A comfort-and-noise-cancelling-first wireless over-ear, and the last QuietComfort before Bose folded the line into the 2023 QuietComfort Headphones. Across editorial, measurement, video and owner sources, comfort is the one strong consensus — light, gently clamped and easy to wear for hours — and noise cancellation is rated best- or near-best-in-class, with a minority put off by a faint hiss in silence and by the fact it can't be fully switched off. The sound is where sources divide almost evenly: roughly half hear a balanced, easy, near-target voicing and half a bright, forward one; the treble reads as clean to some and shrill to others; the bass is full to some, light to others and too much to a few; and detail is called excellent by some critics and unremarkable by others. Three independent measurement rigs agree on the shape behind the argument — a moderate bass lift, an emphasis around 5–6 kHz and a notch near 8 kHz. Value splits the same way, though that was judged mostly at its $329 launch price, well above what it sells for now. Owners add a durability footnote: earpads that wear out in a year or two, and mixed reports on reliability and Bluetooth switching.
About this product
The 2021 'QC45' — the successor to the QC35 II, and the direct predecessor to the plain 2023 'Bose QuietComfort Headphones' (near-identical shell, same $329 launch price). Not the flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, the older Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, nor the in-ear QuietComfort Earbuds. Bose no longer sells it directly; it remains on sale through retailers.
Bose's QuietComfort 45 arrived in September 2021 as the long-awaited follow-up to the QC35 II, keeping the formula that made the QuietComfort line a travel default — light, gentle-clamping comfort and class-leading noise cancellation — while finally moving to USB-C. Outwardly it barely changed: the same understated plastic shell, the same folding design and compact case, the same $329 launch price.
It has since been replaced by the plain QuietComfort Headphones and now sells well below its launch price. What it's remembered for is a split personality: reviewers and owners agree almost unanimously on the quiet and the comfort, and argue about nearly everything to do with the sound — whether it's balanced or bright, whether the bass is right, light or too much, and whether it was ever worth full price.
