Impressions of using a new model of wireless active noise canceling headphones from a well-known brand.
I managed to get the Bose QC30 at my temporary disposal; Sergey Kuzmin has already made an opinion on this headphone model as part of his review. I will not undertake my own review, I just want to share some conclusions about my experience. Almost immediately after moving to the capital, the thought of headphones with a 'noise reduction' was firmly rooted in my head. I listen to music in headphones often and a lot, both at home and on the street / in transport, in the latter case, most often I had to bring the sound level to rather high values in order to drown out the surrounding noise. Also, I have been looking closely at wireless headphones for a long time, I wanted to try them in practice. All this time, I was stopped by reviews on the Internet, someone sinned on design flaws, someone did not like the 'bubbling' caused by noise cancellation, someone had discomfort or even pain from the electronic signal going to the ears. The main obstacle was the cost of such decisions, which was beyond my psychological barrier. Yes, there is always the opportunity to go to a specialty store and listen to the headphones you like, but it is difficult to assess how they will behave in the same metro. Therefore, I was very happy about the opportunity given to me to listen to headphones of this level.
Design, ergonomics
The arc of the headphones is absolutely weightless on the neck, you only feel the touch of the material on the skin. The design of the arc is quite rigid, which slightly interferes when wearing outerwear with a narrow neck, it so happens that the arc spins around the neck, pulling the wires of the headphones themselves. Plus, sometimes sweat collects more intensively at the point of contact of the material with the neck, not entirely pleasant sensations, and this is not very useful for headphones. There were few such moments, but nevertheless, sometimes it is not very convenient. Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about, it is not difficult to wear the QC30, the branded attachments in the ears are held securely. I didn't really think about the appearance, not everyone, of course, will like such an implementation of headphones and an arc. But part of the design was sacrificed for sound.
Controlled noise reduction
Magic. This was the first sensation from the beginning of listening to music. I put on headphones before leaving the house, during the journey to the metro I figured out the settings, started playback, automatically went down to the subway and immediately distracted from the phone with the thought that absolutely nothing had changed in the noise level. The thoughts that for some reason there was no movement at the station, an accident or something like that came into my head. But then trains arrived on both platforms, no changes in the noise level followed, which shocked me. I looked into Bose Connect again and brought noise cancellation to a minimum. The already familiar hum of the subway appeared, but not so intense, smoothed out or something. The voices of passengers standing nearby and announcements in the carriage became audible. Swipe to the maximum ANC level – and all this disappeared, leaving only music at a level not exceeding the recommended values and a barely perceptible echo from the movement of the train.
Of course, this was the first reaction in contrast to the previously used cheap earbuds. But even after two weeks, I can confidently say that the level of noise cancellation is really at its best, the system in the QC30, according to my impressions, 'filters out' up to 95% of the noise. In the foreign segment of the network, I met the opinion that by this parameter the QC30 can be compared with the QC35 invoices, such a comparison is expensive, because in front of us are inserts. When ANC is activated, the sound does not become 'blurry' and booming, clarity remains, the bass is confidently read, there is a slight lack of 'cut through' high frequencies, possibly subjective perception.
Sound level
The volume is enough within the recommended range, there is no need for additional two or three divisions. Accordingly, listening is done in a mode that is more gentle on the ears, but details are not lost, regardless of the style of compositions. Well, of course, there is no fact that two or three others are listening to your music.
I am impressed by the flexibility of organizing volume control and ANC level, you can do it directly from the application, you can use the dedicated keys on the remote control under the right earphone. In accordance with the advertising slogan, you can not only use noise reduction, but control it depending on the situation. Curious and more than applicable in life.
Autonomy
The manufacturer claims 10 hours from a full charge, which takes about 2 hours. In general, this is how it turns out, about nine with a little hours, the headphones stretch on average. I didn’t get used to it right away, I almost didn’t use wireless headphones before. Apparently, you will have to experience the situation from the anecdote 'came home – put everything on charge'. If you are thinking about buying this or a similar solution, be prepared to keep the battery charge in mind at all times. In the case of the QC30, the autonomy indicators seem to be adequate, because so many things have turned out to fit into the case.
The listening experience
With ANC activated, after about an hour of continuous listening in a changing sound level, pressure on the ears begins to be felt, apparently, the noise-cutting signal is affecting. We are not talking about pain, but at the end of the first long audio session, there was a short dizziness. However, on the second or third day nothing like that happened, my head was not spinning.
But…
I have never been able to find a reason to buy the QC30 or other headphones in this price range. Yes, the sound is at a level, excellent noise cancellation, but so far I'm not ready to part with such an amount, even if it will be a great gift for myself. Time will tell, and maybe I'll come to this someday, but not at this stage. Or you have to save up. Let's see if my opinion changes after I return the headphones to the owner. So, the bottom line for the Bose QC30: cool ANC implementation, sane autonomy, design is not for everyone, the sound is a confident four for this class of headphones, subjectively high cost. If you are willing to make the compromises mentioned in favor of 'noise reduction' and pleasant sound, then this is probably one of the best solutions.