Shows as $415, discount is applied at checkout. Amazon
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Edit @ 4:30pm: Black sold out, silver still available.
CamelCamelCamel.
It's shipped i'm so excited! Been telling my self to purchase a 'decent' set of headphones for years : D
In the interim i keep buying cheap budget headphones that break every 2 months, or reburying the Sol Republic blue tooth headphones every year when they break
I don't actually want but I think I can get it for $262 with a $40 voucher from an item being canceled, plus shopback 8%.
Totally don't need, but seriously tempted. Silver is the colour I'd prefer anyway. I hope it sells out quickly before I can get it.. yeah that.
I tried this out and the 1000XM2 and ended up buying the XM2 because I didn't like the sound of the bose. But at this price, hey why not.
But why? not happy with XM2?
No reason really.
People say the Bose is more comfortable because the cups are more spacious.
Everything else the Sony is better. The tech inside and sound quality. It supports LDAC, Apt-X and Apt-X HD, has more ANC levels, comes with IFE adapter, and much better battery life. The ability to cup your right ear to hear outside noise when someone talks to you is something I have used, so is not a gimmick. The ANC is better and easier to toggle, also adapts to altitude.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/7hpym1/owned_bo…
But I ended up buying a Silver QC35 a minute ago just because these things are never going to drop in price below this price. Even ebay 20% off deals sell for like $345.
I had $20 free credit from the US store directing us to AU store, and $40 credit when another order got canceled due to OOS. So I paid $269.99 before 8% shopback cashback. I'm not sure if shopback will give me 8% of $269.99 or $329.99. I still think this is expensive for what you're getting but by market value you're not going to do any better. Without the free credits I wouldn't have pulled the trigger.
I'm probably not going to use it much, but I got a good deal considering the usual prices of this thing. Still I'm facing cognitive dissonance, aka buyer's remorse right now. I already know it's not going to blow me away. Bose products just sound so flat, and they have an Apple-like hubris when it comes to price control.
Order Summary
Item(s) Subtotal:
$429.08
Delivery:
$0.00
Total Before GST:
$429.08
GST:
$42.91
Total:
$471.99
Promotion(s) Applied:
-$202.00
Grand Total:
$269.99
After cashback, that's either $248.39 or $243.59. Or zilch if they refuse to honor it because I used a $20 off unique voucher. Let's hope not the latter.
If I had the $10 credit for watching a Prime video, that would be $259.99 before cashback. =)
I've probably screwed myself out of being able to claim TRS though.
Isn't the call/mic quality terrible with the Sony?
I'm torn between the two and prefer the look of the Sony, but it will be a pain if I need a seperate set for calls.
Almost as good as the $250 ebay dael last year, but not quite :D
Do you perhaps have a link to the $250 deal?
Delivered already to my PO, that's just too quick LOL
Mine hasn't even been shipped yet :(
I'm sure it will be soon! maybe because i'm in the same state?
Likely I'd say - I'm based in QLD. Mines scheduled to arrive on Thursday so it'll come eventually :P
Yeah that's probably it then. You'll probably get to use yours sooner than I then, i cant make it to my PO during the week : ((
I did not get cash rewards tracking for some reasons. Did anyone receive notification from cash rewards?
May take up to 7 days
Same but it usually takes a day or two for me. Worse comes to worse you can email them the receipt
Mine tracked today : )
Same. Thanks
Doh, missed the black which was what I was after… silver it is.
Is this finished?? I can't even find silver now :(
Yes. You can still get it on eBay though for $329.25 if you have eBay Plus
I received mine today. Early impressions still but I'm a bit disappointed. The ANC is as good as any. And the comfort over prolonged use is better than the XM2 because it's lighter, cups are softer, and the clamping force is less. That's about all the good things I have to say about it.
The Google Assistant is embarrasingly slow in responding to your questions. It makes me think my question didn't go through and I ask it again, but a few seconds later it comes on. It might be like that on your phone also, but on the phone the awkwardness isn't there, because you can see it is busy working on it. You don't get that indicator with the headphones.
The robotic voice (not google assistant) informing you of your battery level, noise cancelation, connection status etc is quite poor. They could have done better there.
The app looks good but requires Location access on in order to work. That kinda sucks. It drains your phone battery considerably. And the app frequently crashes (Whoops. Something happened and Bose QC 35 II disconnected). If you switch to another app, it almost always will lose connection. This makes it hard to update the firmware. It's quite a slow process.
The case has a pocket for carrying the cables it comes with, which the XM2 doesn't have. Except you can't use that pocket. If you put things in there, the cables will push against the ear cups and you won't be able to zip up the case. You have to insert those cables into gaps in between your cups. Which also means you have to roll or tie them up into the correct shape in order to fit into those gaps. I don't think I will use those cables. Too much of a bother. The footprint of the case is not as small as the XM2's. You don't get an airplane adapter like you do with the XM2 either.
I much prefer the controls on the right cup of the XM2 over fumbling for buttons. That button in between volume up and down is used for too many things. There are upwards of 9 different ways to interact with it depending on how many times you press it and whether you hold it down on the last press. Swiping is much easier to understand and unmistakable. Instead of pressing twice or three times to go next or previous track, you just swipe forward or backward. And you don't have to fumble blindly for it because you know where it is.
That leaves the sound quality. I'd tested them at JB so I already kinda knew what to expect. But the audio sounds very lifeless. It's lacking punch, and also lacking detail. It's like looking at an image in lower resolution. It's not as crisp. The soundstage is also not great. Coming from the XM2 which sounds much better, I can't see myself listening to this except on the go with ANC. At least with the XM2 it is a viable option to use at home, though obviously it doesn't compare to audiophile grade open headphones.
The volume when connected to my S8 is very low. I have to turn it up to max or one notch below. This does not happen with any other headphones or IEMs I use with this phone.
I feel like all I got out of buying this was the comfort (and mic quality from what I hear, though I don't use it for chatting). It's the only area it beats the Sony in. Which of the two is better? It's a wash. The Sony does everything better except comfort. So there's no clear winner. But if Sony redesigns the XM3 to make it as comfortable as the QC35, I would call that set the objectively better set.
Thanks for the review, haven't looked hard but didn't previously see anyone say these were so far below the Sony's (or maybe what I saw compared a different set of Sony HPs).
FYI, I find Google Assistant very similar on my phone (Nexus 5X) - I often repeat things a second time just as it responds to the first time. But if I recall correctly, I don't get much better feedback on the phone. It just displays the same loading/listening icon, nothing to indicate it has heard me and is processing what it heard before responding.
The bars lets you know it is working on it. You don't get that feedback with the Bose so you're not sure.
When I speak to the Bose assistant it just feels wrong when it takes a while to respond, in a way that it doesn't feel wrong when speaking into a phone. A phone is a computer and needs time to respond. But when you're speaking to no one (via your headphones) it doesn't feel like you're talking to a computer. It feels more like you're talking to another person.
I wish they could replace the built in voice with the google assistant. The robotic voice they used was a low effort phone in. The XM2's voice sounds more natural, probably because it is. It doesn't need that many words to say, so why not record a real person like Sony did? Why use a Siri-like voice?
I just went and put the XM2 back on. Immediately the sound stage and instrumment separation is loads better. Still not like an open pair, but much better than the Bose. The comfort (clamping, weight, and space inside) doesn't take more than a moment to get used to either. Though you will feel it after a few hours.
Another person's take comparing the two: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/7hpym1/owned_bo…
May I ask why no one does a comparison with Sennheiser? It is pretty good in term of sound quality. I was tossing between bose and Sennheiser because Sony is a bit heavy. I use it more for flights so that’s important to me. I am still waiting for my bose to get here so can’t judge just yet (sadly not through amazon but eBay Sale which seems taking longer…). This might sound like silly. I Chose bose because i like physical buttons. I know most people like gesture control these days but heard about being too sensitive. Leaning on something might accidentally adjust the volume etc. this will be likely to happen if I use it on the flight and fall asleep.
You're talking about the PX550? It's not as popular around here, so fewer people have it for comparison, and fewer people consider it. I'm not sure why. I'd like to see more comparisons myself. I suspect the ANC is not first in class like the Sony and Bose are, so it doesn't get mentioned as one of the go-to choices.
I Chose bose because i like physical buttons.
It depends on how many functions it can do. The Bose can do more than 12 things.. all using one button. So each function will require some different number of taps with either holding the button down at the end or not. It's a lot to remember, and is not intuitive. If it had even more functions but still used one button and required even more presses, would that still be good?
Swiping up for volume up, down for volume down, forward for next track, back for previous track, tap once for pause/play/answer/hangup. Cup it with your palm to turn down your music and let outside noise in. Those are intuitive gestures and easy to remember.
The problem with using one button is it just takes longer to do what you want because you have to press the button so many times. Twice to go next track, 3 times to go previous track. But make sure you don't press it too many or not enough times. It's quicker and more accurate to swipe once.
I know most people like gesture control these days but heard about being too sensitive.
That's not the experience I have with my XM2.
The XM2 also has more smart features in its app that the Bose doesn't have. Such as detecting your activity and adjusting the ANC according to what you are doing. You can customize this behavior yourself if you don't like what it's doing. You can also EQ the XM2 to adjust its sound signature which I don't think you can do in the Bose app. Otherwise I'd fiddle with it because it just sounds so flat.
It's heavier but has a significantly longer battery life than the Bose which might be the reason for the added weight.
I don't think you'll be disappointed with the QC35 if you are buying it to cut out sound when you're in public places. It does that quite well and stays on your head comfortably. It's not one I would use at home though.
I tested bose and sennheiser pxc550 at the airport once. To be honest, I was blown away by sennheiser. I felt the sound and ANC are quite good. They don't have sony so can't make direct comparison. I think one really needs to put the 3 side-by-side to tell the differences. In the past, I was only able to try bose at the airport and it always sounded fine because there was no comparison. I felt the same when i was at jb hifi comparing sony and bose. Sony sounded better and seemed to mask out talking voice more. It could due to the fact that they were playing music with strong bass. No sennheiser to compare. :( In that sense, people are right about the sound quality of bose.
I actually looked into several youtube reviews about pxc550 as i was very interested. It is very positive. It pretty much has all the features of Sony. The only negative that most people mention is the the switch on and off feature. There is no physical button. One has to turn the cup of the headphone to switch it off. A lot of people just forget and battery runs flat the next time they pick it up. Also, it seems a bit flimsy. One has to make sure it clicks to confirm it is off. I asked about the touch feature sensitivity because that's one issue with sennheiser. Some people find that it is too sensitive.
If Qantas is offering $200+ + 2000 points for sennheiser pxc550 like they did few months ago, I would totally get that over bose. Sony is just too heavy for my small head. Anyway, i really hope that i won't be disappointed with bose. Perhaps i won't given that it is an upgrade from an old pair of NC panasonic headphone.
May I ask is this promotion still undergoing?
… must be hard to click the link yourself.
![[Amazon Prime] Bose QuietComfort 35 II $329.99 Delivered @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/25/391125.jpg?h=d7ccca92)
I'm in Brisbane and will buy a silver if someone with a black wants to swap… :P