Turn off noise cancellation for quietcomfort earbuds

[wildknight]

Is there any way to turn off noise cancellation completely for the new QuietComfort Earbuds?

The mics pick up a lot of wind noise while running outside.

I have tried all the levels from 0 to 10 and none of them seem to disable the noise cancellation (0 seems to amplify the outside noise).

[bit_troupe]

Bose QC Earbuds - Feature Request - Noise Cancelling Off

Unlike some older models (QC 35 II), it appears setting ANC to "zero" creates a passthrough to the microphones as opposed to disengaging the ANC completely.  Though I understand the closed-system approach (which is very efficient), it would be nice to completely disengage the ANC so there isn't a loud sound floor via passthrough.  ANC can be somewhat fatiguing, so have the true "off" option is helpful.  Please consider this for inclusion in the next application/firmware update if technically possible.

[Tegan_M]

Hi Wildknight, 

Thanks for writing in. 

It's not possible to turn the noise cancellation 'OFF'. By setting your noise cancellation to 0, this puts the earbuds is full aware/transparency mode. When the earbuds are set to full transparency, you'll hear more of the world around you, whereas when set to full noise cancellation, unwanted outside noise is reduced.

You can adjust via the Bose Music app, or alternatively, to cycle through favorite noise cancelling levels, double-tap the left earbud.

[ezstreet1997]

I have also found that turning the noise cancelling to 0 actually makes outside noise louder than it really is. Seems like a flaw to me.

[SiG10]

Seems like the mics are always on.

[bit_troupe]

Agreed to above.  Level 0 is just a pass-through from the mic, which has a fairly loud sound floor.  Would definitely like the option to turn the noise-cancelling completely off.

[wildknight]

Thanks for replying Tegan_M, yes I understand that 0 is full transparency. However, the mic pics up significant wind noise from this mode (and all levels 0-10) and I want a setting that turns off the use of these mics altogether, just like a regular pair of earbuds.

I can see that the Bose 700 headphones have such a setting in the app: https://imgur.com/a/7dQO0Uw

But this setting does not appear for the QC earbuds.

[Jessie_O]

Thank you all for your feedback. 

I have passed this information on to the relevant team, for review. 

if there is anything else we can do, please reach out again.

[aaronsmith2]

This issue is also important to me, and will possibly lead to me returning the earbuds. When cycling, there is so much wind noise that makes everything else difficult to hear. With the QC35s, I could just hit the button to turn the ANC strength down and everything would be fine.

We need a way to also control the amount of "pass through"...

[teachingbirds]

This will also make me not buy these earbuds, since I would like to use them cycling. An option to turn ANC off completely should really be helpful.