Introduction
Welcome to an audio review! We have not reviewed audio devices yet, and we at Screenless Allies believe it is now time to do so! On this review, we’re looking at the Bose Quiet Comfort QC45 over ear headphones. These headphones are claimed to be made by one of the “best makers of audio equipment,” which in this case is Bose. Let’s see how good these headphones really are!
Pricing
Bose is pretty good at having offers and discounts on their products. The current sale price for these headphones is $329 US. That may be a little steep to some readers, and we recommend you read the review first before buying them.
In the Box
When you obtain the box, you should receive the following items:
- Bose Headphones
- USB C charging cable
- 2.5 to 3.5 MM audio cable
- printed getting started material and manual.
- carrying case
The headphones should be inside this carrying case.
Removing the Headphones From the Case
To remove the headphones, unzip the case, and examine the pattern inside. Keep this folding pattern in mind when getting ready to put them in storage, or when you are done with them after a session. The best way to describe the pattern is a half circle on the headband, with one earcup tucked under the other. To unfold the headphones, hold the headphones with one hand, using the headband as a handle. Then, pull the earcup that is tucked underneath outwards, then rotate it to the right to straighten out. Note that, you can only rotate the cup one way to straighten it out, so don’t be afraid to try different ways of unfolding the headphones. To fold the headphones back for storage, assuming you have them held in the correct orientation described below, rotate the ear cups away from you. Then, take the right earcup, and tuck it underneath the left one, forming that original folding pattern again. You will also find a pocket on the case lid to store your cables so you will not lose them easily. Like standard headphones, the head band is able to be adjusted to fit your head. In my (Jose’s) case, my head is quite big, so the head band is almost to the biggest setting. Now that we unfolded the headphones, let’s look at the orientation!
Orientation
The headphones can be best described as medium sized. The cups are not HUGE, but they also are not as small as headphones you used to find on old cassette and CD players. It definitely fits the standard medium to big pairs of ears. All the functions of the headphones are on the outside of the ear cups, whether the buttons are on the back or sides of it. Let’s point the headphones so that the earcup with a long button on one side of it is on the left ear. We’ll do this in order, from the left ear cup to the right. This orientation assumes you are wearing the headphones.
Left Earcup
On the left earcup, on the part where the earlobe is located, you will find one long button labeled “Action.” This button toggles between “Aware, and Quiet” mode. This basically is Bose’s version of noise cancellation. Press this button once to toggle between these 2 settings. When toggling noise modes, Quiet essentially cancels out any noise around you, and aware boosts the environment so you can talk to people. The downside is that by default, the headphones switch to “Quiet” everytime you switch them on. Hold down this button to access your virtual assistant, such as Siri or Google Assistant, depending what device you are using. You can also use this button to mute your microphone during phone calls. On the bottom oval shaped corner of the ear cup, you will find the audio jack to connect the provided cable to use with devices with a 3.5 MM headphone jack. On the flat surface of the earcup, you will find a microphone on each half, which helps with these noise modes. You will also find the same microphones on the right cup as well.
Right Ear Cup
On the right, on the same place as the “Noise Cancellation Toggle” button, You will find three buttons. If you remember the Apple earpods, or even a lot of the newer earbuds now, they have a remote control to control volume and music playback. This is the EXACT same configuration. The top button is “Volume Up,” the middle is “Play/pause,” also called the “Multi-Function” button by Bose, and the bottom is “Volume Down.” When playing music, you can also press the “Middle” button twice to skip to the next track, and three times to go to the previous track. Apart from the microphones on the flat surface of the ear cup, you will find a switch towards the top of your ear. This switch is both a spring and slide switch. Slide this switch away from you to turn the headphones on. If you were to slide the switch even farther away from you for 3 seconds, you can then connect multiple devices, or switch between connected ones if you have more than two. On the very bottom oval corner of this ear cup, you will find the USB C port to charge the QC45. It takes about 2 hours to charge them from a low battery, while the battery life is about a FULL day before charging needs to happen again.
Setting Up the Headphones
Now that we have the layout of the QC45 mastered, let’s set them up! You can do this by either using bluetooth, or you can also connect the provided cable, which is even more convenient for devices that do not have bluetooth. Even more convenient, you do not need to even turn on the headphones for the wired connection to work, which, in this writer’s opinion is a first I hear about, and GREAT feature! Even better, this works even if the battery is completely dead!
The Bose Music App
It is important to warn you that, if you would like to have even more control of some of the QC45’s functions, you will need to install the Bose Music app for iOS or Android to be able to configure things like equalizer and other advanced settings. This also means you’ll need to have a Bose account, which you can create here. HOWEVER, if you just need the basics and are not concerned with things like changing how the headphones sound, then you can use them without any of these 2 things mentioned above. Personally, this is a good idea, since these devices are NOT exclusive to any smartphone manufacturer in particular, which gets a point on this review.
Connecting Via Bluetooth
Connecting the headphones using bluetooth is pretty straightforward. When you first turn on the headphones using the switch on the right earcup’s flat surface by pushing it away from you, you will hear music, followed by “Welcome to Bose. To get sttarted, download the Bose Music App and create an account to get the most out of your device.” From here, you can open the Bose Music app, assuming you have downloaded and created the account. The app on both platforms is very accessible with the smartphones’ screen reader. Follow the app’s instructions to connect the headphones to the respective phone that way. If successful, you will hear the battery level, followed by “Connected to, phone.” Phone is replaced with the name of your phone, for instance, “Jose’s iPhone.”
Connecting without The Bose Music App
As mentioned above, you can also use the QC45 without any account creation or app. After switching on the headphones for the first time and them telling you how to create an account, push and hold down the “power switch” away from you for about 3 seconds or until you hear, “Ready to connect to device.” From here, connect the device using its bluetootth settings. Alternatively, you can just plug in the cable and start playing music.
Multi-point
The QC45 has a pretty nice feature of connecting to two devices at the same time through bluetooth. This means, you do NOT have to connect a secondary device each time you need to use it with the headphones. Let’s say you have an iPhone and an Android connected at the same time, paired and ready to go. You press “Play” on the iPhone’s music app and jam out to your favorite song. Then you remember that, “Man, I forgot to put this other song on my iPhone, but I have it on Android!” No worries! Simply stop the iPhone’s music, and start playing the music on the Android. The Bose will immediately switch to the Android device. Remember, stop the iPhone music before playing the Android music, in order for the QC45 to recognize you want another device. Take note: you WILL receive calls from both devices on the headphones if you have them connected, so be careful on how you handle this scenario. We highly recommend to put one device on Do Not disturb, in order for this conflict not to present itself.
Multi-Device
Let’s say apart from your phones, you also have your computer connected to the headphones via bluetooth, and you wish to use it. All we do, is slide the “Power switch” away from you when the headphones are on, then release. You will then hear the name of the device the QC45 is connected to at the moment. Push the “Power” switch again, until you hear the next device that is available. You have about 2 seconds to do this after you hear the last device name, which for people with dexterity issue can be a problem. Keep doing this until you find the computer. Once finished, wait for a pairing confirmation, and once this happens, use the computer as normal.
Phone Calls
Yes, you can also answer phone calls hands free on the QC45. Simply press the “Play/Pause” button on the right earcup, located in the middle of the 3 button control pannel to answer the call when it rings. Press this same button again to end the call. If you just don’t want to hear “Juicy gossip” from your friend that’s calling you, hold down that same “Play/Pause” button for 1 second to decline the call when the phone rings. To mute your microphone while on a call, press the “Action” button on the left ear cup twice. These same commands apply if you are already on a phone call, and you receive another call on your line. Let’s say you want to create a 3-way call. Remember those? those really ramped up the bills back in the day! Anyway, to perform a conference call when 2 calls are on your line, press and hold the “Play/Pause” button for three seconds. The downside to these phone calls on the QC45 is, the person on the other end cannot hear you clearly, which would involve you speaking louder, which in some cases is not recommended. Also, if, for instance, you have your iPhone set to “Voice Isolation” during a call, then you’re definitely not heard at all by anyone.
Recording Audio
You can also use the QC45’s built in microphone to record audio using any recording application. Keep in mind that the microphone used for picking up the voice is on the left ear cup. The best way we can describe the quality of the recordings is, it has the sound of a USB headset that co-workers will use during virtual meetings. It’s good to record short files, but definitely do not recommend it if you’re going to record, let’s say, a podcast.
Pro’s and Cons
Like all the products we review here, let’s take a look at the pros and cons so you are well informed before making this purchase.
Pros
- able to connect via bluetooth or wired connections
- supports multiple devices
- adjustable head band
- can use with or without app
- good sound, especially for spoken content
Cons
- noise cancellation is always active when headphones are turned on
- microphones are quiet during phone calls
- need an app to control the sound and customize other settings of the headphones
Rating and final thoughts
Overall, this product gets a 4 out of 5. The headphones are quite comfortable to wear, and the controls are pretty straightforward. The only downside is, for people that probably do not want to mess with an app but wish to adjust things like audio settings, there’s technically no way to do that. That being said, you can still customize some audio settings using your smartphone’s music app settings, but these are not as flexible as those you can adjust with the Bose Music app. Hopefully Bose can do something about this in the future. Apart from this, what I would also like to see is another voice prompt that gives instructions for those that don’t wish to download other apps onto their smartphone to still be able to connect via bluetooth without said app to enjoy their headphones as well. The microphone could also use some improvement on phone calls to try and make voices louder. Apart from all this, if you are looking for some good high end headphones, and you have the funds, buy these for your audio needs! If you have any questions, or any other products you think we should review, feel free to email us! Happy listening!