BOSE QC25 Headphones - Teardown - Breakdown
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2017
- On a recent flight to Turkey, my BOSE QC25 noise cancelling non- bluetooth headphones stopped working in the left channel. Lets take them apart and find out what went wrong with the intention of repairing them... Technical review and teardown.
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Bloody unbelievable BOSE! - You should be spanked for this... Amazing engineering, let down by cheap driver inserts... please please sort your quality control! - Anyway, glad I found a fix.... to all those watching, I'm very happy to try and help you... please don't hesitate to ask questions ...
The left speaker off my QC25 doesn't play in the bass-section, only hights. So i guess it's messed up. Are there any speakers around that i can use and sounds equal to the original?
If it’s making sounds, it probably isn’t the speaker... but you can have a look on eBay for QC25 replacement insert.... and try to replace it... it’s a 50/50 chance...
I'm not sure, maybe the coil doesn't move freely at all.Just enough to make some, well, noise or hisses
Sorry for my bad english btw...
No problem! ... if you look, you will see how I repair the speaker with a hair dryer, to melt the glue. Maybe you are right, the speaker makes small moves! ... look for my repair nose headphones with hairdryer video!
Both noise cancellation and speaker went out simultaneously. Do you think there's a chance this could only be a cable?
Thank you from across the North Sea. You helped me repair my headphones - and saved my day.
Great to hear!
Pro tip: the glue can be typically melted if you heat the headphones close to 60 degree celsius. Hairdryer is typically good enough for that.
Heat definitely helps, however some people have reported that they changed glue on newer models making almost impossible to replace the speakers
Exact same headphones. I had my left ear die flying out of Australia to the Netherlands, 28 hours there and back without headphone (except the crappy aircraft ones). Was going to do a video as well in frustration. Thank you very much for saving my time fault finding and making a video. A great video with great detail. Thank you.
Absolute pleasure my friend, hope everythings working well for you now!
Thanks man, I finally got around to fixing them.
Much appreciated.
Glad I could help
3:53 I'm pretty sure that the mic with the sealing is actually used to record your own voice, only. The noise cancelling works by calculating the difference *inside* the cup compared to signal emitted by the speaker. This is because the cancellation signal needs to be different in you have e.g. eye glasses or thick hair which may prevent fully sealing the cups to your head and that must be compensated, too. I believe QC25 has two mics for recording your own voice and two mics (one in each earcup) for the noise cancellation.
OK very interesting, so it's only listening inside the cup, the external mics are only for phone calls and not actively assessing the passive environment.
@@DubiousEngineering Yeah, it doesn't seem to cause any audible change to the headphones even if you e.g. blow air into the outside mics while noise cancelling is active.
@@MikkoRantalainen actually it does... gently rub your finger over that outside mic, you will hear your fingerprint!
@@DubiousEngineering The cup seems to be pretty happy to transmit any vibrations. I don't hear much difference if voice cancellation is on or off while rubbing the cup near the mic hole. That's why you should try it without touching the cups.
I have a pair of these that were discarded for recycling. They don’t have any ear pads. So I was thinking about it there is a way I can pull them apart and make them into noise cancelling sleep headphones or pillow speakers. But when I turn them on, they are easily screeching. Is this just the microphones being too close? Or is there something else I might be missing?
I've not experienced the feedback squeal so can't really advise try covering the outside microphones with bluetack ? Just to see if it helps
@@DubiousEngineering thanks. So far I just settled on trying to put them flat under my pillow, speakers facing up, and it seems to be helping, with no feedback squeal.
Hey, thanks for the video! I have to disassemble the right cup on my QC25 as the switch to turn the NC on/off is malfunctioning, and this video will be great as reference once I get the time to try to fix it :)
No problem! Now you know how many houors and what tools / skills to committ to the project! :-)
Thanks for doing this. I currently have a problem on my qc35 which should be slightly different due to the integrated circuitry but overall it will probably be the same basic design
I really hope it helps with the QC35s thanks for taking time out to comment... here’s a little preview of a future video release th-cam.com/video/s_mW2d-HNw0/w-d-xo.html
For being so kind and taking time to chat... here's a little preview of the next video! Please don't hesitate to thumbs up if you like it!! th-cam.com/video/-7n-FJI2iGU/w-d-xo.html
do you think it is possible to record the left and right signal from the headphones once they are opened...is it just a question of connecting the copper wires to the exposed solder joints? (purpose is to record with the sound changing algorithm in line ....
John O'Neill yes absolutely... you will have trailing cables and need to reduce the sound output with a potentiometer or resistor network... but not too complicated :-)
@@DubiousEngineering Much obliged for the quick reply, thanks
My pleasure!! :-)
I had the same issue with the right driver and I realized that the voice coil wires are glued to the back of the diaphragm. Since I developed small transducers like this myself, I know that this is a bad idea, yet I refuse to call this a design flaw. These headphones are such a well engineered piece that I hardly believe they fail by accident after 3 or 4 years. So sad.
Thanks 🙏 Markus... exactly... engineered to fail... and make money
Does anyone have a reference to original speaker part used by Bose in the QC15 ?
Just answered this...
Theres a video out there called how to fix yout bose qc 25 with a piece of paper. I got really surprised when it really worked out for my headphones but I dont undersand how did it work. Maybe you could know the answer?
Put a little pressure on the headphones in the right place and the wires make contact again... but it’s only a short term fix as the speaker will die again in the future... best solution is to replace the speaker with a new one!
hey im a year late but what function does the mic on the driver have?
Compares the output of the driver with the noise levels outside.
Bose should be taken to court over this obvious case of planned obsolescence. An hour or so of research online reveals dozens of examples of this very problem. At £270 rrp a pop this is scandalous!
Tony Ward agreed... they have massive issues with QC25 ... still, they probably have some serious return in warranty bills to pay...
Tried to fire up my old QC15's the other day only to find that the battery inside had leaked and the headphones wound't turn on, even with a new, good replacement battery. Going to open them up and see if I can fix them before turning to eBay for another set. Any advice on what to look for given the circumstances?
I always remove the battery when the device is not in use.
@@crawfish069 Yeah. It was definitely a mistake to leave it in.
leaky battery... damn nightmare!
To get the missing spare part, you could also search for broken second hand unit for spare parts. If somebody has e.g. broken the headband of their unit, they may be willing to sell it for cheap and you get the missing driver + lots of extra spare parts.
Great idea ! 💡
Appreciate the tutorial. Had mine for a solid amount of time, wouldn't be here if mine weren't in need of a lil fix. Tore. Them apart to find the wires in the adjustment bracket being jammed by every up and down moment 😂 thanks
Absolute pleasure! - Thanks for your kind words!!
@@DubiousEngineering appreciate the kind tutorial!
the speakers are made by renensin the failure is not entirely boses fault they even did extended warranty / out of warranty repair for a while. later models have fixed this issue.
problem is, the copper cable on the mylar membrane is at a steep angle which bends it on bass heavy music, until it breaks. later models have the wire on an angle to increase the bend radius / make it a torsion stress which is less likely to break.
This is really great information, thanks... I guessed the copper wire fatigues, but wasnt sure how... thankyou!!
Tip from another video. Use a heat gun/hair dryer to get rid of the glue when disassembling. However it may push the glue into unwanted areas causing additional problems (not sure)
Don’t use a heat gun... they melt the plastic casing... but the hair dryer works great!!!
Had a similar problem on a long flight, it's no fun :-(
I happen to find a bose shop in the city I landed in and figured there was no harm in asking, and amazingly they give me a replacement set straight away. Apparently it's a common fault, some of the cable they used in the earlier models was too thin and wore down very quickly.
Oooh... more fool me for not asking their customer service desk!!...
I have a similar but slightly different problem. The right earphone stops working when the noise cancelling button is turned on, (left earphone works). But both earphones work when noise cancelling is turned off which is fine except when on an airplane and really need the noise cancelling feature. I took apart the right earphone as you showed and measured the resistance of the driver. It read 30 ohms. Does that mean that I have a different problem? Have you or anyone come across this and can offer a suggestion?
Yes sounds like the speaker is ok if it’s reading 30ohns... sounds like you have a DSP chip problem
Exactly the same problem right now and seems like we are not the only ones. That model definitely has a defect.
Yes sir ... This is the primary reason I made these videos... to try to help those that suffer ... they always seem to fail just outside of the warranty period too! ... Hope you can fix it!! - I have other tutorials that you may find useful... all the best, Howard
Hello there! Great videos.
I have a Bose QC 35 ll.
So the problem i having is that in the right ear theres a little tlinging noise, as somthing is loose inside, is driving me crazy. Would u try to guess please where u imagin that problem could it be? I know I asking kind magic jeje
hocus locus ... let me look into my crystal ball.... nah... take it apart and see!
I have the same exact problem. Dod you ever figure it out?
10:20 The idea of the microphone inside the headphones is to listen the audio that's actually heard. Since the electronics knows the true signal that's going to be played and it can measure the sound from that microphone, any difference is noise that should be cancelled. The hard part is that you have to predict future noise to filter it out because by the time you measure noise from that microphone, it's already too late to try to cancel that.
Luckily low frequency noise has long wavelength which makes it easier to cancel it without phase issues. And high frequency noise is easy to reduce simply by having airtight enclosure.
All the glue from 11:00 onwards is needed to make the enclosure airtight. I don't understand why they used such hard glue, though. Basic silicone would have been just as airtight and much easier to remove when needed.
I wondered if that might be the case, then the DSP can adjust the sound of the speaker to linear levels
@@DubiousEngineering Yes, the correction required depends on the driver and enclosure, though, and the closer you can get the repairs to the original, the closer the algorithm will match the actual driver behavior.
You know why I’ll always buy these expensive headphones? Because of Bose customer service. I had a QC25 pair and they broke. I went to the Bose store in Palo Alto California and asked the guy how much it would cost to fix them. He said one minute walked into the back grabbed me a brand new pair and said here you go. He just took my old pair. I had those headphones for over a year before they broke and he replaced them no questions asked.
Now... that’s a nice story... here in the UK they are less likely to be so helpful... :-)
I subscribed just for that mandatory channel promoting at the beginning being perfect
... this is one of the old videos... I have stepped up my game!! ... thanks for subscribing... hope I can keep you entertained with interesting engineering shenanigans!!
Here is a little preview for those that take time to comment... th-cam.com/video/ig7wZoKXvkA/w-d-xo.html
subscribed and shared that was interesting
Thanks Ziggy! - We get into allsorts of madness on here... some of it educational and some of it plain bonkers... :-)
@@DubiousEngineering pain in the ass usually equals to some great learning experiences.
Ziggy Sputnik damn right’
Ugh I returned my pair. Thankfully the right side came with issues out of the box and I decided to do a quick Google search and found that hundreds of people are having issues with there headphones.
It's such a shame... Glad you were able to return them.... :-)
I love when Phil Collins shows me how to fix shit! This saved me a ton of money!!
Su Su sudio!!! ... you can’t hurry love!!
@@DubiousEngineering - You’re a good sport, man! Cheers!!
How to repair my bluetooth connectivity it's not working
Now that’s a whole different problem!!
I've only got a big soldering iron, does that mean I can only do big things?
Does it have a big tip that gets hot and sweats solder... make sure you use plenty of FLUX
I myself would be very wary of delving into such expensive kit, but if it is broke and you have relevant skills. Then why not, looking forward to the fix
I'm also looking forward to the fix! .. That said, I want to see your channel make more stuff... I liked the look of the rocket lamp you never made... ... hmmm I may have to get the stick welder out!!
+Howard Taylor. th-cam.com/video/_ETTabxmU-A/w-d-xo.html Howard, check out my mate Robert Nurdern where he made a rocket lamp, in fact join in the chat with us on Thursday night live, you will pick up some subs
+ian matthews awww... such a shame, Thursday is my flight back home ... 5pm then the long drive from London... :-(. (Hungary now)
Give the team my best! Keep up the good work... gotta love makers and doers!!
11-16-2018 - - - - I watched your other video where you replaced the (left) speaker. After much heating with hairdryer over the speaker cover, it would not melt the glue. Prying damaged the outer case with the screwdriver. Couldn't get the cover off so reassembled - apparently the glue they used is permanent. (Ping - just got your response to my comment in your repair video - going now to see what's up). Cheers. Maybe their warranty (expired) will cover this???
Again ... I’m gutted to hear that they changed the glue to make them unserviceable... I think that’s very unfair and at this point I won’t buy Bose again! Thanks for your input!!
11-16-2018 - - - - You're welcome. I'll return and post the eventual outcome to this adventure. Cheers.
Yes please!! Very important... we all look forward to seeing your findings!!
@@q7winq7 what's the outcome?
@@bingbong1790 I bought another pair of Bose h-phones with blue tooth. I should have popped more $ for the Alexa headphones with blue tooth. So far phones work great. The ear cushions come apart though because I wear them 40 hours a week at work. Replacement cushions from amazon work great: Wicked Cushions for about $19.00. Cheers.
💯🇺🇸
Why is there a tape covering the drivers?
Ahhhbsorry... this is three years old ... I’d have to take them apart .. Oooh no I sold them ... :-)
Dubious Engineering oh okay then
I was just being curious
Curiosity is a fantastic thing!! Perhaps the key to learning engineering!
in the first 10 minutes of owning a pair, the right side literally stopped working.
It took 3-4 years for my QC15 to have these issues (which is understandable) but for the QC25 it died in 10 MINUTES? WTF?!?!?
I highly recommend getting QC15, don't fall for the "upgrade" trap. The noise reduction is much stronger in QC15 too lol...
Ahhh... now there’s a man with experience... thanks for your feedback and sharing!!
Alfa Q Whats your experience with the bose qc 35’s
Adventurous Doge89 I havent purchased yet, but I am considering buying them. If I do I'll probably let you know this month.
I wish Bose had an upgrade plan so you could trade in older headphones and get 50% off the new price for latest similar models. ... BTW ... I fixed these, it required the use of a hairdryer... and a replacement ear piece speaker from eBay.
you must have had a bad batch.. i have pair... and i just love them..
Have a look through the comments on here... loads of people are struggling... anyway, thanks so much for your comments!!! All the very best!!! Howard
That´s just a matter of time until it hits you. My pair of QC25 had a failing right ear driver after 3y of usage. Bose asked for 155€ to fully replace them. After some arguing they reduced the fare to 75€. Ridicoulus - i bougth a pair of replacement drivers on ebay for 5,89$ and fixed it myself.
Screaming kids.... Are the reason I've had 3-4 of the QC series.
Exactly!!! Screaming kids and engines on planes!!! :-).
@@DubiousEngineering i find the low hum of a jet engine relaxing its just annoying on take-off and when the plane is climbing, when it is on cruising power its really relaxing in my opinion
FLAGMASTER 64 scr4aming kids that can’t adjust their ear pressure... shouldn’t be on planes! ;-)
@@DubiousEngineering true hahah
my left speakers recently died too,and bose asked for 21600 yen(about 200 bucks)for a replacement
John07133 OMG! ... that’s almost as much as a new set of headphones! ... send them to me, I’ll do the job for £50
oh crap I got rid of them and got some other second hand headphones...thanks for the offer tho
John07133 hahaha... never mind! ... hope the new ones are performing to expectations!
Surprised the driver failed normally its the cables that break best headphones i have are a set of chinese bluedio hurricanes ,only ever used on cable as there not as good on bluetooth.Nice fluke multi meter i have a fluke 75.
These drivers seem to fail a lot in BOSE... Buy new and get the extended warrantee for Quiet Comfort is my suggestion.... Its a damn shame, its ruining their reputation...
A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... th-cam.com/video/hAVadIYgLbk/w-d-xo.html
You sound like a pissed off Morph in high speed
Awww I miss morph... and Tony Heart!
This is why I do not buy top brand things especially electronics. They all seem to have quality problems if they are an older established company and the value (quality / price) is still very low. This is especially true for European and American companies. I get more value from a 25 cent Dollar Tree battery than a 3 dollar Duracell. These old companies have enormous administrative expenses and executive contractual bonuses they must cover and they pass the cost to the consumers.
Agreed... some companies are on the wrong path... Its strange, as BOSE has a reputation for quality, but in this case, they have an Achilles heel....
Wow you sound exactly like ProducerMichael 😲
Haha I clearly need to google that!! :-)
Dubious Engineering check him out no TH-cam 😅
Haha... Googled... similar... I like his watches :-)
*Bose* ,Brand Name Headphones are really expensive!!$$$/ For not working, with No Sound
🎶😎
Exactly... I’m not planning to buy more
The same with my Bose QC15 - the left speaker is dead :(
Shame on you Bose!
Agreed - Shame on Bose!!
rip :(
Why is there a microphone listening to the driver ???
I’m not certain... but... hazard a guess as I don’t know what their DSP is doing, I believe it may be looking at the volume of the driver and establishing how much out of phase noise cancelling needs to be applied... just a guess... I wish I had access to the DSP code!
@@DubiousEngineering I searched online, and apparently it's a feedback system for determining the level of noise cancellation that's occurring..
This is a simplified explanation (because I don't know all the details, either), but the gist of it is: The active noise cancelling (ANC) circuit doesn't really care how much ambient noise is outside the headset, only what's getting through the passive noise cancelling (over-ear cups) and to your ear. Thus the internal mic measures all the sound inside the headset, the ANC ignores the part that's there deliberately (the audio signal), then mixes in just enough of what it hears from the external mic, inverted, to try to cancel it out inside the headset. Too little or too much and you still hear the outside noise--possibly even amplified!--as your ear can't tell if the signal is inverted or not. It's a dynamic process, as audio volume, noise level, and headset fit are quite variable. Hence the need for continuous feedback from the internal mic to the ANC, IAW the general principles of closed-loop control theory (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory). ...In other words, I agree with you both!
Steve!! You superstar!! Amazing description...
Thx @Dubious! I used to work at a telescope facility with adaptive optics (a kind of atmospheric noise cancelling), so learned a few techie buzzwords from the PhD EE controls guys. Still mostly PFM to me, though. ; ) Thx also for giving me the courage to rip open my QC25s. A strategically placed wad o’ cotton pinned down the loose wire in my right speaker... for now...
I've now had 3 pairs of Quiet Comfort 15 (the previous model) and they have ALL failed within 9 to 15 months each. I love them dearly (hence I got 3, two of them bought on massive clearout sale) but BOSE quality is just plain shit. They ALL failed the exact same way. First the noise cancelling starts glitching a tiny bit, then the speaker dies, usually the left one (2 out of 3 was left speaker). I'm pretty sure it was a design fault or on purpose built in so that people would have to buy new stuff. Now that I'm seeing tons of QC25 headphones fail I'm 100% sure BOSE has done it on purpose. This has massively tarnished the brand quality in my opinion. Personally I'm giving BOSE no more money. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any other headphones on the market that can compete or are more reliable. The Sony WH-1000XM2 seem to be just as bad with their reliability, a design flaw that cracks the headband (already present on the original model!).. so yeah, we are out of luck. No other headphones come close to these two in comfort + noise cancelling.
I couldn’t have said it better myself...
I've actually had my QC15's for about 3 1/2 years, but one speaker just gave up. Even that, for me is crappy. I'm not a rich guy and spending a weeks wages on a pair of headphones was really a once-in-a-lifetime indulgence for me, I only did that cause I thought Bose was really high quality stuff that would last as long as... I didn't jump on them or drive them to explode, basically. That's normally the score with audio equipment. So, yeah, bit of a shock to find top of the range headphone set that is just so cheaply made.
...I was kinda shocked to find the foam pvc pads on the head bar and ear surrounds started degrading and flaking off after about a year too.
...No, it's not the top-of-the-range quality I thought I was paying for, not by a long shot.
... I did a little research and have made a video on how to repair them ... look for repair QC25 with hairdryer... mine are back working... but I’m still pissed!
Nose cancelling as a sham and not worth it anyway.
man, thanks a lot for tutorials, but less water pls.
Less water? - It's always raining in England!! :-)
Relax relax pleas!! Open slowly.
Yes indeed!! Open slowly!!!
@@DubiousEngineering hahahahah
i've had 2 pairs of QC35s and in both the speaker failed after 1 year, quality is bad, never again bose
Becksy ... I’m also thoroughly disappointed... I won’t buy Bose again... :(
I got Bose QC25 in they last longer than 4 years. I think you just got unlucky with your pairs
Armer Schluca How often did you use your headphones?
@@supreme_handles3123 Every. Single. Day.
This is no joke. I used them for daily gaming sessions, sports, car rides and so on.
But it's quite ironic: As soon as i praised them for reliability, they broke last month. Nevertheless the best pair of headphones i have ever owned.
Armer Schluca How was the bass on them? Was it enough for bass heavy genres for rap or something? I mainly listen to pop but I venture into rap when I wanna get hype lol
you could have fixed them with a peace of paper, just fixed mine QC3.
Not sure how that helps when the coil has gone open circuit - anyway, I'm happy to report that mine are still working well after the repair with the hairdryer! Cheers! (Nice bike channel BTW - lots of wheelies!!)
Used my Bose noise cancelling headphones twice. Once I replaced the AAA battery, I no longer have the noise cancelling capabilities. Great product for the garbage can. What a waste of money.
Its such a shame that their amazing name is let down by the shoddy quality of the speaker inserts which are essential to the unit. Big sad face here too... But... now you know how to repair them! :-)
warranty?
Mine failed outside warranty... :-(
Did Bose replace it?
@@DubiousEngineering That sucks! I purchased a pair last week for £99. Let's hope that last!
Mine failed too. One speaker just failed. RUBBISH QUALITY
It’s very disappointing... thankfully now you know how to repair them! :)
@@DubiousEngineering Yes! thank you
One note to all the rest of you here. Hot Air gun is too hot for the glued plastic cover covering the driver. Have patience and be careful, guys :D
Oh dear... hope you were able to mould it back into shape!! :-)
for 350 bucks there not that loud i want headphones that get so loud i cant max out the volume
Haha!! I know the feeling!! Chest pounding bass... in your ears!! Small problem... your ears will get used to the volume and you will continue to turn them up... then you will accidentally damage your inner ear...
@@DubiousEngineering thats true but i have not hurt em yet so far so good i looked on amazon and see they have 40mm drivers a pair for 20 bucks made in china, but what is not nowa days. should i get those or find something better i also have 3 pairs of these headphone and only one pair has a failed speaker so to me they last and sound good but i think for the money i woulda been better off with no name blue tooths.
Good engineering, poor execution and very pricey. Theses are the hallmarks of Bose. Used a my QE2's once and have to replace headband due to flaking, ie poor quality control. Is there any? Will not buy any more in future.
Totally with you!!
Singing nonse song from glitter
Come on come on
yeah... quit chatting and show us how!