So when the Bose QC45’s first came out last year, I wasn’t all that impressed by them. But now, a year later and thanks to some very important firmware upgrades and some missteps from other companies… the Bose QC45’s are my daily drivers, they’re my favorite headphones to travel with, and right now, they are my favorite headphones to recommend. Now they do have their short comings and they do have room for improvement, but I really feel that they give more premium ANC headphones like the Sony 1000XM5’s, Sennheiser Momentum 4’s or AirPods Max a real run for their money.
Now when it comes to pricing, the Bose QC45’s have a real leg up here. Now they have a retail price of $330… but they like to routinely go on sale for $280 and right now that its black Friday season, these things are going on sale for $250… a solid pick up if you ask me. And personally, I have no problem putting these headphones up against the likes of the Sony 1000XM5 which have a retail price of $400, the Sony 1000XM4’s and Sennheiser Momentum 4’s which both have a retail price of $350, and I defneitly prefer the QC45’s over the Bose NC 700’s right now. Personally, I feel that you can’t go wrong with the Bose QC45’s, I highly recommend them, and this is coming from someone that initially didn’t like them. So if you want to pick these headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk abbot the case. The QC45’s have a decently small case that is both thin and I it has a small footprint, making this case a good option for traveling. Now the XM4’s also have a decently small case… but the QC45’s case is just smaller. And I definitely prefer this case over the Momentum 4’s or Sony 1000XM5’s cases cause these things are just huge. Genuinely, when I have tired to travel with the XM5 this case was a hassle. So if you’re looking for a pair of headphones to travel with, then the QC45’s are a good option, just starting with their case.
But now lets talk about the headphone themselves, Now the QC45’s have a mostly plastic body and they have leatherette on both their earpads and headband. Now the plastics used on the QC45’s is smooth and its new. These aren’t using recycled plastic like what’s found on the 1000XM5’s, which personally I am not a fan of cause it makes these headphones feel very flimsy. But then, there’s the leatherette on these headphones, bose has always had great feeling leatherette, it feels very soft and there’s even a slight grain to it. Now this leatherette doesn’t feel as good as the real leather that you’ll find on some other headphones out there like either the PX7 S2’s or Momentum 3’s… but this leatherette feels much better than the synthetic feeling leatherette that that you’ll find on either the Sony 1000XM5’s, XM4’s, XB910N’s, Sennheiser Momentum 4’s, and this feels way better than the fabric earpads found on AirPods Max. So, even though the QC45’s aren’t using more premium of exotic materials found on some other headphones… and even though the QC45’s don’t look or feel as elegant as the NC 700’s with their exposed stainless steel headband. The QC45’s are still a pair of very well built headphones and they show minimal wear and tear even after a year of constant use.
However, over of the main reasons why I love the QC45’s so much is just cause of their comfort. The QC45’s have very little clamping force, giving them a looser fit. Making these headphones big head approved. I also really like that these headphones are light weight weighing in at 234 grams, so with these headphones they’re very easy to forget that you have on if you’re sitting at your desk and you barely notice them when you’re walking around with them on. And I would say that the weigh on the QC45’s is a big deal… because for comparison sake the Sony 1000XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams, the 1000XM4 weigh in at 254 grams, the Bose NC 700 weigh in at 264 grams, the momentum 4’s weigh in at 290 grams, and then there are the AirPods Max which weigh in at a neck breaking 384 grams. So, these headphones’s light weight and minimal clamping force are big contributing factors to their overall comfort. But then, there’s the padding with these headphones. First off, the QC45’s have an adequate amount of padding underneath their headband so hot spots aren’t an issue for this headband. And unfortunately I do have to point this out cause with lets say the Sony 1000XM5’s or Momentum 4’s, since these headbands don’t have too much padding, hot spots can develop after awhile. But then, there are just the ear pads on these headphones, the QC45’s have very spacious earpads that are going to have no issue accommodating very large ears or ears that stick out a lot. But also, the earpads on the QC45’s have very little surface area coming in contact with your skin. So these ear pads also do a really good job of staying cooler for longer than some other headphones out there. So overall, another reason why I simply love the QC45’s is cause of their comfort. They’re light weight, they have minimal clamping force, and they have very spacious ear pads that are going to have no problem accommodating most ear types and they stay cooler for longer.
But then there’s the battery life on these headphones… its okay, but it could be better. Now the QC45’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on. Now this is better than both the NC 700’s and AirPods Max which both have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on. But I would really like to see the QC45’s hit a battery life of 30 hours with their ANC turned on which is the Sony standard… but then there’s the Momentum 4’s which have a monstrous battery life 60 hours with their ANC tuned on.
However, one crucial thing to keep in mind with the QC45’s is that you can’t extend their battery life by using them with the active noise cancelation or ambient mode completely turned off, you have to have one or the other. And I just wish that bose would give you the option to turn off the ANC on these headphones through a firmware update… but they just refuse to.
Now when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, these headphones can be simultaneously connected to any two devices at the same time, which is good if you’re a power user with devices from different eco systems… but when it comes to overall performance, these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, the QC45’s only have support for SBC and AAC. Now AAC is going to work perfectly fine whether youre an iPhone or an android user, but unfortunately these headphones don’t have support for any higher quality audio codecs.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these headphones… and this is actually one of the main upgrades that these headphones got from one of their firmware updates. The QC45’s now have an adjustable EQ, something that they initially didn’t have. And you can go in and adjust them to your liking. But in general, the QC45’s are better geared towards someone who likes a more neutral or vocals focused EQ cause these headphones don’t have all that much physicality in their bass. The bass on these headphones isn’t going to phsycailly rattle your head like the bass that you will find on Sony’s headphones, or AirPods Max or Moemtum 4’s. The Bass on the QC45’s is mostly on the audible side. Now you can go in and raise their bass… so its going to resonate more… but even if you were to crank the bass on these headphones all the way up… you’re not going to get any rattling out of them. And I feel that if you raise the bass on these headphones too much, they start to sound little shallow. Now even though I mainly recommend these headphones to people who like a more neutral EQ… these headphones do sound a little narrow when compared to other headphones that have better instrument separation than lets say the Momentum 4’s, AirPods Max, or PX7 S2’s. So overall, I would say that the QC45’s sound good enough to get the job done… but don’t expect the bass on these headphones to rattle your head with like some other headphones… and personally for me, these aren’t my preferred headphones if im going to focus and actively listen to an album. For that I’ll either use my PX7 S2 or Momentum 3’s.
But next up, there’s the active noice cancelation on these headphones and the Active Noise cancelation on the QC45’s got a notable performance bump from when they were initially released, surprisingly, the ANC on the QC45’s blocks out more noise than the more premium Bose NC700… and the ANC on the QC45’s does a really good job of keeping up with the likes for the Sony 1000XM5, AirPods Max and Sennheiser Momentum 4’s which currently have some of the best performing Active noise cancelation out there.
So like you may have just seen, surprisingly the QC45’s block out overall more noise than the NC 700’s. Now I would assume that the NC 700’s block out more noise than the QC45’s cause they’re more premium… but they’re also the oldest headphones here. So I guess bose isn’t playing favorites here, which I feel is a good thing. Now in this ANC test I also included the Sony XB910N and Sony WH-CH710N so that you can get a reference of how much noise mid tier and entry level ANC headphones will block out… but more importantly, you could also see how the ANC on the QC45’s stacks up to the ANC found on the XM5’s, AirPods Max, and Momentum 4’s. Now I would say that the QC45’s block out almost as much noise as these more premium ANC headphones… but just not quite as much. But more importantly, the QC45’s go about blocking out an impressive amount of noise without a whole lot of cabin pressure, something that was an issue for the QC35’s… and something that is still an issue for the AirPods Max even after their summer firmware update which altered the ANC performance of these headphones. And I would also say that the XM5’s have more cabin pressure than the QC45 but less than the AirPods Max. But in general, the ANC on the QC45’s is very impressive.
But then there’s the ambient mode on the QC45’s, Now the QC45’s have a decent sounding ambient that sounds very natural and there’s zero hissing in the background… the main draw back with this ambient mode is that you can’t adjust it like you can with the ambient mode on a lot of other headphones out there. But also, the ambient mode on the QC45 is missing a conversation mode that is found on the NC 700’s and on a lot of other headphones out there that have ambient mode, where they will quickly lower the volume of your media and pump in all of the ambient sound around you, so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove your headphones, like this.
And then, your headphones will go back to normal again. Now this feature is very useful especially if you’re flying… But also, the QC45’s have a standard ambient mode, as in they will let in everything. They don’t have an active ambient mode where they will actively protect your ears from sudden loud sounds.
And what I mean by this is this… with either the Sony 1000XM4’s, the Moemtum 4’s and a few other earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro 2, Studio buds, Bose QC Earbuds 2, or Sony WF-1000XM4’s… they would turn off their ambient mode and prevent that clap from blasting your ears… where as with the QC45’s they would have let that clap in.
Now an active ambient mode if very useful if you plan on commuting with your headphones with your ambient mode turned on so that you can be aware of your surroundings… if a siren rolls by or if a dog starts barking, then your ears aren’t going to get blasted. So overall, the QC45’s have a decent sounding ambient mode… but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
And finally here’s the microphone test, new this is another area where these headphones need improvement. This microphone sounds good enough to get the job done, but while in a quite room, this microphone does sound rather hollow.
And when it comes to blocking out noise pollution, this microphone does struggle a bit because it is letting in a decent amount of road noise.
Because for comparison sake, the XM5’s are doing a much better job of blocking out this road noise, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the Sony 1000XM5’s it is severely reduced.
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, its the same thing, the sony 1000XM5’s are doing a good job of reducing this chatter…
Where as with the QC45’s these are letting in more chatter. So overall, the microphone on the QC45’s gets the job done when taking phone calls while in a quite environment… but I would say that this microphone still has room for improvement.
But with all of that being said. Even though the Bose QC45’s still has room for improvement when it comes to their microphone, ambient mode, battery life… and even though their more neutral sound signature will might not please everyone… I still have no problem recommending these headphones because of their superior comfort and impressive active noise cancelation. Plus they also have a very small case, which is good for traveling. And even though the QC45’s are a year old now, these things are doing a spectacular job of keeping up with newer and more premium ANC headphones.