Noise Canceling Upgrade

The super accelerating world of technology today means some high end upgrades are available to everyone.  Take HiFi music before CDs - the super expensive Dolby tape decks. Now way exceeded by the cheapest MP3 players. One such upgrade for me were the original Bose noise canceling headphones. Wearing them in an airplane was more than being upgraded from economy to business or first. Flying in silent environment and being able to listen to high fidelity music was the unforgettable experience back in 2000. I was using the original (wired, 1st gen) Bose headset for many years before upgrading to the wireless variant (around 2012 I think, so already over 10 years ago).

This product has been flawless for me. Almost infinite battery life, perfect audio performance (including noise canceling of course) and seamless Bluetooth connectivity to any device. The only sign of ageing has been the micro-USB charging port. But not a big deal, as they easily lasted a return transcontinental trip on a single charge. With the only downside being the bulk of the over the ears design.

In the meantime I had high hopes for the Jabra in-ear earbuds (the Elite 7 Pro). It all looked good on paper with the Jabras ticking all boxes including advanced noise canceling and multipoint Bluetooth. Unfortunately it was only on paper - the noise canceling could not cope with jet engines and call quality was inconsistent. I continued using the Bose headset during flights and switched to the absolutely phenomenal Shokz bone conducting set which I use for many hours every day.

Even that after the poor Jabra earbuds experience I almost completely lost faith in earbuds being able to cancel noise at all, from time to time I was looking at Bose QC noise canceling advertisements and reviews. I had a collection of loyalty points on my old frequent flyer account and considering this a low risk purchase, decided to exchange the points for the QC II set.

And they have been a blast!

Like the original QC1 in 2000, the 2022 QuietComfort Earbuds II are magical. Noise cancelation is orders of magnitude better than Jabra and they are super comfortable in ears too. It has been only 5 flights for me so far with them (including one intercontinental), but I can easily wear them all day, sleep, and of course enjoy the upgrade to the world of quiet in a pocket package.

One wish I could have (and it probably will be less relevant over time) is the charging case could act as a 3.5mm adapter (a 3.5mm Bluetooth transmitter) to use with devices which only have 3.5mm audio output (such as most aircraft entertainment systems today). Although many airlines upgrade their seats to offer personal Bluetooth audio. Again this one is one of the entirely obvious things nobody thought about).