
- BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY UPDATE
- BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY ANDROID
- BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY SERIES
BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY UPDATE
However, that same report notes that the most recent firmware update did not touch the portions of the code that are responsible for ANC, making customer complaints about degraded performance a mystery.Īdding some fuel to the customers’ complaints was an independent test conducted by which appeared to reinforce what people had been saying, even if the degradation Rtings noticed was not particularly significant. In the years prior to this update, Bose had indeed encountered concerns with QC35 ANC performance following previous firmware updates - something it details at length in a report evaluating the 4.5.2 issue. “I get bothered by background sounds I would never even hear and there is little difference between the LOW and HIGH ANC setting,” one customer wrote. Not long after the update was applied, Bose’s forum began to fill with reports that ANC performance had degraded significantly. That’s the TL DR (too long didn’t read) version of what has been a bizarre chapter in Bose’s relationship with its highly loyal customers, a chapter that started in June 2019 when the company issued its 4.5.2 firmware update to owners of its QC35 noise-canceling headphones.
BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY SERIES
What do you do when hundreds of your customers are willing to swear on the Bible that your firmware update royally messed up their favorite feature, even though your own tests prove otherwise? If you’re Bose, and the feature in question is active noise cancellation on one of your bestselling headphones - the QC35 series - you apparently reverse a long-standing policy and let those customers downgrade their firmware. The QC35 II can now be downgraded to 4.3.6 and the QC35 series 1 to 2.5.5 via the Bose BTU website for a "limited time. As a result, Bose has chosen to allow users to rollback firmware on the Bose QC35. Nonetheless, the report's findings may have not been enough to deal with the level of criticism the firmware update caused.

TechRepublic: Phishing emails claim recipient has been infected with coronavirus "Our firmware update strategy is focused on improving product performance, adding new features, fixing bugs and maintaining interoperability." "QC35 headphones are engineered to deliver world-class Noise Cancellation and we would never intentionally downgrade the performance of our products in the field," the team said. The Bose team was also keen to emphasize that downgrades would never be implemented in covert sales strategies. The headphones manufacturer said that the firmware update does not impact ANC and the company was "not able to replicate the concerns of our customers," despite a large number of reports and complaints from the community.ĬNET: How T-Mobile's John Legere changed the mobile world for the better A third-party acoustics test laboratory was also hired to independently analyze the impact of firmware 4.5.2 on noise cancellation performance. As fury mounted over the course of months, on Thursday, a Bose community manager released the results of an investigation into the issue.īose's investigation included testing new headphones and those returned by customers in a range of environments. However, other users commented that they had not experienced any difference in ANC quality.įorum users requested a fix for the ANC issue or a way to roll back the changes.

One user went as far as to accuse Bose of "deliberately breaking the firmware when they have a new product that comes out," saying that "they did this same thing when they updated the QC35 to the QC35II."

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BOSE QC35 FIRMWARE VERSION HISTORY ANDROID
The 4.5.2 was intended to fix an Android security bug, improve stability, and bolster performance.Īs reported by The Register, the update - which was automatic - prompted a torrent of complaints that the software change had "severely" degraded the quality of the active noise cancellation (ANC) feature.įorum users in a 232-page thread said that the update "totally destroyed the ANC," that "ANC is broken," and while ANC on the High setting used to be "very comfortable and efficient," many users said there was no noticeable difference between Low and High settings after accepting the update. The saga began with the release of firmware version 4.5.2 for the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 headphones.
