oaken

I appreciated your review. Thank you for posting. Getting a Bose is just a knee jerk reaction, and I think it's good to consider the other possibilities like waiting in the airport.

gooselee

Glad folks are finding my notes useful! I just added a quick overview at the top of post #1 for a shorter read.

gobluetwo

Glad you found the right choice for you. ^

There are definitely better alternatives to Bose now than there were even 2+ years ago when I bought my QC25. I tried the Sony, a couple different Audio Technicas, and whatever else I could find in local stores. QC25 was the best blend of build quality, ANC, comfort, and portability at the time.

Thanks for the write-up, gooselee.

seawolf

I tried both the QC35 and MDR1000X. Really wanted to keep the Sony but in the end, kept the QC35 simply because Sony had two fatal flaws.

No ability to keep NC active without connecting to BT. Let's say I'm on the plane and just want peace and quiet (no music, nothing). With Sony, if you are not paired, NC will shut off after a period of time. Sure, Sony might sound (subjectively) better, but primary reason for getting NC headset is noise cancellation.

Difficult/impossible to switch between multiple previously paired devices. I paired both sets to PC at home/laptop/smartphone/tablet. With QC35, you can switch devices via app. With Sony, you have to turn off BT on the device you want to disconnect (temporarily), and then establish connection on the new device (which you previously paired). If that doesn't work, which happens often, you have to delete the pair and re-pair.

gooselee

Interesting...I have neither of these problems with the Sony. Actually found that my battery was running low one day because I had taken my headphones off and left them on my desk, then went to bed. They were still on in the morning and I had to charge them using my car charger on the way to the airport. I'm guessing they were still paired to my phone the whole time, but then that means the easy solution is just to keep them paired to something if you want them to stay on.

For pairing, I have these paired to my laptop, tablet, phone, and TV. It *is* a bit of a process without a companion app, and I wish it were like the Sennheiser that can stay connected to multiple devices at the same time, but all I ever have to do is disconnect them from one device, then initiate the connection from another - takes maybe 10 seconds total. I don't ever turn BT off on any of my devices and have never had to completely unpair and re-pair. I very commonly switch my Sony set between phone and laptop several times a day. Phone is always connected to smart watch via BT, and I use a wireless mouse on my laptop. I can switch the headphones back and forth and never lose connections to my watch and mouse.

YMMV with different paired devices, I suppose, and it's all individual decision of course. For me, the process of switching devices felt very minor, and I'm so rarely not paired that the auto-off is actually a benefit of sorts. I ruled out the Bose from the very beginning for other reasons anyway, so it's all a matter of preference.

seawolf

Another thing for the Bose in regards to switching devices. While the app is useful to manage switching connections, you could also toggle between paired devices from the QC35 itself.

I do like the ability to pause ANC on the Sony by putting hand on the headset which the Bose did not offer.

I probably could have lived with Sony's less elegant switching BT connections but the NC switching itself off just didn't well with me in that I have to drain battery on one of my BT devices just so the MDR1000X's core functionality of ANC continues to work.

To me that's a failure in design. What if I was in a situation where I didn't have BT devices on hand or preserving the battery level in the BT device was of the utmost importance?

Sony's decision effectively surrenders noise cancellation to the battery level of another device.

gooselee

That is a totally fair assessment, and good for others to know. They're both solid headphones with different nuances - this is one I honestly hadn't had a chance to notice.

Personally, I always have my phone with me and am near-obsessive with keeping it charged on travel days, and I find that BT while in airplane mode drains very little battery. Perhaps more importantly, it just hasn't been something that has negatively affected me in my own, individual use patterns. That is, of course, just me - someone with different priorities and use cases will have a very different take.

This does make me wonder, though...I wonder if plugging something like this (http://get.pressybutton.com/) in to the wired port would be enough to tell the Sony set that it's connected, and thus stay powered with ANC, yet remain silent. It's small, could tuck right into the case somewhere, and adds virtually no bulk or weight. It is, of course, a less-than-elegant workaround, but could be a solution if keeping ANC without BT is a high priority but, like me, you're steering away from QC35s because of physical discomfort (or some other reason).

Carl Johnson

I have something called a Smartbean Bluetooth Receiver; it makes a Bluetooth connection to whatever device you want, and you just plug a headphone or other 3.5 mm plug into it. It gives you some control over the device too, for some apps. I can start, pause, and skip forward or back with some apps; with others, not. And if its battery runs out, you can just unplug the headphones and plug them directly into the device.

I don't know if it impairs the sound quality for high-end headphones like those reviewed in the OP, but I'm satisfied with it, and it's definitely a Bluetooth solution that can complement anything that doesn't support ONLY a Bluetooth connection.

I got 3 in different colors - free after rebate, one rebate offer for each color. They were easily worth twice what I paid.

elCheapoDeluxe

Wow - if that's true that is a horribly fatal flaw. I wouldn't even consider getting / keeping a headset that did that.

I am having a hard time looking at any of these headphones these days and thinking, "That's a really worthwhile upgrade over my Bose QC2's". Part of that is I really even find the QC2's to consume too much space. More often than not these days I'll just travel with some Etymotic in-ear plugs for those times when I want to listen to something, and for the rest (vast majority) I go for the hi-tech solution:



Far better at keeping out conversation-level frequencies than any ANC I've yet tried.

seawolf

For those looking at the MDR1000, Amazon lowered it by $50 off today. It's usually a one-day sale.

el aye

Nice post, OP. In-depth and has a lot of useful information.

I was able to snag some QC35s for under $100 so it is a hard sell for me to shell out the money for the Sony/Sennheisers. I have my nice open air headphones at home for listening there, so the QC35 will be for travel and not sure I would want to stomach adding yet another expensive item to my travel kit (granted you could argue that the QC35 is in fact an expensive item if I had to spend the money to replace it).

gooselee

Thanks! Glad you found it useful.

I would agree that if I could have gotten QC35s for under $100, I would stick with them, too.

MareLuce

@gooselee, thank you for your attention to detail and taking the time to post the review.

seawolf

Bose you can get for $307 or lower if you are willing to do cash back sites and have a bit of patience. Cash back sites often have a 12% cash back with ebags.com. AMEX often have an AMEX offer with ebags.com

roberino

Fantastic review!

OP, did you get to try the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0?