Bose Pushes Noise-Cancellation Smarts in Wireless Headphones Market

[ericwn]

The only Bose ear cushions I have had to replace are the QC3 cushions. Just my opinion, but I think it is worth noting that they are replaceable. Many headphones have cushions that are not. And, you are right. There are many third party cushions at much lower prices with varying degrees of quality. Bluecell is a decent third party brand.

Also, when you purchase replacement parts from Bose, the shipping is free.

The replacements Bose sells themselves are much more expensive parts, and we know their quality will require further replacement in case the earphones live that long. I'll go as far as saying they designed this to fade away quickly. That way they get the customer to buy that replacement part too.
After seeing three pairs of cushions on three customers' qc15 fade equally quick and having the electronics in my qc25 break (also fixed the cushions here) after three years, I'm now using some B&W as replacement. The B&W P7 cushions are replaceable and can be swapped in a minute while costing the same as the Bose spares.

 

[bubsdaddy]

B&W P7 - nice! I have the P5 and it's very nice also. It clamps a little too much and the sound is a little on the warm side. The quality of the materials are top notch. The replacement parts are pretty reasonable- I needed an iPhone cable and the pouch.

The replacements Bose sells themselves are much more expensive parts, and we know their quality will require further replacement in case the earphones live that long. I'll go as far as saying they designed this to fade away quickly. That way they get the customer to buy that replacement part too.
After seeing three pairs of cushions on three customers' qc15 fade equally quick and having the electronics in my qc25 break (also fixed the cushions here) after three years, I'm now using some B&W as replacement. The B&W P7 cushions are replaceable and can be swapped in a minute while costing the same as the Bose spares.

 

[ericwn]

B&W P7 - nice! I have the P5 and it's very nice also. It clamps a little too much and the sound is a little on the warm side. The quality of the materials are top notch. The replacement parts are pretty reasonable- I needed an iPhone cable and the pouch.

Ya, the P7 is very nice in my opinion, they should have included a better case. A pouch is ok but hardly protection when you want to put this beast into a bag. The P5 seem very nice as well!

 

[Dellfanboy]

Took delivery this afternoon and doing some testing.

The Noise Cancelling is much better than the Momentum 2.0 .... As I expected

Pleasantly surprised that they do not feel any heavier than the QC25's ... Feel nice an comfortable.

Paired with an iPhone 6s (iOS 10 Beta 1) man they can get loud! Although I doubt I would need to run them very loud with the ANC this good.

Listening to some songs that I like the production subtitles of (might not actually like the songs! But a good measure of detail)

The Soundstage is very good.

Need to to do more testing, but so far very impressed.

Any others suffering from drop outs?

I have been suffering some audio dropouts, thought it might be iOS 10 Beta 1, but I went back to the Momentum 2.0 via the same iPhone to see there was any drop outs ... Nope

Now trying an external sennheiser Bluetooth Transmitter via the iPhone with the QC 35 ... No drop outs so far

Bose seem to have just released a firmware update ... Was just prompted to install it, no idea wha the update changes.

Yes they have a coloured sound signature .... Not a bad thing ... They are not flat eq, but did not expect them to be.

So far I like the colour signature.... But early days

I'm having serious drop outs with iphone 6 on ios 9. I can't walk across a room with it just lagging and dropping out. Anyone else?

 

[BadMelonFarmer]

I'm having serious drop outs with iphone 6 on ios 9. I can't walk across a room with it just lagging and dropping out. Anyone else?

Hmmm ... This does not bode well then, I am getting the drop outs when sat still and the phone is not moving about. But it is intermittent

 

[bubsdaddy]

I have not had any dropouts so far. I was able to walk around my house yesterday with my iPhone 6+ charging by my computer and still no drop outs even through a few walls.

 

[whsbuss]

This is a problem. When I confronted Bose last year on the Soundlink II headphones they said they could not answer why I got dropouts and skipping. Happened on iOS 8 iPhone 6 and MacBook Pro.

 

[Dellfanboy]

Hmmm ... This does not bode well then, I am getting the drop outs when sat still and the phone is not moving about. But it is intermittent

I think i'm on to something. Do you have it paired with two devices or one?
[doublepost=1466436768][/doublepost]

I have not had any dropouts so far. I was able to walk around my house yesterday with my iPhone 6+ charging by my computer and still no drop outs even through a few walls.

Hmmmmm. Do you have bose connect installed? Do you have it paired with 2 devices or 1? Have you installed the new firmware?
[doublepost=1466436801][/doublepost]

This is a problem. When I confronted Bose last year on the Soundlink II headphones they said they could not answer why I got dropouts and skipping. Happened on iOS 8 iPhone 6 and MacBook Pro.

Do you have bose connect installed? Do you have it paired with 2 devices or 1 (I'm assuming 2 from your post)? Have you installed the new firmware?

 

[bubsdaddy]

I have mine paired to two devices. I have, in the past, had problems with one device "taking control" of the bluetooth stream and causing me to think that the headphones were at fault. This was especially true of the AE2w, which I used when doing yard work. I eventually figured it out and removed the AE2w from my iMac and my iPad so my iPhone was the only paired device. No more dropouts.
I have the Bose Connect software installed on my iPhone. I have installed the new firmware but just did so yesterday. I was never prompted by the Bose Connect App to upgrade the firmware.

 

[whsbuss]

I have mine paired to two devices. I have, in the past, had problems with one device "taking control" of the bluetooth stream and causing me to think that the headphones were at fault. This was especially true of the AE2w, which I used when doing yard work. I eventually figured it out and removed the AE2w from my iMac and my iPad so my iPhone was the only paired device. No more dropouts.
I have the Bose Connect software installed on my iPhone. I have installed the new firmware but just did so yesterday. I was never prompted by the Bose Connect App to upgrade the firmware.

So did you remove the device profile on the other devices or just disable their BT connection? Is it the fact that even if its not connected to multiple devices, bose firmware continues to look for the profiles? This is not good.

 

[bubsdaddy]

I removed the device profile from my iMac and from the iPad and reset the Bose bluetooth and then just paired with my iPhone. It is the same thing that happens when I am listening to my iPhone through any bluetooth device and then I start up my car. My car's bluetooth takes over the stream. My shower bluetooth speaker does the same thing. It seems a pretty common thing with bluetooth audio.

However, my newer Bose headphones - QC35 and Soundsport Wireless - have been paired with my iMac and iPhone and the switching between the two never happens automatically - at least not yet.

 

[Dellfanboy]

I removed the device profile from my iMac and from the iPad and reset the Bose bluetooth and then just paired with my iPhone. It is the same thing that happens when I am listening to my iPhone through any bluetooth device and then I start up my car. My car's bluetooth takes over the stream. My shower bluetooth speaker does the same thing. It seems a pretty common thing with bluetooth audio.

However, my newer Bose headphones - QC35 and Soundsport Wireless - have been paired with my iMac and iPhone and the switching between the two never happens automatically - at least not yet.

I think you've nailed the problem. How did you "reset the Bose bluetooth"?

 

[bubsdaddy]

For the AE2w:

To clear your paired list in your headset, follow these steps:

1. On the headset, press and hold the Multifunction and Volume - buttons for 10 seconds
   
   
2. The headset will revert to discoverable mode (slowly blinking pruple LED), allowing you to re-pair the mobile phone you want connected
   

[doublepost=1466443599][/doublepost]Here is an interesting thread for those having Mac connection issues:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5035295?tstart=0

 

[cdcastillo]

I'm having serious drop outs with iphone 6 on ios 9. I can't walk across a room with it just lagging and dropping out. Anyone else?

Hmmm ... This does not bode well then, I am getting the drop outs when sat still and the phone is not moving about. But it is intermittent

No drop outs in the 2 hours I've been testing them with my iPhone 6 and iOS 9.3.2 no matter where the phone is and with me walking around. However, I've yet to pair with another device

 

[Dellfanboy]

No drop outs in the 2 hours I've been testing them with my iPhone 6 and iOS 9.3.2 no matter where the phone is and with me walking around. However, I've yet to pair with another device

Super helpful. Did you install bose connect?

 

[cdcastillo]

Super helpful. Did you install bose connect?

Yes I did. Now I have it paired both to my iPad mini 2 (iOS 9.3.2) and iPhone 6. I'll report if I get drop offs (was it drop outs?)


Addendum: Now I also paired to my MBP (OS X.11.5), Just had to disconnect from the ipad. No drop outs yet

 

[BadMelonFarmer]

Dropouts still happening when I am connected to just the iPhone .... But as this is iOS 10 beta 1.... Going to try iOS 9.3.2 on my work iPad to see what happens... Will report back.

Thought it was the fact that I sometimes had two devices, but made sure I only had 1 connected and the dropouts happened still... Bothe on iPhone and iPad... But as they are iOS 10 beta 1... Need to remove the beta from the equation

 

[whsbuss]

Dropouts still happening when I am connected to just the iPhone .... But as this is iOS 10 beta 1.... Going to try iOS 9.3.2 on my work iPad to see what happens... Will report back.

Thought it was the fact that I sometimes had two devices, but made sure I only had 1 connected and the dropouts happened still... Bothe on iPhone and iPad... But as they are iOS 10 beta 1... Need to remove the beta from the equation

Hope that helps but every Bose BT set I've known does not play well with Apple's BT implementation. Not in every case but it happens to frequently.

 

[nnoble]

BUY
OTHER
SOUND
EQUIPMENT.

[doublepost=1466596302][/doublepost]Clever soundbite but two questions:
1. have you a genuine need for noise cancelling? And if so;
2. have you a suggestion for anything better than what BOSE offers?

If not, then it is just a (clever) soundbite.

 

[whsbuss]

[doublepost=1466596302][/doublepost]Clever soundbite but two questions:
1. have you a genuine need for noise cancelling? And if so;
2. have you a suggestion for anything better than what BOSE offers?

If not, then it is just a (clever) soundbite.

There's more than noise cancellation to make a choice.

 

[cdcastillo]

Reporting back: now on my third day with the QC35, I have already dropped them unto the pavement, (got some dents on them now, not pristine new anymore) and I keep using them with my MBPr, iPad mini and iPhone 6. Until a few minutes ago, I hadn't noticed any dropouts, but just now, I heard a brief... kind of pause?, it lasted from 150 to 250 ms, just barely noticeable. I'm listening on my laptop and I'm connected to my phone at the moment.

Then again, I'm out in the garden, far from the router (although I have full wifi signal strength), and listening to streaming. So, I do not know what was that rare/brief pause.

Also, I went for a walk this morning, I walked at a brisk pace for about 20 minutes, and although I didn't felt any discomfort nor notice any increase in ear's temperature, when I removed them I felt the breeze on my ears, I guess they sweated and that's why I noticed the fresh breeze.
[doublepost=1466628150][/doublepost]

There's more than noise cancellation to make a choice.

So, I guess that's a "no" answering question 1. I guess nnoble tried to make you see he/she DOES need noise cancellation above anything else. Therefore, for him/her, although there might be more than noise cancellation to make a choice, there is nothing more important.

 

[SHNXX]

What's up with all the budget audiophile warriors who hate on Bose?

Aren't we talking about noise cancellation headphones?

 

[v3rlon]

Okay, had mine since release or close to it. They are paired with 3 devices. I am not experiencing dropouts. I wear them while doing yard work, and the complain about losing connection to devices inside the house when I am 50-75 feet (15-25 meters) from the house. Frankly, that is a ridiculously long range for bluetooth. I live in a rural area, so less interference. but I just gave a quick test at work where there is quite a bit of Wifi, BT, and other signal, and it still held the ipad over 50 feet (15 meters).

So I couldn't be happier with mine. Also, the battery life has been very good.

 

[whsbuss]

Okay, had mine since release or close to it. They are paired with 3 devices. I am not experiencing dropouts. I wear them while doing yard work, and the complain about losing connection to devices inside the house when I am 50-75 feet (15-25 meters) from the house. Frankly, that is a ridiculously long range for bluetooth. I live in a rural area, so less interference. but I just gave a quick test at work where there is quite a bit of Wifi, BT, and other signal, and it still held the ipad over 50 feet (15 meters).

So I couldn't be happier with mine. Also, the battery life has been very good.

iPad has a stronger BT signal than do smartphones

 

[nnoble]

They have a great marketing team that has convinced people to buy subpar speakers for ridiculous prices.
Their internal motto is better sound through marketing.

I've read this exact comment before and my response is the same: people mostly buy these for excellent noise cancellation qualities. Speakers themselves are secondary as long as they're good. In my opinion the sound quality is more than adequate but I'm not an audiophile. Keep in mind that some customers will pay a premium for speakers with range and quality beyond the capabilities of their individual hearing. Also, perhaps an explanation of 'subpar' would be helpful; or is that just a throw away line?