Bose QuietComfort® 45 Bluetooth wireless noise cancelling headphones with microphone for phone calls - Triple Black

I had an older pair of Bose QC15s that I gifted on, and was looking for a new wireless replacement. I looked at the usual suspects in this arena - the SONY XM range, the Apple AirPod Max, and of course the Bose QC/NC range. I immediately discounted the SONY XM5 and Bose NC700 purely on the fact that they don't fold, nor do I care much for the looks. The touch controls put me off as well. To be clear, I'm no audiophile. In priority order, for me its: - Comfort - ANC - Audio quality I don't like loads of bass that shakes my head, preferring a clean, balanced sound, and don't really care for having countless configuration options in an app either. Nor do I use my headphones that much around the house, their primary purchase being to reduce the constant drone when traveling on planes and trains. Beyond that they are there for when I need them. If you read up too much, like I did, you end up with a big list of reasons to support the purchase of any of those headphones I listed. You'll read good on all, and you'll read bad on all, although I will say that for most people, the XM4s are going to be a great buy for most people, being relatively cheap, USB-C, with variable ANC, and a good EQ. I tried them - just not for me. Too much bass, which sounded terrible when tuned out, not as comfy as my QC15s, and far too dependent on the companion app. These QC45s are, without doubt, the most comfortable pair of headphones I've ever owned. They sit perfectly over my ears and don't touch them anywhere. They are light, foldable, and you almost forget you are wearing them. That's the first requirement ticked. The ANC is significantly better in comparison to my QC15s, especially at reducing the higher frequencies. Given that I was happy with the QC15s in that regard, this was an easy tick in the box. Others may be "better", but I simply don't care about all the different aware modes or variable this and that. Just want to switch them on, drown out the outside world as much as possible, and immerse myself in the music or whatever it is I'm listening to. At this price point, you are not going to get a "bad" sounding pair of headphones. Any differences and nuances are down to personal preference. Some like a load of bass, some like a more neutral sound, some want absolutely perfect studio reproduction. For me, these fall somewhere in the middle. I will agree, without the recent firmware update that added the EQ, the QC45s did sound a little light on bass and heavy on treble. However, that's now fixed, so with a couple of notches up on the bass and a couple down on the treble, the sound is, for me, perfectly adequate to my ears. The bass is punchy enough to hear it without it shaking your head and causing fatigue. People can hate on Bose all they like, just as people will hate on Apple. At the end of the day I buy products based on my needs, and these just live up to their name - QuietComfort. Sure, trying headphones side-by-side it's easy to pick out differences, but in isolation, these are objectively a very good pair of wireless active noise cancelling headphones that, for me, do everything promised of them. As for battery life...given that I come from needing to use a AAA battery in my old headphones, 25 hours between charges is a huge amount of time. Yep, others last longer, but I'm sorry, if 25 hours isn't enough, you've got much bigger problems in life than this first world issue!

OK, I've read a lot of reviews on here and let's put a few things straight. Me as background, 53 year old guy, using headphones for over 40 years, currently own xm4 and xm5 headphones and xm3 earbuds. CONNECTIVITY. Linked instantly to my Samsung a22 5g phone and sonru bluetooth 5.2 transmitter (for watching TV) no lip sync problems at all, walked all around my flat with no drop outs at all. 10/10 ANC. This is superb, it's certainly as good as my wh xm4's if not slightly better because you have almost zero white noise. I am very surprised by this. "aware mode" is also very good. 9/10 SOUND. Out of the box these are treble heavy, not good at all. But once you connect to the "bose music" app you can adjust the eq (please see pictures), once you reduce the treble to - 6 and add +2 to the bass these sound fantastic. I would put them on a par with the xm4 easily. Very detailed, warm bass and the mids are all there. I'm using Spotify highest quality setting and aac codec. (I run my Sony headphones on aac codec as this sounds great with no drop outs), so don't worry about ldac and aptx etc, there are NO lip sync issues at all. 9/10 BOSE MUSIC APP. This is simple and basic compared to sony, but it is just exactly what you need, no silly gimmicky functions, just straight forward. Once you adjust your eq you can save these settings so when you reconnect your headphones they are ready to go. I have tried this personally and it works. So I give the app 9/10 purely because it's simple and does what you need it to do. PHONE CALLS. Sorry! I use headphones for music. BUTTONS. These are responsive and work very well, I'm used to sensor pads (swipe gestures) on my Sony"s but these can be awkward sometimes so I actually enjoy having buttons again. 9/10. CONCLUSION. I paid £209 new for these and I don't regret this at all. £319 rrp! I would feel uncomfortable with that price. Oooh! Nearly forgot..... COMFORT. Very comfortable as good as my wh xm4's and with the added bonus that these don't creak at all, no hinge clicking etc. Worn for 3 hours as we speak and I hardly know I'm wearing them, no hot ears, 9/10. Hope this helps you people make an informed decision. I'm selling my xm5 now as these and my xm4's are my goto headphones now..... UPDATE. After about 10 hours plus of listening to my Spotify playlists, I can say that the qc 45 are actually better than my Sony xm4's and xm5's! I'm hearing instruments and backing vocals that I never knew songs had! I'm seriously impressed Been for a walk outside and traffic noise is literally just gone! Even my xm5s let the tyre noise through, but listening at 50%volume it's just the music. So 10/10..

Loved them great noise cancelation. Crisp sound. Returned for Heavys

I really bought these in the range 15K-16K after including all discounts and cashbacks. I am using these headsets very heavily for my office calls and for hearing music while working. No complaints so far... Call quality is superb, noise cancellation is excellent For music it is doing amazingly well... May be if you are bass lover then go for Sony's headset, but not sure if Sony's headset are good for calling purpose. Bose headset's music quality is also excellent, I have no complaints... Also @15-16K deal is amazing.

✅ Points positifs : Réduction de bruit très efficace, idéal pour les transports ou environnements bruyants. Son clair et équilibré, bonne fidélité audio pour tous types de musique. Confortable pour de longues sessions grâce aux coussinets doux et légers. Connexion Bluetooth stable et rapide. Autonomie longue durée, pratique pour une utilisation quotidienne. ❌ Points négatifs : Prix élevé, mais justifié par la qualité et les fonctionnalités. Casque un peu encombrant à transporter si l'on a pas l'étui rigide. 👉 Résumé : Un casque Bluetooth haut de gamme offrant un confort optimal et une réduction de bruit très performante, parfait pour voyager ou travailler dans un environnement bruyant.

First of all and above anything else: all other NC headphones are performing less in dampening the background. In posession now for some 3 months. Very content about the sound quality, simplicity of use, duration of the USB rechargeable battery

I was looking to buy QC headphones for a long time. Finally took courage to try my hands on QC45 and XM5. Both had offers running and XM5 had more discount over QC45. I went to near by croma store to compare both units. Noise cancellation: Croma had a very big closed indoor space with many people around during festival time, lots of devices playing in the background. Good environment to check the noise cancellation. I liked QC45 among the two. Off/On the NC we can clearly make out the difference. Comfort: Easy, relaxed, no irritation on ears, cups sat nicely over my ears with QC45. Cups are made of synthetic though it didn't make a diff for me. XM5 are big pushy on the ears and my ears touched the inside sound drivers literally. Ergonomics: You can't go wrong the QC45 cup controls. Works 100% everytime. Thanks to the old gen physical buttons. Otherside xm5 needs time to get used to touch controls. Need trial and error attempts before you master the controls. Sound: QC45 audio quality sounds realistic. XM5 comes with more punch and amplified base which I felt heavy on my ears. App: Bose app is simple and clear. No nonsense. First time Setup till playback is all guided via app. I have another Sony model XB910N and had experience using their app. They provide 360 audio which is not practical enough. You need to buy those special tracks from other listed apps to experience 360 audio. Sony plays their features to create stickiness for customers. Wat you see on their products is not always yours. You need to keep spending money. Color and looks: It's always subjective. QC45 smoke white color is a gold standard. Vintage piece to own. Marketing strategy: Sony and Bose are quite opposite in marketing strategy. Sony tends to attract young audiences by sharing the tech used in their products like " 8 array mic setup to get optimal noise cancellation experience". Even Bose does the same but they won't advertise their intellectual property information in public for any of their products. That differentiates how well the products reach to new age audience. You will rarely find discounts for Bose products. Sony sales in the last couple of years is heavily into discounts and festive offers. Alternatives: Bose 700 has all the bells and whistles to compete with XM5 for an extra money. But QC45 is classic. End of the day we are buying these headphones for the Audio experience and not for complex smart features on it. I suggest to try the models you like before making purchase decision. Don't go by discounts and brand names. I also followed the reviews on www.rtings.com before making this choice. Thanks for reading through my purchase experience. Happy shopping and enjoy 🙂👍