Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

Would leave zero stars if I could. Used about 5 times in 2 years because they are just so hit and miss. Now I have the permanent red flashing lights, can't pair with iphone etc and have tried every possible solution on-line. Just out of warranty so now they want me to pay $199 for a replacement pair. Chasing bad money after bad money so no thanks, and won't ever be buying anything under the BOSE brand again, that's for sure. Show details

Excellent sound quality, comfortable, great noise cancelling – The best earbuds I've ever owed so far. Excellent sound and built quality. Very secure fit. The only downside is a fairly bulky charging case. Had a bit of a problem with my first pair but it was quickly replaced. Cannot recommend it highly enough - both the product and customer service. Show details

Disappointing – I've had these for less than a year. They were fine until one day they became QUIET. I cleaned them thoroughly, no difference. Went online...it's a known issue. I tried every fix, it wasn't a problem on my end. Tried to initiate a return and was told nope by Bose (apparently I bought refurb from the Bose website and didn't read the fine print… Read more

about warranty).

It's a shame because my old Bose sport earbuds are going strong several years after purchase (no ANC).

Looks like the QC buds are discontinued but I'll post anyway- check your warranty , people!

Not good for runners with hair length 4”+ – Unfortunately when running your hair will gather sweat and tap the case of the right bud which will send your phone into voice control mode or pause your music. Having to deal with this over a long distance run is far from ideal. They’re trying to be too clever here, I would just buy a cheaper model which delivers on sound quality and has no features which are sensitive to touch and movement during exercise. Disappointing. Show details

Very frustrating – Right earbud keeps having connection issues. Very frustrating, especially since these were a (expensive) gift. I've tried reconnecting, disconnecting but the right earbud just won't connect. I've only had these for two months and tried out all the recommendations online but keep running into the same problem.

Worst customer service – I purchased the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds and found them good quality so purchased a pair for a friend as a present too. Both pairs worked exactly until they were out of warranty, some 13 months or so. When I contacted Bose customer service, they said since the earbuds are now out of warranty, I need to pay full price to get them replaced. On… Read more

top of it, they wanted me to return the current pair(s) at my own cost and they will send a new pair (which I can just buy outright for the same price) in 6 weeks time.

So, basically, they valued their own product worth $0 just 1 month after the warranty period was over. The irony of the whole situation was the both pairs started with same cracking sound problem in left earbud exactly 13 months from use/purchase, as if they were set for failure and the way Bose customer service immediately offered the same solution for both earbud pairs, it felt more like a sales plan.

Never going to use their products again.

I've had this for a year. The noise cancellation is good... When you manage to connect it – Bluetooth always has issues and one of the earbuds won't connect. When I double tap to activate the noise cancelling sometimes it won't work. Honestly it's too much money spent for something to work so badly Also it keeps falling off. It's way too big and uncomfortable if wearing for too long Show details

Dodgy Bluetooth and unreliable connection – These earbuds make me angry - when they work they're great but the moment another Bluetooth device - that has never even connected to the earbuds- comes into range, they just disconnect on me and I have to get my husband to turn off his Bluetooth. Stupidly inconvenient. Also out and about the connection drops out at random times for no apparent reason. Way overpriced for something so unreliable. Show details

Good sound, fail quickly – These are a good ear bud, except they fail quickly. This is a known issue and it’s bizarre Bose doesn’t fix it. One bud, for some reason often the left, doesn’t charge. This is what happened to me, and hundreds of other people. It’s out of warranty. For ear buds that cost hundreds of dollars this isn’t good enough. I bought a cheap $49 pair,… Read more

and they are going still, and nearly as good sound.

Big bucks, but crap reliability

I’m off Bose for good now

Constantly cuts out – I had cheap $35 earbuds from a dodgy website. They worked fine, but I wanted better sound and noise cancelling. I liked my other (wired) Bose products and reputation and, for $350, I expected the best. What I got was the absolute worst! Yes, the sound is good - when it makes any! The problem is the Bluetooth connection. It *constantly* keeps… Read more

cutting out. Even when the phone is in my breast pocket, it keeps cutting out and even announcing "My iPhone lost" - then "Connected to My iPhone" over and over. It isn't motion - I was sitting in the spa with them connected to the laptop. Neither the laptop nor I were moving at all - but still losing connection. Sometimes one ear, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Makes it impossible to listen to music, book or podcast. All the support advice was useless - distance was ruled out, low battery on both devices wasn't the cause, the firmware was up-to-date, the iPhone app was updated, the phone wasn't in a case, no external interference because it happens indoors, outdoors, even out in the ocean on a kayak... So of course they refused to accept that their product is faulty and blamed my phone. For the past 18 months I stopped using them and went back to the el-cheapo ones. I have now replaced my iPhone XS with an iPhone 14 PRO - the the problem is still exactly the same. It is not the phone. The earbuds are almost as useless as Bose customer "support". The el-cheapo earbuds were MUCH better value for money and still work perfectly. Save your money and avoid Bose!

Quick response but no solution – I bought a pair of bose earbuds 2, I have had several bose products in the past and they are excellent. but I've never had to use customer service. Let's start with the good, then move on to the not-so-good. Amazing Nise cancelling is as good as the Quite comfort 45 headphones I have, probably better as it adjusts to your ear shape meaning its… Read more

excellent at noise cancelling.

Comfortable as the name suggests, yes they are, never feel like they will fall out.

Great Sound

The bad

The earbuds would not connect to the bose music app, so after several hours of attempting to fix the issue via the bose website and other websites, I contacted bose customer service. As usual the hoops you need to jump through of A - proving you own the product B- where I bought it, why haven't I taken it to them C - Them taking as many personal details as they can from you D - Trying to locate the tiny tiny serial number \on an earbud - so far, no actual help

I know all companies do this, but it would be nice if one company just got on with helping you

We finally got on with the assistance, so they asked me to do everything I had tried prior to contacting them, and as you do you go along with it. I know they are following a script, but it would be nice to skip these stages as the customer has already done all this.

They are basically reading their website troubleshooting page back to you

So it didn't resolve my issue.

I was told I could get a replacement, great I thought.

I enquired, when will I get the new product?

"Well, you need to send the ones you have back to Bose, and in 3 weeks we will send you a new product."

I replied " so you have sold me a faulty product, and you want me to send them back and in the meantime, I don't have the product I gave you money for, because the product you sold me is faulty. I bought them for an overseas holiday, and I leave in a week, but they will take 3 weeks to return?"

I went on "If I was to purchase a new pair of earbuds from your website and ignore the faulty pair you sold me how long delivery would take?

" about a week"

" ok so I buy a pair from you, you provide a faulty pair, and it's 3 weeks to get another pair to me, but if I give you even more money I could have a new pair in a week?"

My logic wasn't lost on the customer service person. but they, as if from a script, "well that's your option I can help you with whichever one you decide on"

So summary, they sell me a faulty product, and they are unable to fix the issue after mostly taking my details and product information, and reading the troubleshooting website back to me. the offered to send me a different pair after I had returned the pair I had already paid for and then wait 3 weeks to get another pair"

I may be demanding, but either help me fix the issue with new help not what I had read n the website already or send me a new product as quickly as I could buy a new pair at least.

Two pairs have failed – First pair wouldn't charge or connect. The website looks as if the company is interested in support - but on the online chat, I never received an answer. I sent the phones back and after much wrangling and time got another pair. They didn't work either. I have had at least five pairs of different Bose headphones before this and like them, but… Read more

never again. Non existent customer service. In fact, the whole thing feels like a fraud. I am down £220 and no-one gives a damn at their end. their product is utterly useless.

Awful customer service – The product itself is decent....until it breaks. When mine broke I sent it in for a service to which they sent me a new set, which took roughly 3 weeks. When it arrived I was given a dud set. Possibly refurbished. I contacted to ask for a refund however since I purchased it at JBHIFI I was told to go there. Jbhifi have to ahear to the return… Read more

policy from Bose, so that being said they needed a return number from bose to do the refund. Bose flat out refused and wouldnt do anything about it. They couldnt receive the broken product they send me because of a "Global service crisis". So I was left with a broken product which Bose took no responsibility for. If you buy Bose, prepare yourself for a tough time if it breaks!

Second pair just failed – I can’t recommend these earbuds. The first pair I had failed when the left earbud stopped charging. No amount of resetting or troubleshooting resolved the issues. I sent them back to Bose for a replacement. Two months after receiving said replacement? Left earbud dead again, won’t charge, reset and troubleshooting won’t work. I’ve had a pair… Read more

of Apple AirPods and Sennheiser over-ears for over two years. Neither of them have ever failed me.

Hard pass on these, these earbuds are just incredibly unreliable and I can’t believe how common this problem seems to be.

I’m way too lazy to ever write reviews but this time, it had to be done. Shame too, they sound nice.

But yikes, the carbon output of all the shipping back and forth required to deal with this fiasco is climate nightmare fuel.

Absolute Dud – Brand New Straight out of the box... ❌ Left bud completely dead - won't charge. ❌ Right bud would not respond to gestures. ❌ Kept dropping BT connection with Galaxy S22+ phone. ❌ The App kept asking to reconnect despite the phone indicating connection. ❌ The App asked to update the firmware of the buds - 10 minutes - after three hours the leds on… Read more

the case just kept on indicating the update was proceeding so I gave up. ❌ The App indicated the left bud was not charged.

I heard a bit of audio in my right ear for a short time...

I returned this $399 piece of electronic waste to the store for a full refund.

What does this say about quality of manufacture and quality control for BOSE products?

Awful product and awful customer Service – I have had no less than 6 pairs of Bose headphones over the last 20 years, always thought they were a good quality product that delivered the sound quality i enjoyed - then came the Bluetooth era. Both pairs of Bluetooth headphones I have purchased from Bose have been problematic, but none so much as the current ones i have (had). Constantly… Read more

needs pairing and the left bud constantly drops out and then will not restart again - so frustrating because the sound cancelling and quality are actually pretty good but the product its self is flawed.

Cue BOSE customer service, impersonal whats app discussion that takes me through a few troubleshooting prompts and then a link that proceeds to tell me that they are sorry but its out of warranty (by about 3 weeks) and that I can purchase a replacement pair for a (slight) discount.

Not likely - not that they care about it but they have lost a customer for life.

would never buy Bose again – Bought Quitecomfort buds in Jan 2021, had them replaced in July 2021 because left headphone wouldn't connect with the right one. Bose sent a replacement set of phones, a similar issue occurred in March 2022, this time sound in left speaker was barely audible and distorted. Asked for a refund because I have no faith in this product. Bose refused to… Read more

refund stating that my warranty was expired and they are sending another set. Bose should be doing a full recall on this substandard product, will never buy Bose again. Spent 290 Euro on this. Don't waste your money.

Terrible – Can't believe Bose release this product without testing it durability and functionality. Half of the time the earbud was connect without audio ! Have to constantly restart the mobile device to make it work ! Never had this issue with other earbuds. Also there the charging case always fail to charge to earbud effectively? Unbelievable . Very disappointed Show details

3rd pair just failed – First pair the left earbud failed out the box - returned same day for replacement. Second pair worked for 4 months - Left earbud died with no connection, sound or control and flashed between red and white. Third pair worked fine until firmware update - Post update left earbud is flashing white when in the charging case, is making the connection… Read more

noises, can control the noise cancellation rate but no Bluetooth sound will be passed to the left earbud. The Right earbud will not go to the same level of noise cancellation as the left when on transparency mode leaving a feeling of fullness in the right ear due to the noise cancellation being at a higher level. These issues can normally be resolved through a reset by plugging the buds into the case with the case on charge, closing for 5 seconds, opening and pressing the pair button for 30 seconds and re-pairing to the device. This has not worked with this pair with attempting to connect to multiple devices, multiple (over 15 now) resets, and several other recommendations from BOSE. The issue appears to be software but there is no, I repeat NO way to perform a factory reset. I am almost certain that the issue could be fixed also by re-installing the firmware but as it is currently up to date it wont allow me to attempt a reload.

The buds themselves have great noise cancelling, sound quality and stay in the ear with the use of the wings. but a quick goggle of "Bose earbud left not connecting" will show this issue is wide spread.

Had QC35's for 6 years prior to this and couldn't fault them. Am exchanging for something different.