Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, Noise-Cancelling, with Alexa Voice Control - Black

No brand comparison, only compared against $350. I read a lot of these reviews, and also own and like other Bose gear.Sound. A recurring theme in these reviews is that the sound isn't bassy enough or rich enough or something. Actually this was an encouragement to me, because I was just hoping for minimal color, and certainly no enhancement of bass (more on this below), just to hear what's there - in a wide range of styles of music. I love the sound of these headphones, or lack of personality; the music sounds amazing, and as others have pointed out, you really do hear new detail in old music. For example, the old hit Sultans of Swing sounded extraordinary; you know Mark Knopfler's lead would be gorgeous, but also a perfectly rendered P-bass and kick. Similarly dipping back into early Police and enjoy amazing detail in the bass tone and bass/drums balance. Too bassy in the EQ and you lose the insight into normal bass. This also improves listening to classical and work music e.g. Tycho, Mercury Project, etc.Comfort. Very good. I fatigued after a couple of hours of wearing. My not-small ear fits in the cup but seems to be very slightly touching some of the hard irregularly shaped structures inside. I extended wear-time by making occasional headband adjustments. The cushions and construction and button layout all seem fine.Connectivity. So far it works fine, pairing easily without some of the inexplicable Bluetooth wrestling matches I've had with gear over the years. I've got it on an Android phone and a couple of Mac desktops. I was listening to my work desktop and a call came in on the Android, and the "right thing happened". I said to the caller "uh, can you hear me OK" and person said "uh, yeah fine". I don't think this will replace my main conference headset. But it works well enough so far. The voice prompts are helpful. I have not tried the included 3.5 <-> 2.5mm phone cable, but I'd expect it to work in the unlikely event (low battery) I'd want to wire up. Range seems OK; I don't expect it to work if I wander far away from my desktop, and the mobile is in my pocket, so a non-issue there for me. Note on the Mac: turn off the headphones as sound input (mic) if not needed; it changes the sound of the music output.Noise cancellation. Works really well - just what I wanted. Having tinnitus, I was looking to lower the volume of my headphones to save what's left of my hearing and still have good listening. Noise cancellation is a big help here. In fact, the moment I put on the headphones with NC but no source, it was so quiet, I immediately went fuh, my tinnitus is loud! Some of you will surely know what I'm talking about. So, with NC you will notice yourself more, but it's still a matter of letting your mind's other focus put the ringing aside. And try turning down the headphones, about equal to your ringing as a starting point. I wish I had gotten these headphones a while ago! And yes, the seemingly flat EQ is a great starting point for listeners with tinnitus, as boomy bass, even if it momentarily "drowns out" ringing, makes it worse over the course of a listening session, and of course over the long term. Save what you have left.Other stuff. Comes with a nice case. The battery life seems OK but very early days on that. Noise cancellation mean you will probably not react to peripheral sound (e.g. spouse talking in next or even same room), and could possibly expose you to new risks such as missed alerts/alarms and people assuming incorrectly that you're aware of certain actions. So use thoughtfully.Complete recommendation, no deductions even considering high price. 5 stars.

After doing a lot of research, it ultimately came down to the Bose QC 35 and Sony 1000XM2. I tried them both for several days but in the end, the Bose QC 35 was my choice, which wasn't an easy one to make. You can't go wrong with either pair as they are both very nice headphones. The final decision for me was whether I wanted a little better quality (Sony) or better fit/comfort (Bose). I chose comfort and the Bose 1000XM2. Here are some other things I noticed...SOUND QUALITY:No question at all, the Sony 1000Xm2 are better sounding headphones. Don't get me wrong, the Bose are still very good. However, I really liked and preferred the bass response of the Sony over the Bose. Bose are the brighter sounding headphones but the biggest difference was how they sound with bass, which Sony does better.FIT / COMFORT:The Bose gets the edge on fit/comfort. They are VERY comfortable and light! The Sony 1000xm2 are fine but they fit a bit more snug than Bose. At first, I actually preferred the Sony fit. However, after having them on for an hour or longer, that's where I noticed the biggest difference... ear fatigue. Much less ear fatigue with the Bose. That all being said, what is more comfortable to me might be less comfortable to you. You just have to try them on, ideally for extended periods of time. I bought these particularly when I fly where I plan to wear them for hours at a time. Even though I prefer the sound quality of the Sony, I just couldn't get over the incredibly comfortable fit of the Bose.BLUETOOTH CONNECTIVITY:Both do a fine job here but the Bose were the more reliable in establishing a connection without having to fiddle around with settings. When comparing the Sony and the Bose, I often went back and forth trying when trying out the headphones. Every time that I went back to the Bose, it was fast and easy. With the Sony pair, I had to go into my Bluetooth settings a few times in order to get a connection. It really wasn't a big deal but the Bose gets the edge here because it is painless and works more reliably.DURABILITY:I won't give either pair the edge here because I only had them for a week BUT do keep in mind that the Sony 1000xm1 had issues with the headband cracking. Because Sony hasn't clearly stated whether they resolved the issue with the xm2's, it's anyone's guess. This alone probably wouldn't keep me from going with the XM2's but it is something to consider.CONTROLS:I like them both and consider this a toss up. With the Sony pair, you just swipe the headphones to control the music and volume while the Bose has hard buttons. At first, I definitely preferred the hard buttons that are on the Bose. However, after getting used to swiping on the Sony's, I found it easy enough to do. Which do I prefer? Probably the hard buttons because they are a bit more reliable than the swiping. This is very subjective though and I could see some preferring the swiping while others preferring the hard buttons. It just depends on what you like. For me, I found both to work fine. The Sony does have a feature where you can put you hand over the right headphone and it will allow you to hear outside noise without having to take them off. Cool feature? Maybe for some but for me, I didn't see any use for it. If someone approaches me while wearing big headphones like these, I'm going to take them off my head rather than keeping them on with my hand cupping the right headphone. It just seems a bit rude not to do so.FEATURES:They both have their pluses and minuses here. It really depends on what is most important to you. I really like how the Sony 1000XM2 allows you to customize the sound (including equalizer). It also has the ability to modify you settings depending on where you are listening to them by simply pressing a button. I don't really no what impact that has though because I only tried this a couple of times. The fact of the matter is that Sony provides a bit more customization which I like! The Bose has google assistant which I found to be a cool feature. I could live without this but it is a nice feature. The feature that I found VERY useful on the Bose is the ability to play text messages through the headphones. I was on a flight recently where we were waiting for our turn to take off. While listening to my music, I was notified that I had a text message. Instead of having to reach for my phone (Sony) the Bose pair allowed me to just push the action button to hear the text. I found this awesome. Sony does not have this feature. What headphones gets the edge? For me, it's another toss up. I really like the customization of the Sony but the Bose are very cool with being able to read my text messages (and google assistant).LOOKS:They both look great! I had the gold/beige Sony's and the silver Bose. I might give a slight edge to Bose as I like the silver look and the Bose logo on each headphone. However, this is very subjective.SUMMARY:This is one of those times where you just can't go wrong with either pair. They both have their pros and cons but in the end, for me, I prefer the Bose QC 35 by a very small margin.