I'm sure the AirPods Max will be pretty awesome in its own way though.
the audio quality for calling is disastrous, disabling (or turning down the noise cancelling) is impossible without their App, and the "primary" source of audio overrides the secondary source. Which can be an issue if you have something the headphones 'think' is playing, but isn't. -- common when my linux laptop is the primary source.
Do I have the QC35 II's or something then? There's a button on the side of mine which will change noise cancellation level.
At any rate, yeah, there are annoyances for sure. Keeping open two connections rather than having to switch is a definite improvement, IMHO.
That button can be configured for that or for voice assistant activation, lots of people probably use it for the latter.
And I don’t remember seeing this option in the Bose connect app either.
Sometimes you need the former, but you always need the latter. Apple can be counted on to doing this more often and consistently than any other company.
- I can have 2 connected sources of audio (ex: phone/laptop). However, only one works at a time. So when I get a spam phone call, I loose audio for my ongoing video call until I decline the ring. - I can't use wireless without turning on noise cancelling. This means, I can't really walk around and use them at the same time
QC35, at least QC35 II can set any NC level, including “none”, from the Bose Connect app (or the accessory button, if it's set for that purpose instead of voice assistance activation) while turned on.
A BT headphone that can stream from 2 sources at the same time, mix the audio streams together, have the controls play/pause both sources at the same time, only use voice assistant from a primary source.
My guess is it's just too complex, and maybe there's no BT chip that can do 2 high quality audio streams at the same time that fits the power requirements for a 20hr headphone experience.
What I do is use an A2DP sink that sort of does this. But I need a Windows machine that pairs with all my BT sources, it mixes the audio output from the sources (along with the Windows audio), and outputs it to the default audio output. It's quite nice if you don't like taking your headphones on/off all the time.
But again, simple multipoint support seems to be pretty rare. I think the newest WH-1000X M4 finally added it, the Microsoft Surface headphones also have really good ones, and that's kinda it.
Some devices like Samsung instead use a fast switch, I think that's what Apple is doing here too?
Also they fast charge with USB-C.
Forgot to mention they have active noise cancellation too.