Bose TriPort Headphones

For many years I had enjoyed Koss, Sony and Stax headphones, then I stuck with Sony for a while since their studio monitors where light, comfortable and sounded "right". I tried Sennheisers, AKGs, Bang and Olufsen's and only the Sony's endured.

I tried recently to go back to Koss, to go "American" and the Pro4AATitanium were too heavy and the sound was not "right". So I was using my Sony MDR-7506 (review elsewhere on epinions) until the cushion's started falling apart of age.

So it was time to go again to the local Stereo store and find a new set of headphones. A part of me just wanted to get the same or similar Sony's with new cushions, but another part of me wanted to see what the USA could make today.

Again, I tried a bunch of foreign headphones and, unfortunately, the store did not have Bose headphones for trial but had them for sale. I asked the salesperson what he thought of the TriPorts, he said "Oh, I love them, I have one pair of them at home...". I thought 'sure, like every car salesperson drives ALL the cars he sells...' So I asked about their return policy, 30-days no questions asked, and paid about $150 for the Bose TriPorts.

I was so excited to try them, I hooked them up to my computer first to try MP3s and AACs and was pleasantly surprised that the sound was full range, maybe even "too" full range. They sounded a bit "boxy". I looked at the headphones which were very well made and I read "Model TP-1A Engineered in the USA, manufactured in China" and kept looking at them. They have angled speakers and a large around the ear cup with soft and thin padding.

I tried my Sony's which all of a sudden felt, yes, light and comfortable, but not designed as well as the Bose's. For example, the Sony's speaker was right against my ear, the Bose's was angled towards it.

To see if they were boxy or not, I played some Piano music. I play the piano, have recorded it a few times, both professionally and at home, and have a pretty good idea how a Piano should sound. The TriPorts all of a sudden did not sound boxy, they sounded RIGHT.

I started listening to more and more of my MP3, AAC, then graduated to CD and finally to some records that I still own. The TriPorts showed me a part of the audio spectrum that had been subdued by the Sony's: the upper bass of the music spectrum, the one that is sometimes pushed down in "smiling" graphic equalizers where the mids are also pushed down and the lowest bass and the highest highs are pushed up.

Is there anything I don't like about the TriPorts? Yes, they are not comfortable to wear for more than one hour or so, they need to be taken off, stretched, as if my head was twice its size, and then they are somewhat comfortable again. Also, since they are sealed (part of the reason for their excellent bass and upper bass) my ears sweat a bit on warm days. Also, the cable, which is more like two wires, looks thin, lets see if it survives many years of service like the Sony's.

Now they are my workhorses and I take them everywhere, to work and back to home. If they were more comfortable I would do what I did with the Sony's: one pair for home, one pair for work.

Maybe the TriPort's bigger siblings will do the trick.

In Summary, I am VERY pleased to have found that USA has very strong contenders for the top of the headphone heap and I am glad to have given my $150 (or so) to an American company started by an Indian and manufacturing in China. At least the profits end up in the USA.

Can't wait for "Made in USA" on my headphones again... in the meantime, Bose rules my home and office.