I came to this forum for no reason other than to lookup issues with crackling and then whitenoise / hiss.
For no apparent reason, my QC35-2 AE had a bad crackle in the right cup whenever ANC was low or high. I did the standard reset with no difference.I suspected it was a bad auto-update of the firmware, but there are no logs to support that theory, and we can't rollback the firmware to test the theory. I attempted to upgrade to firmware 4.3.6 using the Bose Connect app v8.1 for Android (Pixel3XL with latest Pie v9). This app has a problem (for me) with random disconnects, so I suspected that the firmware update failed even though the app showed the current version. Usually this leads to bricking (in phones, routers, etc), and I was really concerned that the headset was permanently ruined. I loaded the Bose Updater utility for Windows. The browser UI provides no feedback about what it's doing other than it's ready to update. After retrying that page several times, and patient waiting, I did get an Installation Successful message. The crackling is gone. But now with 4.3.6 successfully installed I have white noise with ANC on, and that brought me to this recent thread.
The ANC is definitely working, and high is slightly better than low. But the new hiss is definitely there, it's new, and I'm hoping Bose can do something about it.
Since we're here, many things about this device and these issues have concerned me:
- I completely understand the distance between the company and the public forum. I've been employed at a different company in Support where we could not interface directly with people in the forums. But the strong disconnect here is obviously a Marketing/Sales issue that Bose needs to address.
- References here to official Support, while entirely appropriate, have still left people with no resolution, sometimes no response (reportedly). In a situation like this, the customer has been inflamed three times: Once with a misbehaving device, once with no help in the public forum, and once by Support. By the time someone actually gets to Support, by definition, they're probably upset. Leaving problems unresolved at that step is really bad for business.
- I completely understand that some/all Moderators here are not directly linked to Support and that there is only so much that they can do. However, copy/paste responses, lack of attention to detail, and complete avoidance of some questions and details, have obviously angered many people who have purchased relatively expensive products. This is also a Marketing/Sales issue that Bose doesn't understand yet.
- I went from a new problem to reading forum posts. I saw people angered. I saw a cordial and well-crafted note by moderators about how firmware updates don't affect ANC ... despite the fact that many people have been drawn to these forums exactly like me, with no reason to be here other than "something" changed in their devices. Was that actually due to a firmware update? We don't actually know. But the disparity between "we have a problem" and "updates didn't cause your problems" leaves a huge gap for "OK, so what else can cause all of these issues that seem to coincide with updates?". Lack of answers in that space have led to a great deal of angst here. Stop telling people to re-adjust the cups on their head or to replace the $40 pads. The company needs to offer a firmware downgrade, and a log of all firmware changes, so that people can verify the exact effects of each firmware change.
My experience is not unique. I've stumbled on similar posts from over the last two years by different people. The company needs to take note of commonly reported issues, and address them in documentation and/or in software changes (firmware, Update utility, Connect app). The above mentioned note about how ANC issues aren't cause by firmware updates was a very good start except that it just left many people hanging and frustrated. This is all about communication. This is where the company is failing and losing money to competitors ... I haven't seen a single post in my searches on these topics that indicate a hardware or manufacturing defect. That is why we have these devices. It's a tragedy that this company puts so much care into the engineering of fine products, and then let's it all fail with software failures and poor human interactions.
Thanks for the soapbox.