Sound Quality:

I would not consider myself an "audiophile". I don't obsess over stereo equipment, have an uber-expensive surround sound system in my man cave, or spend hundreds of dollars on my car audio system. But I don't buy the cheapo earbuds that have that annoying "tinny" sound to them. I actually like to hear both the treble and bass in my music - as well as all of the dialog, car chases, and explosions when I watch moves.

I have never owned a set of Beats, Bose, or anything other than headphones that come included with stuff (iPods, cell phones, etc) or that cost more than $30. I am by no means an audio obsessed connoisseur - but I do know what I like. Honestly, that isn't going to cut it for this review, is it? Since I have never used either of the aforementioned products, I made my way down to the local Apple Store because they carry those exact products for folks to test out. I also brought along my iPhone and the ASUS NC1s so I could conduct an in-store test. After finding comparable music on the in-store units, I did a quick listening test using the following two popular models of headphones:

» Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD
» Bose QuietComfort 15

First off, the Beats by Dr. Dre were the heaviest of the three headsets - the thicker frame adds a good bit of weight to the unit, but they're not overly heavy. The ear pads are positioned in a manner that is supposed to provide optimal sound, but they just didn't fit comfortably on my head. The Bose set, on the other hand, had a much thinner design which made them lighter than the Beats and about the same weight as the ASUS NC1s. The frame has a similar design, but the ear cups are hinged and tilted backwards slightly. This put the frame further back on the head, and for me that wasn't as comfortable. The Beats had a very heavy bass feel to them while the Bose had a fairly even mix of both treble and bass. Without the noise canceling turned on the Bose allowed a good bit of noise to bleed through, but once activated, I could barely hear the other shoppers milling around. The Beats, while not technically a noise canceling product, did drown out a good bit of noise - just not as well as the ASUS and Bose units. With the noise canceling off, the NC1s seemed a bit average, not particularly crisp or thumpy - slightly better than the standard "freebie" earbuds. Powering up the ASUS NC1s made for a delightful listening experience; so much so, I almost didn't hear the shopper next to me talking to the Apple Genius. Without the Noise Canceling on, there was a fair bit of background noise, about as much as with the Beats by Dr. Dre.



While listening to various genres of music from an iPod, I noticed that the crispness was not quite there in the higher-end treble and the low end bass wasn't quite as "thumpy" as the Bose - much less the Beats. Next up, I checked out the Conan the Barbarian and Shark Night 3D movie trailers from the Apple Trailers web site because they looked to have a good mix of highs and lows, music, and special effects sounds. With noise canceling turned on the Bose was the best of the three at handling the wide range of sounds. With noise canceling turned off, it was pretty much a wash - but quite honestly, why would you not use a feature you've paid for?

Next I tested the NC1s outside with a pair of standard Apple earbuds. The earbuds allow a good deal of external noise to bleed through and even at an elevated volume, the noise can still be a bit distracting. With the earbuds swapped out for the ASUS NC1s, the external noise level was slightly diminished. With the noise canceling enabled, a lot more was blocked. During my weekly lawn mowing, the NC1s kept enough of the motor noise out for me to actually enjoy my music while begrudgingly pushing the silly contraption around.