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Im going to start off this video by saying that yes, the Bose QC earbuds block out an impressive amount of noise. They also have a decent ambient mode and they also sound pretty good. But unfortunately for me its very hard to recommend these earbuds as a pair of everyday carry earbuds cause their form factor is very 2018. Plainly said, this case is colossal when compared to today’s super popular everyday carry earbuds.
Now the Bose QC earbuds retail for $280 making them a pair of premium ANC earbuds. Now in this video we’re going to be focusing mostly on the Bose QC earbuds but im also going to compare them to AirPods, Galaxy Buds Live, and Galaxy Buds Plus. If you want to see how these earbuds stack up to other Premium ANC earbuds click or tap up here. But nonetheless if you want to pick any of the earbuds up mentioned in this video they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets address this carrying case cause this is super important for when you’re looking into getting a pair of everyday carry earbuds. Plainly said, this case is colossal. It dwarfs the AirPods, galaxy buds live, and galaxy buds plus case… and its even larger than the Sony WF-1000XM3’s case which is a case that ive always really liked to poke fun at cause its so big. But in all seriousness due to the Bose QC earbud’s case size… this is a case that you are really… really going to notice when you’ve got it in your pocket. But size aside, the QC earbuds’s case is fairly premium. This case is hard plastic with a matte finish to it, the lid springs open to present the earbuds to you, and the magnets holding on to these earbuds are fairly strong. Build quality is not an issue here, but what really is is the sheer size of this case.
And unfortunately when it comes to tech specs this case doesn’t do a good job of justifying its size either. Now these earbuds have a combined battery life of 20 hours. The earbuds themselves can go for 6 straight hours and the case can supply 2 additional full charges. But when compared to other options with significantly smaller cases like the Galaxy Buds Plus, these earbuds have a combined battery life of 22 hours, AirPods have a combined battery life of 24 hours, and the Galaxy buds live have a combined battery life of up to 29 hours if you use them with their active noise cancellation turned off which is how I use them.
So from a case size to combined battery life ratio the bose QC earbuds are really lacking. Now something that you can do to offset the Bose QC earbud’s lack luster battery life is that you can always charge them with your phone is your phone has power sharing cause the QC earbuds case has wireless charging. But keep in mind… all of these smaller cases also have wireless charging. So yeah, for me this case is a real deal breaker.
But now lets get to the earbuds themselves… just like their case these earbuds are huge. And again these earbuds are colossal when compared to other options like either AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM3, and Momentum 2’s… and they absolutely dwarf AirPods, Galaxy buds Plus, and Galaxy buds Live. And when it comes to fit these earbuds also feel huge. Now these earbuds don’t actually go into your ear canals all that much, they just rest right out side of it like AirPods and galaxy buds live. So these might actually be a good option for someone who isn’t the biggest fan of in ear ear buds for long use sessions like me. And thanks to these really large ear tips these earbuds still do a really good job of creating a seal and blocking out ambient noise. And these ear tips also have built in ear fins which help keep these earbuds in place. And you rarely have to go back and readjust these earbuds after you put them in which is nice. But just keep in mind these these ear tips and ear fins are one piece so you don’t have as many customization options like with other similar fitting systems. Now yeah you do get two other pairs of ear gels but I just wish you could mix and match ear tips and ear fins. But nonetheless these ear buds do fit very well and since these earbuds don’t go into your ear canals all that much you could wear them for hours on even without any problems. But cosmetically these earbuds are very large.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity unfortunately these earbuds are using a hero and side kick set up. Meaning that one earbud the hero ear bud in this case the right ear bud actually establishes a connection with your phone and then relays that connection to the other earbud. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time you gotta use the correct earbud in this case the right earbud.
But interestingly enough if you have the right earbud in the case with the lid open you can use the left earbud by itself. But as soon as you close the case the left earbud will lose its connection to your phone. I don’t know I just thought that it was interesting to point out cause with most other earbuds that are using a hero and side kick set as soon as the hero earbud is in the case the side kick loses connection.
But regardless I do feel that its unfortunate that the Bose QC earbuds are still using a hero and side kick set up cause what we like to see these days is each earbud actually being able to establish a connection with your phone so that if you just want to use on earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And this is something that the AirPods, Galaxy Buds Plus, and Galaxy Buds Live can all do.
But more importantly when with comes to watch movies or videos on you phone these ear buds have zero latency across the board whether you're using them with an iPhone or an android deice which is always good but when it comes to audio codecs these earbuds only have support for SBC and AAC just like the Bose NC 700’s.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds… These earbuds do like to put an emphasis on the vocals which is very Bose of them but these earbuds also have a decent amount of bass and it also resonates a good amount. And these earbuds also get super loud. Now the instrument separation and sound stage on these earbuds is way better than your normal pair of truly wireless earbuds but there are other earbuds out there that just sound much more open and balanced. Now these earbuds sound good and there is a good separation between vocalists, instrumentals, and just their sheer bass… But these earbuds are very vocals forward. Now these earbuds definitely get the job done but personally I just wish the mids were dialed back a little bit. And unfortunately you are at the mercy of Bose’s stock EQ right now cause these earbuds don’t have an adjustable EQ. Now personally I do think that it would behoove Bose to add an adjust EQ to these earbuds cause most earbuds have an adjustable EQ… And Bose also recently added an adjustable EQ to their Bose NC 700 headphones. For me I just want to dial back the mids on these earbuds.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these earbuds… they are super limited. Now these earbuds have touch pads… if you double tap on the right earbud they’ll play and pause your music and if you go into the menu option you can make it so that pressing and holding on the left touch pad will skip a track. But nonetheless this is super limited cause with other earbuds you can play and pause your music, skip forward or skip back a track and you can raise or lower your volume straight from the earbuds themselves either by pressing and holding on the earbuds or by swiping on them.
Now granted you can press and hold on the right earbud to active your voice assistant… but nonetheless the media controls on these earbuds are very limited. Bose has to change it so that a single tap on one earbud plays or pauses your music, double taping skip a track, triple tapping goes back a track, and pressing an hold will raise or lower you volume. And this is something that they can easily fix through a software update.
But something that bose did get right is that if you double tap on the left earbud then they’ll cycle between ambient mode and active noise cancelation. And like I mentioned at the top of this video… these earbuds block out an impressive amount of noise. Now I do want to taper expectations here these earbuds don’t block out as much noise as a pair of over ear headphones like the Bose NC 700’s….
But I do feel comfortable saying that these earbuds block out more noise than the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s, AirPods Pro, and sony WH-1000XM3’s. They don’t block out a lot more noise but they do block out a little more. However one trade off here is that they do have a little more cabin pressure than these other earbuds… and sometimes they did make me feel a little nauseous where as these other earbuds dont.
But from a performance standpoint the active noise cancellation on these earbuds has zero hissing in the background, it doesn’t change how your music sounds and the microphone array on these earbuds does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors. They’ll occasionally pick up wind noise on a windy day but besides that they’re solid.
But personally for me, I only use the active noise cancellation on any of my earbuds when I have too… and what’s more important to me is a decent ambient mode which is something these earbuds have for the most part. My only critique is that these earbuds do develop a slight hissing if you lower their ambient mode past 3 which can be distracting. So personally I set my highest ambient mode favorite to 3. But besides that the ambient mode on these earbuds sounds very natural and again this microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise.
And finally here’s the microphone test. Now in a quite room I do feel the microphone on the bose QC earbuds sounds a little more natural than the microphone found on AirPods.
Cause with AirPods even though your voice does sound good they do have a little more amplification to them than the Bose QC earbuds.
But when it comes to blocking out chatter the Bose QC earbuds doesn’t do the best of jobs. You can hear my voice but you can also hear a lot of chatter in the background.
Cause for comparison sake if we were to switch over to the Galaxy buds live… in a quite room my voice does sound a little better than with the Bose QC earbuds… and in this coffee shop demo the Galaxy buds live are doing a better job of isolating my voice.
But also for comparison sake the one plus buds do an even better job of blocking out ambient noise. And these are way more affordable than the Bose QC earbuds. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter… but if we were to switch back over to the one plus buds… its gone.
And if we were to switch back over to the Bose QC earbuds you can clearly hear that chatter in the back ground again.
So with all that being said… like I mentioned at the top of this video the Bose QC earbuds block out an impressive amount of noise, they have a decent ambient mode for the most part and they sound pretty good as well albeit they’re very vocals forward. These earbuds are also fairly comfortable to wear for hours on end cause they dont actually go into your ear canal all that much. But as a pair of everyday carry truly wireless earbuds these are a hard pass for me cause of their huge case and earbuds. This case is almost 4 iPhones thick and they have huge foot print. So this case is more noticeable in your pocket than your actual phone. And it also doesn’t help that these earbuds have less combined battery life than AirPods, Galaxy Buds Plus, and Galaxy buds Live which all have significantly smaller cases that are way more convienente to take on the go with you and they all have wireless charging. Theres also the fact that these earbuds have very limited media controls and these earbuds are still using a hero and sidekick set up. Now if you’re someone that looking for a pair of wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation then I highly recommend you either go with the AirPods Pro or Sennheiser Momentum 2’s and if you’re someone thats just interested in sound quality then you could go with the Sennheiser CX 400BT’s. But over all even though the Bose QC earbuds block out an impressive amount of noise… their form factor is already super dated.