Bose QuietComfort 35 Headphones

The Product: Bose Quiet Comfort 35 Headphones.

Best For: Anyone who loves quality sound from their music.

Three Things We Loved: The stylish design, the sound quality, the ease of use.

Road Test:

My first experience of the quality of Bose was in the United States many years ago, when a friend asked me to go to a demonstration of some micro speakers he was thinking of buying. To say I was blown away would be an understatement; I quickly learned that Bose is synonymous with quality products which, although pricey, do more than they promise. When it comes to headphones and travelling, over the years I’ve favoured ear buds rather than around ear products, mainly for the convenience of packing them. Having travelled on more long haul flights than I care to remember, however, there have been plenty of times when I’ve wished for some headphones which could also banish peripheral noise, peering enviously at others as they snooze with their Bose noise cancelling headphones on. I’ve tried cheaper pairs in the past only to be disappointed, but thanks to these new Bose wireless noise cancelling headphones, my dreams appear to have come true.

The QuietComfort 35 around-ear headphones, which launched in June, are an upgrade on the old version, the QuietComfort 25, and they are ideal for travelling, commuting, working on your computer, or just for kicking back and listening to music. They also have a new feature which puts noise control in your hands, allowing you to adjust how much surrounding sound you block out or allow in and they reproduce music with stunning quality and clarity. So what else is new or different? For one, you don’t have to choose between Bluetooth and noise cancelling with these headphones. And just some of the many other features of these new headphones, besides a sleek, lightweight design, include NFC for touch-to-pair convenience, intuitive controls for music and calls, voice prompts for key information including setup, caller ID and battery life. There’s also a free Bose Connect app you can download for even more functionality.

Road testing the Q35s was a joy. My initial test was to put them on without streaming any music. They were not only super comfortable thanks to faux leather cushioning around the ears, and fully adjustable of course, but I couldn’t even hear any other noise. The next test was to pair the headphones to my devices, first to my iPhone, then my iMac, and finally my MacBook Pro. It was easy and the Bluetooth connection worked first time without a problem. Finally I played around with some of the other features while listening to music. While the QC35 use microphones for noise cancellation and controllable noise cancellation, they also use a dual-mic system to reject the annoying background sounds that interfere with talking. External noises such as people chatting fade, and text-to-speech is improved with phone VPAs such as Siri.

The QC35 has up to 20 hours of battery life, with buttons on the right ear cup including on/off, music volume, play/pause, and answer/end calls. The free Bose Connect app has a clean and minimal interface, allowing you to connect and switch between Bluetooth devices, update software, personalise your voice prompt language and more. The kit comes with a smart semi-soft case to protect your headphones, a USB cable to connect to a computer for recharging, and a wire should to wish to go old-school and connect to a device directly.

The Verdict:

I loved these headphones, not only for their stylish looks, but the sound quality. For creating silence, they also excel. Admittedly they come with a hefty price tag, but in the world of “you get what you pay for” these headphones are more than worth it and more than exceed expectations.