Bose QuietComfort 45 QC45 Noise-Cancelling Headphones

First and foremost, I bought this Bose headphones because I wanted something to cancel loud noise effectively, whether that is construction, loud people outside, noisy apartment dwellings, etc. Even though there seems to be alot of positive reviews stating the efficacy of these headphones’ noise cancellation, I didn’t find it too effective. If anything, the control that allows it to create noise cancellation responsive to the sounds of the background was good but not great. This works well in the library, cancelling out whispers, small background noise, buzzes, and regular conversation noise levels, but if you are talking about very loud banging, construction, apartment dwellings where you have heavy stomping upstairs above you, this does not cancel 100%. At most it cancels 50%. Even with white noise playing in the background with these headphones, it is impossible to cancel out loud, inconsistent noises. On the positive side, the sound quality and bass quality of the headphones are excellent. I enjoyed listening to music on it. The headphones are not very comfortable to wear at night for sleep if you are looking for sleep cancelling headphones. It is quite bulky and heavy just like the SONY headphones. If you really want the most bang out of your buck for noise cancellation, get ear plugs! Hope this review helps for anyone seriously considering buying these headphones.

We purchased these headphones for the TV room and they are wonderful. Comfortable and easy to use. When watching TV, we both wear a pair of these headphones as it makes it so much easier to understand what is being said. We also purchased a set for the 5th wheel so when one of us is in bed, the other can still watch TV and not disturb the one that is sleeping.

Kolejna, unowocześniona wersja wspaniałych QC45 z fantastycznym tłumieniem dźwięku. Niestety, tak jak i w NC700, tak i tu nie działa poprawnie połączenie z dwoma urządzeniami bluetooth – w trakcie odtwarzania muzyki co jakiś czas przerywa na sekundę.

I bought this item to replace an aging QC35 headset. However, this item was DOA (Dead On Arrival). It wouldn’t take a charge nor power up. After leaving it on a charger, I got the dreaded amber/white flashing light. After trying to contact Bose via their customer support, an automated message directed me to return it for a replacement. I was also notified that it can take up to 4 weeks to send me a replacement. WTF! I would think such a well known and reputable company would at least send out a replacement as soon as they got confirmation that the broken set was shipped (they did provide me a UPS shipping label). I would also expect that their QA would have caught a non-functioning unit BEFORE it ships out. With this pricepoint, I guess I was expecting too much. I’ll update this review once I get a replacement……

**** UPDATE *****
After nearly a month later, I received my replacement. Though I’m still not entirely satisfied with the return process as a whole, the headphones themselves are definitely top notch. The sound quality seems much better quality than my previous QC35’s. The noise canceling seems superb as well. One feature I really like is that if you use the cord, you can still use the headphones without turning it on. Obvisously you won’t have any noise cancellation, but if you are looking to save battery life, this is a great option. My only complaint concerns both the recharging cable and the wired headset cords provided. The carging cable is way too short. At least its a standard USB-A to USB-C cable so aftermarket cables should be easy to find. However, the headset cable also is a tad short. The other issue is that it is not a standard 3.5mm plug cable. Bose for some reason decided to use the smaller and rare 2.1mm plug on the headphones side and the “standard” 3.5mm plug on the other. This makes this a “Unique” cable so if you happen to lose it, you’ll be out of luck until you can source another.

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.