Bose QuietComfort 45 Headphone Review

[perdido34]

Turning the unit on nicely fixed that...

98% will use it "on" as intended...

I think you misread the review. The hiss showed up when the headphones were on.

 

[Bam!]

I think you misread the review. The hiss showed up when the headphones were on.

No. You misread and should be more careful. My quote is on the issue of 5db...

 

[Aperiodic]

Seems like a nothing-special reboot of the venerable QC35 to me. I don't really care about the performance at 114dB, a level one shouldn't listen at anyway if they care about their hearing health.

 

[delta76]

Tell me how measurements identify musicality, please? By "musical," I really was saying only that I prefer either of these alternatives to the Bose when I'm listening to music.

because musicality is a myth - a headphone can target and match Harman curve, or it does not. this headphone is as good (if not slightly better) in that regard than your other "audiophile-quality" headphones.

yes you might prefer other headphones than this, and that's fine. everyone has their own tastes. but saying this is not as good as audiophile-quality headphone is non sense.

 

[bt3]

I had just one QC45. Sold it. Preferred QC25, QC35 and QC35II models.
QC25 was so-oo light. Also..
From my experience, QC25's longevity wins over later QC models.
Replaceable battery vs non-replaceable battery the reason.
I have two pairs of QC25's that have outlived two pairs of QC35's by 1-to-2 years.
No turning back to replacable batteries. Non-replaceable batteries took over long ago.
QC series has porked-up with each new iteration. Not alot, but lighter is better if you wear headphones all day most days.
Batteries aside, my main beef with QC phones is the earpads tend to degrade rather quickly under heavy use.
Think a company with Bose's research clout could develop a more durable earpad material.
Guessing Bose chose not to disturb income stream captured selling replacement earpads, and they sell alot of replacement earpads.

 

[perdido34]

No. You misread and should be more careful. My quote is on the issue of 5db...

Actually, you were responding to this sentence: "So there's hiss and the two channels have up to a 5db imbalance?"

You responded, "Turning the unit on nicely fixed that." Readers are supposed to guess that your response only applied to the phrase after and, rather than to both parts of the sentence? No, I was careful.

 

[Bam!]

Actually, you were responding to this sentence: "So there's hiss and the two channels have up to a 5db imbalance?"

You responded, "Turning the unit on nicely fixed that." Readers are supposed to guess that your response only applied to the phrase after and, rather than to both parts of the sentence? No, I was careful.

"Readers are supposed to guess"

YES!

I operate under the assumption that readers have read Armirs review and can put the pieces of this not so complex puzzle together...I guess exceptions confirm the rule.

 

[perdido34]

"Readers are supposed to guess"

YES!

I operate under the assumption that readers have read Armirs review and can put the pieces of this not so complex puzzle together...I guess exceptions confirm the rule.

You operate under the assumption that people can read your mind while ignoring what you actually wrote. Meanwhile, you say I'm not careful? Oh, well, I'm moving on.

 

[Bam!]

You operate under the assumption that people can read your mind while ignoring what you actually wrote. Meanwhile, you say I'm not careful? Oh, well, I'm moving on.

I am saying that this puzzle was obviously too complex for you. I quoted Amir and think/hope that a) people who read the review will identify the quote without quotation marks b) know from the context that "on" only solves the imbalance problem.

Oh, well keep moving.

 

[Prince Valiant]

I am saying that this puzzle was obviously too complex for you. I quoted Amir and think/hope that a) people who read the review will identify the quote without quotation marks b) know from the context that "on" only solves the imbalance problem.

Oh, well keep moving.

It still has channel imbalance issues around 1k to 3k while active. The headphones seem fit for purpose (noise cancelling), ignoring the hiss, but not much beyond that. I wouldn't want NC headphones with a hiss if I were interested.

 

[Bam!]

but not much beyond that.

I disagree. It is a good sounding headphone and purpose is not "noise cancelling" that is a feature like USB C, Audio codecs etc. The PURPOSE of this headphone is good sounding music reproduction

 

[Jim777]

Great to have these measurements. I have the Bose 700 and the Sony WH-1000XM3, and I have to say I prefer the Bose; sounds more natural to me.

 

[droid2000]

They actually cost much more than $329 since you'll need to buy a new pair every year after they fall apart.

 

[Bam!]

They actually cost much more than $329 since you'll need to buy a new pair every year after they fall apart.

? I have my 35 and 45 since they came out. Still in top condition and I used them a lot. My 700 is also like new. Never had any issues with the Bose hp hardware the software on the other side. In general I am very happy and the only thing I miss is support for aptx. Rumors say it may come but until now nothing.

 

[peniku8]

Interesting that the channel imbalance is so large in passive mode and disappears in the active modes, guess its due to different internal cup volumes due to electronics and nicely corrected by their EQ/DSP.
Like their predessors QC35 and QC35 II models they are good purchases which I have recommended to few friends which commute a lot and all are really happy with them.

Bose QuietComfort 35/QC35 Wireless 2016 Review

The Bose QuietComfort 35 are good headphones for commuters thanks to their excellent noise isolation. They're incredibly comfortable so you can wear them for hou...

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Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 Review

The Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 are versatile wireless over-ears with a very comfortable fit. They have a long 20-hour battery life, and their ...

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I wouldn't call this "disappears", I'd call it rather concerning:

The dsp seems to correct the channel matching only to 1khz. That's 6dB imbalance at 1.8khz, which will mess a lot with the center image of vocals, for example.
I'm surprised that Amir didn't address this in the review/listening test.

 

[Zensō]

I wouldn't call this "disappears", I'd call it rather concerning:

The dsp seems to correct the channel matching only to 1khz. That's 6dB imbalance at 1.8khz, which will mess a lot with the center image of vocals, for example.
I'm surprised that Amir didn't address this in the review/listening test.

Agreed. It’s hard to give this headphone a pass with what is certainly audible channel imbalance. Everyone has different tolerance levels, but this level of imbalance right in the most critical range would drive me nuts.

 

[Bam!]

what is certainly audible channel imbalance.

That would be something for a blind test.

 

[MayaTlab]

Interesting that the channel imbalance is so large in passive mode and disappears in the active modes, guess its due to different internal cup volumes due to electronics and nicely corrected by their EQ/DSP.

I'm not certain about this. For a while already, most consumer closed backs over-ears have had a dedicated rear volume inside the outer shell that's usually mirrored on either sides. The volume between the rear volume and the outer shell is where the R/L different electronics / parts / batteries are located, but designing these headphones this way should minimise that issue, shouldn't it ?

A teardown of the QC45 :

拆解报告：BOSE QuietComfort 45 头戴式降噪耳机 - 我爱音频网

BoseQuietComfortEarbuds真无线降噪耳机、BoseSOUNDSPORTFREE真无线蓝牙耳机、BoseNC700头戴式主动降噪蓝牙耳机、BoseQuietComfort35II头戴式主动降噪

www.52audio.com

You can see that the front and rear volumes are for the most part mirrored on each sides (I mean, not perfectly, but an effort has been made), and that the packaging differences are concentrated in the volume formed by the outer shell.

For now I'm tempted to attribute the channel imbalance below several hundred Hz, when passively driven, simply to leakage, but I could be wrong.

 

[droid2000]

? I have my 35 and 45 since they came out. Still in top condition and I used them a lot. My 700 is also like new. Never had any issues with the Bose hp hardware the software on the other side. In general I am very happy and the only thing I miss is support for aptx. Rumors say it may come but until now nothing.

One of the speakers stopped working after about a year on my first pair.

Here is what the second (unusable) pair looks like:

 

[flipflop]

For those of you who have difficulties reading graphs, please consider the following data points:

Frequency: 1704.536 Hz
Left: 93.27943936 dB
Right: 99.01291428 dB
Difference: 5.73347492 dB

Frequency: 5590.43879 Hz
Left: 106.30391701 dB
Right: 100.75651008 dB
Difference: 5.54740693 dB

Frequency: 8006.744331 Hz
Left: 90.84633004 dB
Right: 84.18211842 dB
Difference: 6.66421162 dB

The data is from the raw frequency response when the headphones are powered on.