I have the QC35's and I love them, but they have drawbacks.
the audio quality for calling is disastrous, disabling (or turning down the noise cancelling) is impossible without their App, and the "primary" source of audio overrides the secondary source. Which can be an issue if you have something the headphones 'think' is playing, but isn't. -- common when my linux laptop is the primary source.
It seems a little silly to complain that a feature is missing from headphones when it actually exists, but the user has made an active choice to include a different feature instead. With always-on listening and easy activation from phones these days, I can't help but think that there's little reason to use the button to activate a voice assistant anyway. Not least of which is the dubious usefulness of voice assistants.
That's an excellent example of those seemingly minor but annoying issues which seems to be hard to get right without a complete control of the software-protocol-hardware stack (like Apple has). Also, that's the reason many are more than happy to pay Apple the "premium".
It’s not just about control of the hardware software stack, it’s about a dedication to providing a finished product.
Sometimes you need the former, but you always need the latter. Apple can be counted on to doing this more often and consistently than any other company.
I really do like my QC35's, but I agree the primary issues are:
- I can have 2 connected sources of audio (ex: phone/laptop). However, only one works at a time. So when I get a spam phone call, I loose audio for my ongoing video call until I decline the ring.
- I can't use wireless without turning on noise cancelling. This means, I can't really walk around and use them at the same time
> I can't use wireless without turning on noise cancelling.
QC35, at least QC35 II can set any NC level, including “none”, from the Bose Connect app (or the accessory button, if it's set for that purpose instead of voice assistance activation) while turned on.
the audio quality for calling is disastrous, disabling (or turning down the noise cancelling) is impossible without their App, and the "primary" source of audio overrides the secondary source. Which can be an issue if you have something the headphones 'think' is playing, but isn't. -- common when my linux laptop is the primary source.