Needless to say that king of sounds Bose tops in Noise Cancellation technology with its numerous patents preventing any competition to take over its share in the NC headphones market. So in quest of having improved product lineup, here is Bose QuietComfort 35 series II introduced replacing the old QuietComfort 35 Series I Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones. And it will be interesting to see the difference of Bose QuietComfort 35 II vs 35

So in this post I will narrate on the offers from Bose on the Series II improved headphones.

Honestly there are only two improvements made by Bose in series II headphones compared to the Series I, first being introduction of dedicated Google assistant button and second is control of noise cancellation from your headphone instead of App. Rest all features including color and build remained the same, we will see the common features later in the blog post.

Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II vs Series I – What’s the difference ?

I) Dedicated Google Assistant Button on the QC35 II [and Siri]

Bose’s QuietComfort line has capability to trigger your device’s built-in assistant using Apple’s MFi controls (Made For iPhone). So holding down the play/pause button brings Siri (or Google, or Alexa) up to the forefront and let you chat with little delay.

For the Series II, Bose has introduced the new Google Assistant Action Button. Please note that it will work only Android 7.0 or newer.

All that you have to do is press and hold the GAA button to activate the Google Assistant, now you are ready to give commands and check calendar events, send messages, interact with your notifications, control music playback and more. So this provides an edge over Series I headphones, wherein you need to reach to your phone in pocket to activate the GAA, so life made simple, easy and quick with Series II GAA button.

Further the good news is that the Google Assistant is also compatible with your iPhone. Simply download the Google Assistant App from iTunes, install and get ready to go into the virtual world of wireless commands !

II) Control over Active Noise Cancellation from Your Headphones

After introduction of the QC35 model, in the initial few months, it was lacking with ANC adjustment provision in wireless mode. Later Bose released a firmware update which allowed to turn ANC OFF. However it was still manual process using the Bose Connect app

So with introduction of QC35 Series II improved version, Bose has facilitated easy way to adjust the ANC levels at simple click of the Action Button. Press of action button once will block out the outside noise 100% level, pressing it second time will allow partial noises from outside environment, lastly the third press will turn off noise cancellation. [High, Low, Off cycle at press of button]

Hardware Differences

Both the QC 35 I and II supports Bluetooth and NFC wireless audio pairing, this support is provided to all the compatible devices out of the box.

QC35 I and II have an inline mic, Micro-USB charging port, and play/pause/volume buttons built into the right ear-cup

Noise cancellation and sound

Both Series I & II offers Bose’s top-tier adaptive noise-cancellation technology which is identified as one of Best in world delivering top notch performance.

For the function of NC both the Q35 I and II use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. In case you are exhausted out of battery power you can use the wired configuration without enabling the noise cancellation switch.

The delivered sound can be controlled using volume-optimized equalizer settings within the app, giving you precise control for tuning the music experience.

Buying Tip : Adaptive noise cancellation for both these headphones work slightly lower performance in NC in windy environment, so if you want to use them for outdoors most of the time, please check the performance before you buy them.

Bluetooth & NFC

Both of the QC35 models can be used wire free in either Bluetooth 4.1 or NFC configurations.

Both of them support the Multi-point technology, which means your  QC35 headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time. As an example, you can connect your QC35 to an iPad and a smartphone at the same time. Now if you’re watching video on the connected iPad and get a call, the headphones will automatically pause the video and allow you to answer a call from the connected smartphone. After the call is closed, the headphones automatically switches back to the video on the iPad.

Battery

Both the QC35 Series I and Series II delivers 20 hours of music playtime, with Noise cancellation mode functional.

You can fully charge them within couple of hours over the Micro-USB.

Now here the QC35 II also supports quick-charging technology, which means, within 15 minutes of charging your headset will deliver 2.5+ hours of listening time.

If you wish to get best music playtime, simply switch on to QC35 II’s Low setting, and you can double the battery life somewhere close to 40 hours of battery even when used wireless !

Controls and design

Both the QC35 models look identical with the folding plastic-and-foam body with synthetic protein leather ear cups and a plush Alcantara microfiber headband.

Both are equally comfortable to keep give you comfort during long time music listening.

Both have a single side switch and a bottom-mounted 3.5 mm hole on the left earcup for the headphone cord.

Colors

Honestly you have fairly limited color choices for these Bose wireless headphones.

Both QC35 models are available in a slightly more professional-looking black and silver coloration

Tip : If you wish to get a discontinued “midnight blue” edition of the QC35 I search on eBay !

Price – Should I buy the Bose QuietComfort 35 II ?

Get the latest model Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II

While I am writing this post in June 2018, the price difference in Series I and Series II models is only $20, which means spending very high amount for Buying QC35 Series I you get an outdated technically discontinued product by Bose !

So by price premium of only $20, you can get brand NEW Series II headphones, with multiple levels of noise cancellation and deep integration with Google Assistant — mostly helpful for Android users, plus the existing iPhone owners get an  advantage of the feature using the Google app.