Bose SoundLink Around Ear Wireless Headphones II - Black

Something I hadn't read (or noticed) when narrowing down my options, is that this pair of headphones can listen to 2 sources simultaneously. So while I'm listening to my computer for work, it's still connected to my phone, and I can hear when someone is calling, and can even take the call while still listening to my computer. This is something I didn't know was possible, and is 100% what I needed. I'm SO happy with this purchase. Aside from that feature, which may not apply to anyone else, these are the MOST comfortable headphones I have ever purchased. I have a pair of wired Bose at home, that have lasted for several years. They are super comfortable as well, but these really take the cake. Somewhere in their product description, they say you never want to take them off, and it's true. I'm also very impressed by the battery life. I leave them charging on Friday night, so Monday morning, they are at 100% (she tells you every time you turn them on what the percentage of battery life is!), and by Friday afternoon, they're usually around 30-40%, and I wear them 10 hours a day! They also get the best reception of any wireless headphones I've ever used. I can walk around my building and still hear my computer, and they don't cut out like my old Bluetooth ones did. I also have only had very slight sound delay. But then I turned them off and back on, and the delay was gone. But it wasn't even a full second of sound delay- just a fraction of a second, so it might not be noticeable to anyone just listening to music without using visuals. I don't know what else to say about these headphones. They are perfect. I'm so very glad I splurged. I know they are THE ONES and will last me a very long time. Bose knows, man. Bose knows.

If you're looking for pleasant-sounding, comfy, light wireless headphones with sensical playback and volume buttons, seriously consider Bose's Soundlink II around-ear headphones. Passive noise-cancellation on these things is fantastic. I haven't walked down a noisy street yet, but when I press play on any song at moderate volume, my environment (usually a busy home or talkative workplace) fades away. The volume gets loud enough when listening on Bluetooth, and although I've never personally wanted to go past it's max output, I'm sure there are some headbangers out there who would want a little more volume out of these things. Sound performance is gonna depend on your personal preference, but I like the balanced, detailed, open-air feeling of my music on these cans. Highs and mids come through clear to my ears, and in my opinion, these things excel with vocals. The bass is probably the most polarizing aspect of the sound signature: it's full and present, but you don't "feel it" the same way other headphones *cough* Beats *cough* deliver. The trade-off here is that it doesn't overpower anything, so vocals don't get washed out when the bass drops. On some tracks I wish the bass were a bit more powerful, but I still think they're on par with other wired headphones priced around $200 (and if you really miss the detail of wired sound, there's an included 3.5 mm cable). I listen mostly to alternative which employs a wide array of instruments, and I think these deliver consistently clear, strong sound across the genre. In terms of battery life, I've only charged them once in the 3 weeks I've had them, so I'm led to believe the advertised 15 hours of listening at moderate volume. The headphones themselves were smaller than I was expecting when I opened the box. They're unexpectedly light, but still feel sturdy, and it can be easy to forget they're on when you're "in the zone." In fact, that's one of the best features: these things are comfy, and they don't heat up my ears like how other leather ear cups do. The black version I have is low profile because it's all a matte finish instead of gloss, meaning people on the street won't point and yell at you, "Hey everyone, they have Bose headphones!" In other words, if you're a show-off, look elsewhere. Some people might not like the button design, but after a week, it feels more or less natural to navigate. Three small buttons, one of them depressed for feel-only operation, on the back of the right earcup control volume and playback (pause, skip, rewind, Siri) the same way Apple earphones do, and the microphones on here are entirely capable of handling phone calls. Bluetooth performance is pretty excellent, and even though it's not perfect (it'll skip when I leave the audio source and go behind a wall 20 feet away), it works well for my listening purposes. Pairing to my phone and computer was easy as could be, and everytime I turn the headphones on, my device identifies and connects within 5 seconds. Easy peasy lemon-squeezy. Lastly, the overall value: I paid $230 for the headphones on sale, and even for a college student looking to "treat myself," it's a pretty hefty investment. I can't say yet if I've gotten my money's worth, but these headphones are definitely on track to prove themselves worthy. From the reviews I've read of other Bose products, I'm expecting quite a few more years of solid performance from these cans, and right now, they seem entirely up to that task.

EDIT: After owning these headphones for just a few days over a year, read my updated review beneath the original! After reading reviews and seeing nothing but outstanding remarks for these headphones, I decided to drop the cash and give it a shot. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I'm definitely an audiophile; I produced EDM music for quite a while which trained me to care about proper balance in songs. These headphones have AMAZING balance! Most expensive headphones that I've tried on just have a crazy boosted bass and it gives me a headache. Not to mention, it just doesn't sound good haha! Anyway, these headphones have super crisp highs, good mids, and crunchy bass. They really are perfect. As for comfort, I could easily wear these things all day. Sometimes I forget I'm even wearing these headphones... They look pretty stylish and they aren't too big. The carrying case is pretty lowkey and it works fine, no problems there. Headphones charge fast and the battery lasts me about a week with daily usage. I enjoy the little voice that sounds whenever you switch devices or turn on the headphones. It's not obnoxious in the slightest. Bluetooth is always a little finicky but these headphones connect almost flawlessly. They automatically reconnect to your last device and that makes things go A LOT faster! Switching devices is pretty simple too. Using the included aux cord doesn't effect sound quality at all. Good for conserving battery life is you don't particularly need the wireless feature at the time of listening! Overall, I'm more than satisfied with my purchase. It was well worth the money and I would recommend these headphones to anyone AND everyone! If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. EDIT: As mentioned above, I've owned these headphones for a little over a year now and I'm still impressed. Even after 1 entire year of extensive use (multiple road trips, a whole school year in the backpack, recording, listening, calling) these still work flawlessly and I've had ZERO major problems whatsoever. Long story short, I'm still sticking with the 5 star review. Below is a little more detail: Physical: No physical damage at all. I try to take care of my stuff, but accidents happen and these headphones have not sustained any scratches, dents, or cracked despite my heavy usage. The foam-ish headband piece still holds its shape. The earphones are still fluffy and squishy (no tears or deformities). At some point in my 1 year of ownership, the little piece of fabric that has the "L" on it (inside the left ear cup; it covers the electronics and such) started slipping out, but I was able to finagle it back in and there's been no problem since. I use the case basically whenever I transport these headphones and that's probably the main reason they've maintained physical integrity. Highly recommend using that case. It's small, sleek, and effective. Sound: I haven't owned any other headphones since these so I can't compare the sound of other headphones to these, however, I'm about to purchase a Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro which is known for it's studio quality, neutral sound. I'll compare the sound when I purchase them. I have noticed problems occasionally when connected to multiple devices. If the headphones are connected to my iPhone and my MacBook I sometimes have a little lag when watching YouTube. But as mentioned by another reviewer, turning on and off the headphones solves this. I don't get too many phone calls, but the several calls I've had while wearing these headphones were crystal clear and easy to understand (on both ends, I asked). I've had several VERY minor issues with the Bluetooth connectivity overall, but Bose regularly puts out firmware updates for their hardware and they've solved many of these issues. I'd say check about once a month for updates on their update site: http://btu.bose.com/ The only negative: since these are over-the-ear headphones, they have some natural sound cancelling properties, but after I tried out some Bose Active Noise Cancelling Headphones at Target, I can't even BEGIN to explain how amazing the active noise cancelling was. With the Bose SoundLink headphones, the natural noise cancelling is good. It blocks out a majority of background noise and outsiders cannot hear my music at all (unless it's turned up very high... don't do that!). But with the active noise cancelling headphones, it's almost magical. You put those headphones on and it's just dead silent. These headphones are perfect as they are, but if you can afford it, go for a pair of Bose headphones with active noise cancelling. Just my suggestion. Tip: If you use these headphones for mixing (which I'll update the sound comparison part of this review when I get my new DT770 Pro's), make sure to use the custom aux cable provided. This ensures there's no Bluetooth interference and you get the clearest sound quality. These aren't studio headphones, but if you want headphones to use in combination with studio monitors (as a reference listening device) or if you need a good pair of monitor headphones that can double as comfort/listening headphones, these work great.

I bought these headphones after doing a lot of research and debating between noise canceling headphones, wireless headphones, or both (there are not many options if you want both, and Bose does not make any that are both noise canceling and wireless) Ultimately, I decided to buy these because I figured the convenience of not having a cord would be worth it. I mainly use mine at work, so having wired headphones wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it is nice to move around or take my headphones on and off without hassle. Note that with the bluetooth, you do lose a little bit of sound quality. But they are definitely the best bluetooth headphones in terms of sound quality as far as I know, and still better than most other headphones I've used. These are super comfortable- I can wear them for long periods of time without any issues. They can get a little warm, but that's to be expected with any around ear headphone, and it isn't that bad. A lot of similar headphones I tried were not nearly as comfortable, even for short periods of time, so the fact that these were super comfortable was a huge plus for me. The one area these can be improved is noise isolation– I get that they aren't noise canceling, but in my opinion, they don't even block out outside noise that well. If my music is loud enough, they can, but if it is even a little low (or I would say around the volume I normally have it at), I can hear conversations around me. Since finding noise canceling headphones that are also wireless is pretty hard, I think this it is a personal preference on what is more important. Since I can block out noise by turning up the volume a little (not at a deafening level by any means), I am generally fine with these but I do wish they filtered noise a bit more. The battery on these lasts a while (15 hours I think), and they charge up pretty quickly- you can even charge them for just 20 minutes and get a decent partial charge. One negative is that I don't think you can charge them while using them, and the charger it comes with is a USB cable so it needs to be plugged in to a computer. When I'm at my computer (i.e. when I would normally charge these), I usually also want to use them, so that is a drawback. Some other things: - the controls on the right ear are awesome and can be used to pause/play a song and fast forward and rewind (to either the next/previous song or within the current song). They work with iTunes out of the box, but I had to download something for them to work with Spotify on my Mac. I love these controls and use them often. -I initially had some weird issues/feedbck every time I went to a website that tried to access your microphone (such as Google which tried to do so for voice search). Switching my input microphone on my computer from the headphones to the built in mic fixed these - I didn't have issues with the skipping that a lot of people have reported but that could have been because I upgraded the software once I got my headphones - the phone quality is really good on these - I have used them for several phone interviews and they are great for that purpose

I had a pair of Skullcandy Hesh-2 Bluetooth headphones prior to buying the Bose. The Hest-2 were a $100 pair of headphones and were definitely worth the price, though the battery only lasted a year. The sound fidelity between the Bose and Hesh-2 is night and day. The Hesh-2 were boomy and pushed the mids a bit too much. The Bose have an excellent sound curve with tight and low bass, flat mids, and crisp highs. The sound replication is very accurate and these will reveal the quality in music that you've been missing. You'll want to crack out your EQ (whether on your phone or home stereo) as you'll find you can push a lot of different frequencies through these. When it comes to home theater and movies, you'll need to switch from surround sound to 2-ch stereo...if you don't, you'll get a bit of a distant, tin-can-spacey-feel to the surround sound. Switching to 2-channel stereo gets you close to where you want to be with an excellent representation of the soundstage. In the beginning of Star Trek Beyond, when the Enterprise is being attacked by Krall swarm, you'll hear the attacks sweep across from the rear-left to the right, giving you a good impression of a larger soundstage. Sadly, the mids and vocals in today's movies requires separate channels and you'll lose a bit here with the Bose. Thus, while they're good for movies and surround sound, they're not great unless you tweak the equalizer to push these a bit. Bluetooth Latency: as with almost all Bluetooth headphones, there is a bit of signal lag based on the distance you sit from the TV and the amount of time it takes to process that sound through the various CODECS between the devices. The Bose are no different and the only way I've ever found to bypass that is to tweak the speaker delay on the receiver or just use the analog cable. My experience of sitting 8' away from the television using an MPOW bluetooth transmitter plugged into my receiver's headphone output to the Bose Headphones incurs a delay of about 22ms; just enough to be noticeable after a minute or two. YMMV. Pairing was a snap as the headphones have voice prompts to tell you what Bluetooth profile they're connected to. This is fantastic feature when switching from your mobile phone to your desktop, or from your laptop and to your home stereo, etc. Just flip the head phones to the middle "on" position, then push the slider up to cycle through the different bluetooth connections until you hear the one you want. Less fiddling in the dark and messing with the profiles on your phone or other devices to get them to connect to the right source. Brilliant! There is a nice carrying case and a very short analog cable to use without bluetooth or for regular stereo/headphone connections.

i bought these thinking they had a noise cancelling feature, but they don't. oops, that's my bad. they dampen but don't cancel. but for me, this actually worked out fine! i wanted them for a red-eye because i realized that the noise is what makes it so hard for me to sleep. these block out just enough sound to make the general sounds of a plan a low hum. they made me realize how loud planes really are, actually. i wasn't surprised that i couldn't sleep anyway, but these still made a huge difference. the comfort level of these headphones is very high. i really like the soft top and the soft cups--they fit well over my ears and they don't dig into my head. the sound quality on these is also really great! i've been using airpods for years now, which sound fine! but these are soooo much better. sound is clear and crisp and the bass is just right--not too heavy or light. compared to airpods, it's to be expected that the bluetooth connectivity isn't as stellar with an iPhone. if it has other past connections nearby, it'll try connecting to them. my girlfriend borrowed them once and then i couldn't get it to find my device without her removing them on her own device. a small hiccup, but it can be annoying. these are in the mid-price range and i think they're a good value for the quality. im happy that they come in a small case to protect them and come with a cord to connect to a device the old fashioned way. i use it rarely, but i do use it! overall, these were a good buy and a reasonable and stylish alternative to the popular sony headphones.

I bought these headphones 5 years ago primarily to use at the gym, but I've found myself using them for much more. They stay in place while running/lifting and can handle sweat. I insist on using them when listening to a new album so I can get the fullest sound and hear every detail. I also like the noise isolation, as I can still hear some of my surroundings if needed. Battery life is great, call quality is great, sound quality is great but not super heavy on bass. After 5 years of regular use, they're only showing some slight fraying on the earphone padding material. They're comfortable, not bulky, look sleek, and I love the carrying case. I'm planning on upgrading to noise cancelling headphones mostly for plane rides, as these headphones don't filter out all of the loud hum of the plane. I do plan to stick with Bose for my next purchase based on their high quality. I believe this is the first Amazon review I've ever written, but I'm passionate enough about these headphones to make sure others know that these satisfied everything I was looking for!

These have been used extremely hard - running, biking, and hiking through rain and snow. I’ve sweated buckets in these. The ear pads needed replaced once last year. Cost $15, a small price to pay to continue their life and simple to do. Their durability is so impressive. I never expected them to live through it. I can’t say the sound quality is the greatest ever as I prefer my open back Sennheisers, but those are bulky, wired and much less portable. With these, the sound is very balanced and satisfying, not too bass forward like their competition. I’ve never felt the need for noise cancellation. The around-ear isolation is enough for public spaces and saves a little money. The combination of sound quality, wireless portability, and durability that these offer is far above the competition. Bluetooth connectivity is mostly flawless. Sometimes they stubbornly keep trying to connect to my MacBook though it is closed and I have to open it and turn Bluetooth off. What’s nice, though, is they can connect to 2 devices at once and switch between whichever one I’m playing audio on. Mic quality is also surprisingly good, better than other Bluetooth devices I’ve tried and is suitable for gaming. Companies tend to cheap out when it comes to that but not Bose. I’d instantly buy these again if they ever give out. It’s really hard to find stuff that’s made this well.