Bose QuietComfort 15

Isolation (10.17)

If you’ll notice, the QC15s’ active cancellation tends to work like gangbusters for blocking out bass frequencies, but actually creates a non-insignificant amount of noise towards the higher end of the spectrum and does a poor isolation job all around. This is what we’ve learned to expect from a set of active-cancellers: they block out a lot of bass, but you’re pretty much out of luck for frequencies above 1kHz.

This shortcoming aside, the QC15s put up some truly impressive isolation in the bass frequencies, blocking out about 36 dBSPL of noise at their peak. This is absurdly good for any set of headphones, let alone a set of typically-underachieving active-cancellers. The QC15s have the best active cancellation we’ve seen so far.

Comparisons

See how the Bose QuietComfort 15 compares:

Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 Compare

Denon AH-NC732 Compare

Bose QuietComfort 3 Compare

Able Planet True Fidelity NC200 Compare

Click here for more information on our isolation test.

Leakage (4.57)

The QC15s leak quite a bit of noise. Most active-cancellers leak a lot of sound, but it’s really hard to notice if you’re wearing them. Basically, since the active cancellation is knocking out incoming noise, it’ll sound like you’re totally isolated from the outside world. The rest of the world isn’t getting that active cancellation, however, and chances are the headphones’ passive isolation isn’t stopping much of your music from polluting the world around you.

Click here for more information on our leakage test.

Maximum Usable Volume (6.94)

We were able to boost the Bose QuietComfort 15s up to 107.15dBSPL before we hit a noticeable 3% distortion. This is pretty good for a set of headphones, especially given the excellent isolation the QC15s offer (spoiler alert, sry).

Also, you shouldn’t be listening to your headphones at anything exceeding 120dBSPL, since that can harm your hearing over time. Headphones already catch enough flack for deafening the youth of our world, so please don’t contribute to those statistics.