Bose QC-35 Review
As I’ve said before, I’ve always been intrigued by over the ear headphones. I recently tried the V Moda Crossfade Wireless headphones, which sound great but are just uncomfortable for me. The thing that led me to return that pair was when I was strolling through the electronics department at Target one day, and I decided to slip on a pair of Bose QC-35’s. They felt like heaven: not too loose, and not too tight like my V Moda pair. I picked a pair of QC-35’s up at an adjacent Best Buy (since they have a better return policy), and sent the V Moda set back to Amazon a few days later.
The Bose QC-35’s are the company’s first wireless over the ear cans, and they’re a great first try. They still feature Bose’s signature Active Noise Cancellation, an advertised 20 hours of battery life, and a wire for when the battery does dry out. The headphones are packed inside the carrying case, which is very nice case. The case is hard and sturdy, and features elastic pouches on the inside and outer shell for accessories. Also in the package is the Micro-USB charging cable, the two-prong airplane adapter, and the 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable for wired use.
I’ll say right off the bat that I strongly dislike the cable they included. It’s thin, feels flimsy, and doesn’t even feature in line controls or a microphone. I immediately ordered a braided third party replacement cable from Amazon, but it’s ridiculous that this cheap of a cable comes with this expensive of a headset.
Moving on from that negative, the build of the headphones themselves are fantastic. The earcups themselves are covered in a comfortable amount of pleather, and the outer earcups are a sturdy but light metal. Unlike the V Moda Crossfades, most of the body is made of plastic. Despite being plastic, the body seems very sturdy, and the lighter plastic makes the headphones very comfortable to wear. I was able to wear the headphones for six hours straight the day I bought them without ever feeling like they were pinching my head. The on/off switch and Near Field Communication chip (for quick pairing to your phone) are on the right ear cup, while the music controls and charging port are on the bottom of the right ear cup. The left cup holds the 2.5 mm headphone jack on the bottom, and there is a Noise Cancellation microphone on each cup.
When you’re jamming out but need to hear something real quick, the common response is to just let the headphones rest on your neck and shoulders. Even if you extend the ear cups out all the way, the headphones are just not comfortable to rest in this area; they always feel like you’re being choked by a small child.
These were my first pair of Active Noise Cancelling headphones, and it’s unreal: switch them on and everything around you immediately quiets down. I didn’t get the chance to try these on an airplane, but they did admirably against the hustle and bustle of my grocery store and favorite cafe. Active Noise Cancellation works best against steady tones like a plane’s engine, and Bose is a well liked brand among frequent flyers. When I was about to record the sound leak test below, my friend had me hold off because her refrigerator was humming. However, I couldn’t hear the humming at all, even without playing any music.
Good noise cancellation technology is only part of the equation, with the fit of the headphones also playing an important role. Every has different shaped noggins, but the ear cups can extend, pivot and swivel around to contour comfortably to most faces.
More than just cancelling out background noise, the headphones need to sound great. My Nexus 6P doesn’t feature the support for high resolution audio, so the Bose phones sounded just as good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) as anything else. When I tested them against the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless and Sony MDR100ABN Wireless Headphones on a friend’s HTC 10 (which does feature support for great audio), the QC-35’s just couldn’t keep up.
The main feature that Bose didn’t include is support for the Apt-X codec. Apt-X is a technology by Qualcomm that both the host (your phone) and the target (your headphones) needs to support to work. When you’re listening to music with Bluetooth headphones, there’s only so much bandwidth that Bluetooth features to send the file. So, you’re going to hear less detail (such as a certain background vocal or instrument) wirelessly than you do wired. Apt-X makes up for this a little bit. With Apt-X, the music stream is compressed on the host, transmitted, and decompressed on the target. This allows your device to send more detail over the limited Bluetooth bandwidth, which translates into better sound.
My Nexus 6P doesn’t feature support for Apt-X, so missing it on the QC-35’s doesn’t make a difference for now. But when I do upgrade to a different phone, that’d be something I’d be missing. The QC-35’s can pair with and remember two devices, and I paired it with both my phone and my Lenovo Yoga 900 laptop. It’s easy to switch between devices by just pausing the stream on one device, then playing stream from the other. Except for the normal Windows 10 Bluetooth craziness, pairing went smoothly with both devices.
Overall, I’m not quite sure if these are the headphones to buy in this range. The most important factor for headphones is comfort, and the QC-35’s absolutely excel (for me) in this area. The next most important — sound — is a disappointment. At this price, there’s no excuse for the cheap wire or lack of Apt-X. As I alluded to earlier, I’m testing these headphones against a Sennheiser and Sony pair to figure out which I like the best while they’re all still in their return period. Those reviews will be out in the next few days, and I’ll do a separate article on my favorite set and why I picked them. The Bose QC-35’s retail for $350, and can be found in most electronics sections.
