Bose QuietComfort 35 II Review (Noise Cancelling Headphone)

[KeithPhantom]

I have purchased the QC35 II after the review but I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong this is a good headphone and it sound right but I find it little bit dull sounding and not as enjoyable as my Etymotic ER4XR. I found the ANC doesn't compete with ER4XR amazing passive noise isolation.

I find the opposite with my ER4SR in terms of isolation. For me, ANC is better than passive isolation.

 

[ksaugrin]

What i have omited to tell is i have used the QC35 II in bluetooth and we all know that DSP settings will differ because of that. After listening to. the QC35 with the cable and ANC on it's sound a lot better than on bluetooth

 

[nemanja_t]

Ordered one based on this review, and I am a happy customer.

 

[phrwn]

Well I gave it a spin, but not for long.

Comfort

• Not as comfortable as I was expecting, but not bad overall
• I found the clamp a bit much, and could feel something starting to push on my ears within an hour
• My ears got pretty hot

Sound

• I bought them for wireless, so was using them as such, with ANC off; I don't much like the ANC pressure sensation
• Sound was pretty good, I tried the EQ from here and the AutoEQ - both different, but not a big difference
• The problem with EQ'ing these is I had them running at 60-70% for comfortable volume and then EQ drops it another notch so for quiet tracks it's getting close to the end of the available volume range that isn't introducing distortion
• I was hoping EQ would add back in some of the separation and space I'm used to, but it didn't do much other than requiring more volume
• Flipping back and forth between these and the E-Mu Teaks running off an Element II and there's just no contest. Unsurprising, but I was hoping it would be a bit closer
• The isolation is incredible, especially compared to the Teaks, which isolate about as well as a hearing aid. I swear voices get amplified through the cups of the Teaks. With the Bose I couldn't even hear the cat yelling at me and that's with ANC off

Function

• Pairing and using with iPhone was fine, but I ran into the notorious Bluetooth issues on Windows. After faffing about for about an hour with drivers and restarts I was about it give up when I tried removing every device I wasn't using that Windows had listed in the Bluetooth & Other Devices section of Settings, connected or not (most of them had never been connected) and everything started working. Before this they would connect and play for a few seconds, then just lose connection, then report reconnection, but no sound would play. I compared to some Jabra Elite 85h's and they connected fine (BT5.0), but then stuttered heavily when playing anything. Removing all the non-connected devices fixed them too, so this is all usual Windows stupidity
• ANC defaults to high mode every time you turn them on: as with any device that does not retain your settings through a power cycle, this is annoying
• Everything else was fine - you can set the action button to ANC, so that helps. The tactile buttons are better than touch controls on a device that you're not looking at when you use it. The NC 700 looks like a retrograde step in that regard
• They also have a rubberized edge so you don't get an aggressive clack in your ears when removing them from your head like, for example, with the Teaks
• Micro-USB in 2021 dear god
• Non-user replaceable battery

Why I'm returning them
If they were as comfortable as the Teaks and sounded not necessarily as good, but as good in their own way I guess, had BT5 and some better codecs, and a replaceable battery I could live with the micro-USB, BT latency, and the ever-looming threat of more Windows-related BT issues. These are good headphones, but, as usual, I find the convenience of wireless is still outweighed by what you have to give up. I'm sure if I gave it a week or two the sound would be fine, but I can't imagine replacing the Teaks with these when I'm actively comparing the two. I'm a one-headphone person, which means I'm permanently dissatisfied.

 

[DeepFried]

Well I gave it a spin, but not for long.

Why I'm returning them
If they were as comfortable as the Teaks and sounded not necessarily as good, but as good in their own way I guess, had BT5 and some better codecs, and a replaceable battery I could live with the micro-USB, BT latency, and the ever-looming threat of more Windows-related BT issues. These are good headphones, but, as usual, I find the convenience of wireless is still outweighed by what you have to give up. I'm sure if I gave it a week or two the sound would be fine, but I can't imagine replacing the Teaks with these when I'm actively comparing the two. I'm a one-headphone person, which means I'm permanently dissatisfied.

Thats fair, comfort is a very personal thing, the ear cups are small so if your ear isn't the 'right' shape to fit in them thats going to impact comfort a lot. Personally I wouldn't recommend them to anyone with ANC off, the sound is just a lot worse, plus the ANC performance is one of their major selling points. On the BT front i've using them exclusively with a dedicated BT transmitter (fed by Toslink) and thats been fine. I gave up long ago wrestling with bluetooth in windows.

Lack of replacable battery and headband pad are my two big criticisms of them, that and the general warmth on the ears, but thats probably inevitable with small isolating cups.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

As a big fan of measurements and measurement results (since I'm not only a hifi fan, but a full-time energy electronics technician), I'm rather downright shocked at the good measurement results.
Because the sound of the Bose called me relatively strong nausea before...

 

[phrwn]

As a big fan of measurements and measurement results (since I'm not only a hifi fan, but a full-time energy electronics technician), I'm rather downright shocked at the good measurement results.
Because the sound of the Bose called me relatively strong nausea before...

Could be the noise cancelling causing nausea, as opposed to the sound profile.

 

[Tachyon88]

I ended up getting a used pair of these as a place holder for a potential lossless wireless APM.

Comfort....well they are comfy, but sometimes when I am wearing glasses it will start to hurt. The discomfort is where your glasses rest between your skull and your ear lob. I think there is a sweet spot in which I can prevent it, but without glasses its a non issue.

Imo the sound quality is lesser than a HD6xx, but its good enough for what it is. I think if it had better instrument separation and a larger soundstage it would be pretty darn close. Anyways, once you acclimate to it, it sounds fine. Amir EQ is so subtle I wouldn't be able to notice if I left it on or off. I was hoping it would increase the spatial quality that I mentioned, but it doesn't.

I've used these with my windows 10 PC and they connect instantly, I've never had driver issues with any thing USB or bluetooth related either.

These are my first ANC cans, and they do a great job at blocking out conversations and have even gamed with them with a wired connection and I can localize people just fine, better than my closed TH900 actually. I like that I can blast my PC fans at full speed if I needed to and not hear them. Noise floor of the ANC is not bothersome to me either.

 

[Acerun]

Has anyone tried using a 2.5 balanced cable with the Bose QC 35? Do you think something like this would work? I'd like to get the additional balanced power from my Qudelix to power the Bose 35.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293677295457?hash=item446087e761:g:DAAAAOSwj~9bduVf

 

[nathan]

Has anyone tried using a 2.5 balanced cable with the Bose QC 35? Do you think something like this would work? I'd like to get the additional balanced power from my Qudelix to power the Bose 35.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293677295457?hash=item446087e761:g:DAAAAOSwj~9bduVf

Using that would require passive operation since the active noise cancelling is an amp unto itself, right?

And these don’t sound very good when in passive mode.

 

[Acerun]

Using that would require passive operation since the active noise cancelling is an amp unto itself, right?

And these don’t sound very good when in passive mode.

Makes sense. Thank you.

 

[JJB70]

I have purchased the QC35 II after the review but I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong this is a good headphone and it sound right but I find it little bit dull sounding and not as enjoyable as my Etymotic ER4XR. I found the ANC doesn't compete with ER4XR amazing passive noise isolation.

I also went from ANC headphones to Etymotic IEMs, though I went for the ER4SR rather than the XR. I find the passive noise isolation more effective than ANC, particularly for blocking out chat and sound quality is outstanding. That said, if people want an ANC headphone the QC35ii is an excellent option and there are plenty of discounts these days. Something that put me off wireless headphones like this is the use of sealed batteries. A few years ago I had the Sony WH1000XM (gen 1 or 2, can't remember now), ANC was superb and sound quality very acceptable but after about two years battery life fell off a cliff and cost of replacement meant it made more sense to buy a replacement (the replacement was the ER4SR). Maybe it is just me but I don't see headphones as a two year throwaway purchase (I still use my original HD580 which is about 30 years old), especially those which are pretty expensive.

 

[sushi2020]

I'm wondering if Etymotic IEMs and ANC headphones could be used together to achieve the best isolation.

Has anyone tried it?

 

[FrantzM]

I'm wondering if Etymotic IEMs and ANC headphones could be used together to achieve the best isolation.

Has anyone tried it?

I believe there was a thread on the subject on ASR. Can’t remember the title.

 

[JJB70]

I am not sure using Etymotic ER4 IEMs and ANC headphones is wise. The ER4's already provide serious sound isolation to a point where situational awareness is seriously reduced. As much as I enjoy listening to music I think it is important to retain an element of situational awareness.

 

[sushi2020]

I believe there was a thread on the subject on ASR. Can’t remember the title.

Thanks. I think I found it.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/headphones-for-air-travel.16391/
Some people use IEMs and ANC headphones together, but the benefits don't seem to be significant...

I am not sure using Etymotic ER4 IEMs and ANC headphones is wise. The ER4's already provide serious sound isolation to a point where situational awareness is seriously reduced. As much as I enjoy listening to music I think it is important to retain an element of situational awareness.

Yeah, you have a point.
However, when I used the Etymotic ER2SE with triple flange tips on a long bus trip before, I felt that the bass was not attenuated enough.
(Maybe it was because it wasn't sealed well?)

 

[JohnBooty]

I am not sure using Etymotic ER4 IEMs and ANC headphones is wise. The ER4's already provide serious sound isolation to a point where situational awareness is seriously reduced. As much as I enjoy listening to music I think it is important to retain an element of situational awareness.

Don't worry, if anything goes wrong on a plane you'll feel the dangling oxygen mask hit your face

Seriously though I do agree. My wife likes to sleep with big fans running at full blast to block out all noise. I'm not really a paranoid guy and I do like some fan noise for sleeping purposes but she's totally overkill about it... the way she likes it, we can hardly hear the dogs barking downstairs. Not sure we'd hear it if somebody broke into the house... hell I'm not sure we'd hear it if somebody drove a truck into the house.

Something that put me off wireless headphones like this is the use of sealed batteries. A few years ago I had the Sony WH1000XM (gen 1 or 2, can't remember now)

Yeah. I actually just "standardized" on the older wired QC25's for that reason. Had a pair, got tired of shuffling them between offices and my laptop bag. So now I have three pairs, for cheap, thanks to eBay. I work remote so I do a lot of online calls each day and at $100 (used) they're the best balance I've found between ANC, mic quality, and sound quality.

That said there's a cottage industry of 3rd party replacement batteries and YouTube videos for the QC35's so they don't have to be disposable...

 

[MayaTlab]

BTW, https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/19/22583264/bose-quietcomfort-45-headphones-qc45-fcc-filing-leak
And it's coming very soon since it's already in the Bose Music app :

at the very least USB-C, different mic array (all MEMS ?), slightly different pads (more like the 700, smooth sides).
I'm crossing fingers the ANC "woosh" behaviour will be at least on par with the 700 and hopefully better, that Bose will have put some efforts into the response above 1kHz for once, and that the 700's "baby" in app EQ will be carried over to this new model.

 

[posvibes]

Recent;y I had a birthday and was gifted a pair of wireless noise cancelling Bose buds. But I have problematic ears for fitting buds and so to avoid the whole frustrating try them and see, I exchanged them for a slightly cheaper (competitive price matched) pair of QC35ii's.

Well I didn't even give them a listen straight out of the box, instead plugged in the EQ settings from Amir via @sweetchaos as laid out in the review above and had a listen to them last night. Set up was Spotify premium via Topping E30 & L30, with the Bose powered up.

These are just really great headphones and if I was to assign a sound signature to them, they are to me like the AKG371's but with the Senneheiser HD650's presence. The Bose are more comfortable than both.

 

[Helicopter]

They're great. I am really looking forward to the release and presumably review of the upcomimg QC45.