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Comment by void_ita | Hacker News Reader

If you are looking for Noise Cancellation, there's just ONE answer: Bose. In my experience, no other brand provides a better active noise cancellation. Bose is still king (and by far). I've tried Sony, Schneider and others that I forgot. The QC35 were by far the best ones. I have not tried the latest Bose version tho, so I don't know if they are worth it or not.

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Bose QC 35 ii is not worth the money. They are overpriced and have bunch of problems:

* QA seems lacking. Our whole team has company sponsored QC 35 ii's and one came as DOA, couple of them have suffered the same fate within a year * Noice-cancellation is good. It's so good that I can't keep it fully on for more than 15 minutes and the lower cancellation level leaks more sound. Maybe personal problem but annoying still * Audio quality through bluetooth is lacking. The integrated amp doesn't have the oomph for the elements and the sound sounds a bit muddy * AQ problem can be remedied with the provided cable which is short. And what's the point of wireless headphones if it lacks on that side? * In the plane I have bunch of other stuff with me so I don't want to reserve so much of space for the headphones

I like my own AKG NC60 sound quality, size and the noise cancellation is usually enough (although not so all encompassing as the Bose's) but AKG's problem is really bad mechanic quality. With even lightweight usage they end up breaking badly, so I'm going to need to buy a ned headphones and for that I'm looking forward for Sennheiser's and Sony's. Stay away from AKG and Bose ;)

I used to agree, but I find Sony is slightly better now. I only use silently for noise cancellation when working, no music/flights.

My main gripe is that they power off after time if not connnected to a Bluetooth source, but there’s probably a fix.

I’m also not a fan of the talking command voice and find the touch controls overly sensitive (they beep if you bump them)

They absolutely were. But I have to say that in recent years competitors have caught up and surpassed in some aspects. The newest models from Sony, Sennheiser, B&W, B&O have really stepped up and is on par with the QC35 or above.

The QC-35 ii product is a regression. I use both all day. Changing pairs when the battery dies. Bluetooth range is about half as good as original QC-35. When I go in/out of range there is a ~5 second audio delay until power cycle the headphones. I have to frequently re-pair bluetooth. It tries to intelligently switch between my phone and laptop but this doesn’t work at all.

I hope the next gen is better.

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