QuietComfort Headphones - Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, Active Over Ear Noise Cancelling and Mic, USB-C Charging, Deep Bass, Up to 24 Hours of Playtime, White Smoke

UPDATE 02/09/26: it’s been nearly 1 1/2 years since I bought them and I still love them. I have bought many new pairs since my review (I’m obsessed with headphones), and I’ll put the QuietComfort up against just about anything in the $500 price range. The QuietComfort are one of my all-time favorite headphone purchases. First, let may say that I bought them during Prime Days, when they were only $199.99, which was a discount of $150! So, they are an incredible value. I own many pair of headphones, including AirPod Max, Sonos Ace, Bose QC 45, and the Sony XM5’s. I also owned and sold the QuietComfort Ultra, which are way overpriced, and the main selling point (their spatial sound or whatever they call it) is a joke. I don’t think it enhances the sound at all. In fact, music has a hollow quality when using it. Additionally, I prefer the QuietComfort’s buttons to the Ultra’s touch controls, which seemed awkward. Additionally, the Ultra utilize a 35mm driver, while the QuietComfort use a 40mm driver. While the Ultra may be more efficient, I think the low end frequencies suffer compared to the QuietComfort. The Bose QuietComfort are quickly becoming my favorite. The sound quality is second to none. It is noticeably better than the QC 45. The bass is definitely deeper and punchier. The highs and mids are also discernibly better. The highs are brighter and more crisp, though the highs are never harsh on my ears. The 45’s require a lot of equalizer use (+6, 0, -3), while the QuietComfort still require some tinkering, they require a lot less of it to achieve optimum sound (+1, +2, +1). Even at -3 on the EQ for the highs on the 45’s, the higher frequencies feel like they need to be reined in. Indeed, the QuietComfort just sound more refined. The noise cancelling has also improved, though I would say both the Sony XM5’s and the Sonos Aces are a touch better at cancelling most noise. I run an air purifier at arm’s length away from my chair, and a window a/c to supplement the central air, which is directly behind my head. With the XM5’s I can completely eliminate the noise from both while they’re simultaneously running. With the new QuietComfort I can just barely detect the a/c, while with the 45’s I can easily pick up the a/c. The difference here between the Sonys and the new QuietComfort is marginal at best. I should mention that part of Bose’s way to cancel noise is to pump low-volume white noise into the headphones, which seems counterintuitive, but I don’t mind it. Others may mind it, however. The QuietComfort are the most-comfortable to wear, though they are no different than the 45’s in that regard. They are extremely lightweight (though sturdy), and clamp down perfectly tight. I can shake my head back and forth without them shifting, yet they’re not so tight as to prevent wearing them for an extended period of time. I don’t work out, but I would imagine they’d maintain their fit during exercise. They also offer multi-point connectivity, and they (and the 45’s) are the only two pair to switch seamlessly between my LG TV and my iPhone. The XM5’s require using the app, the Sonos don’t do it as easily as advertised while using my tv for some reason and the AirPods Max don’t even offer multipoint functionality. Bose states that you get 24 hour battery life on a full charge, and I’ve found that to be accurate. While that’s less than the Sonos and Sony’s battery life (30 hours), it’s more than the Apple’s (20 hour). I have found the battery life to be sufficient. If you own a pair of 45’s and are looking for an upgrade, then I would say there’s not quite enough of a performance gap to justify the $349 price tag, however, if you catch them on sale for $199 like I did, then I would definitely recommend upgrading. If you’re looking for your first pair, then I would definitely recommend the QuietComfort over all the others I mentioned, even at $349. I hope that helps. Happy Listening!

I recently purchased the Bose QuietComfort headphones and they are exceptional. They arrived with a high quality protective case, which was a great first impression. The setup and connectivity process was simple and seamless. Downloading the Bose app and pairing the headphones took only a few minutes. Everything worked exactly as expected, which is the level of quality I associate with Bose products. The sound quality is far superior to anything I currently own. I use them both wirelessly with my phone and wired to my computer, and the audio clarity in both setups is outstanding. Music sounds rich and balanced, audiobooks are crisp, and dialogue in videos is incredibly clear. Comfort is another major strength. The size and style are perfect! I can wear these for extended periods without discomfort. The noise canceling is extremely effective, especially in environments with a lot of background noise. For anyone who can feel overwhelmed by constant sound, these make a noticeable difference. With the newer version recently released, these are currently priced at nearly half of what they were before, which makes them an even better value. For music, audiobooks, YouTube, or streaming on your phone, they are well worth the investment. There is honestly nothing about these headphones that I do not like. I would absolutely recommend them.

Comfortable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing to wear. The sound cancellation option is actually really good for the price. You have the option to turn it off as well. And when you download the app, you are able to toggle the noise cancellation strength along with connections and button command on which one controls what on your phone. (Ie: calls, Siri, volume, skipping). Sound is really good! The cushion on the ears and on the band on top is very nice. I don’t have a melon head, but the size adjustment and flexibility is melon head friendly. Mind you, I’m not headphone expert and upgraded from beat up cheap $70 JBL headphones that were begging me to stop using them. So, take the review how you will. Battery life last a looooong time. I just charge em for about 30 min to an hour when I’m preoccupied and they practically last me the whole day and then some. Con: my biggest gripe with them is that when you have multiple devices connected (I only connect my laptop and my phone), the connection has intervals of interruption. Sometimes, they will tweak out (despite keeping up with updates) and just drop the connection all together which require me to turn em off and on. So the biggest issue is the connection being a tad unreliable.

I have had lots of $40-60 headphones in my life and a few that did noise cancelling, and these blow them all out of the water by a huge margin. I have never experienced music like this before, I was a cheapskate, have never been to a concert in my life, don't have other speakers, have never had non-computer type speakers etc. These are a new world for me. The sound is so true and the bass so good I am now a speaker snob I think, I don't know the audio details of that but everytime I listen to our JBL 3 on a good loud song I turn it off and use the headphones now and can't go back. If you have some music on and noise cancelling enabled you will absolutely not hear your kids/wife in the same room unless they yell very loudly or happen to speak sharp/loud/quick at a perfect break in the music. These should be more heavily marketed to fathers everywhere to allow them to get 30 minutes of peace after work. Even without the music on it still blocks out as much noise as an average set of shooting earmuffs. I just can't speak well enough of the headphones for the above purposes and I should note that my wife sometimes hates when I put them on while she is complaining about something to me, but I believe that that is a feature of these headphones as opposed to a bug. In the "aware" mode you'll hear everything in your life just as good as you would with a single headset off your ear and the other one on, playing music. The bluetooth works great, connecting to multiple devices (phone and PC etc) at once with no foolish rules/policies that make it annoying. The other reviewers saying you have to have an app to use these are definitely wrong. You can install the app if you want extra features but you can also just pair it to your phone/tablet/pc like any other device and use it as-is. Just manual bluetooth connect it and don't install the dumb app it is that simple. That's exactly what I did and it works great with all the standard features you would expect. Haven't noticed an issue in any way in a full year of daily use. Excellent hardware/buttons etc: - L side button switches between NC and "aware" mode, great feature to have in an easy to hit button - R side main button: single tap pauses whatever is playing, double tap jumps to next song, triple tap goes back - R side volume up and separate volume down buttons intuitively located - On button is also slide-and-hold for pairing: great feature that is impossible to do accidentally - USB-C charging - port to use hardwire cable to connect directly if you cannot understand the blueteeth thing or want to play something from a device that has no bluetooth or won't pair. Favorite feature: plug in the 2' hardwire cable (which has a tiny but good inline mic on it) and let it dangle or tuck in a shirt pocket: you now have a top quality, silent, noise cancelling headset with a good mic (without changing any mode, hitting buttons etc) that allows you to talk on the phone in bliss. Now instead of yelling at my kids to be quiet every 5 minutes that I'm on the phone, I just put these on and have a great phone call. In the small house that we live in these have made my life a lot better and allow me to let my kids run around loudly having fun at times when I just want some quiet, and when I would have otherwise made them tone it down. The only downside to know about is that these are effective enough to where you need to be careful not to use the noise cancelling when you have much going on that you need to pay attention to. For example: you would not hear your sink overflowing or a pot boiling over, I didn't hear my woodstove fire getting too hot the other day, you won't hear early warnings of kids having trouble (probably wouldn't hear choking etc but would still notice actual screaming nearby). You would still hear something break or a loud whack etc, but probably wouldn't hear a vehicle pull up in your driveway. It does to some extent take away a major "sense" so you can't use it as often as you might like. For those other times, like if your wife is cooking and can hear the kids for you if there is trouble, and you just want to relax, I feel like I would almost pay the purchase price of these per week that I got to use them it is so awesome.

I've had these Bose QuietComfort NC Headphones for about a month now, and I really like how they feel and sound. For context, I have tried out about 5 different pairs in the last 6 years, starting with some Plantronics PRO's back in 2017, which i still use occasionally for travel. Then I moved to some Sony ones which I did not like. All of these other headphones were wireless and noise cancelling in the $100 to $150 range. They each had some shortfall that made them hard to use. Honestly out of all my previous headphoen the Plantronics were the best in quality and durability and Battery life. Sony always had connectivity issues and would crash randomly. Even the mid range model WHCH710N which had a lot of issues. They would randomly crash during zoom calls or listening to music. Happened about 3-4 times a week, it was getting really annoying. I decided to tier up my headphones because I use them for work daily. I thought it was a worth while investment. I decided to go with Bose because of the name recognition and because I have seen many of my peers use them (Im a Software Engineer). My first impressions of the Bose headphones were : - Light - Easy to setup - reliable bluetooth connection (something Sony was lacking) - Excellent sound quality (Best sound quality - on par and slightly better than my Plantronics) - Comfortable (The most comfortable out of all the other headphones I've used) To elaborate further. A common pain point I've experienced is difficulty pairing and dealing with unstable bluetooth connections with my other headphones. I rightfully assumed that this was a price point issue, because I have not had that problem with the Bose headphones. The Bose headphones were easy to setup, they also have apps to help with it. But you can use them without any apps. They are very comfortable and fairly light, comparing to others i've used. I sometimes wear these for 6-10 hours a day and I never have that weird ear pain that you can develop from wearing headphones for long. I have very big ears so that is saying something. Sound quality is excellent. Deep bass with excellent sound range, very satisfying to listen to. They also have a great volume range. This is what Bose is known for so they definitely get this right. CON 1: They do feel rather flimsy. For this price point I expected more metal parts. The materials look well made and have excellent form factor. The headphones however are completely plastic from what I can tell. I feel like one good tug would snap the hinges on the ear pieces. This is a serious concern when you're wearing lose clothing or a hoodie. The headphone could get caught in the folds of your clothing and if were to pull hard or fast while going through the motions you might break them. I have no data to back this up obviously because I am not going to throw away perfectly good headphones to test that theory but you can sort of tell by holding them and pulling on them a little. CON 2: Battery life isn't great. If I forget to turn them off at the end of my work day they somehow continue to deplete the battery. The following morning they are already at 50% battery. So that is 50% a day with only 6-8 hours of actual work (active use). For reference, my old Plantronics headphones last for several days without needing a recharge. I have gone on to use them for 5+ days without having to charge them. Even the mid-range Sony headphones perform "slightly" better than this. I know it's good practice to turn them off after you're done but one forgets to do that far more often than one would think. There is room for improvement here. Overall i'd say these are excellent headphones with great sound quality and form factor. Do take a little extra care because they are not the most durable headphones out there. I am happy with. my Summary: PROS: Sound Quality, Comfort, Weight, Form Factor, Easy Setup, Reliable Bluetooth Connection CONS: Battery Life, Durability

LOVE these headphones...I researched lots...these are so comfy. Tried on the apple ones (which were highly recommended) and they were too heavy. The BOSE QC are super lightweight plastic (which makes them almost fragile, so keep them in the provided case while commuting) but are super comfy and great audio for the average music listener. Call quality is good. There is no option for "no noise control" in bluetooth mode which is kind of weird. You are either in noise cancelling or transparent mode. I was concerned about this when deciding which headphones to buy, but these have worked well for me. I have had them for over a year now and love them. Super comfy, great price when on sale, and much more user friendly than the QC Plus...the volume controls for those headphones are a swipe motion, which I find stupid. Physical buttons are much better. These are all you need.

My husband was tired of his AirPods. They bothered his ears after a while. I bought him these Bose headphones when the price went down. He loves them! They connected quickly to his phone. The controls are easily reached and easy to use. Their portability aren’t as easy as AirPods, but they’re way more comfortable. The button responses are quick and a button will tell you how much the battery is charged. This headset easily goes from being able to hear your surroundings while wearing it. It also goes to another stage that muffles your surroundings a bit, but you can still hear people and traffic somewhat. Then the next stage, the button will take you to the ultimate state called No crying children allowed - perfect on an airplane! It’s light weight but bulky. Easily compatible with iPhone. The headband easily adjusts on his head. I bought it for just under $300. I feel for that price the value is worth it. The music is clear. Great set of headphones!

Absolutely love these wireless earphones. Easy to connect to the phone, the sound is amazing and the noise cancelling ability is awesome when I want to tune out my surroundings. The green is unique. These are great for workouts, gardening and activities. The cushions over the earphones is soft and allows for long term use without my ears getting sore.