I have a 3 year old pair of QC 35 (I), and actually prefer the ANC sensation and lack of city noises. I really do prefer this model from the dozens I tried precisely because their ANC seems be the strongest/best currently available. I don't see any advantage in the QC 35 II, only disadvantages with mandatory Google/Alexa. I'm not married to any particular brand.
Also, I've gone through 9-10 pairs of ear cushions. The first 3 I got free (which retail for an insane $35 each), and the rest I bought from AliExpress in bulk for $6 each, which are 80% as good as the originals.
The QC 35 really hates moisture. Ever since one episode where they got a bit too damp, any amount of humidity now causes one ear cup to whine/hum at a low volume before exploding to full, deafening, microphone-speakers PA-system-like feedback right in your ear. I suspect some corrosion/intermittent short on the PCB and I'll go full Louis Rossmann if it gets worse or the battery degrades too much. I'm not handing $400 to Bose, Apple or anybody every 2 years because of their greedy cash-grabbing engineering products to fail/be avoidably fragile. (Tim Cook really ruined basically ALL consumer electronics, small and major appliances because said brands who cargo-culted Apple's approach now treat customers like idiots, hiked prices on their over-designed, over-engineered, under-tested products. I just saw a CBC video on kitchen appliance in Canada and customers keep buying crappy, defect models in droves that fail just outside of the warranty. That looks like a Lemon Law class-action lawsuit waiting to happen IYAM. The original MBPs and the ones from 2012-2013 were fairly well-made and upgradable.)
Also, I've gone through 9-10 pairs of ear cushions. The first 3 I got free (which retail for an insane $35 each), and the rest I bought from AliExpress in bulk for $6 each, which are 80% as good as the originals.
The QC 35 really hates moisture. Ever since one episode where they got a bit too damp, any amount of humidity now causes one ear cup to whine/hum at a low volume before exploding to full, deafening, microphone-speakers PA-system-like feedback right in your ear. I suspect some corrosion/intermittent short on the PCB and I'll go full Louis Rossmann if it gets worse or the battery degrades too much. I'm not handing $400 to Bose, Apple or anybody every 2 years because of their greedy cash-grabbing engineering products to fail/be avoidably fragile. (Tim Cook really ruined basically ALL consumer electronics, small and major appliances because said brands who cargo-culted Apple's approach now treat customers like idiots, hiked prices on their over-designed, over-engineered, under-tested products. I just saw a CBC video on kitchen appliance in Canada and customers keep buying crappy, defect models in droves that fail just outside of the warranty. That looks like a Lemon Law class-action lawsuit waiting to happen IYAM. The original MBPs and the ones from 2012-2013 were fairly well-made and upgradable.)