QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones – Apple Devices

I bought the Bose quiet comfort 20 few months ago at £178, so I had time to tested it properly before writing this review.The first question that I had was “is it worth buying wired earphones in the wireless era”? The answer is definitely yes. I use those with my iPhone XR together with the apple adapter (I tried a non apple one and it did not work properly): the sounds quality is perfect and the noise cancelling is great. I also bought a Bluetooth adapter to link these earphones to my Kindle Oasis, and the noise cancelling works perfectly (the sounds as well but it is referred to audiobooks only).These earphones are very comfortable to wear, and adapter with different sizes are present in the package. I tested the sound quality on classic music and pop music, and the quality is very high.In terms of noise cancelling, I was pleasantly surprised. I run a test together with a friend of mine in a pub: we listened to the same music by using the Bose quiet comfort 20 and another high quality over ear headphones (cannot declare the brand here, but trust me, they are worth around £400). The noise cancelling of the earphones was far superior to the over ear headphones. As a frequent flyer, I used it on the airplane to shut down the noise around, including loud chatting and crying babies. On the bus, instead, you can still hear the engine down; this does not affect significantly the experience, as I can clearly listen to music and audiobooks without problems. The same does not apply to regular earphones.The material is quiet robust, even though I read other reviews where customers were complaining about the poor quality. I disagree with those, as I found them solid. Of course, you need to look after them properly and not simply dropping them in the bag. If you use the case provided and you do not stretch the wires abruptly and extensively (as for any wired earphone or headphone), then they will last without displaying any sign of use.Battery life is declared to be16 hours, which seems correct. The battery for the noise cancelling is external and can be a bit tricky to deal with while walking. No great fuss honestly, as you can put it inside the pocket of a jeans or a jacket.In summary, I strongly recommend this product for all frequent travellers and commuters, for music enthusiasts and for audiobook listeners. It is cheap compared to other wireless options, and the fuss of the wire is, in my opinion, minimum compared to the advantages of the noise cancelling earphones (great during summer either, in contrast with over ear headphones, for isntance).

I bought these having left my Sony active noise isolating headphones in the lounge of an airport much to my wallets dismay. However, looking upon the bright side I figured this was a good excuse to look for new - and therefore hopefully better - solutions.Previously I've had two pairs of the Sony digital headphones which were excellent to be honest. The main disadvantage being that being over ear they are larger and therefore bigger to carry around in limited cabin baggage as well as being in the way if I nodded off during the flight. However, given previous in ear solutions which had always been a bit of a let down I stuck with them.But, as ever technology moves on and needing a replacement for my stupidly lost pair I decided to check out the reviews for in ear active noise cancelling earphones and by a country mile these Bose ones came out on top in most top ten lists. And, whilst I'm a bit sceptical of so called professional reviewers - and a slight bias against Bose which I associate with roll neck jumper wearing cobblers - the volume of positive reviews swayed me.So, here I am in possession of a swanky pair of Bose active noise cancelling headphones that in comparison to anything I've used before blows them all into the weeds. Really.Firstly, they are really comfortable to wear even on a long flight. They fit perfectly despite the ear buds being odd shaped. Clearly a well researched and considered design for the human ear. When you first push them in think that they are not secure because the pressure is so low compared to a more conventional pair of ear buds but, in fact they are very solidly in place despite the initial feeling.Sound quality is superb. Really superb for in ear items. Deep base and a great soundstage to use the poncey kind of gobbledygook used in What HiFi. Simply put I haven't heard a pair of in ear speakers sound so good full stop.Then when you switch on the noise cancelling the reason you've just shelled out 250 quid becomes clear. I tried these without any sound input when I first used them on an Airbus 321, sat behind the wings and therefore in cattle class on a budget aircraft in the noise line of the engines. Clearly it was pretty noisy where I was sat and yet as soon as I switched these on it felt as if I'd gone deaf. Honestly, almost all of the ambient sound vanished instantly. It was so startling I tried the effect three times for laughs.Once you then put on the sound from whichever thing you are using as the source the final tiny bit of external sound vanishes into the background. Its frankly, startling.So without a doubt these are fully worth the 250 quid if you travel by air regularly, because they make the whole experience slightly less miserable.Now, like all things in life there are a couple of niggles. Especially given that these are not actually resident at the cheap end of the market. Firstly, if you buy these chances are you are looking at the noise cancelling for the hell that is flying and as such if you buy these you would expect them to be geared to working with aircraft systems, In other words the weird twin plug fittings that are still in place on most aircraft. But, Bose don't supply the adaptor which means that you might buy these unknowingly and then find that once ensconced on board you can't use them. This is a bit penny pinching when you consider the upfront cost when far cheaper items come with everything you need.So factor in another fiver for the adaptor. Most of all, make sure you get one.The other slight irritation is that the carrying pouch is a bit low rent, but most of all quite small. And I can see this being a bit of a long term problem because the USB charged power supply has the cables fitted into each end of the unit and when in the pouch they are bent over quite hard which I'm sure is putting strain on the wires. I can imagine that if you regularly take them in and out of the carrying pouch and do so without being careful the long term effect could be broken wires.Overall though, for what these are made for they are superb. Best noise cancelling earphones I've ever come across.