Bose QC45 Review: The Verdict
The QC45s are great, comfy noise-cancelling headphones that will satisfy any Bose fan, it's just a shame they don't feel more modern.
What we love
- Excellent noise cancellation
- Supremely comfortable
- Great sound quality
What could be improved
- Missing features like auto-pause, EQ, and variable noise cancellation
- Can't turn noise cancellation off entirely
75/100
$499
The QuietComfort 45s are the latest version of Bose's iconic noise-cancelling headphones, their first major update in four years. If we ignore the minor QC35 II refresh, that blows out to five years. But despite the half-a-decade between the original QC35s and QC45s, the QC45s don't exactly feel new.
The design is a little cleaner, and you get improved noise-cancellation and longer battery, and look, These are all good things. Bose just could have done more.
To start, thanks to a new chip, Bose says its new cans can better detect and block out noise in more situations, and it's honestly hard to fault the noise cancellation. You can stand right next to a fan and it's almost imperceptible. The QC45s prove Bose still has it when it comes to headphones that block out the world.
There's a bit of weirdness with how noise-cancelling has been implemented this time, however. Unless you're running the QC45s switched entirely off over a 3.5mm cable, there's no way to turn off noise-cancellation entirely. You can either have it on, or put on transparency mode which blends in real-world sounds with whatever you're listening to. The transparency mode sounds mostly natural, but it's odd that you can't turn off noise-cancelling entirely, especially given doing so tends to extend battery life.
It's equally weird that you can't adjust the level of noise cancellation the QC45s offer. Many wireless headphones now let you dial down or up how much noise they block out, including other Bose models. It's not the end of the world, but it's still strange when Bose clearly has the tech.
In terms of battery, Bose says you'll get up to 24 hours of playback per charge with noise-cancelling on. A full charge will take about 2.5 hours, but a 15-minute top-up is enough to get you an extra 2.5 hours of listening time. For comparisons, the Q35 IIs were rated for up to 20 hours, so it's a nice improvement that should get you through even the longest of flights. Notably, the QC45s now charge over USB C, rather than microUSB.
While the Bose has tidied up the QC45 design, they're still undeniably QC headphones. And that's a good thing. The QC45s are featherlight, making them supremely comfortable for extended listening sessions. They never feel too heavy or too tight. And as with their predecessors, they collapse into a tiny travel-ready package.
The QC45s are on par with what you'd expect from a pair of Bose headphones, offering, above all, a balanced sound. They don't stand out on audio quality alone, but they're also hard to fault. The QC45s still offer a good listening experience for the money. You are however stuck with the out of box sound; the companion app doesn't include any EQ settings, which again, Bose has featured in other headphones.
There are two other useful features you won't find on the QC45s. They won't automatically pause your music or podcast when you take them off, and you can't listen to them while charging. I've found the auto-pause omission especially annoying, given the headphones I regularly use all have the functionality.
Bose QuietComfort 45 - Final Thoughts
Overall, the QC45s are very good headphones, but clearly designed for fans that want more of the same. If you've got a pair of QC25s or QC35s you love but have gotten worn down from extensive use, these are perfect. They're almost among the most comfortable over-ear headphones I've tested. It's just a shame that Bose didn’t do more to make the QC45s a truly modern pair of noise-cancelling cans.
Alex Choros
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