Reviews pretty much exclusively cite the Bose QuietComfort 20 as the best in-ear noise cancelling headphones – but are they worth the money? I did my research, then bought a pair to find out.
My decision to buy the Bose QC20 Headphones
My previous (much cheaper) pair of noise cancelling headphones died after around a year, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching which to get next.
Having trawled through hundreds of reviews, it seemed that it was a choice between the £250 Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones, or repeating my original purchase of the £40 Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones.
The mid-range headphones all seemed to have mediocre reviews, and I didn’t want to spend £100 on something not much better than a £40 pair.
The reviews of the Bose headphones were really streaks ahead of everything else, so I bit the bullet and financed a pair from Amazon.
What comes in the box?
The headphones themselves are in the box, of course, together with a USB charger cable and a few other bits and pieces.
The headphones come with three sizes of earbuds, which I appreciate as I have tiny ears.
With small ears I find these to be the most comfortable I’ve tried. The in-ear part doesn’t ‘suction’ in your ear, it just rests gently and still blocks out outside sounds.
One of the great things about the Bose QC20 is that they come with their own small case.
It’s handy to keep everything together and I have a airplane adaptor (sold separately) which I now keep in there too.
What is Bose QuietComfort 20 Sound Quality Like?
I’ve never owned expensive headphones before and I didn’t realise how awfully ‘tinny’ the sound quality of my old ones was until I bought these.
Bose have a solid reputation for excellent sound quality and the QC20 haven’t disappointed me!
How good is Bose QuietComfort 20 Noise Cancelling?
I’ve found the noise cancelling on these earbuds to be really great.
Do they block out all of the sounds around you? No. The noise cancelling functionality is excellent at blocking out constant noise, such as loud airplane hum, but it doesn’t block out sudden noises.
That said, I was sat behind a crying baby on my recent flight home (to the UK) from Peru and, whilst I could still hear the baby when I thought about it, it really didn’t bother me once I’d turned my music on.
I played a game to see how effective the noise cancelling was, turning it off and on again to show myself the difference, and it really is significant!
I left the noise cancelling on, without music playing, when I wanted to sleep. The headphones play a quiet white noise which you barely notice when music is playing, but I found it quite soothing when trying to sleep.
I also sometimes use these in my office when colleagues are chatting around me and I want to focus. They’re pretty good – if I look around it’s a bit like watching a silent movie!
Do Bose QuietComfort 20 work with an iPhone headphone adaptor?
One of the things that I was worried about when I was deciding whether to buy these headphones, was whether they would work with my iPhone.
Bose headphones are way more expensive than I would usually look to spend, so I wanted to be sure that they would work perfectly with my iPhone 8 (which doesn’t have the traditional headphone jack).
I googled and googled and I couldn’t find the answer anywhere.
I ended up ordering a pair, hoping that no-one had posted the answer because it was completely ok.
Luckily, they work great with the headphone adapter that came with my iPhone 8. I’ve had no problems with them at all!
Do make sure that you buy the right ones though – Bose make a pair for Apple devices, and a pair for other devices.
What is the battery life like?
As I mentioned earlier, I was using these for pretty much my whole flight from Peru to the UK, which was about 12 hours. I continued to use them on the train home (about an hour) and they were still going.
Bose claims up to 16 hours battery life and, whilst I don’t think I’ve used them for that long in one go, I’m inclined to believe it. I’ve definitely got over 13 hours out of them.
Are Bose QuietComfort 20 worth the money?
So, the big question, are Bose QuietComfort 20 worth the money? I’m going to go ahead and say that I think they are. They are far more advanced in terms of both sound quality and noise cancellation than the other earbuds that I’ve tried.
I think the only trouble is that, when they eventually give out (which I hope won’t be for a long time!) I’ll have to buy another pair. There’s no way I can go back to cheaper quality headphones now!
Where to buy them
Bose QuietComfort 20 are available from most good retailers, including directly from Bose, but I recommend keeping an eye on Amazon for a good deal.
I ended up getting mine from Amazon and opted to spread the cost over five payments. This made them much more affordable!
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