Any debate about the quality of various headphones is pointless, as Priceonomics has already indisputably answered that question among the models listed.
If you remember back to their post about phone price deprecation (http://priceonomics.com/phones/#cell-phone-depreciation), you might recall their statement that, "... we firmly believe that resale value is the best objective indicator of product quality." In this current article, they state that "... the popular Bose QuietComfort 15 stood out as having the best resale value."
There you have it: incontrovertible proof that the Bose QuietComfort 15 is the highest quality headphones in the sample set.
I worked for Bose for a summer in college (they're great to MIT).
The pro Bose stuff (used in venues) is great -- it's well engineered, durable, and sounds good for pro gear. All pro speakers basically suck for audio quality compared to good home equipment -- that's not what they optimize for. They also do a great job of audio simulation of venues (which is what I worked on; it's like raytracing for sound, so you can audition different speaker designs in a potentially-unbuilt building), and they do a great job of vehicle audio engineering. Their aviation headsets are also really popular with pilots (I prefer David Clark just because they're classic, but the Bose are quite popular).
It's just the consumer/retail equipment which is boosted-midbass, and high priced. Everyone I knew in the Pro side of bose had Sennheiser, AKG, or Grado headphones and some other kinds of audio equipment at home (NHT being particularly popular). For what Bose is, Cambridge SoundWorks is half the price or less.
If you remember back to their post about phone price deprecation (http://priceonomics.com/phones/#cell-phone-depreciation), you might recall their statement that, "... we firmly believe that resale value is the best objective indicator of product quality." In this current article, they state that "... the popular Bose QuietComfort 15 stood out as having the best resale value."
There you have it: incontrovertible proof that the Bose QuietComfort 15 is the highest quality headphones in the sample set.