Kudos to their will to analyze and also document about a single problem so thoroughly.
I never bought a Bose product before, but reading this honestly makes me think about it...
If any company would cost a premium for being as careful as they are, I would definitely pay for it.
The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users:
https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/QC-35...
Note, the "solution" is buy new headphones if yours are our out of warranty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bugTnRbnhQ&feature=youtu.be
Edit: Wow, downvoted to -1 :/
Was super unimpressed with Bose support, both in store and online - they offered to wind back the firmware for us, or our other option was buy a new pair.
It's interesting reading about this not-turning-off bug as maybe something like that is happening which is killing the battery overnight.
The only thing that went thus far were the leather cups (twice) that are fortunately easily replaced. OEM are $$$, while after market alternatives I found to be just as good and are only $.
My battery is still strong. Probably around 10-12 hours of use.
The analysis in the page discussed in this thread doesn't match what you're saying: knockoff cups are inferior and degrade noise cancellation.
But you paid 300-400$ for headphones, to me it's worth paying the OEM premium just to make sure they keep delivering the quality and experience I was looking for initially when I paid the high price. Otherwise, you might as well buy the lowest priced noise canceling headphones: you'll get a commensurate experience but you won't break the bank.
Anyway, to each their own :)
The problem is aftermarket cushions may not do as good of a job at passive noise reduction.
Follow the link and check if you have the right number of clips on your aftermarket cushion. Obviously this isn't the full picture but is certainly a large piece of it.
And I am the guy who spent 4 times a few hundred on AKG studio headphones but replaced the ear cups with some much, much cheaper but better feeling ones.
To each their own :)
Mum bought new last year because pads were worn, I got her old set - uses a single AAA battery and lasts across the globe and back (~30 hours). Unfortunately she didn't like the new rechargable set, and neither do I..
I have the same experience on the battery: my pair is almost 3 years old and I can go about 2 days of work (~12 hours) before I have to charge them.
[1]
What is Bluetooth multipoint, and why isn’t it more popular?
https://www.soundguys.com/bluetooth-multipoint-explained-286...
https://www.soundcore.com/products/variant/life-q20/A3025011
I was considering several different pairs including the Bose and picked up these as I couldn't stomach the cost of the more expensive headphones. At 60$ they are great, the noise cancelling is good enough. The battery life is amazing. I can sit down at my desk and use them all day while connected to my laptop and phone. If either device reports a "Call" coming in it gets priority and I hear the ring. 10/10 Experience for the price.
It's so jarring to use anyone else's Bluetooth products after using them. It's so smooth.
I'm sure there are bad customer service people out there, but I really wonder how often reports of bad customer service are actually just pointing out that the poster was a jerk. See also Yelp reviews.
> So I removed the old switch slider and spring, used 96% ethyl alcohol to clean the bottom part of the switch left on the PCB (filled it with alcohol, let soak for a few minutes, then used tiny cotton wool balls and a pair of pointy tweezers to clean the contacts, then dried it off using compressed air).
I would not dismiss the tremendous engineering + coordination effort required to pull this off as "just" PR.
Bose might care, but they care magnitudes less when it goes against their environmentally unsustainable business practise.
The investigation outlined in this would have cost a lot of money.
The headphones won't turn off, but Bose refuses to make it right for the users
There are plenty of countries (outside the US) with powerful enough consumer protection agencies to force Apple to change it's practices (eg, the ACCC in Australia[1][2]). If this really is a widespread manufacturing fault we'd see them forced to act elsewhere.
[1] https://www.accc.gov.au/public-registers/undertakings-regist...
[2] https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/apple-australia-gives-...
Pretty much every Apple product is far more popular and has a higher public profile than any one Bose product. It's entirely plausible that Bose gets away with not fixing flaws because the products and their flaws simply don't get enough attention.
I'm impressed with this reach out, something Apple are unlikely to do (even though I use their prem products)
I had the same problem as you and was very disappointed. Up until this problem I was very happy with the QC35, which I have used for hundreds of hours.
I followed the below YouTube video a few weeks ago, and the problem has not returned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qHSaWi4X8
The process took about 20-30 minutes and was relativity easy, however some parts are quiet small and it took a few tries to get them into the correct position.
The problem is the switch becomes loose and touches multiple contacts, making the headphones turn back on. Don't bother with all the other troubleshooting advice Bose has told people to do (updates, resets, pair & unpair etc), the problem is a physical problem with the switch.
My office headphones have always been Beyerdynamics. I've owned a pair of dt880s and now dt1770 pros and used them almost daily. The 880 I bought in 2003 and 1770 in 2016. Both work with no trouble and deliver perfect sound. I expect them to last for a few more decades...
Quality earbuds don't need to be fragile.
Do you work too much, or do you only ever take them off to shower and sleep?
168 hours in a week, minus the 70 hours leaves 98 hours free. Lets say you sleep 8 hours a day, 56 hours each week. 98 - 56 leaves 42 hours where they are not sleeping and not wearing the headphones. More than enough for showers!
I think I also listen to music or podcasts for around 9-10 hours a day currently, one way or another (for example, I usually listen to music while showering, way more fun). Most of the time I have background music on, unless I'm outside hiking or social gatherings. Then one of my hobbies are making music... But right now I'm doing 0 hiking and 0 social gatherings, so lots of music.
It makes my ears too itchy inside if I wear cupped headphones for more than 3-4 hours straight. My theory is that it build up humidity from my body but it's not ventilated because the headphones' cups are tight.
Anyone else with that problem? How do you avoid itchy ears after wearing headphones for longer times?
Don't! I also have the same problem if I wear headphones for too long, usually 2-3 hours, so about the same as you (got the Bose QC35), so I usually only use those headphones when I want to make sure I remove bright noises from the environment, like airplanes.
Otherwise, at home (which is 100% of my time because of the lockdown) I use speakers (same for showers, using speakers). Then office environment I usually have my in-ear headphones that have superior bass compared to my headphones and I can wear them for the full day without feeling anything on the top of my head or my ears.
I wish! But I have the pleasure of working in an "open office"... I have to wear headphones (or 3M construction earmuffs/PPE when I don't want music) just so I can hear myself think in the middle of all the chatter.
By comparison my Beats solo are much better, for range battery and connectivity, but they don't have noise cancelling.
Their Bluetooth setup is abysmal ! Hate using these QC 35 for that reason.
I have the QC35-II and never had problems, neither with battery life nor with bluetooth. In fact, given that it seems like no device ever gets bluetooth protocol right, it surprised me that the headphones do exactly what I want: connect to two devices at once (laptop and phone). So I can play music on the laptop and when someone calls, the headphones seamlessly switch to the phone, and when I hang up, they switch back to the music from the laptop. Also reconnecting works without anything to complain about. I am also switching back and forth between two locations, meaning two laptops and two phones, and the only thing that is mildly annoying is that when switching the desk, it takes a little longer to reconnect to the other set of devices again. But it does work.
What would be cool is three devices served at once (laptop, land line phone, mobile phone).
I am not using the Bose app at all.
But what is annoying is that they don't charge and work at the same time. Frankly, I was pissed when I found that out. WTF, there are integrated USB charger/voltage regulator circuits readily available that do that for you. Probably it's due to heat dissipation problems as always so they might have artifically disabled this to avoid at all cost headphones bursting into flames on people's heads.
I'm very, very happy with the BT performance of my AirPods as well.
I bought some Outdoor Chips 2.0 snow sports earpieces for my ski helmet a few years back, and they took me back to the bad old days of bluetooth; static and cutting out when you dare turn your head the wrong way or put your phone in the wrong pocket. They went back to REI, and were replaced by Sena Snowtalk which works the way that modern BT stuff (cars, Bose, Apple, etc) works.
EDIT: I turn off BT in all but one device!
I don't use the Bose app for anything. The only time was to update the firmware and re-enable the noise cancellation button, which somehow vanished.
As for range one can't expect much more with Bluetooth, especially indoors.
If you meant QC35 II and not QC35, could your issue be something in the Mac and/or iPhone and not the headphones?
On the other hand we have genuine Bose replacement cushions that start to flake out not two years after very light use. Not aftermarket, but their own ridiculously expensive units bought directly from them. I have no explanation for this except for it being due to planned obsolescence practices. So they can publish as many reports (that tested a whooping 10 returned units!), but it doesn't undo the ill will created by their products falling apart on schedule. Caveat emptor and all that.
Which I had to replace after 2 years of weekday daily use of 3-4 hours a day.
I’m not sure I class that as ridiculously expensive.
I no longer use the earphones, but I can vouch for them.
First I had to replace because it stopped charging after 10 months. I used them single every day, and I loved them. They were my first pair of active noise cancelling anything, and they completely changed my anxiety levels at work.
I remember thinking to myself 2 days after sending them back to Bose to be looked at, that I was so much more stressed without them.
I was sent a refurbished pair with new earplugs in the box 5 days later. This is almost unheard of in Australia.
That pair has been going strong for the past year, they get used when I travel long-haul - I carry them as backup.
My second pair I bought because my workplace let me expense up to $250 on headphones, they had some damage which Bose was kind enough to offer replacement for free, but now that COVID hit I've been unable to send them in for replacement. Luckily I have my backup!
I could even chew or wash my hands or sit in a noisy cafe without the other people in the call hearing it.
The audio quality might be better with the Sonys, but at least they answered to the Sonys in a timely way. I had no bad experience with those yet and used them for almost a year already. No idea about customer support.
I know this thread is about the QC model, but I wanted to throw this in here. IMHO bose is not behind at all.
Sony put their efforts into producing custom chips that could upscale low res audio, they created the LDAC codec, put in chips that can detect your environment and adjust ANC accordingly, they have airplane pressure neutralization. Mind you this is all a year before the 700s came out and can be found for half the price of the 700s. They've also come out with numerous other ANC headphones since then at lower price points.
Bose may look prettier to some, but Sony is probably 4 years ahead of the game in terms of features, cost at scale, and product offerings in the space.
I could not hear any difference at all on my last flight, comparing 1.0atm ground calibration vs 0.9atm in-flight calibration. The effect must be rather small.
I noticed that their QC15/25 has a major flaws on the battery compartment design cause its wiring prone to wire fatigue and as a result it will inevitably end up with a broken side. This is very well known in the community.[1][2][3]
And after warranty expires(usually 1-2 years), Boss charges you $100 for a refurbished replacement (required that you sent your broken headphone back to Boss before you get your replacement) instead of just fixing yours (which should be much cheaper). Highway robbery!
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2GBBZbAyQ
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlb094awkoo
[3]: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/10706/How+to+fix+power+t...
I'm not paying £150 for something that's failed twice in the exact same way, so I bought some Shure monitors instead. The passive reduction on these is as good as, maybe better than, the active cancellation of the Boses, and sound quality is way better.
I just wish they'd release a fully wireless version with the same comfort and fit (not the replacement cable+dongle thing they currently have).