Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones for Apple Devices (Black)

Product Information

I’ve seen plots of the sound-dampening capabilities of a handful of various models, measured across the audible frequency spectrum. There’s a switch on the side of the 7 mm thin battery (it’s 91 mm long by 28.5 mm wide) to turn the noise cancelling system on or off. From “R.B.” (February 2014): “I was very interested in reading all of the comments about the earphones. I have not yet tried them on my Yamaha Tenere but will as soon as the winter subsides.

I’m not even sure most tiny earphone drivers can handle the power necessary to produce noise-cancelling sound waves of sufficient amplitude to effectively cancel the loud road noise motorcyclists are exposed to at highway speeds.

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A lot of people will think they're overpriced, and they'd be right to think that. But for a certain subset of the headphone-buying population, the QC20s are an excellent product that's strongly worth considering. In fact, for some reason, helmet wind noise seems more noticeable when wearing the Bose QC20 headphones than when wearing the Moldex PuraFit 6800 ear plugs. The new eartip design has the added benefit of creating a more airtight seal between the ear and the earbud, which results in better bass and overall audio sound. Unfortunately, driving a motorcycle with those sorts of big sound isolating headphones would prevent us from wearing a motorcycle helmet. I’m not sure that’s a tradeoff that a motorcyclist should make. We tested the QC 20i version with an iPhone 4S.Call clarity through the inline mic is about what you'd expect—your call partner will understand you just fine, but with cellular fidelity, you're not exactly going to hear a pin drop.

These are, after all, simply a pair of speakers you put in your ears. It’s difficult or nigh impossible to know how well they will hold up over the long term. And there is that price… So I am comparing the Bose QuietComfort 20 in-ear headphones to other noise cancelling earbuds we have reviewed on webBikeWorld and also to the Moldex PuraFit 6800 ear plugs that are a favorite around here. The button or buttons (for the 20i version) on the mic allows you to answer and hang up on a cell phone call if the headphones are attached to it. So currently, at best, this device can only cancel persistent and consistent noise. There might still be hope for the future, however.Examples: like wind whistling and ripping around your helmet, as well as erratic sounds like exhaust “pops” or pulses that change with engine RPM. We noticed this right away and just about every time I try them in a new sound environment, I’m very impressed. The Bose QC20 system battery had a full charged when ours arrived. Bose claims that the battery will recharge in about two hours and should last for about 16 hours of noise cancellation time. Their design is very similar to Bose's MIE2i headphones, which you don't jam into your ear like many in-ear models. Rather, they rest more loosely in your ears, which is what makes them so comfortable to wear. I’m willing to bet that the Bose QC20 earphones used in active cancellation mode under big over-the-ear sound isolation headphones, like those used at a gun range, would get us very close to that level of performance.

Then there is another reason to use them for music on the bike and that is the total amount of sound for your poor ears. Aware mode (which lets you hear your surroundings without removing the headphones) is useful, but seems slightly less loud than competing models. Bose ostensibly aims to recreate the actual levels you would hear around you, which is a noble pursuit, but sometimes you might want more volume, or more of the high-mid and high frequencies that make voices more intelligible (especially with music playing). QuietComfort 45 Sound Quality It’s quite possible that earphone drivers are inherently limited to avoid such sound pressure levels for safety’s sake.

As I get older, I discover the importance of all of the hearing I lost by being ‘tough’ and cranking up the sound to shout above the wind noise or the earplug in between. Because of this, it seems that this sort of technology will only ever be able to cancel out consistent, repetitive sound waves that the sound-cancellation algorithm assumes will continue, unchanged, into the future. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test. A Familiar Design