Well we all know how it is going to drum with others. I personally love playing with people and making cool beats, but I also love playing to music. I'm sure some of you have read Murray Gusseck's article about grooving and playing for "long distance" chops. I honestly bought a pair of headphones after reading it, and I love them. It's really fun playing along to my favorite tracks, and just coming up with great licks while keeping my chops running. My problem is that I'm not always at home with these massive headphones that are too large for me to take to school. I use to use the Apple in-ear isolation earbuds, and they worked pretty well for fifty bucks. Problem is that I broke them a few weeks ago, and my local Best Buy doesn't have them anymore. I have a pair of Sony's that I replaced them with, but they don't have that isolation that I enjoy with the Vic or the Apples. I have a job and I am now going to invest in a pair, and I am down to two options.
1. Bose QC3, they are smaller and have that Bose quality that I know and enjoy when I have had the opportunity to use them. They cancel quite a bit of noise, but the price tag is a little out there...
2. Etymotic earbuds, they work as great basics for blocking noise when I go and jam with the line. I bought them last year when I went to state at UT. The guy who sold them to me on campus told me that they were great ear buds, but I've never tried them. Isolation is not my concern, it's the depth and actual sound that they omit.

So my real question is: Has anyone tried the Etymotic ear buds, and would you recommend them over the QC3's?(assuming you've sampled them both) And I apoligize for the long post, thanks for taking the time and baring with me.
http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx
Etymotic Earbuds
http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=qc3_headphones_index
Bose QC3
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/articles/Gusseck.html
And Mr.Gusseck's article if you've never read it, really cool stuff.

I would like to know the outcome of your purchase. I have the Sony Noise Canceling ones and I am very fond of them.

I haven't tried either of those headphones, but I do own a pair of Etymotic ER4-P's and I can tell you that they are AMAZING. Sound quality and noise reduction is better than anything I've ever used.

I would probably go for the Etymotics over the Bose. I've had good experience with the Etys and from what I've heard from people who are are more experienced audiophiles, Bose headphones have pretty awful sound quality for the price.

Yea, I definitely wasn't impressed by the Bose headphones. I was shocked. I though they were going to be great after all the hype about them.

The only reason everyone thinks they're so good is because they're the only high-quality (well, supposedly) audio company who really go out there and advertise. Most people will have never heard of companies like Etymotic or Sennheiser, even though they're much better than Bose.

Check out HeadRoom at headphone.com. They've got tons of reviews on different headphones. I've been super happy with my Denon C351K in-ear phones, which I found for $40-something at Target.