BOSE: IT IS TIME TO ALLOW FIRMWARE DOWNGRADE FOR THE QC35/QC35ii !!!

[SS2019]

BOSE:  Glad you are working on solving this obvious ANC  issue with the new QC35 and 35ii firmware; but this is affecting your customers on a daily basis; we bought these products to use on our commutes and flights, those of us who use these daily cannot be asked to wait until your engineering team figures out where they erred; hence it is not unreasonable for us the ask that you MAKE THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING FIRMWARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNGRADE UNTIL YOU FIGURE OUT THE SOLUTION FOR VERSION 3.0.3/4.5.2

Whatever “improvements and fixes” these new versions of the QC35/QC35ii firmwares where supposed to provide/fix are CLEARLY AND INDISPUTABLY are not worth the ANC deterioration and resulting customer outrage they have caused.  This is a major stain to your brand reputation and a horrible business decision (coincidentally and suspiciously close to the launch of the new 700s) especially when very capable competitors are now available in the ANC headsets market.  I have been a loyal Bose Customer for almost 20 years, but a failure to correct this successfully and quickly by Bose will lead me to SONY going-forward.

As I said earlier, your most sensible customer-centric response at this point, is to allow FIRMWARE DOWNGRADE, at least until you have a workable newer firmware version worthy of release.  I don’t know why this one simple step is taking so long; it has been over a month since this fiasco started.

[Serj]

I agree.

Bose 3.0.3 killed the ANC t-shirt

[Rouvster]

Just a small input at my end :

After a lot of reserach I finally found a way to downgrade from 4.5.2 to 3.1.8 !

After checking (and switching between 4.5.2 and 3.1.8) I noticed that the ANC performs better (no noticable difference between high and low on 4.5.2, but clearly audible on 3.1.8) and this white noise (like distant rain) is completely gone .

So I don't know whats going on with Bose (most people would say that with the new headset coming out they'll decrease the quality of the 'old' versions) but quite disappointed...

For my part, I finaly left my QC35ii on 3.1.8 and deleted the Bose Connect app on my phone.

This way, the ONLY way to update them is by doing it via wire.

Just a thank you to Bose that they do not allow downgrade of your purchased product.

I'll stick with this version unless I hear something good about a new one.
As they say "If everything works, why update ?"

[Johnjr1959]

ROUVSTER Would you mind sharing with the rest of the community how to downgrade to 3.1.8 so we too can restore our units to the performance they were sold.  Thank you  

[Johnjr1959]

As an individual consumer completely echo this comment. When the quality of a product has been impacted by a firmware update the professional decision is to re release the older version so the consumers product is reverted to the quality product that was purchased. If the QC35II ANC worked as it does today the product would not have been in the running or purchased. At time of purchase with the older firmware the product beat the competitors hands down. Now by a mandated firmware update the product is substandard and what I consider poor quality and customer support. From the blog entries I have read the official release of the older firmware would be the smart choice. What say you Big Business? Please never forget the consumers write your paychecks and consumer/business reputation is very important. What can it hurt unless you knew this would happen? Pushing out the old firmware would do nothing more then revert the headsets to the same factory setting they were sold with! Besides if you are not finding any coding errors then releasing the old firmware as optional update would cost nothing, it’s already developed, has already been approved for release, and is archived on your server. Simple push of the button, unless there are deeper corporate decision factors. Again what say you Big Business?

[Johnjr1959]

I also read in posts that even when Bose reloaded 3.1.8 that there was no difference in the ANC. Well there is a possible answer to this in that if the software reconfigured gain or threshold (which is commonly done via software coding) to the ANC circuit it could indeed damage the ANC circuit so when the 3.1.8 firmware was loaded it would not have an impact as the ANC circuit preamps had been damaged. Best test is for an old set that has never been upgraded. There are others that claim that after they reverted to 3.1.8, the ANC worked like it did when first purchased. Again easiest solution is to release 3.1.8 or previous firmware for owners to install and verify ANC operation.  Word to the wise, it’s cheaper to use the community to provide test data than highly paid engineers. No offense as I am one but the laymen sometime find the culprit. Thank you.