Bose QuietComfort 35 II Review - Review 2022

Bose'due south manufacture-standard QuietComfort lineup merely recently added Bluetooth headphones to the mix, but it was worth the look. The Bose QuietComfort 35 II ($349.95) is a somewhat subtle upgrade to the original QuietComfort 35, which was the first wireless model in last year'due south QuietComfort lineup and is at present discounted past $xx to $329.95. The QC35 II is quite like to the original QC35, merely includes support for Google Assistant—something that'southward never been included in headphones we've tested thus far. The same button can also be assigned to instead control the noise-cancellation circuitry. While these aren't drastic improvements to the original, they're solid upgrades, and when you improve on a best-in-category product for the same price, you retain the Editors' Choice award.

Pattern

Available in a matte black or muted silver, the QC35 looks very much like its predecessor. Exceptionally comfortable earpads and a generously cushioned headband help the headphones alive up to the "comfort" part of the name. The circumaural earcups, which cover your ears completely, are cozy and cake out a decent amount of noise on their own, and the headphones feel lightweight on the head. The cloth grilles inside the cups are labeled with a big L and R so yous can easily identify the correct sides.

The Ability/Pairing button is located on the right earcup's outer panel, and the outer side panel of the ear cup houses a standard iii-push button control pad with a central multifunction button flanked Book Up/Down buttons. The central button controls playback, call direction, and depending on how many times yous press it, track navigation. Holding this push down summons Siri or vocalism commands on your phone. The book controls piece of work in conjunction with your device'southward chief book levels.

On the left earcup, there is now an Activity push. If you utilize the Google Banana app, pressing this push button opens up all sorts of possibilities. You could printing the button to simply hear the fourth dimension. Or hold the button down and ask the app to play you lot a favorite song or playlist—you'll need to set a default music app beginning, and iTunes is not in the flick here (though Apple tree Music is). Yous can likewise fix timers, create shopping lists, or practice anything that y'all'd typically be able to practice in the app. If you go a new text, the Assistant volition chime in and ask whether yous'd like to hear it—pressing the push button will read your message. The inclusion of the button increases the versatility of the headphones, without a uncertainty, but at the end of the mean solar day, this is merely useful if y'all care about using this app to manage your calendar, messages, shopping lists, and notifications. Double-borer the assistant button will immediately terminate whatever you're hearing from the Google app.

Bose's Connect app tin download updates for the headphones, command Bluetooth pairing, disable vocalism prompts, set an Auto-off timer (five minutes, 20 minutes, forty minutes, 1 hour, three hours, or never), command music, and access the user manual. Simply the newest characteristic in Connect for the QC35 II is the power to adjust noise cancellation levels, and it'due south simple but bully. We'll discuss this in the next section. You can also opt to assign the Action button to noise cancellation settings instead of Google Assistant past removing (or never downloading) the Google Assistant app from your phone.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II inline The QC35 II ships with an annoyingly brusk micro USB-to-USB charging cablevision, a 3.5mm audio cable, and a remarkably compact nada-up example that the headphones fold down into. Connecting the cable does non automatically ability downwards the headphones, so you can use the noise cancellation regardless of whether you lot're in wired or wireless listening modes. Yous tin also manually ability down the headphones and listen in passive mode to save battery life. The deviation between passive and active audio performance is noticeable—volume levels are similar, simply there's less bass depth, and the sound signature is about tinny in passive listening mode. In active mode, you get Bose's DSP (digital signal processing). The audio cablevision lacks an inline remote, so there's no way to answer calls or skip tracks with the power off.

The headphones' built-in mic offers decent intelligibility—our phone call partners were able to hear us and empathize every discussion during our chat, but things were never crystal clear. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every discussion, but there were some audio artifacts hither and there, typical of Bluetooth headphone mics.

Bose estimates the QC35 II'south battery life to be roughly 20 hours, simply your results volition vary with your volume levels and your use of the dissonance cancellation circuitry.

Racket Cancellation

The noise cancellation improvements are subtle merely useful, less about the still-excellent performance itself and more about user control. In the Connect app, there are simply three modes (Off/On, High, or Low), so information technology'southward not quite as granular in the controls department as with the in-ear Bose QuietControl xxx. Just being able to switch the noise-cancelling circuitry off, or put information technology in Low mode, is an splendid choice. Frankly, the inclusion of this functionality almost feels like a humblebrag—the QC35 2's Low fashion is probably as effective as most competitors' best attempts at dissonance cancellation. And High way is a matter to behold—in-room churr is dampened significantly, and loud whirs from an AC unit are well-nigh eliminated completely. The faint hiss that so many competing NC models have is nearly completely absent-minded here. This is the best noise cancellation on the market, and adding some useful controls to it only strengthens its position.

Unlike with plenty of competing wireless and noise cancelling headphones, switching on the noise counterfoil doesn't change the audio performance, though it can very briefly (for less than a second) audio slightly different while the switch is happening.

Performance

Every bit mentioned, passive wired fashion with the QC 35 2 doesn't sound bad, but it lacks real bass depth and has an almost tinny sound in the high-mids at times. Still, it's squeamish to be able to play the headphones when the bombardment is dead, or when you want to preserve bombardment life. With the headphones powered upwards, the audio performance with or without the cablevision is about identical, with the difference that the last volume level y'all listened at in each mode will exist defaulted to upon the next listen.

Tracks with powerful sub-bass content, similar The Knife'due south "Silent Shout," sound intense through the QC35 II. At top volumes the lows are heavy, only the DSP tamps then down somewhat. The result is the bass sounding more full and rich at more moderate volume levels. Either style, this is a bass-forward sound signature with boosted lows and sculpted highs to match.

Pecker Callahan'southward "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the QC35 II'southward overall sound signature. The drums on this track become an extra helping of bass depth, and they sound circular and heavy every bit a outcome. There'due south null too thunderous about them, but they are definitely getting some additional boosting in the lows. Callahan's rich baritone vocals get some overnice treble border here, lending them some added definition and making them easier to hear over those full-sounding drums.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick pulsate loop gets a solid high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain its sharp edge and slice through the crush. The vinyl crepitation backside the drum loop stands out a scrap more than usual, which ways the highs are also getting some added boosting and sculpting. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the trounce recieve some serious boosting, and at moderate volumes their presence sounds even stronger. None of the vocals on this track audio overly sibilant, despite receiving some obvious sculpting in the loftier-mids and highs—this is a clear, rich sound that may non be terribly accurate, but has plenty of balance.

On orchestral tracks, similar the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the lower register instrumentation is non overly boosted, merely there is definitely some added bass depth to it. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals retain their bright high-mids and highs, and therefore aren't overshadowed by the boosted lows—this is a sculpted, balanced mix.

Conclusion

So, is the new QC35 II worth the actress money, or is information technology better to save a little on the previous model? It's definitely worth the actress greenbacks—the $349.95 price is the same equally the original's when it was released, and it still offers everything that model does. Just some readers won't find the Google Assistant inclusion terribly compelling. For that grouping, the question becomes: Is the added dissonance cancellation functionality worth an actress $20? In our opinion, it is. Beingness able to switch between modes in the app is great, existence able to do this with the Action button is even better. The QC35 and QC35 Ii are the two best over-ear noise cancelling headphones on the market, both are winners of our Editors' Selection Award. Withal, some competitors have made strides in the final year or so. The AKG N60 NC Wireless and the Libratone Q Adapt On-Ear are both winners that are better-sounding headphones with slightly less effective noise cancellation.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II Specs

Type	Circumaural (over-ear)
Wireless	Yep
Wire-Free	No
Phone Controls	Yes
Connection Type	Bluetooth, Stereo 3.5mm
Water/Sweat-Resistant	No
Removable Cable	Aye
Active Noise Counterfoil	Yep
Smash Mic	No

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