Bose is well-known for their noise canceling headphones. Ever since the QC2, active noise cancellation has come out from the gimmick category and into happy consumers’ hands. The next generation of Bose’s active noise cancellation headphones, the QC15, does not disappoint – but it has its drawbacks. Here I will detail the features and specs in a Bose QC15 Review.
On the Outside
The Bose QC15 has a very formal, corporate look. It has a black, leather ear padding and headband. The outer area of the earcups have a stylish matte black finish to contrast the silver on the inner area and its chrome accents.
The rest of the headphones have a matte black, hard-plastic finish and feels very high quality. The right earcup houses the AAA battery which is required for the headphones to work. The proprietary audio jack goes into the left earcup.
The headphones have some small metal parts for hinges and on the inside the headband, but does not weigh down the headphones too severely. Inside of the earcups, there are small plastic grates covering each driver and protecting it. To add to comfortability, the drivers are tilted so your entire ear can fit inside the earcup without touching the driver. This issue is very evident on the Beats Studio.
The cable is not anti-tangle, not braided, and is proprietary. On the female end which goes into the headphones, there is a large connector that secures it in place and is easy to take back out. It has a high and low impedance mode based on your listening environment. The package comes with another cable that features an in-line microphone and volume rocker.
On the Inside
The Bose QC15 uses high quality, custom-tuned neodymium drivers made by Bose for a cooler listening experience and outstanding sound quality. But it does fall short of certain audio monitors such as the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, which is over $100 cheaper but doesn’t have active noise cancelation.
The built-in equalizer tunes your audio based on what you are listening to. This does a great job with keeping the sound balanced and focused more on acoustics. The low-tones and bass fall short and overpower the lower-mid tones greatly. Treble is definitely maximized and is the main focus in its sound.
Listening not only to music, but to movies and games, sounded awesome. The QC15 shines in quick-action games like Counter-Strike, and add lots of character to the sound in Minecraft and Skyrim. Movies with lots of low-ends and action come to life more because of the headphones’ ability to pinpoint every detail in a sound byte.
Experience
The cable, to me, was not sturdy enough for something that costed $270. It’s cheap plastic on which you can hear anything touching it in the headphones themselves. The volume rocker and microphone only works on Apple products and only the pause/play button worked with my Android device. You can hear the cable’s connection wiggle on the female end when you aren’t listening to anything.
Using a AAA battery did not bother me, and it lasts for a long time. The 35 hours it’s said to last by Bose is the truth. The headphones feel very comfortable on my head and I had many long sessions wearing them without any discomfort. You definitely can’t put these on with wet hair, though.
I found myself switching to my Samsung earbuds a lot. You can wear them very well for just the noise cancellation. Even wearing them in bed works, but only laying flat down.
The sound quality did not disappoint me at all. Coming from the basic Apple earbuds, these have outdone any other headset I’ve worn and can be used well with all forms of media. I’m very happy with these and I wouldn’t be able to live without its noise cancelation and comfortability now.
INSIDE THE BOX:
- QuietComfort 15 headphones
- QuietComfort 15 inline remote and microphone cable (detachable)
- Standard audio cable (detachable)
- AAA battery
- Carrying case
- Airline adapter
Conclusion
If you want a great pair of headphones with amazing noise cancelation, brilliant sound quality, and a professional look: these are the headphones for you. Because they’ve been discontinued by Bose because of the replacement with the newer QC25, the price has dropped exponentially.
You can get the best price for these headphones from the Amazon affiliate link below, and clicking it supports AlyChiDesigns. Thank you for reading this review!
