@HendrikV wrote:
Solution? What solution?
Has Bose put out yet another update?
A toe crunching update from my end..
I have received a brand new pair of headphone (manufacturing date June 2019)
It came with 4.1.3. firmware. Out of the box the ANC quality was significantly worse then my girlfriends QC35-I (!).
I have stood before the cooker hood which fans make a perfect consistent testing noise pattern.
The ANC from my brand new QC35-II received much more mid to high frequency.
When I quickly changed the headphones I carefully listened to the same noise.
And what do you believe, the mid to high frequency is much better dampenend on the old ones.
I just can't believe it.
Furiously, I went to a friend with a PC and downgrade the new pair to 3.1.8.
Which is now little better. Did the same cook hood test, but unfortunealty not much difference.
Bose, can you please share what you currently working on and testing?
I just can't imagine the headphone ANC quality has so much dropped since its initial models.
Hope you figure it out because It has been awefully quiet from your end..
The latest update to the Bose Connect app (version 9.0.0) has, in the update notes, that they fixed things in the firmware update code. Given that some of us never had a problem with update (my QC35II was updated twice from the Bose Connect app and still behaves flawlessly as when I got it... the only strange thing is that the desktop updater still thought it was running firmware 2.0.0 when Bose connect was saying 4.5.2 - ran the desktop udpate and now that also says 4.5.2)... ANC has not changed during these updates. ANC select button still sets 3 different levels, OFF LOW ON. And they have very different results... no problem there.
But I'm thinking that what is happening is that some of the updates don't process properly... And that by cleaning up their code is Bose Connect, they are trying to address that. Maybe (here it's a wild guess) when updates fail, the ANC levels selection gets messed up... and as some of us have found out, reverting, or doing a device reset and or a firmware update from desktop fixed it for them... So the new updater might do the trick.
As far as I am concerned, I'll do the next firmware update... and the next... and whatever next ones come up.
Oh... This thread has prompted me to try the Sony headset, which lets more external noises like conversations through than my current QC35IIv4.5.2 ... and I've tried the new Bose 700. The ANC is very similar... it's supposed to be better when used for audio conversations as the microphones are supposedly better, but I didn't get to try that part in the shop... So far, not changing to the 700 until (and if) I get a chance to test microphones during a call and I find it really better. I haven't tried the Sennheiser's new phones with ANC... I imagine the overall audio will be better (usually the case with Bose vs Sennheiser)... but likely the ANC will be slightly lower quality.
Just one thing... remember... ANC is "noise" cancelation. It's not total isolation. (That's what ear plugs are for.) So it shuts off all the ambiant noise. But it keeps coherent sounds (voices, music...) through. Which is important. You want to hear alarms, and other things like that...
That said... (Bose, this is an RFE from my side). Maybe add a 4th level to ANC called "full isolation" where you cut off not only noise, but as many external sounds as possible too. Like babies crying on planes... 🙂 None of my 3 previous Bose devices ever shut off that (I used to drive with my QC2 and it would shut off wind, engine, and road friction noise, but I could still listen to the radio playing in my car - now it's illegal to drive with a headset on your ears in France, so I can't do it anymore). But I am sure some users would love that specific full isolation mode, for some very specific cases...
