What caused Bose to become so hated by "audiophiles"?

From my experience, Bose speakers have always had too much bass. I wouldn't consider myself a true audiophile, but I love the Bose noise cancelling technology in both my over-ear headset, and my car speaker system. I also use a pair of Bose in-ears for a quick pair of headphones similar to the way most people use the standard Apple headphones. I haven't had much experience with the home theater Bose speakers, but they follow the same trends as the other Bose products. While Bose products are "OK" they just don't stand up to my Futuresonics in-ears or my 7.1 surround Genelec studio monitors.

What most of these audiophiles are saying, is that there is better hardware on the market. Bose speakers provide good quality for the price. I would defiantly recommend the upgrade if you are using built in speakers, or headphones that came with a portable media player. However, if audio quality is very important to you, then Bose speakers just won't cut it. However, the cheap price makes them appealing to many customers.

This concept is true with other products as well. You can get a good HD camera for a few thousand bucks. However, professional cameras cost over $100,000 each. You getting a small increase in quality, but in most cases, customers will choose the cheaper product.

For example, Genelec speakers are the industry standard today in studio monitors. However, they are also the most expensive. For my computer, I purchased some BlueSky speakers because they were a bit cheaper. Both speakers sound almost exactly the same, and I couldn't justify spending a few hundred extra bucks for sound quality that I can't notice. I also have an old pair of Tannoy studio monitors that I use for my Xbox. They were the industry standard about 10-15 years ago, and still produce very nice sound.

So to re-cap, Bose speakers are good if your on a budget, or your looking to upgrade from some standard speakers. But if you want to have the best audio experience, you are going to have to go with some better speakers (and have some more money).

I love my Bose products. People are probably just mad because they can't afford it. I have a Bose iPod dock, Bose sound system for both my home theater systems (upstairs and downstairs), and I got the optional Bose sound system in my new truck when I bought it, sounds great! Much better then the base sound system I had in my older truck.

I have to say, I'm not sure why there are so many people that hate on Bose, they make genuinely good products that consumers can use and enjoy. I do not claim to be an audiophile, however I like sound and enjoy proper speakers. I enjoy all of my Bose products from the stereos in the cars to my headphones. They are great products.

Bose are the Apple and Alessi of the audio world. We have a Bose radio in our kitchen and my mum has a set of Bose noise canceling headphones. Both prove to give outstanding quality when listening to music. The bass is perfect and you can hear everything the artist wanted you to hear.

However, after buying a Samsung Smart TV we decided we hated the speakers in it, they were too tinny. Funnily enough, my dad has a JBL iPod dock for his iPod Classic with amazing sound quality. We hooked it up to our TV and it now serves as our TV speaker. I just thought it was amazing that an iPod dock could be capable of being an amazing TV speaker. So JBL might be something to look into too.

I agree with some of the above comments though. It's the same reason some people are set on hating Apple - they can't afford the premium products.

OK, perhaps I can help shed some light.

Now I'm no professional audiophile, as there is a VERY VERY VERY small percentage of people who can actually hear anything above 22hZ, it's something like .00000001% of the population.

However, I worked for DTS (Digital Theater Systems) for a long time, alongside 2 of the most respected audiophiles in the world, and I can verify as I've seen so many tests that Bose products do suck. Especially considering what you pay for them.

A LOOOONG time ago Bose used to make good products, but they were bought out and a HUGE marketing plan that cost a lot of money put in place and their prices went sky high to cover it, and the components are made of VERY CHEAP materials.

So really when you pay $1000 for a Bose set-up, you're spend about $800 too much.

personally i've been buying Klipsch stuff since the mid 90's and yes, they're pricey, but they are every penny worth it, and JBL is also light years beyond Bose stuff and not THAT much more expensive.

I'll just say that in the in-work theater we had that cost $4M to build, we tested every sound system and yes, Bose is no good.

But hey, if you like them and enjoy paying 600% more than you should for sub-standard materials, then by all means, go for it!

We have a Bose iPod dock that we use with my iPod Touch and Nano and my parents' iPhones. We got it refurbished a few years ago when the 4G Nano came out. It sounds pretty good, but I know we could have gotten something much better for the price. My saxophone teacher has some studio monitor speakers that sound far better and cost about the same. I'm going to purchase some M-Audio AV40s as my new computer speakers, and I know I'll probably get better audio out of those for far less than the Bose cost.

I love their earbuds, but aren't a huge fan of their headphones because they have too much bass for my liking. That' why I use monitor headphones. I like balanced audio.

I think Bose makes pretty nice stuff for home theater. We have two very large Bose speakers from quite a few years ago for our surround sound system and their quality is great. For pro audio, however, I hate Bose. In our school auditorium we have some very nice ElectroVoice PA speakers which sound great (I will have the pleasure of running lights and sound [yes, both at once... I'm the only person who can do both at my school] later this month with those speakers. Can't wait. They are incredible.). The HS auditorium uses little tiny Bose speakers. The EV's would have sounded so much better.

I think a lot of people hate them because either they can't afford them, think they can get something better, or like speakers that sound a little different (less bass, etc.).

Saddly im one of those who bought a Bose system without doing any research before, because i had never had any hi-fi product. At the store my wife and i thought it was amazing (i'm talking about the 321 gs series iii). But later when i tested with music at home i was really dissapointed, seems like the body of the music was not there despite a clear highs and a nice (not clear) bass. Since then i have learn a lot of hi-fi audio, i have now an HK receiver and B&W speakers, and i'm in the process of selling my Bose. The only good thing i can think about getting the Bose is that because of that i got into the HiFi world, maybe if i hadn't bought it i would still be with a Sony or LG mini component. I don't try to understand people who loves Bose products, just think that for their ears they sound fine, but it really annoys that they think that if you don't like them it is because you can't afford them. I can afford them and more.

I'm not that much of an Audiophile, but all the Bose speakers I've listened with which cost about 700-800 bucks have similar quality as the ones costing around 70 bucks. But that's the pricing of stuff around here.

Plus, most of the Bose speakers I've seen have a more designer's look to them. Pretty much fitting into an expensive modern lifestyle but not exactly messy people like myself.

I can't speak on Bose speakers as I don't know much about them, but generally audiophiles strongly dislike all noise canceling headphones, and those seem to be some of Bose most popular products. The reason they don't like noise canceling headphones is because they don't give you the "true sound." So for the same price as the Bose noise canceling headphones you can get regular non-noise canceling headphones and they will most likely sound better as you're paying for improved sound and not the noise canceling feature. That's slightly similar to why most audiophiles prefer open-back headphones over close-back headphones.

They rely solely on marketing. Is not a question about affordability or sound quality.