The world of noise cancellation headphones has gotten much more advanced since Bose launched its amazing Quiet Comfort 15 (QC 15) headphones 7 years back. Therefore, an update over those headphones was much needed, which the company provided in 2014 in the form of the QC 25 headphones. How better are these compared to its predecessors? Let’s check out in our review.
Look and Feel (9/10)
While the job of noise cancelling headphones remains to keep annoying sounds away, when you spend 25K INR the looks also better be good. And fortunately, Bose QC 25 headphones stand well in this regard. The arc of the headband is straight, and on its inner side there’s a synthetic cushion – cozy and comfortable enough to help you keep your headphone over the head. The plastic material used in earcups is light, but still solid enough that you can twist the cups nicely without snapping them. And you can also bend the cups easily without creaking them.
If you’ve been a QC 15 user in the past, another thing you’ll notice about QC 25 is its size. Not only is it slightly smaller than its predecessor, it can also be packed in a more compact rectangular case this time, thanks to its bendable cups. Yep – the cups that could only be folded in QC 15 can now be folded and bent on their hinges towards the headband. As a result, carrying this pair is much easier than the QC 15.
Noise Cancellation and Sound Quality (9/10)
This pair of noise cancellation headphones come with a warning label on their box – which says they shouldn’t be used on the streets. And that’s for a serious reason: the noise cancellation of these headphones is indeed so good that using them on streets may certainly be life threatening. If you put them on and stand on a railway platform, you won’t be able to hear the sound of a train coming on the platform. While you may be able to hear the sirens, horns and people talking near you, the headphones almost completely isolate you from virtually every other sound.
The next good bit of thing about these headphones is that though they’re great at noise cancellation, they rarely take a toll on the sound quality of your music. Usually noise cancellation technology conflicts with the sound quality of music, but fortunately, that’s not the case with Bose QC 25. The music from these pair of headphones sounds clear, balanced, and with enough bass that you won’t find it disappointing at all.
Battery Life (9/10)
The battery life of these headphones is pretty solid. On one charge you can go on for more than 30 hrs. That means if you use them for 4 – 5 hrs per day, you can easily last for a whole week on single charge. That’s some seriously good battery life. And when the battery is about to die, the headphones will notify you with a “clack clack” sound (which actually seems a bit annoying and uneasy on ears). The green LED on side also blinks along with the sound.
What’s more, even if the battery has died, you can still use the headphone to listen to music without noise cancellation. Now, this is a pretty big deal because QC 15 didn’t work at all without its batteries.
Verdict (9/10)
In the end, all I’d like to say is that Bose QC 25’s are a much needed improvement over company’s already impressive QC 15 cans. While they still lack the modern tech stuff like Bluetooth and app connectivity as seen in the noise cancellation headphones of some other brands (i.e. Parrot and Samsung), they do their job perfectly whether regarding noise cancellation or regarding music playback. Plus, the lack of such stuff has also helped them to offer a longer battery life, which is a trade-off worth welcoming.
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