This is the current 'scoop' as far as I know from what Bose has told me (I do not work for Bose but have had a QC35). One group of people have been told/concluded the problem are faulty on/off switches. I am not in that camp/of that opinion - yet. I had my QC35 for quite some time (almost 2 years) and then 'suddenly' the headphones turned on by themselves with the switch still off and it seemed to happen in a random fashion - in one case, it sat in my studio untouched for about 3 weeks and then suddenly turned on and then kept turning itself back on for a few hours. The only 'workaround' was to keep the headphones charging with the cord when not in use. Having talked to Bose reps in Mass. and the support people here on this board, they are pretty convinced that in one of the previous versions of firmware (or perhaps just the current one), they implemented "Bluetooth Low Emission" (BLE) which is a way a device detects and automatically connects to a bluetooth device - whether it was paired or not and whether it was your bluetooth device or not (could be a stranger's phone, for example). They told me they are planning a 'fix' for the next version of the firmware, but I have no clue what that will be and when the next version of the firmware will come out. In addition, in order to be totally compehensive, they have asked for the QC35's of some users (including mine) so that they can also check the hardware and eliminate it as a possible contributor to the problem. Mine shipped to them yesterday. And they may or may not agree with me, but I believe they have implemented BLE on other of their current devices as well. My "Soundsport" in-ear buds, have the same behavior and they turn themselves on. Since I keep them in a hard case and not visible, the only way I know they turned themselves on is the headphone icon on the top of my iphone 7+. That is one of the reasons I believe the problem is BLE and not hardware (because the symptoms span Bose devices). The frustrating part is Bose does not have a consistent word out to the support people you would call and so they say its a localized personal problem and offer an upgrade for a percentage discount which is not imho a solution. In fact, I can not personally say that the QC II's do not have the symptoms since I don't yet have a QC II myself and do not know if Bose implemented BLE for them. And if Bose did, perhaps the BLE is implemented differently and hence the device does not turn itself on. P.S. - I believe BLE has also been implemented on my Bose Revolve's (I have two) since every time I turn on my Dell laptop, the Revolve next to it (which has been paired to the laptop) turns itself on as well.
... View more