The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II Review deliver clean and crisp sound, but the asking price gives you plenty of scope to shop around.
Bose sells itself as a premium brand, and as such it should be no shock that the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II attract a premium price. They’re typically available in the local market for $379, which is a solid price to pay for a set of Bluetooth headphones.
One thing that you might associate with Bose headphones is noise cancellation, but you’ll have to look further up the Bose pricing scale to get active cancellation. The best the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II manage is noise isolation due to the fact that they sit over your ears during playback. Predictably on warmer days this can lead to some discomfort if you’re wearing them for an extended period of time.
Controls on the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II are simple and straightforward, with a power switch that also flicks upwards to engage pairing mode, play and volume buttons on the right earcup and a standard 3.5mm audio jack on the left cup if you want to go down a cabled route. The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II will pair with up to two devices simultaneously, dropping out the oldest paired device if you start the pairing process afresh. The one slightly jarring aspect here is that Bose’s default pairing voice is exceptionally robotic, sounding as though they’ve mixed it on a Commodore 64 for some inexplicable reason. That doesn’t affect the ability to pair, but it’s incongruent when it happens.
Audio quality is what Bose sells itself on, and here the Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II mostly acquit themselves well. Everyone’s got their own favourite balance metrics, including Bose, and the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II are generally tuned for a clear and slightly bass-light sound. If you favour your music on the seriously booming side they might not fit, but for more general pop, rock or classical duties the sound that’s put out by the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II is very good indeed.
Bluetooth fidelity itself was reasonable, with decent reception in a 10 metre radius to a tested and paired iPhone 6s, Google Nexus 6P and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ as the test platforms. As always with Bluetooth your experiences may vary over time, but the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II didn’t skip a beat during my testing.
Charging the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II is via a microUSB port located on the right earpiece. Bose rates the battery on the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II as being good for up to 15 hours of battery usage, and my own tests matched that figure closely with moderate volume levels. You’re reminded of the battery level every time you switch on the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, so unless you’re going on a very long-haul flight you should have ample opportunities to recharge.
The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II fold down flat for carrying in the supplied pouch, which can also hold the supplied USB and 3.5mm audio cables, although they don’t then also fold into themselves, so they’re going to loom large in your luggage compared to fully foldable headphones.
I also tested taking calls on the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II via a paired iPhone 6s with callers reporting no particular noise issues for voice pickup. It’s still remarkably strange feeling to talk to thin air while wearing headphones, and people in the street will look at you strangely when you do so. They do work this way, however, so if you’re only pairing them with a phone, you can easily use them as your single calling point.
The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II are a good set of headphones. They’re well balanced, they’re comfortable to wear and the controls are placed such that you very quickly remember where everything is when you’re wearing them.
As with much of Bose’s output, it’s worth considering your options. If you’re not after noise cancellation, The Plantronics Backbeat Sense headphones are considerably more portable than the Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II. If you’re a stickler for musical fidelity, while they’re much more expensive, the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless Headphones are also well worth checking out. The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II are certainly worth their money, but at their asking price, you’re in a space with a lot of other options as well.