What are the Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones?

Bose is synonymous with top-notch noise-cancelling headphones, and the QuietComfort 35 are no exception. The difference lies in the fact that these are Bose’s first active noise-cancelling headphones that also feature wireless capability.

Design and Comfort

The outer shell of the ear cups is made of metal, while the frame and headband are of a thick plastic. They’re covered in a beautiful faux-leather that manages to stay quite cool, even in muggy weather. There’s good reason for Bose to have put the word “Comfort” in the name of these headphones.

The QuietComfort 35 headphones are available in two colours. There’s the classic Bose silvery-grey and black.

Noise Cancelling

Bose headphones traditionally offer the best active noise cancellation (ANC) around and the QC35s are no exception – the units are brilliant at keeping noise out.

Their close-fitting over-ear design in itself blocks some noise, but with ANC turned on, pretty much all sounds disappear to leave you alone with your thoughts. It’s a little eerie at first, but you soon become used to it – and then learn to appreciate it.

Bose’s noise cancelling works best with low-frequency machine drones. It entirely blocked the engine noise of a ferry, as well as the clatter of trains and general cacophony apparent at train stations during rush hour. This means you can enjoy music in busy environments, even at low volumes.

Sound Quality

The Bose QuietComfort 35 offer a huge improvement over the Audio-Technica headphones. They have a wide and encompassing soundstage, even though they’re close-backed units, and lack any hiss or white noise that may muddy the sound.
Bose uses a digital equaliser that automatically tweaks the sound on the fly so that one aspect doesn’t overpower at any volume. It works well: the QuietComfort 35 provide smooth and accurate sound, even at low volumes where I’d expect some elements to vanish.

The bass is meaty but remains under control, and doesn’t drown out the detailed mid-range or treble; nor does it go missing at low volume. Any music by the bass-heavy Massive Attack drips in lovely low-end gooeyness

Battery Life

Bose claims the QuietComfort 35 can survive for 20 hours on a single charge, which I found played out in real life.

Annoyingly, the QC35 don’t turn off automatically when you stop listening, which meant that they ended up totally out of juice after leaving them on overnight by mistake. Thankfully, the Bose Connect app has auto power-down settings where it’s possible to pick a range of times from five minutes to three hours.