So these are the Bose QC Headphones… basically these are Bose’s new mid tier ANC headphones and they have some blink and you’ll miss it updates over the Bose QC45’s… And even right now as of Mid November, bose pushed out a very tinny upgrade to the Bose QC headphones. Nonetheless today we’re going to checkout the Bose QC Headphones, and were also going to see how they compare to both the Bose QC45’s which have been my favorite headphones for that past 2 years and the Bose NC 700.
Regarding pricing, this is something that got upgraded on the Bose QC Headphones and not in a good way. The Bose QC Headphones have a retail price of $350, 20 dollars more than the Bose QC45’s and the Bose NC 700’s currently have a retail price of $380. However, both the Bose QC45’s and Bose NC 700’s like to go on sale now… and personally I think you’ll be better off getting a deal on the Bose QC45’s while you can. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about the included carrying cases cause I feel that this is very important for traveling with your headphones. Now the Bose QC’s come included with the same hardshell case as the Bose QC45’s. Its decently small so traveling with this case is easy and its going to keep your headphones well protected even in a cramped backpack. And personally I have always preferred to fly with the Bose QC45’s over many other headphones cause this case has a smaller foot print, and this case also has a smaller foot print than the Bose NC 700’s cause cause these headphones have a lay flat design to them. Overall there are no changes here when it comes to the case on the Bose QC Headphones, its still a great option for traveling.
But with the case out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now the Bose QC Headphones look identical to the Bose QC45’s. These headphones have a fully collapsable design, these ear cups pivot and swivel very well, this headbands clicks open, we’ve got a mostly plastic body and the headband is covered in leatherette on both the top and bottom. Sadly bose hasn't brought back the Alcantara that was found on the Bose QC35’s. Overall, the Bose QC look identical to the Bose QC45’s… except their leatherette feels a little different. Now the leatherette on the Bose QC feels decent, but it just doesn’t feel as soft, as supple and it doesn’t have the same grain as the leatherette on both the Bose QC45 and Bose NC 700. So because of the slight difference in leatherette, I think the Bose QC45’s feels a little more premium than the Bose QC, but dont get me wrong, they’re still very well built, but they have been downgraded… but you won’t notice this difference unless you have the Bose QC45.
But when it comes to fit, the Bose QC’s identical to the Bose QC45’s. Regarding clamping force, the Bose QC’s have a loose fit to them, making them big head approved. And even if you have a very large head and if you like to wear hats, the Bose QC’s will have you covered. The headbands on the Bose QC is also very well padded so hotspots are never an issue… and when it comes to their weight, the Bose QC weigh in at 235 grams… making them a pair of light weight premium ANC Headphones. And for comparison sake, the Bose QC45’s weigh in at 237 grams, and I feel that this two gram difference is negligible. But then there are the Sony 1000XM5’s which weigh in at 250 grams, the Bose QC Ultra weigh in at 254 grams, the Sony 1000XM4’s weigh in at 255, Beats Studio Pro weigh in at 260, the Bose NC 700 weigh in at 264 grams and then there are the AirPods Max which weigh in at 384 grams. So with the Bose QC’s these headphones are very easy to forget that you have on and you dont notice them shifting around as much when you’re walking around with them on. And finally there are their earpds, the Bose QC have the same earpads as the Bose QC45’s meaning that therye a little more spacious than the earpads found on the Bose NC 700, but in general these ear pads are very spacious and they’re super comfortable to wear, so whether you have average sized ears or very large ears or ears that stick out a lot, the Bose QC will have you covered. And since these earpads have very little surface area coming in contact with your skin, these earpds do a really good job of staying cooler for longer. So just like before and just like their name suggest, the Bose QC’s are a pair of headphones that as very comfortable to wear cause they have a looser fit, they’re very light weight, they have very spacious ear cups and hot spots are not an issue for their headband.
But now lets talk about tech specs, the it comes to battery life the Bose QC’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on, where as the Bose NC 700’s have an advertised battery life of 20 hours and the Bose QC45’s no have an advertised battery life of 22 hours… before they were 24 but now they’re 22.
Now dont get me wrong, a battery life of 24 hours with your ANC turned on is good, but these days more premium ANC headphones are trying to hit a battery life of 30 hours. But the main issue here is, yet again, you can not use these headphones with their Active noise cancellation or ambient mode turned off. and I think this is a shame cause I think that if you could use these headphones with their ANC turned off, they could possibly go for as long as 40 hours.
Personally, I just wish that bose would just give us the option to use our headphones with their ANC turned off, cause depending on your situation, maybe you want to extend their battery life as much as possible is you’re traveling. And this is something that bose can easily add through a software update, but they refuse to do so.
But when it comes to charging these headphones, just as you’d expect, they charge via a USB C port as they should. But the fast charging on the Bose QC isn’t great, if you were to charge these headphones up from a dead battery for 15 minutes, they are going to get you 3 hours of playback time. Defiantly usable, but it is a little behind when compared to the rest of the competition.
Overall, the battery life on the Bose QC is okay, but this is still one of Bose’s main weak points. 24 hours with your ANC turned on is okay for traveling… but it is a little behind when compared to the rest of the competition. I wish that you could use them with their ANC turned off so that you can extend their battery life depending on your situation, and the fast chargning on these headphones is a little weak.
But when it comes to connectivity, these headphones can be connected to 2 devices at the same time which is good if you’re a power user cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another regardless of eco system.
And when it comes to overall performance, these headphones have zero latency across the board when watch movies or videos on your phone whether you’re an iPhone or an android user, but when it comes to audio codecs, the Bose QC’s still only have support for SBC and AAC. Now AAC is perfectly fine, but these still dont have support for higher quality audio codecs out there.
But if you want to you can always still use a wired connection with these headphones cause they still have an audio jack, which means you can plug these headphones into an airplanes entertainment system or if you’re a content creator you can monitor your audio. Just keep in mind that these are using a 2.5 millimeter audio jack instead of your more standard 3.5 millimeter audio jack. But most importantly, they can be used passively, as in they dont need to be powered on if you’re going to use them with a wired connection. Unlike the Bose QC Ultra. However, the USB C port on these headphone can not be used as a wired connection. The USB C port on these headphones is strictly used for chargning.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Now just as you’d expect, the Bose QC’s are a pair of neutral sounding headphones. As in, they have bass, but their bass is mostly on the audible. As in, you can hear their bass, but they aren’t going to rattle your head all that much. So some people will say that these headphones sound flat cause they cant physically feel their bass, but these headphones aren’t flat, they just sound different. Now you can always go in and adjust the EQ on these headphones to your liking, and you can crank up their bass, but even with their bass cranked all the way up, they still aren’t going to physically rattle your head all that much. But in general, the Bose QC’s sound and perform identical to both the Bose QC45 and Bose NC 700. They have decent instatement separation and they sound more open than Sony’s offerings, and they like to put an emphasis on the vocals. Overall, the Bose QC’s are going to be better suited for someone that prefers a more neutral or vocals focused EQ.
And when it come to the media controls on these headphones, just like before they have physical buttons, and these buttons are very easy to find, they’re easy to tell apart and they have a good click to them. So skipping through your music or adjusting the volume on these headphones is very easy.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Now even though the Bose NC 700’s we’re Bose’s most premium ANC headphones until the QC Ultra came around… the NC 700’s didn’t have the best ANC that bose had to offer, the Bose QC45’s actually have better ANC than the NC 700’s. And I am very happy to say that the Bose QC’s have better preforming ANC over the Bose QC45’s. Now the improvement is very small, but its there. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into the ANC test and we’re also going to be using the Wind Reduction Setting as well.
ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, the Bose QC’s block out noticeably more noise than the Bose NC 700 and they block out just a little more noise than the Bose QC45’s which have been my favorite headphones for flying for the last two years. But the performance difference between the Bose QC and Bose QC45 is very small, and personally I wouldn’t justify this as a reason to upgrade to the Bose QC from the Bose QC45’s cause even if you use these headphones back to back, you’re not really going to notice a difference.
But then, theres the Ambient mode on these headphones. Now just like before, the Bose QC’s have a very natural sounding ambient mode, however, this microphone array is a little fast to pick up wind noise when walking outdoors, so that can get a little annoying if you’re commuting to work. But an improvement that bose pushed out as of mid November, is that you can now somewhat adjust adjust how much noise these headphones let in like how you can with the Bose NC 700’s. Now finding this setting isn’t as straight forward as it should be, but it is possible, and this is something that you cant do with the Bose QC45’s. But again, being able to adjust your ambient mode on the Bose QC’s isn’t a justifiable reason to upgrade from the Bose QC45.
Now while we’re on the topic of the ambient mode, I do have to point out that the ambient mode on the Bose QC is not active, as in they will let in everything. Like this, major headphone warning.
Demo
So like you may have just seen, the ambient mode on the Bose QC’s just let in everything, they wont actively protect your hearing from sudden loud sounds like with some other headphones out there. And also, the Bose QC’s dont have a conversation mode like the Bose NC700’s where if you press and hold on their multipurpose button, they will lower the volume of you music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove your headphones, like this.
And then you can press any button your headphones will go back to normal again. And personally, I am a little upset that the Bose QC dont have this feature, cause this feature is very common on other headphones out there and its super useful for when youre traveling with your headphones. And I feel that bose can very easily add this feature through a firmware update by making it an available option for when you press and hold the multipurpose button.
Mic Wired QC Quite
But finally heres the microphone test, now the QC’s come included with a built in microphone in their wire, which is extremely rare now, but its a welcomed feature if you plan on taking conference calls on your computer and this wired microphone sounds much better than the microphone found on the headphones themselves.
Mic QC Quiet
Cause the microphone on the QC sound decent enough to take phonecalls with while in a quiet room, but it doesn’t sound as good as the wired microphone.
Mic QC45
And in general, the microphone on the Bose QC’s sounds and performs identical to the microphone found on the Bose QC45’s.
Mic NC700 Quite
And I do feel that the microphone on both the Bose QC45 and Bose QC do a better job of focusing on your voice while in a quite room.
Mic NC 700 Road Noise
But the Bose NC 700’s do the best job here of dealing with noise pollution. Cause right now, this microphone is reducing some of this road noise, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch over to the bose NC 700’s it is reduced.
Mic QC45 Road Noise
Where as with the bose QC45’s these are letting in more road noise
Mic QC Road Noise
And the Bose QC’s are letting in the same amount of road noise and theres the same amount of clarity to my voice.
Mic QC Wired Road Noise
And then theres the wired microphone… this microphone is just picking up everything, at least the headphones themselves will block out some noise pollution or at least try.
Mic QC Wired Chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to chatter, the wired microphone here is just letting in everything.
Mic QC Chatter
Where as the built in microphone on the Bose QC is trying to block out some of this chatter.
Mic QC45 Chatter
And the microphone on the Bose QC45’s are performing the same as the microphone found on the Bose QC’s
Mic NC 700 Chatter
And finally here are the Bose NC 700’s and these are reducing the most amount of chatter here, but again for comparison sake, 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 bose NC 700 it is severely reduced.
Mic QC Chatter 2
So overall, all of these headphones have decent sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but with the Bose QC’s you do want to avoid taking phone calls with these headphones while in a noisy environment, and they sound and perform the same as the microphone found on the Bose QC45’s. Now the addition of a wired microphone is nice cause you’re going to have better clarity, but you definitely only want to use it while in a quite room.
But with all of that being said, the Bose QC headphones are a decent pair of ANC headphones and they are a great companion for flying, just like the Bose QC45. They block out a ton of noise without a lot of cabin pressure, and they block out just a little more noise than the Bose QC45. They’re are super comfortable to wear for multiple hours on end cause they’re super light weight, they have a loose fit and they have very spacious ear cups. Plus I also really like their compact case. However, these aren’t really an upgrade over the Bose QC45, if these were truly an upgrade I would have like to have seen a significantly large battery life increase, I would have like to have seen an active ambient mode, they’re still missing a conversation mode, they sound the same, and their microphone still has a lot of room for improvement. If you already have the Bose QC45, there is no reason to upgrade. And if you’re think about picking up the Bose QC’s I would highly recommend that you pick up the Bose QC45’s while they’re on sale and while they’re still available.