dr Bose left the patents and business to MIT in his will, AFAIK. I don't have a problem with that, but I have always had a problem with them advertising their speakers as 'sounding realistic' and claiming accuracy but never releasing the specs. Nine 5' drivers aren't going to produce high frequencies well, so that's the reason they had their dedicated equalizer, which accomplished the same thing as using a 12 band graphic EQ with the middle bottomed out, the top and bottom jacked up to their limits and the rest of the bands set so they formed a large V.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Dr Bose left the patents and business to MIT in his will, AFAIK. I don't have a problem with that, but I have always had a problem with them advertising their speakers as 'sounding realistic' and claiming accuracy but never releasing the specs. Nine 5' drivers aren't going to produce high frequencies well, so that's the reason they had their dedicated equalizer, which accomplished the same thing as using a 12 band graphic EQ with the middle bottomed out, the top and bottom jacked up to their limits and the rest of the bands set so they formed a large V.

I forget the details (and I don't spend my time digging around BOSE websites) but if I recall correctly he did the transfer even before he died, he had handed it over to different management before his passing. Not that it matters much to me (or you apparently) but I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

I'll never own a BOSE product on principle, America might have a short memory, and God forgives those who confess their transgressions, but in this case, I don't. I need to work on the forgiveness thing, I'm actually getting pretty good at it, but I can leave them for last I think. Still, I'm in the minority.

 

[snakeeyes]

Speakers should not be miniaturized for WAF. Bose and Sonos and all HTIB products are lame.

 

[shadyJ]

Contrary to their claims, Bose does not provide very high fidelity sound in their home audio products. I am not sure what else there is to say. Only audio enthusiasts care about high fidelity. The vast majority of the public does not.

 

[j_garcia]

Value: something they don't really have. My only issue with them has been that for what you spend, you can get better audio quality for less with other products. They're selling a brand name not quality. Maybe it is "good enough" for the average person, but they're not marketing to the average crowd.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Value: something they don't really have. My only issue with them has been that for what you spend, you can get better audio quality for less with other products. They're selling a brand name not quality. Maybe it is "good enough" for the average person, but they're not marketing to the average crowd.

You dont think this is worth 4 grand?

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-Lifestyle-Entertainment-System-761683-1110/dp/B01KZHOW3I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1543251633&sr=8-5&keywords=bose+home+theater

 

[MR.MAGOO]

Bose should change their name to Booze, because after drinking a large quantity of it their engineers and customers think their speakers begin to sound high fidelity.

 

[highfigh]

I forget the details (and I don't spend my time digging around BOSE websites) but if I recall correctly he did the transfer even before he died, he had handed it over to different management before his passing. Not that it matters much to me (or you apparently) but I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

I'll never own a BOSE product on principle, America might have a short memory, and God forgives those who confess their transgressions, but in this case, I don't. I need to work on the forgiveness thing, I'm actually getting pretty good at it, but I can leave them for last I think. Still, I'm in the minority.

I'm impressed when a small speaker sounds really good- it doesn't need to provide 'throbbing gristle' bass, but good or excellent mid-bass is often all that's needed to make the experience enjoyable but it's the transition from mids to the highs that causes speaker manufacturers to fall flat. I don't like Bose for their high crossover points and IMO, their habit of arguing with Physics. Large speakers don't produce high frequencies and small ones don't produce low frequencies unless the space they're in is very small. Like an ear canal.

I was astounded when I heard about the price of the 901, back in the '70s. I think they retailed for over $900 which, in 1970s dollars, would be over $3400, now. I KNOW I could get better speakers for the money.

Most of the BS in the audio industry is like water off a duck's back- I really don't care unless it just seems fraudulent. One of these days, I want to talk to the main guy who goes around preaching about AQ cables at trade shows. I REALLY want to hear the reasoning behind the batteries and according to what he said at the Furman training I attended, he's an EE. All of the EEs I have told about those cables looked at me like I had three heads and a horn coming from my forehead. Well, the middle one, anyway.

 

[highfigh]

Bose should change their name to Booze, because after drinking a large quantity of it their engineers and customers think their speakers begin to sound high fidelity.

Even liquored up, I could hear the difference between good sound and bad.

 

[highfigh]

Value: something they don't really have. My only issue with them has been that for what you spend, you can get better audio quality for less with other products. They're selling a brand name not quality. Maybe it is "good enough" for the average person, but they're not marketing to the average crowd.

Look into their marketing practices and requirements for dealers- they don't allow dealers to do a direct A:B comparison or to place the Bose speakers close to other brands.

 

[John Parks]

I'm impressed when a small speaker sounds really good- it doesn't need to provide 'throbbing gristle' bass, but good or excellent mid-bass is often all that's needed to make the experience enjoyable but it's the transition from mids to the highs that causes speaker manufacturers to fall flat. I don't like Bose for their high crossover points and IMO, their habit of arguing with Physics. Large speakers don't produce high frequencies and small ones don't produce low frequencies unless the space they're in is very small. Like an ear canal.

I was astounded when I heard about the price of the 901, back in the '70s. I think they retailed for over $900 which, in 1970s dollars, would be over $3400, now. I KNOW I could get better speakers for the money.

Most of the BS in the audio industry is like water off a duck's back- I really don't care unless it just seems fraudulent. One of these days, I want to talk to the main guy who goes around preaching about AQ cables at trade shows. I REALLY want to hear the reasoning behind the batteries and according to what he said at the Furman training I attended, he's an EE. All of the EEs I have told about those cables looked at me like I had three heads and a horn coming from my forehead. Well, the middle one, anyway.

+1 on the Throbbing Gristle!

As far as Bose goes... I got nothing.

 

[andyblackcat]

Strange days is a great film!

I hate bose because of forums like this. Perhaps unfairly as Ive never owned any bose but all I hear from pros and audiophiles is how bad they are. Its been imprinted on my brain to bash them. Is that fair? IDK.

I'm don't dislike Bose. I have heard them in few places around the town often pubs. I guess it won't matter if your drunk you'd forget what you was listen too.

I may buy some Bose one of those home cinema in the box ones if cheap enough because I would have the feeling I may not like it or maybe it could be improved with Behringer DCX2496.

I have often ran my JBL G-125 at full range with DSP crossover switched off I can get lows mids of course and highs up about 8Khz or so before it rolls off.

Every other speaker company provides specs except for Bose.