Bose QuietComfort QC25

A pair of Bose QC25's has been my most objectively productive purchase this last year. I highly recommend anyone in an open plan office to buy some, or something like them - they're expensive but worth every cent.

Thank you for your insight and sharing of your perspective. This system leads to some interesting conclusions and observations. One is, that it explains why big brand products made a significant dive in quality. My decades old bose QC25 where of superb quality at 250 € while my somewhat new Bose quiet comfort ultras priced at 350 € are of comparatively very poor quality. It also opens the market for cheap knockoffs. If some chi-fi headphones for 60 bucks are almost as good as the big brands and the big US brands are forced for high prices despite the bad build quality by Amazon, another big seller website should emerge. Oh wait, this already happened with AliExpress and temu.

I agree 100%. I've kind of standardized on Bose headphones because even though I hate crap like that, they're so popular that there's a big ecosystem of replacement parts, batteries, etc. It helps that the earpads have been unchanged across multiple generations: QC25/35/45 and I think their new ones as well. Everything but the Ultra and NC700. So I expect replacements should be available more or less indefinitely.

I have an old wired Bose QC25 which still works great. Although I have taken it to many flights, I recently bought the Bose QC20 wired because headphones are harder to sleep in especially if you sleep on the side. I would recommend the old Bose QC20. I wish Bose would update this and still keep it wired, it's great.

I'm using the Bose QuietComfort 25 wired headphones right now. I've been using them for years. Every time an ear cushion wears out or falls off, I buy new ear cushions and replace the old ones. I've now resorted to even using Gorilla glue to keep them attached (because the base isn't in good shape any more). They're still perfect in sound quality and really, really comfortable. I tried buying beyerdynamic headphones a couple weeks ago, but the comfort didn't compare - at all. They were too tight and the cushion wasn't nearly as soft. I'd strongly consider comfort as one of your metrics. There are a lot of nice over-ear headphones with good sound quality, but the cushion padding and stretch of the bridge matters too. Bose uses really nice cushions. I've heard good things about Sony's as well.

After using my Bose QC25 for years I can't go back to the HD 280, very heavy, not comfortable overall, very tighten on your head, they're cheap with good sound quality but I care more about sound isolation / confort nowadays. You can have the best sound possible if you hear ambient noise it ruins the experience imo ( especially in an office )

I have the QC25s, they're great. Sound reduction is great when you need it, not too hot, good weight, great sound quality, decent when used as a mike. Plus fold up a bit so you can fit them in laptop bags in a pinch. If you want the noise reduction on all the time though, you'll be switching batteries every few days (easy to do). Wonderful on plane journeys. Well worth the money. Wired is slightly annoying, but my previous Corsair wireless headphones were too heavy and always seemed to need plugging in at the most inopportune moments.

The best thing I ever bought in an office were the Bose QC25, I just can't see myself not using them. Anyone enjoying music and working in an office should really try a noise cancelling headphone it's a life changing device. The NC feature is even more impressive in a plane.

After losing my beloved QC-25s on a plane years ago, I picked up some creative HN-900s on the cheap. They aren’t as good, but you can also pick up a set refurbished set for under $40 at Amazon. If I ever end up flying a lot again or back at a noisy office I might upgrade back to some Bose headphones, but the creatives have largely gotten the job done and the other brands I’ve tried (mono price on ear, an audio technica set) weren’t as comfortable. If you are trying to cancel out office noise, definitely go with over ear headphones. They are more comfortable for long wear periods One thing to consider as you are deciding- in my experience noise cancelling headphones block out distractions better when actually playing audio. If you want to work in total silence, even the higher end Bose’s won’t get you there, as you can still make out the noise.

Yes. My headphones (Bose QuietComfort 25) are not wireless. While the extra adapter is only a minor annoyance, I am mostly frustrated by the fact that I can not charge my phone and use my headphones at the same time.

The difference is plain as day. I currently use the closed back Beyerdynamic DT770 with an amp for listening to music, but exclusively the Bose QC25 for work and commuting. The main difference between my Beyerdynamic DT770 and the Bose QC25 are: 1. Without any music playing but with active NC on, the QC25 feel like open-back headphones. The feel is airy and like a weight is lifted from your ears in the QC25 vs. muffled/dull/pressured in the DT770. You can sort of hear your the blood in your ears pumping in the closed-back DT770, a bit like what you would hear in a seashell. If you turn off the NC, the QC25 is about the same as the DT770 without sound. If you go back to your HD202s after having used NC for an hour or so, you'll immediately notice the difference. 2. Sound quality is much worse in the QC25, it's not even close. No rich lows, no clear highs, it's just a mess. Still, it's usable. 3. However, the killer feature is that with the QC25 you can listen at extremely low volume (think 1 bar on the iPhone) and still hear the music clearly. On the DT770 you have to play the music louder, and I find that very quiet music is better for focusing.

Wow, +1 on the Bose. I completely forgot there was an inline microphone on the Bose QC25 cable. I just tested it with my MacBook Pro, it detects it as an External Microphone, and the quality is good enough for work calls. This is going to reduce my luggage while travelling! Prior to that I've been using a pair of Logitech USB 250s, which have a surprisingly clear microphone (better than the Bose), but aren't very comfortable for extended use.

+ Music: my Music For Coding To playlist on Spotify. 68 hours, no vocals & mostly upbeat electronica. Critical for getting into the zone. It had over 100 subscribers on Rdio before they shut down. More important than music is my Bose QC25s, which I wear even when I'm the only person in the house: https://open.spotify.com/user/syneryder/playlist/5YpeoHyEHG7... spotify://user:syneryder:playlist:5YpeoHyEHG7ttNgvzAkW72 + Chair: Herman Miller Aeron, one of the best purchases I've ever made. Had it for over a decade & still love it. + Monitor: I use my MacBook Pro 13" on a stand, but I also have two MacBook 2007 Black 13" to make a pseudo triple screen setup, keyboard / mouse sharing via Synergy. + Keyboard: Apple Magic Keyboard 1 & Magic Trackpad 1. I have an old IBM Model M here, but I prefer the wireless keyboard & media keys & Apple key layout. (I really love how you replace the AA batteries on the Apple keyboards as well.) + Hours: Vampire. Anywhere between 4pm - 7am. I track my productive hours using Vitamin-R for Mac, and in over a year I've never had a productive hour between 8am & 2pm.