Bose Quietcontrol 30 Wireless Headphones, Noise Cancelling - Black

1.0 out of 5 stars

By ighost - Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2017

After 5 months of use, the plastics on the neck part have already started to break apart...

Seriously, Bose??? I have bought QC30 from Amazon on March 8, 2017. It's not even been 6 months since my purchase, but the plastic parts on the edges of the neck part started to detach from both ends. It's totally unacceptable from and it's getting worse. I would expect a lot more quality and durability from such an expensive product and especially from Bose product. Update: It took me almost 3 months in 2017 until I got the replacement (under a warranty). But anyway after a year or so the replacement unit had exactly the same problem. I am just amazed how the materials used are so junky. I don't want just to go through that annoying process of replacement of the replacement... It's my 3rd or 4th Bose product. I must admit the sound is very good, but the materials and durability is a complete junk. Considering the high cost of those products I should warn everyone to be aware that it won't last much longer than a year on average (sometimes less)

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Amazon Customer - Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017

Not a quality product - NOT recommended

Not my first Bose product, and I am extremely disappointed. Sound and noise cancellation are great but as an overall product, I hate them. I am especially annoyed that my dislike of them was based on performance from the beginning but because they weren't my first Bose product, I decided to give them a chance, hopefully a firmware update or something will improve the situation. What ended up happening is that I still hate them, I missed my return window and now I am stuck with $300 headphones that you couldn't pay me to use. I don't write reviews but that's how strongly I feel about those headphones. Here are the issues with the headphones: * The Bluetooth is quite unreliable. It keeps breaking and I end up with choppy music or podcasts. Frequently, I can lose sound altogether for a second or two, comes back for a fraction, goes out again. Issues that you normally see when you are not in range of the Bluetooth signal, but that's not the case. Indoors, it works okay most of the time, but not all the time. The real issue is that the performance is really bad when you're outside. If the phone is in my back pocket, it will not work at all. As in, the headphones will not be able to connect to my phone. So I started putting in my front shirt pocket or my jacket, but that's on the left side of my body, so when I turn my head to the right, the sound starts dropping. I am not exaggerating. The only time it works flawlessly outside, is when I hold the phone, in my right hand, in a looking-at-it position while walking on the street. I live in NYC. I walk a lot. That's a deal breaker. *The second issue is the mic. When talking on the phone, it picks up all sorts of background noise that makes it impossible for people on the line to hear me, especially (again), if I am outside. I can hear them great (thanks to the noise cancelling), but they can't hear a word I'm saying. I have had to disconnect the headphone, just to answer a phone call. Again, that's a deal breaker. Other than that, they're great. I would not recommend them. UPDATE (March 12, 2018): Since my review, I have bought a different pair of headphones, but I still use these on planes since the ones I bought are not noise-cancelling. It's now been almost a year since I bought them, and I can't believe I spent $299 on them. They are probably the worst headphones I've ever bought. In the span of a year, with heavy use in the first few months and then very light use later on, they are falling apart. The edges of rubber on the inner side has separated from the plastic on the outside. The flaw is not just cosmetic, it affects the ON/OFF button, making it harder to press. The worst part about this whole thing is that they have soured me against Bose altogether. I am now looking at buying a different noise-canceling headphones, and Bose headphones will not be an option. UPDATE (November, 2018): They completely died over the summer, a little over a year after I bought them, for $300. I bought a $40 replacement headphones.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Jerry M. Johnson - Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016

First impressions - more to follow

I purchased these this morning at a large retail chain. I wanted to give my initial impressions but I don't want to short-change any information a prospective buyer might want so I plan on doing this review in 3 parts. Part 1: Package: The Bose QC30 comes in a very nice premium package. I don't normally care about such things but I am sure there will be several unboxing videos you can watch on YouTube shortly. The package contains the headphones, a case, two extra sets of earbud covers (large and small, medium comes already installed) a short micro USB cable, and the instruction manual. The case is quite nice and has a stretchy fabric interior pocket similar to the QC35. Comfort: These are quite simply the most comfortable in ear buds I have ever tried with the possible exception of the original Bose IE. These are much more comfortable than the Bose SOundsport Wireless or the Bose QC20. I am satisfied with the fit of the medium tips and I haven't felt the need to try the others yet. The tips are smaller and the bulkiness of the prior modes I just mentioned is gone - probably due to the neckband. The neckband adds almost no weight. Update:The BT is awesome. I set my iPhone 6 Plus on my desk and then walked to the end of my office building hallway - about 60 feet. I only had one wall in between but I never lost signal. When I turned the corner of the hallway adding two more walls, i began to get BT loss and breakup. Controls: The standard on/off/pairing button found on most Bluetooth headphones is located on the inside of the band. On the right cable, there is a small control module that contains the standard 3 button configuration that handles volume up and down, play/pause, next/previous track and fast forward/rewind. These controls work the same as almost all Bluetooth earphones so you should have no trouble learning the system. This set has a very unique feature and a real departure from prior NC headphones. There is an additional set of up/down controls on the right earbud cable that allows the ability to vary the degree of noise cancellation -the iPhone app has a much better method. You can go from no cancellation to full NC using either method. I was in a crowded restaurant using this feature. I played around with this feature and determined that there is a big "jump" in NC at a little more than the halfway mark. Which brings us to: Noise Cancellation: Again, this is a very unique system that Bose has employed. Because of the variable control of the NC and the smaller buds, the NC doesn't cancel noise in the same way the QC35 or even the QC20 do. Both of those rely on a degree of blockage of sound coming in and the QC30 does not. It relies completely on the electronics to provide NC. Although I find this method way more comfortable than the QC20, I don't think it provides as much noise cancellation. The lower registers are still cancelled quite well but the mid to higher registers (talking, clicking, etc.) are not cancelled as well. With music playing, this isn't really an issue but if you plan to use these without music or for audiobooks or podcasts, you might not achieve the same level of NC that the prior mentioned Bose NC headphones achieve. Feel free to ask me more questions about this. Also, I have a flight coming up soon so I plan on covering this more in a future part of the review. UPDATE: The app has an animation illustrating the degree of NC. It is represented by larger sine waves going into the QC20 and smaller smoothed out sine waves coming out. The animation varies in line with the degree of NC you are using. Very cool. I am posting another pic so you can see it. Sound: The sound is quite good for the size of the bud and for not requiring deep in-ear insertion. However, because of those things, you will not get the lowest register of bass with the same authority as the QC35. The bass does not break up and hits clean, but is not quite as good as the QC35. I used a test track - Hooverphonic - Inhaler. It is very deep bass and the QC30 reproduced it well without driver rattle or break up. That is pretty impressive for a bud this small. I then listed to the entire Zero 7 - Simple Things album. It was smooth and detailed sound at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had the NC turned all the way up and didn't need a lot of volume for the music to be very engaging. I'll have more impressions on sound later. That is it for the first part of the review. I know these are new and will generate interest so I hope this helps for now. If so, click the yes button below. More to come.......