Bose QuietComfort 25 vs 35 II: Pros & Cons and Verdict

Bose is a leading maker of headphones that are known for their great sound quality and build. One aspect that truly distinguishes Bose from other headphones of the same category is its noise cancelling feature. Bose is one of the best when it comes to implementing noise cancelling technology in headphones.

Both QuietComfort 25 and 35 have this feature and this is what makes them so competitive in today’s world of headphones.

There are many similarities and differences between these products that come in the same line. So, let us dive deep into the different features, design and other aspects of both these headphones to help you decide which of the two is better for you.

Bose QC25 vs QC35 II – Which is Better?

We will compare both these headphones across different aspects to get an idea about their capabilities and more importantly, to choose the better one.

1. Design

The design is one of the first things you’ll notice about any headphone, and both of these products are typically Bose in this aspect.

The products are made of hard plastic that gives it a strong build. But there is nothing really exciting about their design. They use minimalist colours and border on the boring side. If you’re looking for exciting colours that would double up as an accessory for your dress, these headphones are not for you!

Also because of their minimalist design, you don’t have too many controls except the power button and an aux port located on the ear cups of these two headphones.

Those are the similarities. Moving on to the differences,  there is one major difference between the two model. QuietComfort 25 is wired while QC 35 is wireless. This is an important difference as it has a big impact on comfort and convenience.

Generally speaking, wireless headphones are a lot more comfortable than wired headphones. But on the flip side, wired headphones sound better than wireless ones. We will go into the sound part a little later.

In terms of design though, both the models are fairly identical. One change that Bose brought in QC 35 is that the outer side of the headband has a leather finish when compared to QC 25 that had a denim finish.

When QC 25 was released, it looked like many people complained about the denim finish and it was even seen as a turn-off for some buyers. To counter that, Bose used a leather finish for QC 35. In reality, there is not much difference between the two materials unless you look closely at them.

There is nothing much different in terms of look and feel except a single wire sticking out in QC 25 and that was missing in QC35.

Another minor difference is the colour choice. As with all Bose headphones, your colour options are highly limited. QC 25 comes in three colours, namely, dark grey-black, true triple black, and tan and silver white with blue accents on the interior side of the cup.

Not a whole lot of choices, but the third one looks neat, especially with the blue accents. If you like to have some colours on your headphones, the third one is probably your best bet.

QC 35 looks a little bit more professional and come in black or silver colours. Both look nice, so it is a matter of personal preference. They had a midnight blue edition, but it is discontinued now.

Some people prefer to have a combination of colours on their headphones. If you’re one of them QC 25 is a good fit as these headphones have a nice metallic touch on the outer sides of the ear cups that go well with the black colour on the rest of the body.

QC 35, on the other hand, is all black or all silver and there are no colour variations. So, that could feel a little bit boring.

So, who is the winner in the design category? None, because we have a tie. Both the products are more or less the same when it comes to design, so there is nothing much to compare.

Which one should you buy going purely by the design aspect? Depends on your preferences, but we think QC 25 looks a little better with its colour combination when compared to the plain look of QC 35.

In fact, some people have even complained that QC 35 is really black and so, they don’t like it. So, it is just up to you. If you love an all-black headphone, go for QC 35 by all means.

2. Comfort

If the design is one side of the coin, comfort is the other. Headphones that look great may not always feel comfortable and the other way, comfortable headphones may not always be the best looking ones.

So, if you have to choose between the two aspects, it makes sense to choose comfort over design. And that’s exactly what Bose engineers and designers thought too while making these headphones.

There is a ton of padding on the ear cups and this makes them super comfortable, even if you have to listen to it for long periods of time. Somehow, the ear pads on QC 25 feels softer and of a better quality than the QC 35.

The clamping force is right in both the headphones. It does give you a good fit without pressing down too much on your ears, and this makes it perfect for those who like to listen to music all day long.

In terms of weight, QC 25 is slightly heavier than QC 35, but the difference is not significant enough to impact the comfort levels. In fact, both of them feel reasonably light on your head and pose no problems whatsoever.

One aspect that does have an impact is again the wire. QC 35 is a little more comfortable than QC 25 because it doesn’t have a wire associated with it. So, these headphones are portable and easy to use.

Another minor difference is the distance between the ear cups. In QC 25, the ear cups tend to touch each other when you leave them down whereas, in QC 35, there is a gap between the two ear cups. This can make a big difference if you are likely to wear your headphones over your neck when you are not listening.

When you wear QC 25 on your neck, it feels a little stiff and pinches your neck after some time whereas QC 35 give you a comfortable feel even if they are on your neck for long periods of time.

Except for these two minor aspects, both headphones are winners in this category because they are super comfortable to wear. If you like to put your headphones over your neck though, QC 35 is the clear winner. Also, go for QC 35 if you like the comfort of having a wireless headphone.

3. Sound Quality

What about the sound quality? Are they similar in this aspect too?

Yes, to some extent but there are many differences that exist in sound quality.

For starters, both the headphones score high on bass output. This is important because many premium headphones falter when it comes to bass output. But these headphones have an excellent bass response, so instruments like kick drums and guitars get that little oomph factor which makes listening to instrumental a great experience.

The mid-range is good too. The tones are a warm, thanks to the little bumps in those low-mids. The high-mids are clear and this gives vocals and guitars a nice clarity.

Another high point of both these headphones is their noise cancelling feature. In fact, this is phenomenal and has proved once again that Bose is the king when it comes to noise cancelling. Due to this aspect, these headphones are a great choice when you want to calm down and listen to some soft music in crowded areas or while travelling on the train.

You might wonder what is the difference between the two then? Well, a substantial difference is visible only in the high-end notes. Though QC 35 has a crisp presence at the very top, they are not as detailed as QC 25. Part of the reason again is because QC 25 is wired, but also there is some measure of the difference in the overall build that makes these highs so clear and precise.

Another aspect is that QC 25 sound really nice and neutral. Though they will not blow you away with their bass output, you can still hear it. Though this headphone does not really impact you much in beats, you can still listen to it for long periods of time.

QC 35 sounds great too. They have a good bass, which is strong but not overpowering. The treble and high tones are crisp and clear with no distortion even when you listen to the highest volumes. This is great because it gives you the flexibility to listen to your music the way you want. The mid-range tones are good as well.

That said, both these headphones are not ideal when you prefer detail. It is definitely not something you use when you want to analyze or do a critical review of a piece of music because you will never get that levels of detail. These headphones are more ideal for simply listening to music and enjoying the different tones and highs and lows played in it.

One aspect worth mentioning here is that the QC 35 sounds great on Bluetooth, especially when you compare it to many high-end models out there today. They sound pleasant and big when connected to Bluetooth.

Which of the two is a winner here? Again, hard to tell but we think that QC 25 slightly edges out QC 35 because of its warm and neutral tones. Though some of the credit does go back to its design as wired headphones, still QC 25 seems to sound better even when both the headphones are wired.

4. Extra Features

QC 35 comes with a bunch of extra features that are not found in QC 25. The most prominent of them is support for digital assistant. In QC 35, you can simply say “Alexa”, “Ok Google” or “Hey Siri” to activate the digital assistant that will do many tasks for you. That convenience is not available in QC 25.

Also, another downside with QC 25 is that they still use an AAA battery and not a rechargeable one. This aspect is a little bit of a pain simply because you have to replace these batteries often and this could prove to be expensive in the long run as well.

Though the battery life is great and lasts for about 35 hours, you’ll still have to replace batteries often and that’s not a good thing.

Bose has done a better job in QC 35. The rechargeable battery is good and comes for about 20 hours in wireless mode and about 35 hours in wired mode. This is awesome, especially if you’re one of those people who love to put on your headphones and listen to music all day long.

One more thing about QC 25 is that it does not turn off automatically. It is a little shocking that Bose did not think of this feature for such a great headphone as the QC 25. This means, if you forget to turn off your headphone, it will keep playing. In turn, this will drain the battery and you’ll have to replace another pair right when you want to listen. That’s not convenient at all.

A feature that’s worth mentioning is connectivity. QC 35 works great in wireless mode even if you step beyond the 30 feet limit from your music source. We tried this headphone from different locations and it did work till about 35 feet after which it started dropping sounds. It worked well even when the headphones were not in a direct line of sight with the source.

But, 35 feet is still great and there are no connectivity issues of any kind with these headphones. Obviously, there is nothing to compare with QC 25 because it is wired and has no kind of connectivity problems at all.

What about the call quality? Well, there are both positives and negatives in it. If you’ve ever used QC 25 for calls, you’ll notice that you can barely hear yourself speak, thanks to its advanced noise cancellation technology. It is an interesting feeling when you try to talk to someone through your QC 25.

Thankfully, this aspect is fixed in QC 35 as Bose has put some extra sensitive mics in this headphone and this means, you can hear yourself really well.

Whether it is good to hear yourself while you speak or not is up to you to decide.  In one of our test calls, the speaker on the other end could hear everything going on here including noises such as picking up a paper and munching some chips!

If you tend to take calls in bust environments, at work or when you are on the go, these headphones are definitely not what you want because they can transmit every single piece of sound.

So, whether this is good or not depends on you, but the mics in QC 35 are super nice and offers crisp and clear sounds to the other person.

Time for the verdict. Who is the winner? This is one aspect where QC 35 wins hands down over QC 25 because Bose has tried to fix many of the complaints that were raised by customers in QC 25, and the results are visible in QC 35.

Now, if you’re not worried too much about the digital assistants, QC 25 is still good. But when it comes to battery. QC 25 fails miserably as you’ll have to change your batteries at least once a week, if not more depending on your usage.

5. Cost

There is a difference in cost. While the difference isn’t huge, both of these are good value for money. The extra money for QC 35 is the price you pay for the comfort of going wireless and this is definitely a decent price for that feature.

Overall, both the products are a good value for money and the upgrade is fairly reasonable as well.

6. Advantages and Disadvantages

We have listed down the pros and cons of both the headphones to give you a quick idea of what they can do for you and what they can’t.

Bose QC25 and QC35 II Pros

The pros of Bose QuietComfort 25 and QuietComfort 35 II are:

Bose QuietComfort 25 and 35 II Cons

Here’s a look at the drawbacks of using a Bose QC 25 and QC 35 headsets:

We hope that gives you a quick rundown of the good and bad of each headphone.

Bottom Line

This is the hardest part – choosing between two high-quality headphones that are similar in most aspects.

Well, for starters, if you travel around a lot or use your headphones when you’re on the move, undoubtedly QC 35 is your go-to headphones. They are wireless and fold down well, so you can carry them wherever you go. Also, these are your choice if you want a digital assistant as a part of your headphones.

However, be prepared to sacrifice a little bit of sound quality for the comfort and convenience that comes with QC 35. If you like listening to music at high volumes or if you like the treble in instruments, you’ll have to stay away from these headphones.

Now, when can you choose QC 25? When sound quality is what matters to you the most and you don’t mind the wire hanging down from your headphones. QC 25 has one of the best sound quality in this price range, so if that’s your priority, your choice is clear.

From the above discussion, we can say that both of these headphones are great, so the verdict is too close to call. Pick the headphone that you think matches your requirements.