It’s not as nice as having an always listening assistant built into the headphones, but better than not having an option for an assistant at all. You can also summon your phone’s built-in assistant by holding the play/pause button, which is nice. On the right earcup you’ve got controls for pause/play, volume up and volume down, while on the left earcup you’ll find a button for the new ambient aware mode.

To control playback, Bose has equipped the QC45 with a number of intuitive buttons. To get them so light, Bose uses some plastic on the arms of the headphones but uses metal for all the joints and the bridge - basically all the parts that are most likely to snap in use.

What’s surprising about the design is how light they are – at just 8.5 ounces (238g), they really feel light on the ear and are comfortable to wear for hours on end.

The pads themselves swivel and fold to help them fit into the included carrying case, which makes them easy to throw in your carryon bag when they’re not around your neck. The exterior of the headphones looks sleek and feels comfortable thanks to its padded foam bridge and faux-leatherette ear pads. The WH-1000XM4 have a few features the QC45 do not – like the DSEE Extreme audio upscaler and support for the LDAC codec – while the NC700 offer adjustable noise cancellation, one major missing feature on the QuietComfort 45.īose has kept a consistent design with its flagship headphones for the better part of the last decade, and that hasn’t changed with the QC45. That’s on the expensive side for noise cancelling headphones – as some can be had for as little as $100 / £100 / AU$200 – but this isn’t unreasonable for Bose as the QuietComfort 35 II cost $350 / £330 / AU$500.Īt this price point, the biggest competition for the Bose QC45 is the similarly spec’d Sony WH-1000XM4, which we currently consider to be the best noise-cancelling headphones, and Bose’s own Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 that aren’t much more expensive. The Bose QuietComfort 45 became available on Septemand cost $329 / £329 / AU$499.95, depending on where you live.

Bose QuietComfort 45 at Amazon for $329 (opens in new tab).

Ebpman