Bose QuietComfort 35 II Noise Cancelling Bluetooth - Wireless, Over Ear Headphones with Built in Microphone and Alexa Voice Control, Black, Standard Headphone Size

Product Information

Music Share allows you to stream music to two pairs of Bose headphones, all from a single device. This feature can be accessed through the Bose Connect App, and are compatible with the following devices:

QuietComfort 35 II Noise Cancelling Smart Headphones | Bose

The QuietComfort 35 II are hugely effective in a Ronseal kind of way: the excellent noise-cancelling keeps everything around you quiet, and they're exceptionally comfortable. In those regards they're unbeatable, and for many a regular long-hauler, they'll be the most important factors. But these Bose headphones aren't the best sounding of their ilk, with the Sonys in particular offering similar levels of noise-cancelling and comfort with an extra helping of musicality. They now support Google Assistant, too. The headphones are very good at switching between multiple connections. I had my pair of QC35s connected to both my laptop and my phone, and the headphones had no trouble switching between the two as I played music alternately from both devices. Battery life on the QC35s is very good. Bose promises that the headphones will last 20 hours when operating wirelessly, which rises to 40 hours when used as a pair of wired headphones. I didn't time exactly how long the battery took to run down, but the headphones lasted me several days of on and off use before needing to be recharged.

As with all noise-cancelling headphones, the QC35's are best at cancelling out consistent low frequencies like the rumble of a train or plane rather than higher-pitched office chatter, but even the latter is drowned out to a certain extent by the padding around the headphone's earcups. When it comes to Bluetooth music streaming there's standard Bluetooth and then there's AptX Bluetooth. The latter is appreciably better for streaming music, but Apple's devices only support the former. You can read more about the difference between them in our Bluetooth vs AptX explainer. If you aren’t bothered about the smarts, you can program the button to cycle through the headphones’ three noise-cancelling levels instead (‘low’, ‘high’ or ‘off’).

QuietComfort 35 II Noise Cancelling Smart Headphones | Bose QuietComfort 35 II Noise Cancelling Smart Headphones | Bose

The self-noise value in Noise Isolation was corrected. The active noise cancellation performance has not changed.Most listeners will find the sound quality of the Bose great if taken in isolation. Audiophiles will want to go with the Sony WH-1000XM3 or Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2 instead. If your headphones won’t re-connect to your smartphone by Bluetooth, first make sure the audio cable and USB charging cable are unplugged. If this doesn’t work, use your smartphone to disable and re-enable Bluetooth. Still having problems? Delete the headphones from your phone’s Bluetooth device menu and retry the initial pairing process. It may also help to remove some other Bluetooth devices from your smartphone to avoid cluttering it. The headphones doesn’t automatically switch to the device playing content But now we are talking to our speakers, our watches and our phones, it makes sense that we should be able to talk to our headphones as well. That’s the thinking behind the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, the updated version of the QuietComfort 35 that came out in 2016. In terms of sound, the Bose QC35 II NC is good, but not class leading. While tonal balance is relatively neutral with a slight mid-bass bump, the sound is somewhat soft when compared to competitors like the Sony WH-1000X M2 (previously the Sony MDR-1000X). This means dynamic range is a bit limited and makes for a somewhat dull presentation. Resolution is good but not great and sound stage is about average. Dynamically, these headphones can take changes in intensity in their stride. From the quieter drums and strings that rise up when the song begins to the hearty, husky tones of Lisa Gerrard’s idioglossia (her invented language) that fill the space, these headphones make smooth transitions allowing you to really become immersed in your music.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, Noise

Alternatively if your phone is one of the increasing amounts of Android phones that support NFC pairing then you can connect your headphones by simply putting them in pairing mode and tapping the rear of your phone against them. The headphones that came before these, the Bose QuietComfort 25 , enjoyed a huge amount of success after arriving in 2014. In the years since, the number of wireless models on the market has exploded, meaning Bose had to make the jump to wireless sooner or later. It’s currently unable to access your offline media or link with other services such as Tidal or Deezer (and if you’re on iOS, we found it unable to stream music using the Assistant at all). The Active EQ is subtle, but personally I don't think it added anything to my listening experience. Verdict Bose’s forte is active noise cancellation and it shows with the QC35 II NC. Switching on noise cancellation is like walking into a quiet room after being on a busy city street. The headphone does an excellent job of drowning out everything from the rumble of a train, cars driving by and even voices.

Slide the power switch toward the Bluetooth symbol, and hold it there until you hear a voice prompt letting you know the headphones are ready to pair.