Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones, Apple Devices, Black

1.0 out of 5 stars

By D. Grimm - Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018

Love-hate relationship: falls apart within 2 years

These are quite comfortable and the noise cancellation is very good. I even think they sound pretty good generally (though not the best according to my audiophile friends). So good that I use them. A lot. Unfortunately, I am now on my third pair in four years. Like clockwork, after about two years, the cables start to fray at all major connection points (see attached picture). Conveniently after the warranty expires. Not sure if it is bad design or designed obsolescence. They do offer modest discounts on the return, so I appreciate that. But it is a mighty expensive product for it to fail so quickly.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By David Armstrong - Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018

Not completely Noice Cancelling but Does the Job

I have been using these for a couple months now and wanted to write a review since I debated for months before putting down the money on them. Some of the reviews were not real promising and I was really concerned with spending money on headphones yet again that didn’t deliver. I use these almost exculsively for traveling. I fly a couple times a week and have used the over ear Bose headphones for years but they tend to be too bulky and hard to sleep in. I have loved these so far but let me explain what they do and don’t do. Unlike the over ear headphones, they don’t drown out all outside noise. Even with the noise cancelling feature turned on, you can still hear someone speaking to you if they are right next to you and can still hear the announcements in the cabin although depending on the volume you may have to turn off the noice canceling to understand them. I am okay with this because that isn’t the noise I am trying to get rid of. What these headphones do great is remove the background noices such as the airplane engines. They also bring out the clarity in the music or movies you are watching which reduces the incendental background noises like babies crying or just general noice from people talking, although once again, not completely. For me, it’s never enough to be annoying or prevent me hearing my movie. They are very comfortable to wear and can sleep in them with no problem. I love that you can turn the noise cancelling feature off and still use the headphones. It saves on the battery when it’s not needed. (The over ear headphones stopped working if the battery died.) They are also rechargabable and I have went a couple weeks a without recharging them. Just keep in mind that I only use them a couple times each week. One other note on these that may help if you purchase them. I originally thought they didn’t work very well, but tried the next larger size of ear buds, (they come with 3 sizes), and going to larger size that I thought would be too big improved the noice cancelling feature 100%.

2.0 out of 5 stars

By BMJ - Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2017

I am extremely annoyed and disappointed

Purchased Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones on January 2016. Last month the right speaker just stopped working. I am extremely annoyed and disappointed. This supposed to be a premium product costing $249 not a knock off. It only last 18 month offcourse out the range of warranty. Bose told me same terms as they told other reviewers "there is a special offer for $189 for a new set, as long as I send my old set to them for". NO I do not want to risk loosing another $189 on such headphones. I went over customer reviews and most of 1 and 2 stars reviews (10%) of all purchases had defective earphones just out of warranty period. Also some of the 3 star reviews (7%) also had defective earphones. My advise is to stay away. The company does not respect and backup its products.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Nooly - Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018

Design Issues That Should Be Corrected, and Defective Noise Cancellation

I ordered these earphones to help minimize office noise, and used them to tie into my desktop computer system. The first week the noise cancellation worked fairly well, and the office chatter going on around me was cut by about 50 percent. The second week of use I could hear the click when engaging the noise cancellation, but it seemed like the noises were not cancelled, but rather they seemed like they were somewhat amplified. The design of the earbuds and cords themselves could use a little improvement. I noticed a couple of other reviews that indicated they didn't fit inside the ear canals of some of the users very well. I had the same problem. My $10.00 Panasonic ear buds fit nicely, but the Quietcomfort 20 earbuds didn't fit well with any of the 3 sizes of included attachments. Another issue that I noticed is that the plastic volume button where the two cords connect to a single cord didn't have any strain reliefs. The cords coming out of the buds have strain reliefs, and the cord going into and out of the noise cancelling on/off switch box have strain reliefs, but not the areas going into and out of the volume control area. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about this, but the reason my older Bose non-noise cancelling earbuds needed to be replaced was due to no strain reliefs coming out of the buds. Why not include them on all areas where the cords enter a piece of plastic on a $249.99 product? After a bit of use, I also didn't like the fact that the USB charge cord was only about 12.5 inches long. I have a USB plug in on the side of my computer monitor. The cord was barely long enough to reach the charge port on the On/Off box. This cable is way too short for anyone wanting to plug into an outlet adapter or a CPU, and then route the cable to a nearby table without the On/Off box dangling. Even adding 6-8 inches of cable would help. Speaking of cable length, another annoyance is that the plug-in end of On/Off box only has about 3 to 4 inches of wire coming out of it. Unless you have the perfect scenario, the weight of the On/Off box is likely going to hang from the plug in, rather than resting on the desk surface. This could have been easily fixed by adding another 4-6 inches of wire, or moving the box up the wire another 4-6 inches. The 3-4 inches of wire and plug-in aren't very robust, so I doubt the wire and plug would last long after hanging in various positions. Because of this issue with the noise cancellation not working properly, and the small design issues, I ended up returning my earbuds. I understand that defects can happen with any and all brands, but the design issues should have been easily identified by anyone testing the product for a period of time in different scenarios. At $249.99 I'd like to not only get good noise cancelling technology, but I want the materials to last, and the design to be well thought out.