Bose QC35 vs. Apple AirPods

You might think that it doesn’t make sense to compare the two as they are different products.
I disagree and while I have many reasons the #1 reason is that they both fighting for the same budget.

Apple AirPods

I have purchased them in Jan 2017 and have been using them daily since.
I wrote a brief review shortly after i purchased them.

While I’ve not changed my mind few things happened:

1. When doing phone calls I’ve started to receive complaints as to how I sound. Microphone performance showed inconsistencies
2. Battery life stated to bother me. The battery can reach 4 hours when not using the mic, but in calls, battery can go down fast, after 90–120 minutes recharging is required. I’ve found myself multiple times with dead battery in a middle of a call
3. For several weeks only one AirPod would connect to my phone, and I would need put them back in their charger and take them out to resolve it. While it did happen for several weeks it had since disappeared (I suspect it’s related to iOS as it disappeared when upgraded to v11.1

Bose QC 35 II

The trigger to try the Bose QC35 was a few days workshop I needed to join remotely and needed equipment that would support it.

While the Bose are really good, the price is so high that even after week of using them I thought about returning them and trying cheaper competitors but eventually decided that it does not worth the effort.

• Battery is amazing — 12 hours is exactly what I needed. Knowing that I can use them throughout the day without thinking about battery is such a relief. I wish to see future AirPods double their battery performance
• Noise cancellation is superb — everybody is saying it, but when I thought about noise cancellation I thought about airplanes, I did not think about coffee shops. I often work from coffee shops and I found QC 35 to isolate me from the surrounding and be a remarkable productivity improvement.
  The noise cancellation was such a surprise that it resulted in this tweet:

• Dual Bluetooth Connection — While the AirPods are beautifully integrated with MacOS and iOS they still require you to manually select which device you’re using. The Bose connect to two devices and does it extremely well. Being able to use the laptop while knowing that if a call comes in the headphones will switch to the phone seamlessly is really awesome

There are some scenarios where I think that QC 35 II headphones are not a great fit:

1. When I use the Bose for hours my ears get warm. In warm places with high humidity it would not be fun. The AirPods in such situation are much better and I barely feel that they are there to begin with
2. While it might be obvious — QC 35 II are not really designed for activity. For running or exercising the AirPods are truly amazing

I have both the QC 35 II and the AirPods on my desk most of the time. I’ve found that the QC are the ones I now use whenever I optimize for speed as they are faster to put on (if they are outside their box) and turn on as well as the microphone quality is higher.

I hope you find it valuable. Both headphones are pretty great so there’s no wrong decision here.. :)