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I've had: 1. Bose QC-15 2. Bose QC-25 3. Bose QC-35 4. Bose QC-35 ii 5. Bose 700 6. Apple AirPods Pro Far and away my choice now is AirPods Pro. They are

I've had: 1. Bose QC-15 2. Bose QC-25 3. Bose QC-35 4. Bose QC-35 ii 5. Bose 700 6. Apple AirPods Pro Far and away my choice now is AirPods Pro. They are comfortable to wear whilst sleeping on a flight (over ear can't be worn comfortably), and the noise canceling is significantly better than the Bose. The only downside for me is battery life (I get about 5hrs out of them).

phyalow 7y ago
Same here, tried or owned nearly all on your list + others. Airpods pro are magical.
eden_hazard 7y ago
Wow, you are right! I'm reading the reviews of the Airpod Pro vs QC 35 for noise cancelling and the pros look like they are able to match the tried and tested Bose and Sony headphones. I think I will wait for gen 2 before I splurge. 5 hours of battery life isn't even enough to get through the work day.
- medbrane 7y ago
  After 5 hours you can put then in the case for charging: > 5 minutes in the case provides around 1 hour of listening. Together with the case Apple quotes 24h.
insickness 7y ago
I have both the Bose QC-35 ii and the Airpod pros. The Bose have better noise reduction. Plus, if you really want total quiet, you can wear earplugs underneath the Bose. The Airpod Pros are good but the physical noise isolation isn't that great. The rubber tips in Etymotics are far superior. Even my Jabras had better physical noise isolation than the Airpod Pros. My friend has the Sony WH1000XM3, so I got to play around with those. They have slightly better noise cancelation than the Bose. However, the Bose are more comfortable to me because they rest around your ear instead of on your ear like the Sony's.
- LocalMan 7y ago
  I'm pretty sure those M3's are around-the-ear. Unless you have gigantic ears. I'm wearing the M1 right now and it's around-the-ear.
  - insickness 7y ago
    They Sony is around the ear but the speaker still rests against the ear. On the Bose, the only part that touches my head is the cushion.
cascom 7y ago
Do you have to be playing something with the AirPods pro, or can you just turn on the noise cancelling function (e.g. sleeping on a plane)
- nickthegreek 7y ago
  They can cancel noise without anything playing.
orev 7y ago
For sleeping on a flight, you can switch to a $0.25 pair of earplugs. Today’s technology consumer seems to forget about the simple and obvious things.
- rhinoceraptor 7y ago
  Earplugs are great, but they can't play the podcast I use to fall asleep (Sleep With Me). Without it, it's hard to quiet the racing thoughts in my mind that keep me up for hours.
- georgespencer 7y ago
  A lot of people like to fall asleep to music or a podcast (including me!).
- gmiller123456 7y ago
  Earplugs don't really block sound, they just muffle it. They're mostly made to make very loud sounds not damage your hearing. But you can still easily hear people talking and other noises, even if they're quieter than without them.
zelienople 7y ago
Don't buy things with a repairability score of zero.
- lm2s 7y ago
  Not only repairability, but the battery can't be changed not even by paying Apple to do it. And with such a tiny battery, cycles will accumulate rapidly, degrading its performance. I understand that a lot of folks don't care about that, but to me it's a bit mind boggling the electronic waste being generated with these kind of earphones. Also, this isn't exclusive to Apple.
makruiten 7y ago
The noise cancelling is very good, but not better according to rtings.com [1]. I think that the comfort while sleeping/resting is a valid concern. I really like how comfortable the QC-35 II are, but you can’t rest your head against them. The Bose 700 headphones appear to have better mics as the main advantage over the QC-35 II. Personally I like the sound of the Bose headphones better than Sony’s, but judging from online comments I think that most people prefer the more bass heavy Sony sound. My advice to OP for over ear headphones would be the QC-35 II. Physical buttons, decent sound quality (although you can get better sound quality if you don’t need noise cancelling) and very comfortable. I can’t speak for the Apple AirPod Pros, as I’ve never used them. [1] https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietcomfort-35-ii-vs-apple-airpods-pro/565/1625 https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietco...
- georgespencer 7y ago
  I actually can't see rtings saying that noise cancelling is better on there -- just noise isolation. But I'm probs missing it and also think it's highly subjective -- in-ear just feels more effective to me.

phyalow 7y ago

Same here, tried or owned nearly all on your list + others. Airpods pro are magical.

eden_hazard 7y ago

Wow, you are right! I'm reading the reviews of the Airpod Pro vs QC 35 for noise cancelling and the pros look like they are able to match the tried and tested Bose and Sony headphones. I think I will wait for gen 2 before I splurge. 5 hours of battery life isn't even enough to get through the work day.

medbrane 7y ago
After 5 hours you can put then in the case for charging: > 5 minutes in the case provides around 1 hour of listening. Together with the case Apple quotes 24h.

insickness 7y ago

I have both the Bose QC-35 ii and the Airpod pros. The Bose have better noise reduction. Plus, if you really want total quiet, you can wear earplugs underneath the Bose. The Airpod Pros are good but the physical noise isolation isn't that great. The rubber tips in Etymotics are far superior. Even my Jabras had better physical noise isolation than the Airpod Pros. My friend has the Sony WH1000XM3, so I got to play around with those. They have slightly better noise cancelation than the Bose. However, the Bose are more comfortable to me because they rest around your ear instead of on your ear like the Sony's.

LocalMan 7y ago
I'm pretty sure those M3's are around-the-ear. Unless you have gigantic ears. I'm wearing the M1 right now and it's around-the-ear.
- insickness 7y ago
  They Sony is around the ear but the speaker still rests against the ear. On the Bose, the only part that touches my head is the cushion.

cascom 7y ago

Do you have to be playing something with the AirPods pro, or can you just turn on the noise cancelling function (e.g. sleeping on a plane)

nickthegreek 7y ago
They can cancel noise without anything playing.

orev 7y ago

For sleeping on a flight, you can switch to a $0.25 pair of earplugs. Today’s technology consumer seems to forget about the simple and obvious things.

rhinoceraptor 7y ago
Earplugs are great, but they can't play the podcast I use to fall asleep (Sleep With Me). Without it, it's hard to quiet the racing thoughts in my mind that keep me up for hours.
georgespencer 7y ago
A lot of people like to fall asleep to music or a podcast (including me!).
gmiller123456 7y ago
Earplugs don't really block sound, they just muffle it. They're mostly made to make very loud sounds not damage your hearing. But you can still easily hear people talking and other noises, even if they're quieter than without them.

zelienople 7y ago

Don't buy things with a repairability score of zero.

lm2s 7y ago
Not only repairability, but the battery can't be changed not even by paying Apple to do it. And with such a tiny battery, cycles will accumulate rapidly, degrading its performance. I understand that a lot of folks don't care about that, but to me it's a bit mind boggling the electronic waste being generated with these kind of earphones. Also, this isn't exclusive to Apple.

makruiten 7y ago

The noise cancelling is very good, but not better according to rtings.com [1]. I think that the comfort while sleeping/resting is a valid concern. I really like how comfortable the QC-35 II are, but you can’t rest your head against them. The Bose 700 headphones appear to have better mics as the main advantage over the QC-35 II. Personally I like the sound of the Bose headphones better than Sony’s, but judging from online comments I think that most people prefer the more bass heavy Sony sound. My advice to OP for over ear headphones would be the QC-35 II. Physical buttons, decent sound quality (although you can get better sound quality if you don’t need noise cancelling) and very comfortable. I can’t speak for the Apple AirPod Pros, as I’ve never used them. [1] https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietcomfort-35-ii-vs-apple-airpods-pro/565/1625 https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietco...

georgespencer 7y ago
I actually can't see rtings saying that noise cancelling is better on there -- just noise isolation. But I'm probs missing it and also think it's highly subjective -- in-ear just feels more effective to me.