Bose QC 15 Noise Cancelling Headphone Review

This is a detailed review of the Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic noise canceling headphones. I don’t think there’s a need to write any introduction about Bose since everyone who has ever listened or had a slight interest in sound or music should know who they are.

Manufacture’s  Specifications:

• Type: Over Ear (Circumaural) active noise canceling
• Drivers size: NA
• Drivers Type: NA
• Frequency Response:NA
• Sensitivity:NA
• Impedance:NA
• Microphone sensitivity:NA
• Maximum Input: NA
• Weight with cable: 207.5g
• Connecter: 3.5 mm jack
• MSRP: 350$

Design

The QC 15 are a full size over the ear headphones equipped with active noise canceling system or as Bose calls it Acoustic noise canceling.

Out of the box

Once you slide open your package and go pass the elegant blue cover you’ll find a black slim carry case with a zipper, the case is light weight and strong enough to provide good protection for the headphones while carrying them around weather for your normal day use or travel purpose.

Inside the carry case you’ll find the headphones, small airplane adapter and 2 detachable headphone cables.

First one is the QC 15 inline remote and mic cable, it has a 3 button remote compatible with apple’s mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod…….etc) and a built in mic that allows you to receive and make calls.

It is a very good feature to have detachable cables, this way you can always replace and purchase a new cable in case they got damaged.

Both cables have 3.5 mm connectors at one side and a special type of headphone jack designed by Bose on the other side, it goes inside the left ear-cup, if you look at the jack you find a high/low gain switch this will enable you to lowers the master volume on the headphones so you enjoy using the noise canceling with worrying of have the airplane announcements surprising you and having you jump off the seat.

Coming to the QC15 best feature; The Acoustic Noise Canceling, Bose did a superb job with the noise canceling, once you switch it on everything turn quiet it is surprisingly good they cut out around 90% of the ambient noise, plus they run on a normal AAA battery so need to need to wait for recharging time you just exchange battery’s and continue listening.

My only issue is that you can’t use your the headphones without theNoise canceling which means if you ran out of battery life you can’t use your headphones, I was quite surprised why Bose designed them like that, but anyways the simple solution to that is to keep a spare battery in the carry case, you won’t face this problem a lot since the QC 15 have an average battery life of 35hours.

Style

The QC15 have an elegant look, they come in one choice of color black with silver side plate and black leather padding on the ear cups and headband, they can go with any type of outfit you’re wearing

Build quality

It is surprising how strong and well build they are, since they are light weight and mainly made of plastic you get the idea that they can break easily whereas it’s exactly the opposite, the QC 15 are very flexible and strong you can twist them and straiten them without breaking.

Comfort

The ear buds are very well padded with ultra soft type of foam and coated with artificial leather they hug your ears very gently that you will forget that you have them on after very short time.

The head band have the right amount of padding so they rest comfortably on your head without feeling any pressure while using your headphones.

Supplied accessories

• QC15 inline remote and mic cable
• Detachable Headphone cable
• Air plane adapter
• AAA battery
• Zipper Carry case

Sound

Music is delightful with the QuietComfort 15 their frequency response is pretty balanced, plus, Bose states they used Active equalization that electronically tunes the headphones’ frequency response, enabling a great audio performance.

I really liked the sound character of these headphones even though I think they can still improve them a lot. The sound is well defined, but the clarity isn’t quite there. After listening to them for quite some time and going back to my Grado’s sr325i you notice that you were missing some notes.

When listening to Take It All by Adele the vocal and piano sound are impressive.

Try listening to the bass sounds in The Real Blues by The Ray Brown trio, bass guitar sounds great.

If you wanna hear some good instrument separation try listening to Dire Straits in their Private Investigations track.

Bass : The bass is punchy, deep and fairly strong, the QuietComfort 15 won’t disappoint you when it comes to bass.

Mid-range: I believe Mids and vocals are these headphones’ strong side, they are clear have a natural feel to them.

Treble: Treble is good but not that good sometimes it feels like you can use a bit more, I prefer the highs to shine more

Sound stage and instrument separation: They have a pretty wide sound stage even though sound character is more into the warm side but you get the feeling that your listening in concert hall. Plus instrument separation is pretty good the only issue that in some cases it felt a little bit artificial.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Two Detachable cables
• Extremely comfortable for long listening
• Superb active noise canceling
• Relatively balanced sound
• Long lasting battery life (35 hours)
• Strong durable built
• Smart phone ready

Cons:

• Can’t be used without noise canceling
• A bit expensive
• Most of the technical specification are not provided by Bose.

Conclusion

Bottom line if your in the market for some good active noise canceling headphones and willing to spend around 350$. The Bose Quiet Comfort 15 are a very strong candidate.

They have a pretty balance sound with a superb noise canceling performance.

Bose QuietComfort 15 Headphone Video Review