Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2023): problems, parts and running costs

Checked: 2026-10-08

Summary

The 2023 Bose QuietComfort Headphones are comfortable over-ears with top-tier noise cancelling and a genuine 24-hour battery, but owners report intermittent audio cutouts, hiss and multipoint instability. There is no subscription and the ear cushions are the only wear item, so yearly running cost is near zero; at $200 or less they are a strong buy, $201-279 is fair value and $280-349 is weak value at full MSRP. [3][5][9]

Common problems and fixes

Intermittent audio cutouts, crackling and hiss — several r/bose owners report dropouts and hiss; one returned two pairs over a cutout/hiss issue before switching models, another reports hiss from the ANC that feels like a sudden pressure change, and a third says the headphones connect with no sound about half the time. Bose’s intermittent-audio article gives troubleshooting steps; no defect rate is published. [9][11][12]
Bluetooth multipoint instability — owners report multipoint connections that need disabling and re-enabling to work. Workaround: turn multipoint off and back on. [9]
ANC cannot be turned off — there is no ANC-off mode; Quiet mode is the minimum, so there is no passive listening once the battery is dead. This is a design choice with no fix. [4][11]
Divisive default tuning — SoundGuys measured over-emphasized sub-bass and a treble peak at 6-8kHz that some listeners find fatiguing; adjust with the Bose Music app EQ. [6]

Parts and consumables

Yearly running cost

There is no subscription and the Bose Music app is free. The only wear item is the ear cushions, whose replacement price was not found in the sources, so budget for pads rather than a recurring fee. Not enough data to give a per-year figure. [1][2]

When it is a good buy

Bose launched the model at $349 in September 2023; PCMag noted street prices around $229 that year, and CNET in 2026 still cites them down to $229. At $200 or less they are a strong buy for the ANC and comfort, $201-279 is fair value against more feature-rich rivals, and $280-349 is weak value at full MSRP. Against the Sony WH-1000XM5, choose the Bose when comfort and noise cancelling matter more than codecs and features. [2][3][4][14]