Bose® AE2i Mobile Headset (with Remote and Mic)

Reviews for Bose® AE2i Mobile Headset (with Remote and Mic)

Customer Reviews and Ratings

4.0 out of 5 stars

Based on 27 reviews

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Shrilling highs and missing mid bass

    • Written by from Bloomfield

    I've always wanted a Bose headphones and finally was able to afford one. After all the hype and positive reviews on the internet, I decided to get the AE2. What a big disappointment. The first thing I noticed was the shrilling highs that becomes tiring after a few minutes of listening. Some alto vocals sounds metallic and annoying. Yet the sharp cutoff after 9 Khz made the high hats/cymbals sound weird. Absolutely no extensions in higher frequency. Mid bass was also lacking which made bass guitars sound weak and overly recessed. I kept the headphones for a couple of weeks to allow enough burn-in time but that didn't help. I compared the AE2's sound to my Shure E2C and a Sennheiser HD439. The E2C is an IEM that sounded neutral and natural sounding phones. While the HD439 sounded too warm to me. Though I've read that they require a longer burn-in time. I bought the AE2 and the HD439 at the same time and returned both. The AE2's are just too bright and the HD439s are just too warm.

    I gave the AE2 three stars because they are the most comfortable headphones I've ever used and they are also quite portable. They fit in my backpack nicely. They also have removable cable, an added bonus as headphones wires usually are the first things that will break. Overall, if you don't mind a bright sounding headphone, which some people associate to "Clarity", go ahead and buy the AE2. But to me, I'd rather keep my hearing until I my senior years.

    47 of 53 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    They're amazing and "not" at the same time

    • Written by from Co. Dubin

    I'll start briefly with the good. The comfort is there for ever ear headphones, the design is nice and the Mic and remote work well. They're exceptionally light yet still feel sturdy and well built although I wouldn't think they are indestructible at all.

    Now for the (tempered) bad: Sound wise they are a mixed bag for such expensive headphones. As other reviewers are saying, the mid range tones are a little grating and brash. The warmth that we all like isn't quite there and no matter what positioning I do with the phones, it never appears - they just don't have it. Vocals can be a bit shrill, guitar pieces can lack warmth. Overall the mid sits a little high in the treble area, which is a pity because if you nail the mids, the others aren't really so important.

    Don't take this as all bad, other aspects of the sound are fantastic. It's incredibly tight, defined and well handled. Bass is grippy and sounds 3 dimensional, although sometimes suffers from the brashness of the mids and I often feel the bass should be more "bassy". It sometimes doesn't quite hit the lowest lows. But generally the sound is an improvement over what you might be used to.

    Overall, give them a go at a local Bose shop if you can as they allow for 30 day returns.

    39 of 43 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Too sibilant, not enough mid-bass

    • Written by from Austin

    While the comfort, fit, and build quality of these headphones is SUPERB, unfortunately they're not only lacking in the "warm" mid-bass frequency range, but in pursuing the goal of improving the "clarity" and "definition" of these, the engineers have shaped the 5K-6K range to be too loud, which causes unnatural sibilance on many vocals.

    The bottom line is that these are okay for wearing all day at your desk in a very quiet environment where you won't miss the lack of any real bass in the mix, but if you have to deal with any background noise whatsoever, the small amount of bass that you can detect is utterly drowned out and you feel like you're listening to an old transistor radio. Plus the sibiliance is hard to ignore.

    I can see how some people might enjoy these phones because they are extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time and they do have very nice shaping for "clarity" in the frequency range where you hear some of the most interesting harmonics for acoustic instruments (and some electronica sounds), but overall they just don't have the warmth and bottom end that most styles of popular music call for.

    38 of 46 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    The remote mic is rubbish, great sound though

    • Written by from London

    pretty comfortable, great sound and nice materials and good portability, unfortunately that microphone is rubbish therefore that remote control too.
    it is to close to your ears so you need to lift up too much your hand and the other person barely can hear you clear.
    not worth bothering for this.

    first version of the Bose around ear headphones are the best!

    15 of 20 people found this useful

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