Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsUPDATED REVIEW: Returned, just within the return window
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2023
UPDATED REVIEW: Returned to Amazon.
Multiple problems cropped up after several days.
1) Only the right bud would work.
2) The accompanying app refused to acknowledge the existence of my iPad - the iPad that I've used with the buds since I got them. iPad Settings could see the buds, but couldn't connect to them.
3) Finally, this morning the buds could "see" but would not connect to my Dell Win11 laptop, with which they've worked since I bought them.
I did the usual stuff: forget and repair, reset the buds, blah, blah, blah. As you'll understand if you read my original 3 1/2-star review, there is little about Bose support for this device that would tempt me to believe that contacting the company would be any use at all.
When the buds work, the sound is good. But my entire user experience has suggested from the start that there is something very wrong with Bose's management of this product, from its design to its documentation and support. This is not a $200+ product - at least, not in my experience. In fairness, your experience may, of course, be different.
BTW, the link to the online English user manual for this product is still in French. When I looked at it more closely, I realized that it is not even for the QC buds - it's for some amplifier or other! If I were responsible for product support at Bose, I'd be making it my business to see that Amazon reviews of my product were read and acted on by someone at the company. This relatively minor problem with the online user manual suggests that Bose doesn't read our reviews .... :(
ORIGINAL REVIEW: These were my replacement for my Jabra Elite Pro 7 wireless buds, the left of which gave out less than a year after I bought them (just like it did for many unfortunate purchasers).
Let me talk about the pros of the Bose earbuds first:
1) Excellent fit in the ears;
2) Excellent, full, warm sound (though I qualify this a little below);
3) Ability to connect to up to 8 devices. The buds remember those devices, so the moment you select the Bose earbuds in your device Bluetooth app they'll connect. Easier than either of my Jabra sets;
4) Magnetic, so won't fall out of case;
5) Can be "recognized" by your device as soon as you open the case - you don't need to take them out;
6) Friends says that the call quality on their end is excellent;
7) Works fine with Windows devices - something that Jabra still doesn't seem to be able to do;
8) The buds appear to remember your various settings even if you use them with a device that doesn't have the app. Very good!
9) You can use one earbud (e.g. for phone calls);
10) Noise canceling is excellent.
A word here about the sound quality, which I wouldn't class as either a pro or a con. The buds seem to me to be very bass-heavy, but in saying that I'm aware that the tight fit of this sort of earbud design is so much a part of bass response that it might be my fit, though it is entirely comfortable, is too tight. I run the bass end of the equalizer at about -4 (db? - there's no volume unit specified).
OK, now having said that, the bass response seems to me to extend way down the spectrum in the orchestral music that I listen to. You can almost feel the resonance of the bows on the double-basses, or the movement of the air when the bass drum is struck. Far and away more satisfying than any other in-ear phones, wireless or wired.
Now for the cons. Some of these are simply eccentric design decisions. Some of them suggest sloppiness in overall product management or integration into the overall product experience.
1) The fit in the case is peculiar. Getting them out requires an odd pinching of forefinger and thumb, and I can't take out the left bud with my right fingers - I have to use the left hand. Similarly, stowing the buds isn't intuitive at all, either in the left-right axis or top-bottom axis. I'll probably get used to it, but it's definitely a little strange. I have the glossy black ones, so there are no tell-tale shadows in the case to guide the eye;
2) There doesn't seem to be any obvious way of determining how they work when you first open the package. There's a small QR code, but that gives information about installation, not use. If you go to the Bose website (at the time of my writing this review) and download the user guide in English, it turns out to be in French! And at least one of the web links from the app is dead.
3) Controlling the buds involves touching the outside of the buds in various ways: brief touch, long touch, or a slide of the finger. This has the advantage of being "solid-state", as opposed to a clickable switch that can wear out. But the buds sit far enough out from the ears that knowing exactly where that "touchable" area is to be found can be difficult. And that is a problem, because a tentative slide (change the volume) can be interpreted as a touch (stop/start) - you need to be confident.
4) The app is poorly designed. Here's an example: You can connect the buds using your regular Bluetooth connection, although the app supposedly will do it for you. If you have connected without using the app, however, then the app doesn't know you've connected ... and you won't be able to do anything else with the app until that connection takes place. And I've not found out yet how to delete the "Work" profile I created at the app's suggestion ....
5) There is a young woman in my earbuds, and when she talks to me about battery strength she sounds bored to death. I'm not surprised, since she insists on telling the the name of the device I've connected to, and the default name of Windows devices is a long and incomprehensible string of gibberish ....
OK, here's the summary.
I like the sound and the fit, and I'm glad I bought them.
However, the overall attention to the user experience doesn't suggest Bose to me, or any sort of premium product for that matter. At $149 they'd be a no-brainer. At their present price, which suggests a luxury experience, I think they're too expensive.
