Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was happy to be offered these headphones right around the same time as the Sony H.ears, so I will write a review comparing the two, and also comparing these to my old QC 15's. If you are in the market for bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones, the QC 35's and the Sony H.ears are both good options. I give the edge to the Bose, though. Let's take this by relevant criteria. 1) Sound quality. This may be a slight matter of taste, but I lean towards the Bose. The Sony's have a bit more treble, but almost sound like those loudness wars are still happening. For my music test, I like something with a lot of dynamic range. Today, I chose Steve Tibbetts' "Exploded View." The Bose just had a warmer and more open sound. With someone like Steve Tibbetts, I want to hear the space between. I get more of that with the Bose. The Sony's were a bit harsh for my taste. They're good. The Bose just sound better to me. 2) Noise cancellation. Since I don't have immediate air travel plans, I gave 'em the old garbage disposal and vacuum cleaner test. Clear advantage Bose. This is how they made their name in headphones, and they still deserve it. Do other headphones offer better overall sound quality than Bose? Of course. But for noise cancellation, nobody can touch them. The Sonys come about as close as any other non-Bose, but, if you want noise cancellation, just get the Bose. 3) Usability. This is where the Sonys have the edge on the Bose. Sorry, Bose, but Sony's got you beat here. For bluetooth headphones, you want buttons on the headphones to control your music. That way, you can stash your phone and control the music without pulling out the phone. The Sonys offer not only volume control and pause/restart, but track skipping. More functionality is better. They also allow you to use the phones with noise cancellation off. The QC 35's still don't allow that, and I'm getting annoyed that Bose refuses to build that in. It isn't hard. Turning off noise cancellation takes away that bit of pressure on your eardrums that you don't want if you don't need, and extends battery life. There is only one area in which the Bose wins on usability-- a little voice can tell you how much battery power you have left. That's a nice little feature. I give Bose some points for that. If your headphones have built-in rechargable batteries, don't you want to know if you need to plug in before heading out? 4) Comfort. Again, edge Bose. They're just more elegant. That light-weight, soft cushion feel just beats the competition every time for me. Overall comparison: advantage Bose on sound quality, noise cancellation and comfort. Usability advantage for the Sony H.ears. For Bose fans, I'll add a few words comparing the QC 35's to the QC 15's. Going wireless is a detriment for a Mac running either Yosemite or El Cap, as discussed below, but there are two other issues. Sound quality? Pretty much the same. Noise cancellation? Whether my QC 15's are just getting older, or better technology, I don't know, but the 35's did better against the sound of my garbage disposal and vacuum cleaner. Not by much, but just enough to be noticeable. Now, a warning to Mac users. These and the Sony H.ears are my first foray into bluetooth headphones. They work perfectly with my phone. NOT with my computer. Both Yosemite and El Capitan have a well-documented problem with bluetooth sound devices. The sound stutters. There are lots of discussion threads where people propose fixes. I tried them all, and none work. I simply cannot get the sound to play problem-free from my computer. This isn't Bose's fault. It's Apple's fault. I'm not going to ding Bose for something that isn't their fault. I am just warning customers that bluetooth headphones are a problem on Macs right now. I have been using Macs for going on three decades. I'm a loyalist. But, even I'm losing my patience for their problems with basic functionality. Apple is trying to push headphone jacks out the way they did with floppy drives, optical drives, and so on. You can't push headphone jacks out of the picture if you don't fix the bluetooth audio problem, Mr. Cook! That said, you can switch to wired, and plug these in like regular headphones. You lose the audio problems, but here's where it gets slightly annoying. Not only do you lose the wireless capability, you still have limited battery life before you need to recharge. The headphone jack doesn't provide enough juice to power the phones, so you are still using battery life. I'm still not sure what I think of this whole rechargable internal battery concept for headphones, but it doesn't look like we're going to have much of a choice soon. Anyway, good item. I like both the QC 35s and the Sony H.ears, but I lean Bose. Not perfect, but still the best for noise cancellation.