What better way to start 2018 than replacing something old with something new? This year, large in part thanks to Christmas, I have swapped my ageing, battered, and, in hindsight, archaic earphones for a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II headphones.
Why do I say archaic? Well, there are two major reasons: my old headphones were wired, and didn’t have noise-cancelling properties.
Swapping the wire for Bluetooth functionality makes me capable of connecting to more than one device, and switching between phone and laptop without effort. So, for example, if I am using the music app on my phone and want to watch a video on my laptop, I simply pause the music and press play on the computer!
Of course, wireless headphones aren’t exactly revolutionary; there are several out there you can purchase. So what makes the Bose QuietComfort 35 II (QC 35 II) so much better?
The noise-cancelling and the sound quality put the QC 35 II into a new league.
If you haven’t already tried a set on, it can be quite difficult to picture what noise-cancelling is like. The QC 35 series actively measures, compares and reacts to outside noise before creating opposing signals, cancelling it out.
From what I have observed, the more constant or repetitive the sound, such as a rumbling car engine, the better it can cancel it out. Sat on the bus, with noise-cancelling turned off, you could really hear the thrum and roar of it as we went along. As soon as I turned the cancelling on, it vanished. Walking down the road, I can barely hear passing vehicles. Cleaning up at home, the vacuum cleaner is largely silent. When in peace and quiet, I realise just how much background noise there was.
In a few words, the QC 35 II brings complete bliss to my travel and entertainment regime.
They are lighter, more comfortable, and more flexible than anything I have had before. The material they use for the headband is Alcantara, which is not seen much outside high performance and luxury car manufacturers. The battery life is stated to be 20 hours. This I have found to be very accurate. It tells you when you power them on at what percent they are currently charged. If you find yourself in a situation where they are flat and you cannot charge them, Bose supply you with an audio cable so you can go back to the old wired way of listening to headphones. In this situation you have 40 hours of listening but with no noise cancelling, giving you time to find a USB charging outlet!
To call the QC 35 II a playground for your ears would be like calling Mozart a bit of a songwriter. The QC 35 II is nothing short of a redefining standard, a symphony.
