QC35II White noise after firmware update

[Muzic_Adore]

My QC35ii is on firmware 3.1.8. Stay put on updating anything for now and probably forever! Do you remember back when you had the firmware 3.1.8 the ANC? Could you describe it as details as you could so I could compare mine. Now on mine, Im doing my actual testing. Im in a quiet room with ceiling fan on, no music or any other noise but only the headphones on my ears at low ANC, I could hear very light white noise, I could hear slightly my family member away in 9 feet. At high ANC, in the same environment, its a little better in white noise but not significantly different. I have a habit of listening to my music at 89-95% in volume so, my eardrums could have been messed up a bit😆. I’ve been following this issue with the lastest firmware for months to see where it leads us to. Again, the decision for me to buy Bose QC35ii is the ANC feature since I travel quite a bit and use it regularly on the airplane.
Thank you!!

[Good]

Don't say firmware is not the cause and listen to your customers. All Bose Qc35 ii have the white noise problem but people do not put their headphones on in pretty quiet rooms and listen to very low or no music to hear the hissss p

Changed 3 headphones one was 2017 July AE and had a 2.5, no problems but upgraded to the max firmware 4.3.2, white noise problem appeared. 

sent it back got myself a AZ 2019 Jan (brand new), it had a 4.1 alreadyy on it had white noise and upgraded to 4.3.2 still white noise.

Sent this one back got a still 2019 AZ with 4.3.2 already on it, had white noise upgraded to latest and still not fcking greatest 4.5.2 WHITE NOISE PERSISTS . Want my money back, talked with bose cs, still no reply. All because of no, not your hardware but Firmware.

[joelirwin]

@Good 

>All Bose Qc35 ii have the white noise problem but people do not put their headphones on in pretty quiet rooms and listen to very low or no music to hear the hissss 

Well to complicate matters, it is NOT global.  I have a QC35ii AE and I work here in a studio that is perfectly and acoustically quiet except for a air purifier (I am a composer in both the music and film biz's).  When I turn on my QC35ii with ANC on high I hear absolutely nothing.  When I upgraded it to 4.3.6 in March, I did hear the white noise you referred to.  After the 4.5.2 upgrade in June, the white noise was gone/absent.

[CaptainStarbuck]

I feel it important to report that after updating to 4.5.2, the problem went away for me.

I know there is another report for 4.5.2. So maybe it's not the firmware but some artifacts left over from a prior update. For example, when Windows apps uninstall, they often leave behind registry entries and some files. The same happens in Android and Linux. Maybe this issue is so elusive because it only happens with specific From/To updates. HTH

[EDIT August 1st]

Nope, the hissing came back.

[CaptainStarbuck]

Nope, the hissing came back. Right cup only. Sometimes it gets very loud, other times it's soft and sporadic, sometimes medium and a constant hiss.

When this occurs, often, not all the time, if I tap the cup with my finger while wearing the headset, the whitenoise "splashes" like when dropping a rock into water. When the hiss is gone, tapping like that doesn't provoke it, as one might expect with a bad wire. I haven't found a pattern yet for how it behaves in different positions or what makes the character of the noise change. I can't tell if this is mechanical (lose wire?), circuitry, or firmware. All I can continue to report at this time is that the problem persists in unpredictable ways, often ruining the experience for which it was intended.

One thing that I'll look into - I'm wondering if this is related to battery charge. This headset has a remarkably good battery life. It will (reportedly) remain at 100% to 80% with extended usage before it reports lower power like 50%. I think the hiss is still present at higher charges but it seems like it may be more prevalent at about 60-70%. I'm just guessing here, to try to help Bose technicians to diagnose this. (Though it seems impossible to me that somehow they haven't been able to reproduce this yet.)

HTH

[CaptainStarbuck]

It's not a power issue.

The right cup of my headset can go from beyond bearable loud static to almost wonderfully quiet. There is Never an issue with the left cup.

So now I'm wondering if this isn't related to software at all but perhaps due to something like a spec of dust in the ANR / microphone hole. Or maybe after putting the headset in my laptop bag too many times, there is something in the wiring that is now loose. One thing I love about this headset is that it is not rigid. It pivots very well, flattens out, and compacts elegantly when packing it away. But those physical motions sometimes make me worry that at the joints something might break internally.

What can we do to get some official help?

Can I bring the headset into the local Bose store for an exchange with a new device?

Or should I start looking at Sony?

Thanks.

[CaptainStarbuck]

I just posted my last message, sitting here with my headset on, no audio playing, just silence. The left cup is completely silent. The right cup has been almost entirely silent. Without me moving my head in any strange way, no physical provocation, the volume of the static in the right cup started to increase slowly, almost to a point where it sounded like rain and hail was pounding on my house.

This is not related to ambient noise. My only other guess might be that the padding is somehow continually flexing while being worn, and that noise or air from this is getting into a microphone. The sound is exactly the same if I'm wearing the right cup over my left ear - not related to hair or other obvious contours.

Trying hard to provide clues to help others and get some relief myself.

[Zoe_C]

Hello CaptainStarbuck,

Thanks for posting, I would recommend that you contact the customer care team via telephone as they will be able to assist you in real-time. 

Should you need anything else then please get in touch.

Kindest regards,

Zoe C - Community Support 

[Legitti]

Seems like they at least now act like they care. After posting about customer relations we now have new sticky saying they're still trying to find the issue.

[oleynikd]

I have exactly the same issue. Updated my QC35 II to v4.5.2.144 today and noticed the white noise right after!

When ANC is off - no issues. Super annoying!!! Please help.