BOSE QUIETCOMFORT 35 WITH BT
Bose has released its QuietComfort 35 around-ear active noisecancelling (ANC) headphones which also offer Bluetooth wireless operation. ‘ These new QuietControl 35 headphones shatter the limitations of existing wireless noise cancelling headphones with an entirely new experience for travelling, commuting, creating, studying, or relaxing,’ said Max Sides of Bose Australia. ‘ The QC35 lets you tune out completely with a remarkable silence thanks to microphones positioned inside and outside the ear cups which collect sound to send to the proprietary noise-cancelling circuitry so it can create a precise, equal and opposite signal in less than a fraction of a millisecond. In an instant, the noise of your train, bus or car—or plane—will all but disappear.’ The Bose QC35 also has a dual-microphone system that rejects background sounds when using your phone, so that wind and crowd noise is reduced, enabling clearer conversations, with more-natural-sounding voices. The clearer speech means that text-to-speech accuracy is improved when using Siri and other phone VPAs.
Buttons on the right ear cup of the QC35 allow you to switch noise reduction and Bluetooth on and off as well as adjust volume, operate play/pause controls and answer and end ‘phone calls. A free ‘Bose Connect’ app (available from the App Store or Google Play) adds additional functionality including voice prompts for key information including setup, caller ID and battery life, as well as an equalisation circuit that Sides told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine ‘ balances sound at every volume, for any genre’, and an automatic ‘powerdown’ feature that will save your battery if you forget to shut the headphones off when you take them off. As for that battery, Bose says the rechargeable lithium-ion battery that powers the QC35s can deliver 20 hours of music playback and noise cancellation when connected via Bluetooth, and even more when hard-wired to your music source. The Bluetooth circuit itself is NFC but not, unfortunately, AptX.
The QC35s are made of glass-filled nylon with a leather outer headband and ear pads. The inside of the headband is made from Alcantara, a soft material used in luxury car interiors. The ear cups fold in and sit flat for easy stowage in the included case. Available now, the Bose QuietComfort 35 NRC BT headphones come in black and silver and retail for $499 but can be had for $459 from several authorised Bose outlets.