Bose's QuietComfort Wireless Headphones Make Their Triumphant Return With The New QuietComfort 45s

Before the end of the month, Bose announced the newest addition to their QuietComfort wireless headphone lineup, the new QuietComfort® 45 headphones, which will replace the truly fabulous QuietComfort 35 II wireless headphones with improved noise cancellation, the addition of an Aware mode, better voice isolation, and 24-hour battery life on a single charge. The QuietComfort 45 headphones will be available starting September 23rd for $329.95 (about $30 more than the QuietComfort 35 II headphones), and pre-orders are already available at Bose.com, and anywhere Bose products are sold.

QuietComfort headphones are legendary for a reason. What started as a product for traveling became a product that makes every day better and easier for millions of people all over the world. Our customers have told us for years that it’s the balance of benefits that make a QuietComfort so different and indispensable. They’ve always been a great example of excelling where it matters most. And the QC45s are no different.

Mehul Trivedi, category director, Bose wearable audio

Available in "Triple Black" or "Smoke White", they look identical to every QuietComfort headphones that came before, albeit trading the QuietComfort series' metallic look for the plastic look that Sony's recent WH-series headphones have taken on in recent years. However, that makes the QC 45s easier to fold into the included carrying case. Bose has also removed "pleats and puckers from soft materials, and gaps between components have been replaced with smooth transitions.”

Outside of this design change, not much has changed design-wise. The four physical (!) buttons on the right cup control the volume, power, Bluetooth pairing, and one for tasks like answering and ending calls, playing and pausing music, and accessing native voice assistants. On the left earcup, the button there switches between the Quiet and Aware modes.

Speaking of the Quiet and Aware modes, Bose implemented a new active noise cancellation system and new electronics package. In Quiet Mode, the microphones inside and outside the earcups combine with Bose's proprietary digital chip to listen to unwanted sounds in mid-range frequencies like announcements on public transportation, a busy office, and bougie coffee shops. In Aware Mode, the QC45s will switch to full transparency, allowing you to hear the outside world.

Furthermore, the QC45s will add the ability to "share" noise cancellation. Using a beam-form array that isolates their voice while a rejection array dampens and blocks any audible distractions around QC45s owners from being picked up in the headphones' microphones so that the person (or people) you're talking to don't hear any distractions.

The Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones supposedly last up to 24 hours of playback, although I'd imagine that there are some caveats to this. And yes, they charge via USB-C now instead of the outdated micro USB. The QC45s charge to 100% in two and half hours, but if you can't wait that long, you can get three hours of playback after charging for 15 minutes. The QC45s will also still support multipoint pairing, so feel free to hook up your phone AND laptop to these beautiful headphones, but you will have to download the Bose Music app, a Bluetooth 5.1 capable device, or Bose SimpleSync if you want to hook the QC45s with a Bose Soundbar.

When the QC45s launch, the QuietComfort 35 IIs will be discontinued.

Personally, I can't wait to wear these! I owned the original Bose QuietComfort 35s from December 2016 to September 2018, and I'd still own them today if I hadn't misplaced them on a missions trip to Colorado. The only reason I don't have another pair of Bose headphones right now is that when I was in the market last year, the QC35 IIs were too expensive for how long they were on the market. Honestly, the QuietComfort series of headphones are some of the favorite headphones I've owned. The noise-canceling is unparalleled, and the headphones only got uncomfortable after six hours of wearing them.