Customer Ratings & Reviews

Too bulky with the extra noise cancelling box attached. Pain to have to recharge.

I was so excited to buy these headphones. I read tons of reviews and everyone just raves about these. I was hesitant at the price tag but was willing to make the investment in such a good product. Wow, was I mistaken. 1 - Noise cancellation falls far below expectations. Yes, when you turn it on, some airplane or white background noise goes away. Sadly though, you WILL still hear people talking, pilot announcements, crying babies, car honking, televisions, etc. Basically, you will continue to hear everything EXCEPT 70% of an airplane engine which these are blocking. I was somewhat prepared for this, as other reviews stated that sudden noises that vary in tone might not get blocked well, but it was still worse than I expected. 2 - Poor fit in your ear. Noise isolation is WORSE than my $20 skull candy earbuds. The Bose QC 20's StayHear tips make it impossible to seal the buds tight against your ear because they are meant to rest just outside the ear canal. I tried all 3 tip sizes and watched countless YouTube videos by Bose in total frustration and desperation because, as I said, I wanted these to work so bad. But in the end, noise isolation is not even near as good as cheap buds that seal tight in your ear. The noise isolation of my cheap earbuds block more noise than the noise cancellation of the Bose model - without using any batteries. 3 - Not easy to sleep with these in your ears Might sound funny, but one of the reasons I tried the QC20 buds instead of QC15 or QC25 over-ear models is because I felt I could lean my head against a pillow or the window of a plane and sleep with them in. Unfortunately I was wrong again. The large, oddly shaped StayHear tips end up hurting your ear if you sleep on one side of your head with them in. Perhaps more annoying is that as soon as a pillow or other surface blocks the bud's microphone which is attempting to listen to external sounds to block, it starts making funny sounds in your ear. Try sleeping now! So I just ended up taking 1 earbud out when sleeping on that side. 4 - Sound quality is just OK. I bought them for noise cancellation, not audio quality. In fact, I'm not an audio expert. But when I switch back and forth between these and my cheap $20 pair, I can't notice any sound quality differences. None. 5 - The battery pack is annoying. I'm fine with recharging it every 10 hours but the sheer size and weight of that big box inline with the headphone cable is so frustrating. Well done Bose, for excluding any photos of this monstrosity in any of your product and marketing photos lest someone see it prior and decide not to buy the QC20's. Don't plan on using this with your cell phone, because once you try you'll soon stop due to this bad boy. You just extended your cell phone size by 40%. It gets caught on things and weighs the buds down to the point where you need to clip the buds to your shirt for support. Fun. Plus, the dual green lights on the battery give off so much light that in a dark train or plane it really lights up the area too much and attracts attention. I'm sorry Bose. I may be a difficult customer, but these just don't work for me and certainly aren't worthy of $300.

NOT noise canceling. You have to crank the volume to drown out ambient noise. Sound quality is only normal. The cord is too short and doesn't reach the desktop computer from my seat right next to the computer. Save yourself $70+ and buy the skull candy ink'd earbuds. They actually cancel out sound. When it comes to headphones, Bose is over kill. You'll never need them as loud as Bose is meant to be. Unless someone is whispering next to you and you want to drown them out.

Just marvellous. I used it not only on the air, but in all public spaces. it is magic!

These are awful. The sound quality is fine but the phone microphone does not work well at all. I have had 6 conversations and not one of them was able to hear me. I bought these specifically because of the microphone. For this price, the damned things should cook my breakfast!

I purchased these to replace my aging QC 15s which have served me reliably for years. The noise cancellation / isolation on these earbuds is nowhere near what the QC 15s provide and I returned the QC 20s to the store the same day. I could barely tell the difference when activating the noise cancellation. I have a loud fan in my office and the QC 15s make it almost completely silent, where these did not reduce the sound nearly at all. Also, the cord coming out of the battery pack is extremely short making it difficult to connect to my laptop. Would not recommend.