Bose Quietcomfort 45 Bluetooth Wireless Over Ear Headphones with Mic Noise Cancelling – White Smoke

Really enjoying the music in Bose QC45. Noise cancellation is really good.

For watching movies,it is like watching in a theater. For music it is ok.

Hardware experience (used for 10 hours every day)
– QC 35s – owned for. 3 years – one speaker stopped playing
– Bose 700 – owned for 2 weeks – returned
– Sony XM4 – owned for 2 years – noise cancelling stopped working
– Apple Air pods Pro – owned for 2 years and still working
Review:
The Good:
+ most comfortable on the market, simply the best fit
+ physical buttons -you should always have physical buttons if you touch them when you do not see them!
+ Bluetooth connects very quickly
+ can connect to 2 devices
+ dedicated button for switching active Bluetooth device – you just swipe the button instead of using an app

The Bad:
– noise cancelling – it is good overall, but when somebody was closing the doors in the house quickly, or slamming them, they were unable to dampen that sound, and instead they would amplify it, sometimes it was like an explosion in the distance (hard to explain)

The Ugly:
– The issue I had with 2 pairs is that when I am connected to 2 Bluetooth devices simultaneously the sounds cut off for 1-2 seconds every 1 minute. When I use the Bose app to disconnect second device, this issue still occurs, but every 3-5 minutes. This happened on the first pair, and the replacement pair that Amazon send to me.

Well tbh I was sceptic buying this QC 45 after seeing tons of youtube reviews, yet the price of 20k was so irresistible to hold back , finally here it is I am listening to it and writing my delightful experience. Watched “The Revenant” , heard couple of songs from Skrillex to Justin Bieber to arijit singh to travis scott. This headphone is brilliant for every genre. Sound is so balanced. I had a QC 25 . Definitely bose technologies have gone far. I also have airpods pro gen1. Two things airpods pro though ahead and those are the transparency mode and call quality. But in terms of ANC and sound stage this QC 45 is amazing. I could have gone for Sony XM5 (tons of youtube videos are found actually to promote XM5) but nah this QC 45 design is the OG. Looks minimal, comfort is next level. No fancy set of features to confuse user. One suggestion to everyone, before putting negative comments please make sure you wear it right way and ensure proper sealing.

I was looking to buy QC headphones for a long time. Finally took courage to try my hands on QC45 and XM5. Both had offers running and XM5 had more discount over QC45. I went to near by croma store to compare both units.

Noise cancellation:
Croma had a very big closed indoor space with many people around during festival time, lots of devices playing in the background. Good environment to check the noise cancellation. I liked QC45 among the two. Off/On the NC we can clearly make out the difference.

Comfort:
Easy, relaxed, no irritation on ears, cups sat nicely over my ears with QC45. Cups are made of synthetic though it didn’t make a diff for me. XM5 are big pushy on the ears and my ears touched the inside sound drivers literally.

Ergonomics:
You can’t go wrong the QC45 cup controls. Works 100% everytime. Thanks to the old gen physical buttons. Otherside xm5 needs time to get used to touch controls. Need trial and error attempts before you master the controls.

Sound:
QC45 audio quality sounds realistic. XM5 comes with more punch and amplified base which I felt heavy on my ears.

App:
Bose app is simple and clear. No nonsense. First time Setup till playback is all guided via app. I have another Sony model XB910N and had experience using their app. They provide 360 audio which is not practical enough. You need to buy those special tracks from other listed apps to experience 360 audio. Sony plays their features to create stickiness for customers. Wat you see on their products is not always yours. You need to keep spending money.

Color and looks:
It’s always subjective. QC45 smoke white color is a gold standard. Vintage piece to own.

Marketing strategy:
Sony and Bose are quite opposite in marketing strategy. Sony tends to attract young audiences by sharing the tech used in their products like ” 8 array mic setup to get optimal noise cancellation experience”. Even Bose does the same but they won’t advertise their intellectual property information in public for any of their products. That differentiates how well the products reach to new age audience. You will rarely find discounts for Bose products. Sony sales in the last couple of years is heavily into discounts and festive offers.

Alternatives:
Bose 700 has all the bells and whistles to compete with XM5 for an extra money. But QC45 is classic. End of the day we are buying these headphones for the Audio experience and not for complex smart features on it.

I suggest to try the models you like before making purchase decision. Don’t go by discounts and brand names. I also followed the reviews on http://www.rtings.com before making this choice.

Thanks for reading through my purchase experience. Happy shopping and enjoy 🙂👍