Bose QuietComfort 35 II Review (Noise Cancelling Headphone)

[restorer-john]

The loudness compensation is clever, and it makes me wonder if any of the other manufacturers are doing that as well.

It's been done (auto loudness) on shelf/midi systems for decades. And on BT headphones. It's the absolute antithesis of high fidelity in my opinion, especially as the boost is not linked to the level of the content itself, but the set step of the digital volume control.

If you listen to classical, it's disastrous.

 

[Zog]

Is Pinky left handed?

 

[infinitesymphony]

It's been done (auto loudness) on shelf/midi systems for decades. And on BT headphones. It's the absolute antithesis of high fidelity in my opinion, especially as the boost is not linked to the level of the content itself, but the set step of the digital volume control.

If you listen to classical, it's disastrous.

Oh wow, that's a good point about unintended consequences. All the more reason to know whether or not a model has this feature.

 

[Tom C]

I’ve got a pretty old pair (ten years, maybe more). I was disappointed by the deterioration of the coverings on the ear pads and headband. The replacements were shot within a year. Went to local Big Box to get a new pair, but reconsidered when I saw the display model had completely deteriorated pads as well.

 

[JohnBooty]

I find the sound quality of my QC25 "good" or perhaps "very good" depending on the source material. I also find the sound of the QC25 very relaxing... basically, the opposite of "fatiguing." As others have noted there is a bit of a lack of detail; the upper treble feels a little rolled off. Measurements elsewhere seem to confim.

I spent a while with the QC35 once and found them to sound similar.

Just wondering, would anybody buy Bose cans for SQ and listening to music in a quiet environment at home at all ?
I'm sure that there are many other alternatives for above purpose.

Yeah, sometimes I do. I am very easily distracted by sound and sometimes I need/want to block everything out in order to work.

Even a "quiet" home is not totally quiet. Average noise floor of a "quiet" residential room is usually 30 or 40dB or something like that. And more, if you have dogs or neighbors or street traffic.

These headphones may also be good for preserving our hearing. We can play the music more quietly since we are not competing with background noise.

I use the QC25 only in the plane (sometimes in the train).
They are not comfortable.

Just goes to show how personal this is. I think they are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn.

Though, of course, like any pleather headphone pads... they will be sweaty in hot weather.

 

[JohnBooty]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned (apologies if I missed it) is that the QC35 battery is (nominally) not user-replacable.

However, due to the popularity of these headphones, there are a lot of aftermarket battery replacements available and a lot of YouTube tutorials showing you how to replace them. It doesn't seem too terribly difficult.

I have not seen anything similar pop up yet for the NC700. I'm not sure if it's because all the stock batteries are still working, or if Bose has made it prohibitively difficult.

If you hate the idea of having to "hack" your own device to replace a battery... well, I don't blame you. The QC25 uses a standard AAA battery. And rechargeable AAAs are cheap and good these days.

I wish they made a wireless headphone with replaceable AAAs.

 

[richard12511]

Bose gets a lot of (not entirely deserved)hate for their Acoustimass HT systems. I've heard these ANC headphones many times and always thought they sounded great. Great to see that impression backed up with measurements.

 

[beeface]

On the subject of consumables (pads and batteries), I'm just grateful the pads are replaceable at all.

My wife had a pair of Beats Solo 3 Wireless which do not have replaceable pads. You can buy aftermarket pads and replace them, but the process is annoying because the pads are stuck to the headphones with a ring of adhesive strip.

As a matter of principle, I thought it was pretty disgusting that a fairly expensive product is considered disposable by the manufacturer when an easily worn part of the product deteriorates.

 

[m_g_s_g]

Is Pinky left handed?

It seems so.
(Getting to the Core of the Matter!)

 

[richard12511]

QC35 III don't have any kind of microdetail and detailing is average. Plus, bass is slow and fat, far from being a "quality" bass.
I still cannot understand why I see you recommending this and the 10$' Sony while bashing the 990 Pro.
It's understandable timbre is the thing that really makes the final decision between buying or skipping a product, but the 990 Pro make a golden shower with the QC35 II if you're on the market for a bright pair of headphones.

Given you've heard both and disagree with Amir's opinion, I can understand why you might be perplexed here. Try to look at it from another angle, though: These measure much better than the 990 Pro, which (according to double-blind-test data) means they will sound better to the majority of people. Because of that, it makes sense that these were recommended, and the 990 were not. You very well may like the sound of the 990 more, but you are just 1 person. Why should your personal subjective impression(that the 990 sounds better than the QC-35) hold more weight than Amir's? Or, why should your subjective impression hold more weight than Sean Olive's studies that correlate measurements with listener preference?

Finally, and this is somewhat of a guess on my part, so apologies in advance. I notice that you are quite young. Your preferences will likely get more refined and change over time as you get more experience and have a chance to hear many more speakers/headphones. When we're young(I'm young too, at least for this hobby), we just haven't heard/lived with enough different designs for our brains to have a good standard of what "good" actually sounds like. Amir is an *older man with much more experience listening to speakers/headphones. Figuratively, he's heard it all, and he knows better what "good" sounds like.

 

[posvibes]

Amir is an old man

Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.

You young whippersnapper!

 

[richard12511]

Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.

You young whippersnapper!

I edited my post .

 

[DubbyMcDubs]

I just auditioned these at the local JB HiFi and found the ANC to be overwhelming, to the point I felt physically sick and disoriented. That lasted for about an hour afterwards. I don't suffer from motion sickness or anything like that so it was a surprise. Disappointed as they sounded quite nice when playing music through them. Shame.

 

[Yasuo]

I just auditioned these at the local JB HiFi and found the ANC to be overwhelming, to the point I felt physically sick and disoriented. That lasted for about an hour afterwards. I don't suffer from motion sickness or anything like that so it was a surprise. Disappointed as they sounded quite nice when playing music through them. Shame.

I believe it's something you get accustomed to, albeit Bose is known for this cabin pressure effect (or cup suction). You can also try another brand which doesn't do this, like Sony or Sennheiser.

 

[amirm]

Any chance we could have frequency sweeps at different output levels for future DSP headphones?

Sure. Here is the Bose for now:

 

[infinitesymphony]

Sure. Here is the Bose for now:

View attachment 114099

Much appreciated. Is there a way they could be overlaid to more easily see the differences between them as in @Neiios's example?

 

[sound_matter]

It's always amusing for me to watch the behaviors of readers after the review on popular gears. I don't see why some people are following by brands. I respect their loyalty, but every company can make a good gear and a bad gear.

If Bose one has good measurements, at least it means that it's well engineered, not a bad gear. Considerable for your collection.

 

[amirm]

Much appreciated. Is there a way they could be overlaid to more easily see the differences between them as in @Neiios's example?

Sure:

Note that at 114 it is super distorted so to do this right I probably need to use other levels than the standard ones I use.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Note that at 114 it is super distorted so to do this right I probably need to use other levels than the standard ones I use.

And if the compensation is based on the volume setting on the headphones, probably a wider range from low to high.

 

[amirm]

And if the compensation is based on the volume setting on the headphones, probably a wider range from low to high.

The volume setting doesn't work for wired access so wouldn't show up in my testing. But yes, likely if there is such a thing, it would work on Bluetooth.