When you think Premium noise canceling headphones a lot of people will automatically think about
the Bose Q35 or the Sony MDR-1000X.
And although these are both great noise canceling headphones…
they are very different from one another.
So which are right for you?
Lets find out.
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here after you're done watching this video.
Something I've noticed about Bose products is that they very rarely or almost never go
on sale.
Although the Bose QC35 are a year old now they are still selling for the same $349 and
they still only come in Black or Silver.
You can now customize your own Bose QC35 but for a hefty price.
The Sony MDR-1000X used to retail for $399.99 but now you can get them for as low as $328,
and they also come in 2 color ways, black or beige.
if you want to pick either of these headphones up I’ll have links in the description below
and I’ll keep them updated so you can get the best deal possible.
Both of these headphones are over the ear wireless noise canceling headphones.
They both charge via a micro USB cable, they both have a 20 hour battery life with noise
canceling turned on, they both have an aux jack for wired connections, they both come
included with a hard shell carrying case, they both can be laid flat or fold up, they
both feature controls so you can control your music playback and they both feature an NFC
touchpoint so pairing with an android device is super easy.
But thats where the similarities end.
Design wise I have to say the Bose QC35 do look a little better than the Sony MDR-1000X.
Build quality is also better on the Bose QC35 since they use glass-filled nylon on the majority
of the body, stainless steel on the headband, and Alcantara on the bottom portion of the
headband.
The Sony MDR-1000X is made mostly out of plastic and a lot of these pieces are snapped together
instead of screwed in like the Bose.
This has resulted in the Headband on the Sony MDR-1000X to come apart during my stress test.
Granted it was under a lot more stress than it would typically be and i just snapped it
back together.
But the materials used on the Bose QC35 also help make them lighter than the Sony MDR-1000X.
The Bose QC35 weigh in at 8.3 ounces or 235 grams while the Sony 1000X weigh in at 9.7
ounces or 275 grams.
But the 1.4 ounce difference doesn't matter when it comes to comfort you cant even tell
the difference.
But i did notice the Bose QC35 features softer and much more breathable padding than the
Sony MDR-1000X.
So the BOSE QC35 aren't just more plush, they also help prevent over heating more than the
Sony 1000X.
And I did notice the Bose QC35 did have slightly less clamping force than the Sony 1000X . If
I had to choose one only on comfort then Im going with the Bose QC35.
When it comes to controlling your music Bose took the safe route while Sony took a different
approach.
you can control your music playback, adjust the volume and active siri by using the 3
buttons found on the Bose’s right ear cup.
With the sony you can do the same thing except you use the touch pad on the right ear cup,
and its highly accurate.
all you have to do is double tap to play or use your music, swipe front or back to skip
or go back a track, and swipe up or down to adjust your volume.
There is also a set of physical buttons on the left ear cup of the sony to toggle your
ambient sound settings or even turn off the Noise cancelation from your headphones.
There are 2 ambient sound settings on the Sony MDR-1000X.
first theres ambient sound normal which will pump in all the sound from the outside so
you can hear whats going on.
this is good to have for safety reasons if youre walking in the city.
Then theres Ambient Sound Voice.
the head phones will block out most of the outside world and try to only let in people’s
voices so if someone is calling your name you'll be able to hear them.
And then theres your normal noise cancelation setting which will block out everything.
And the Sony MDR-1000X also have a feature where by covering the right ear cup the headphones
will automatically lower the volume of what ever you're littering to and let in the sound
from the outside so if someone is talking to you you can still hear what they are saying
without having to take off the head phones.
Thanks to software updates the products you buy today can still get new features as they
age.
A great example of this are the Bose QC35.
You can now share your music with other Bose Headphones and you can now adjust your Noise
cancelation level through bose’s app.
And bose has been known to do a great job when it comes to noise cancelation.
When using the bose QC35 and Sony MDR-1000X in the same surrounding area the Bose routinely
managed to block out more of the sound.
But heres the catch, when i wear the Bose QC35 for a prolonged period of time I always
get a headache, while I dont with the Sony MDR-1000X.
When ever you put on the Bose you feel this pressure in your ear like they have to pop
but this is just the noise cancelation at work, you also get the same sensation with
the Sony but not as much.
So which has better noise cancelation, by a slim margin the Bose QC35 do, but since
they cause me discomfort then by default I'm going with the Sony 1000X.
When it comes to sound quality i did notice the Bose QC35 did have more depth to them
while the sound on the Sony MDR-1000X was a little more forward at times.
But like I’ve said in the past when it comes to bass the Bose QC35 just leave you hanging.
And i did notice that at higher volumes the Sony MDR-1000X did have much less distortion
and raspiness or tininess in the highs.
If i had to pick one only on sound quality then I’m pick the Sony MDR-1000X hands down.
Like i mentioned earlier both of the head phones have a battery life of 20 hours of
playback time with noise canceling on.
But in order to charge the Sony MDR-1000X from zero to full its going to take 4 hours
and they don't feature any kind of fast charging.
The Bose QC35 on the other hand take half as long to charge and charging them for 15
minutes will give you 2 and half hours of playback time.
A great feature to have if you're on a time crunch.
Living with the Bose QC35 is also slightly easier since they can connect to multiple
devices at the same time.
So switching between your phone and laptop is super easy.
with the Sony on the other hand, you have to go through the pairing process every single
time when you want to switch devices.
And since both of these headphones are using Bluetooth 4.1 they both have a range of 40
feet with direct line of sight to your phone.
like i mentioned earlier, both of these headphones came included with audio cables if you want
to use them with a wired connection.
But the cable Bose supplied feels very cheap.
But more important, the Bose QC35 have a 2.5 jack instead of a standard 3.5 jack.
so if you lose the supplied cable or if you want to use your own higher quality cable
you're going to run into some problems.
The Sony MDR-1000X on the other hand come with a much better quality cable and they
also use the standard 3.5 jack on the headphones.
So to wrap things up, i think the Bose QC35 look better, they have a better build quality,
they are more comfortable and they feature a watered down version of fast charging.
But the Sony MDR-1000X sound better, feature noise canceling technology that don't cause
me any headaches and they have very useful ambient sound settings and touch controls.
If i had to pick one I would choose the Sony MDR-1000X over the Bose QC35 cause they sound
better and the ambient sound settings are very useful.
But if you do decide to go with the Bose QC35 just know that there are rumors that an Upgraded
version of the Bose QC35 will be dropping soon, thats why I'm making this video.
But if you want to watch my full review on the Sony MDR-1000X I’ll have a link in the
description below.