first world problem. Can't decide between the qc25's and the qc20's.
The 20's are nice and small, but not a fan of the battery pack or the proprietry non replaceable, rechargeable batt.
Good noise cancelling they say. good to wear round out of plane

qc25's - bulky but over ear design best for flight noise. probbly not so crsh hot for wearing elsewhere/work but normal earbuds good for that and I have some and can replace for $20 Also like the AAA replaceable batt. reckon they would last longer too.

Anyone got either? Any input? Looking to get from Qantas with points

I've had the QC15 for probably 3-4 yrs now and they are great. I can only imagine the QC25 will be everybit as good and better.

Never had any troubles with them, and you'll wonder how you ever flew without them. Only downsize is size, as if you try sleeping with them on, they can be in the way a little bit.

I've got a set of the 25's. Very comfortable for long flights as they rest on the skull instead of squashing the ears.

I have the qc20i and the qc25. The "i" means they're iphone compatible so you can make calls and control the volume and stuff.

The qc20 ****s all over the qc25.

The qc20 is a a semi-in ear design. They are very comfortable and you don't get hot ears from having muffs pressing on your ears. You don't push them hard into your ears. They just rest in them, although you do get a certain amount of noise blocking from having them on (noise blocking and noise cancelling are different).

The noise cancelling is a whole extra level of better than the older models.

I have no idea what the battery life is. The longest I have used mine is for a 17 hours flight and they were fine for that. Most airline seats have a usb port and power so it's not a problem to charge them if you want to.

The best thing is they are tiny and fit in your pocket and they work as excellent headphones even without power. I use mine almost every day. They are so much better than lugging ginormous great headphone around.

I should sell the qc25. They just sit in the cupboard not being used. I keep them in case the missus wants to use them on a trip. She never has.

PS You need to understand the difference between "noise cancelling" and "noise blocking".

Noise cancelling is where you have little microphones in the headphones. It detects the noise coming in and creates a counter wave that cancels out the noise. It works really well for continuous machine noise like jet engines or air conditioners, traffic hum or whatever. It doesn't really work at all for random noises like people talking or babies crying.

Noise blocking or noise isolating is where you cover your ears or put plugs in them to keep noise out. It can only block noise up to 35db. You can't get any better than that because you can't get a perfect seal in or around your head, and the noise travels through your head anyway.

I know its not what you asked, but I have the QC15s too, and they make it great to listen to music on a plane, something which I never thought would be good!

They are also good for blocking out some office noise, but sometimes its not enough.

FlySurfer said..
I've been disappointed with every Bose I've bought... and I keep falling for peoples "It's amazing".
Latest piece of carp I bought everyone says is amazing "SoundLink Mini"... wft is wrong with peoples hearing????

Hmmm... FWIW I have a set of 25yo BOSE 301 Series III lounge speakers... they get used nearly every day and I cannot find any reason whatsoever to consider replacing them.

QC25's here . Had em for prob near on 3 years and still going strong . I would say i get probably 40 odd hours out of a AAA battery . the wife uses them at home to watch her stupid youtube videos while i watch real shows like gold coast cops etc .

I've worn em from sydney to santiago for pretty much the entire flight and never felt any discomfort or warmth . Highly rate them

Noise Cancelling?, Normally when i put speakers into my ears i am trying to hear noise.
For noise cancelling i just use my fingers

PS The qc20 have better sound with the noise cancelling turned off ie just working as normal headphones. The noise cancelling takes some of the presence out of the bass sounds.

I have had a Bose sound system at home for the past 20 years. It's a great home sound system because everything just disappears into the house.

It's not a patch on an audiophile system where you want super thumping bass and and super sharp highs and all that stuff.

To an extent audiophiles are wankers. They care more about the gear that is playing the music than the quality of the music itself. I have vinyl and CD and MP3. MP 3 wins by miles in terms of actually listening to the music.

Am I the only one that gets bothered by the newer style in-ear headphone buds? I can't stand them and I hear my own voice resonating in them.

The older style in-ear buds that are not that flexible plastic thing are okay, but all the new ones seem to be made the new way and I hate them. That includes the noise cancelling ones that I bought. I suspect its something with me that's different as other people use them without problems.

There's no comparison to Bose noise-cancelling headphones... I've tried a bunch of brands and they don't even come close.

I got both the 25 and 20's. Sold the 25's for a few reasons, the main one being related to flying:

- The 25s are too big to carry everywhere (the 20's you can shove in your pocket or slip just one in your ear and listen to the radio walking but still hear outside noise)
- The 25s are uncomfortable in some aeroplane seats because they rub against the pads you are leaning your head on in the seat and make strange noises (the 20's don't).

I fly A TON all year and swear by the 20s. I'll never go back to normal headphones. I even use them as ear plugs (without sound) if I'm sleeping at a hotel with loud car traffic. They don't get sore in your ears as someone said earlier, they just 'sit' in there, you don't press them in very hard. I get around 20 hours out of a charge.

Noise cancelling headphones.......phffffffft.
I just rock it old school, cant even hear the other people on the plane yelling "TURN IT DOWN" so, yes, they cancel out noise no probs.
And you look heaps cool.