The author says he tried the bose qc20 (in-ear headphones), but then goes onto describe the bose qc25 (over-ear headphones). I'd like to defend the honor of the bose qc20, which has superior noise canceling to the qc25. While it's true that it doesn't block out talking, it makes it sound like it's in a distant room, and with a little bit of white noise or music it makes the open office noise a non-issue for me. Furthermore, it's a godsend in a loud city and it's incredible to hear the little details in your music and not having to crank your volume past 50%.
That said, they're super pricey and they do fall apart, but I've got mine patched up after three years and holding onto them until other products can match this level of noise canceling.
I bought 3 pairs of QC20s. Each of them fell apart in less than a year, despite absurdly careful care. There's a design flaw where the wire connects to the battery pack. Tape could only hold them together for so long.
After 3 failures I vowed to not buy another one, despite the exceptional sound canceling. I switched to a cheapo $30 Samsung pair I bought at an airport, beat it to hell and back, and it's in perfect shape years later.
It's true, the build quality is bad and my coworker has the same exact issues as mine (rubber coating came off the casing, volume up button stops clicking but can still be mushed down to use). The battery pack casing started to open up and would cause line noise, especially when charging.. I glued the case back together and it seems to be better now. I think I could have used the soft case more, instead of keeping them bare in my pockets, but it seems inevitable that they'd fall apart anyway. I can't really recommend them because of these issues, but the noise canceling is one of those magical life upgrades for me.
I'll have to check those out, thank you. Gotta admit I've only personally tried qc20 and qc25, but most reviews of new NC headphones that I've read on The Verge still hold Bose as the standard-bearer of high quality NC. Everyone else, even the very expensive stuff from Sony, seems to come very close but not surpassing the bose NC stuff.
edit: maybe it's a little self-rationalization for paying so much for the QCs. I'll have to give those Bluedio's chance before shelling out anymore to Bose
That said, they're super pricey and they do fall apart, but I've got mine patched up after three years and holding onto them until other products can match this level of noise canceling.