Wireless bluetooth headphones have been gaining traction over the past few years as potentially reliable replacements to the traditional wired headsets offered with most smartphones.
Interest has increased only further since rumors began suggesting that Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 may feature a thinner body with no headphone jack, leaving users to rely on the Lightning port and Bluetooth as ways to connect to the device.
Meanwhile, other rumors suggest Apple could use new audio technology in the iPhone 7 to improve noise cancellation and even extend the feature to a new set of Apple-branded wireless headphones.
Amid all the Apple speculation, the company best known for inventing premium noise cancellation technology – Bose – today unveiled a new wireless version of its flagship QuietComfort headphones, along with three other potential wireless options for the future iPhone 7 user.
Priced at $350 and available in black or silver, the QuietComfort 35 headphones feature the same around-ear design as previous wired QC cans and Bose claims they offer similar audio quality to its QC25 headphones.
The Verge says "they do a great job of making it feel like you're alone with whatever's playing through them", and that typical everyday ambient noise — subway stations, busy city streets, and so on — are "turned down to a whisper" by the QC35s.
Bose also announced today an all-new pair of noise-cancelling earbuds called the QuietControl 30s, which have a black plastic band that wraps around the back of the neck. The level of noise cancellation in the QuietControl 30s can be adjusted using either the Bose mobile app or via the physical controls on the buds. The QuietControl 30s cost $300 and will be available in September.
Bose has used significantly enhanced dual microphones in both products which the company claims do a better job of picking up the user's voice while effectively filtering out background noise.
Finally, Bose also today introduced two new models of fitness-oriented Bluetooth earbuds, the SoundSport Wireless ($149) and SoundSport Wireless Pulse ($199). Both models are water and sweat resistant, while the latter include a built-in heart-rate monitor inside the earbuds (similar to offerings from the likes of Samsung and Jabra), but neither models have Bose's patented noise cancellation smarts.
Alternatively, if you're more interested in the potential benefits and drawbacks of using Lightning headphones with an iPhone with no headphone jack, be sure to check out MacRumors' video on the subject.
Top Rated Comments
I respect anyone who can carry a Hi-fi's worth of headphone gear with them when they travel, amps, dac's, cables, reference headphones, etc.. For me, in the pre-iPhone/iPad era, even carrying the case with the headphones was too much extra baggage, just to watch an in-flight movie, or to quiet the world; I agree that losing the cable is a boon, and makes this noise cancelling headphone more attractive when freedom of movement is desired.
Yes Bose is priced higher than the competition if your compare it spec for spec, yes Bose spends a lot on marketing, yes Bose doesn't perform quite as well as competitive products in various metrics. However, Bose also has excellent customer support, has showrooms in malls and all over that let you try the product, has far above average quality in a very easy to use product, and excels in their proprietary features that no one else can match.
See, if you replace Bose with Apple above, it's all still true.
Also, opinions on audio is particularly useless to me. I like Bose. It sounds good to my ears. Your ears are different, so it might sound different to you. I also have different preferences than you. Some people like flat-sound headphones that offer the truest representation of the sound as possible. Other people like their headphones to have a particular emphasis (bass heavy sound, or warmer sound, or crisper sound). It's all so subjective.
For me, in addition to the sound, three things are important: comfort, weight, noise cancellation, and style. Comfort means how long I can wear them before my head or ears getting sore. Weight matters for comfort and how long I can wear them. Noise cancellation is important for noisy commutes or flying. Style matters because how I look in the headphones directly influences how comfortable I feel while wearing them.
Their internal motto is better sound through marketing.
Everything has compromises
If you wait for the "perfect" technology... You will be waiting forever
The noise cancelling though... oh my god. It is amazing. If you've never tried them on a plane, you don't know what you're missing. It just goes to total quiet. Watching movies becomes a pleasure. Then you take them off and the roar of plane is deafening. You just don't realise how loud planes are!