Bose QC35 ii vs B&W PX

badsimian

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I am trying to decide on a pair of ANC headphones. Previously I have been using a pair of B&W P5s which I love but decided I want to go wireless and need ANC due to change in my working environments which means I quite often work in noisier places now.

However I wear hearing aids (behind the ear ones which I would turn off when wearing the headphones). I am slightly worried about how the PXs might press against the ears as a lot of the reviews say that it is quite tight. I haven't seen them in the flesh yet. I tried the Bose in an Apple store and they sounded great but build quality given the price left a lot to be desired to me.

Anyone got any experience of the PXs?
 
I wear a behind-the-ear hearing aid and simply remove it to use my PXs. I don’t imagine any over-ear headphones would be comfortable with my hearing aid still in place.
 
That is what I was afraid of. I wear one currently but have some new ones coming soon and will be wearing two. It will be a right pain to be constantly taking them in and out. The Bose ones seemed to be okay on top although I didn't wear them for very long in the Apple shop. I might need to go to John Lewis for a longer test I think.
 
I can't comment on comfort with hearing aids but I've tried both headphones (also coming from P5's) and I have to say that the Bose noise cancelling is better than the PX's. The PX's sound a lot better though. It depends on what's more important to you but I'd still take the PX's on quality and sound as you still get decent nc.
 
The PX apply quite a lot of pressure around your ear. My ears are pretty big but they still fit inside the PX cups. You have to maintain the pressure for sound quality. If there is even a small gap, the sound quality drops. But musically they blow the QC 35 out of the planet (forget out of the water). They make the WC 35's sound like cheap knockoff £10 headphones form a market stall. The Bose NC is obviously miles ahead of the PX, so if you want more softer clamp, increased comfort, and best NC, do not go for the Bose QC 35 :) go with the Sony MDR-1000XM2. They beat the Bose NC and have very good sound quality. My only wish was that they were less warm (which is Sony's house sound). The PX are bright and very musical headphones. They make everything sound fun, bright; shame about the NC which I have to turn off when listening to them as it lowers the sound quality.
 
Cant comment on the PX's but I tried both QC35 ii and the Sony's albeit not for very long. I went for the Bose as they were comfier than the Sony. Noise cancelling was very important for me and I think the Bose probably edge that too.

I think they sound good but not tried the B&W and being a big B&W fan I would imagine they probably do sound better than both the Bose and the Sony.

I have a couple of issues with the Bose and thats that they start to leak a bit of noise if listening above 50%. The other issue is that there can sometimes be quite a noticeable sound delay when watching videos. Again I can't comment on the others if they have these issues too but thought it worth mentioning.

I can't remember exactly what the qc 35 ii have over the qc 35 other than the google assistant, if thats not something that interests you there have been some good deals on the original qc 35 recently, so they are worth considering too.
 
So I’ve been and tried all three at a shopping centre as much as you can in these places and I was actually surprised. I rank the sound in the order of Bose then Sony then B&W. The opposite of what I expected!
It is possible my rubbish hearing is impacting this.

I downloaded the apps for Sony and Bose and Sony improved a lot with fiddling with the equaliser to be on a par with the Bose. Not as comfortable though and with my hearing aids that’s an issue. I think I can wear the Bose with my aids no problem. The Bose just sounded ‘right’ can’t explain it more than that and I know the B&Ws need running in, they’re just too uncomfortable though in general.

So got John Lewis to price match for the Bose and ordered some :)
 
Sound quality is a very personal quantity to quantify but i thought it was night and day. Did you conmect your own audio gear to the headphones or use the audio that was playing at the store? I have to admit the Bose sound very good in store (probably as thry have them connected to a dac and amplifier however the three times i have had them at home, I found thrm lacking. At high volumes, the sound completely lost control with distortion in the bass. Very poor.
 
I have a pair of QC35s and there is a problem. All NC headphones require a level of ambient noise but the QC35 level is loud enough that I though there was an earth loop in the source until unplugging them didn't make a difference.
 
Gotta say I’m loving them so far. Comfortable. Noise reduction is amazing in the train I’m on right now. (Not tried others mind)
 
Hi badsimian
I know this is an old thread, but i find myself in the same place as you, trying to find decent over ear headphones with ANC that i can use with my behind ear hearing aids.
How are you getting on with the QC35iis?
Are you still pleased with them?
Are they comfortable when wearing the hearing aids?
Also, how do they sound if you leave your hearing aid on instead of off?

I have a old pair of in-ear Bose QC20 and they sound fantastic, i'm just looking for a better (updated) solution. I was wondering if the sound would be any better if you can have the hearing aids switch on with the over-ear headphones...

tia

Mav
 
Hi mavrik64, I love my Bose QCiis - one of the best tech purchases I have ever made. Expensive but worth every penny to me. I can wear them for ages with no discomfort.

Regarding the hearing aids, you can't really leave the hearing aids switched on with the headphones over the top, they start giving screechy feedback . It settles down but any sudden noise causes the software in the hearing aids to go a bit mental. I have some NHS Phonak Nathos S+ micro BTE ones and just open the battery cover slightly to turn them off then put the headphones over the top. I wouldn't leave it like that for long sessions though, I would just take the hearing aids out in that case.

There isn't that much different between leaving the aids in (but off) and removing them, still sounds good but there is something plugging the ear canal slightly so it is improved by removing the hearing aids. Depends on how awkward it is for you at the time.

How they compare to other makes I couldn't say really. I tried Sony 1000s mk2 in the shop briefly when researching and also some B&W P7s and the Bose were the most comfortable by far. I know some reviews give the sound quality to the Sonys and they have loads of settings but I don't want loads of settings to fiddle with and the Bose sound amazing to me. I've got dodgy hearing obviously! so any slight differences between the Sony and Bose are probably lost on me anyway.
 

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