Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are a lot of reviews with the pluses and minuses of the new Bose QC II’s – so I’ll go through my impressions after having these for two days: Fitment: I have large ears. I always put the largest tips on whatever earbuds I have. But when I got the Bose QC II’s I started out with what they had on them – which was the medium tips and the smallest band. I was surprised that they hurt my ears! It wasn’t the tips that hurt – but the body of the earbuds just seemed to be too big for my ears – especially my left. I thought I’d have to send them back. I failed the Eartip Fit Test – so I put the large tips on and that fixed that. But the earbuds still hurt to have them in my ears – and that was with the smallest bands. I figured anything larger would just make them tighter and hurt more. Just for kicks I decided to try the medium sized bands and – to my surprise – they felt better! So I moved up to the large ones and they feel even better! Now I’m very happy with the fit. The longer I have them in – the better they feel. Almost un-noticeable. That wasn’t the case with the Airpod Pro’s which started to ache after having them in too long. Bluetooth connections: Connecting the Airpod Pro’s was effortless. Open the case – put the earbuds in your ear and you’re connected. I haven’t found that to be the case with these QC II’s. After a few rough starts – here is how I do it: 1) Open the lid to the case – have the device (phone) close – press and hold the connect button on the case until the inside light turns blue and flashes. 2) pull the earbuds out of the case and put them in your ears. They are now “ready to connect”. 3) Go to the phone Bluetooth screen and connect to the QC II’s. That usually does it. It’s a bit of a process but it isn’t too painful and I’ll get used to it. Sound: Incredible Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). It will effectively remove you from whatever is happening elsewhere in the house when it’s on. On the first night that I had these – I was playing with the ANC in my office when our golden retriever had a seizure in the next room on our hardwood floor and was flopping around. My wife was there and my daughter came up from downstairs to see what was going on. She was crying and it was a bit of an event. I didn’t even know it was happening and didn’t hear about it until the next morning. Sad for the dog – who is now OK – but a good testimonial of the ANC on these earbuds. Use: I use earbuds primarily for cycling, for phone calls when I need my hands, and for the occasional flight, train, or bus ride. I didn’t use my Airpods all that often because it’s too awkward to use in the office. But the touch controls on these QC II’s have changed that. They’re fantastic. One touch to the touch pad and the playback stops. A swipe changes the volume. A touch and hold changes the mode. It’s amazing and very easy. I will be using these a lot more than I ever used the Pro’s. Now – if someone steps into my office – I’ll know because the “Aware” mode works very well. And a little tap and the playback pauses and I can carry on a regular conversation without taking the earbuds out. Another tap and playback resumes. For cycling – the II’s worked good - not great. There was a little bit of wind noise picked up by the microphones when my speed picked up but it wasn’t too bad. I ended up going to full ANC because I could still hear vehicles coming with it on and it quieted down the other noises from the bike. I have since added the “Outdoor” mode to see if that reduces the microphone noise from the wind. They just need to be toned down a bit. I’ll continue to work with the different modes to see if I can get that working better. One thing that was pretty impressive was that when I hit my first few expansion joints on the bike – the bump went thru the seat to me and the II’s picked it up and I got a reverb sound for about a second. But it only happened twice and then it stopped doing it! Did the earbuds learn and adjust? It sure seemed like it. Also – with ANC on the Pro’s – I would get a “thump” with every step if I was walking around. I don’t get that with the II’s. Very clean – very functional – and very easy to use. Editorial: One of the really cool things about these QC II’s is that they are fantastic and better than my lightly used Airpod Pro’s that are less than two years old and are having issues Apple won’t support. My experience with Apple Customer Support hasn’t been very good. They are extremely nice and very good at telling you that there isn’t anything they can do to help you. I’m done with it. It’s great to have an alternative like a reputable product from Bose who knows they’re competing in a very competitive business and knows how important good customer support is. Conclusion: These QC II’s are so easy and comfortable and convenient to use – I’ll be using them a lot. I’ll carry them with me more often than not. Good job Bose. Update: After using these for over a month now - just a few updates/corrections. 1) the QC bluetooth connects about as easy as my old Airpod Pro's did. The only time I need to do anything manual is when I had previously connected to something else like my computer - it may have a tough time finding my phone. So this has turned into a non-issue. 2) Regarding sound quality on the bike - I haven't found anything that reduces the wind noise and have concluded that it's just the physical/mechanical wind noise getting through the rubber tips and it's just too much for noise reduction to eliminate. The best solution for me has been to go full noise reduction and then increase the volume of my music playback. As I increase the volume - the wind noise doesn't increase - so I've concluded that most of it isn't coming through the microphones. I still love these things and don't regret the purchase at all.