I’ve never understood the hype around AirPods noise cancellation. It’s been noticeably worse than Bose from the beginning and I just keep going back to Bose. I don’t know how others may rank, but it’s just that I was using Bose noise cancellation headphones since before Apple got into headphones and as much as I like the form factor of AirPods every time I use them on a flight or something I feel like I’m punishing myself for not using the Bose ones. Have always been curious if I’m alone in this as so many people sing praises for AirPod Pros, anyone else relate?
Can you imagine a post on HN where someone says "when Bose announced QuiteComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen I was so excited!".
Apple has a serious reality distortion field about it. For normal products this would have been a return. See recent "Apple allows icon opacity adjustment".
are you comparing bose over-ear headphones to airpods or bose earbuds?
Not OP but I have had a set of the bose noise canceling earbuds that I have worn 5 days a a week for over 5 years now and absolutely love them. Noise canceling is excellent, comparable to the over-the-ear-style.
My main complaint is the onboarding process really pushes you to install their app. It is entirely unnecessary (can configure them by various tap codes) but still annoying they don't tell you that until you install the app...
I have both. Over the ear is better but the earbuds that are 10+ years old are also better than recent APP2. I’ve not tried 3 and probably won’t.
The form factor is ridiculous by APP2 standards. There’s a corded stick that I assume has all the components in it as back then they wouldn’t fit in earbuds themselves. That’s apples main innovation. But, honestly, when I’m on a flight I will take a 10% performance boost over a slicker design or smaller form factor. My guess is they’re at least 50% better and only slightly inferior to over the ear ones.
All said, I usually just take my over the ear bose on a flight. I got the APP2 specifically for that purpose but they are awful in my opinion. About once a year I make the mistake of trying them out again and immediately regret it before the plane even starts taxiing.