Review on 🎧 Bose QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones (No Longer Sold by Manufacturer) by Eric Speers

I got a 2007 Bose QuietComfort 3 for Christmas from my husband (he never knows what to get me so I hinted heavily this time). I fell in love with them straight away and use them mainly for my workouts. I hate being in the gym and listening to fans, air conditioners, TVs etc when I want to hear my music. However, I should point out that while they cancel out a lot of the noise happening around you, they don't cancel out everything. Sometimes I managed to hear the screams of the spinning instructor (but that was also due to the layout of the hall). but she was so muffled that I thought a Pomeranian was barking nearby. I can still hear the people playing racquetball in the gym downstairs (the downstairs racquetball room windows are open, so you can watch the players from the upstairs cardio room). Or sometimes, if the TV is on in one of the smaller cardio rooms (which happened to be a racquetball court) and you happen to be right next to a wall bouncing sound, the headphones can't compensate. there is enough noise and you can hear a lot. Therefore, how the room or structure you are in transmits the acoustics is sometimes critical to how effectively the noise is eliminated. But compared to your regular headphones, they win. On an airplane, they allow you to hear what's being said on a flight in-flight versus regular headphones and a constant wall of aircraft noise that makes it impossible to fully understand what's just been said. When wearing when walking. , on the bus/train/tram: Cell phone calls from strangers no longer reach your ears. only your music Now for the quirks, I did notice that there was a slight tinkling sound in one of the earbuds every now and then while walking or running. It's come and gone. I don't know why it started or stopped. It's not a very loud noise (very quiet, actually), just one that makes you worry that your headphones may be broken or about to break. A few weeks ago, the left speaker of my headphones started popping. It was like tapping lightly on a microphone. And unfortunately, that clapping turned into a slap in the face and then a low and constant "whistle". The left speaker still plays music, but the "whistle" above it prevents you from enjoying the clear sound that was once mine. So I went ahead and ordered new ones. My old couple served me well every day for 2 1/2 years during long hours of sweaty workouts, flew me back and forth to Europe and Asia and allowed me to listen to music on my MBP while surfing the internet like others do watched TV in the same room (this time the sound from the TV didn't interfere with the sound of the music and I had to turn the volume off on the MBP instead of turning it up). I can't wait for the new headphones to arrive. Yesterday I had to use some normal ones and I had to turn the music up loud enough to hear it and what I heard wasn't what I was used to. I was able to have a conversation without removing my headphones and the music was still playing. It was terrible. I was so spoiled with my Bose headphones. Training wouldn't be as enjoyable without them. UPDATE: I received my new pair of BOSE QC 3 headphones on June 28th, 2010 and loved it until the left speaker suddenly started stuttering briefly and then switched off on October 21st, 2010 :-(