Bose 12+

I have had any number of non-Apple truly wireless headphons, including the Beats Studio Buds, many pairs of Ankers, and the Jabra Elite 75 and 7. All were fine, with their share of shortcomings. I decided to treat myself to a premium pair. I tried the Sony WF1000XM5s and didn't find the noise cancellation to be markedly better than others for 1/3 the price. I then tried the Quiet Comfort IIs and really liked them but then the Ultras came out and they were life-changing. There is this incredible sense of serenity when I turn on the ANC in the subway to work and hear that reassuring hush that locks me into a podcast or audiobook and shuts out the craziness around me. They are quite comfortable and the app is pretty straightforward, though perhaps every 4th or 5th use I have to do a little fiddling to get a connection. I have an iPhone 15 and I probably could have gotten Airpods, but those don't fit my ears well and the Bose have been a wonderful alternative. I have a pair of full sized over the ear Ankers for a long flight, but these are perfect as my daily driver headphones.

I just unboxed my QC earbuds and tried them out for a while before updating them. I definitely liked them better before the update for what some might seem like a minor reason, but I think is important. Using the old favorites options for noise canceling control I think was the better move. I’ve never been a fan really of the announcements appearing for just about everything on the earbuds, but for the most part its been my experience that they stay out of the way. Keep in mind I’m upgrading from the soundsport frees, so the announcer isn’t new to me. It’s nice for calls and battery level, but otherwise I don’t want to hear it. It announcing every single mode when I’m cycling cancelation modes actually bugs me. It was not that way with the old firmware I upgraded from which used the old favorites options instead of modes. They were simply subtle changes you just heard without announcement. I know some would appreciate the announcements so they know what mode they're using, especially in a nosier setting, but I’d prefer being able to suppress the announcements. TL;DR I know what my modes would be, I know what order they would be in. I don’t really want to hear them read off when switching, especially if I’m listening to something quiet in a quiet room, as it actually becomes somewhat disruptive…

It’s great! Omg I thought I would never get it to complete setup and recognize the Bose Home 300. I think it was a cord issue...the main power cord. I moved it around a bit and all of a sudden the Bose app is telling me to finalize setup! I finally saw a new screen with all kinds of options! My Alexa music is connected and I can just say “Alexa” and the Bose speaker does what I say.

Now if you want to set presets while playing music from Alexa (not sure about other services) you can’t just tap “Set preset” in the app. You have to actually start your music from the app, not speaking telling Alexa to play whatever. But FIRST you have to tap the speaker image in the lower right corner, then select your Bose speaker, go to the music you want to play and you’ll see a “Set Preset” button...go from there. Maybe if it’s bluetoothed, like to play through Apple Music...then you could just press and hold to preset? Haven’t tried that yet. I’m afraid I might mess up the setup I finally completed if I switch to Bluetooth. I see in the latest update that you can now log in through your Apple ID...I haven’t seen that yet or how to change it rather and my app is up to date: 3.3.4. Hm....

I’m just so happy to have it set up and be able to play music and adjust the sound through the app while I’m outside!