Bose foregoes capacitive touch controls in favor of physical buttons, three of which are clustered on the back edge of the right earcup. The central button, flanked by dedicated volume up/down buttons, handles playback, call management, track navigation, and voice assistants (depending on how many times you tap it). The left earcup features an ANC/ambient mode button, as well as Quiet and Aware modes from Bose. Unfortunately, Bose only lets you listen in Quiet or Aware mode; you can’t turn off both features to save battery life. With the included 3.5mm audio cable, you can use the headphones in passive mode, but with many phones lacking a headphone jack these days, this isn’t particularly useful. The headphones come with a rounded rectangular zip-up case that’s surprisingly shallow and compact for their size; the hinges collapse and the earcups fold down flat to fit inside. The included USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable connects to a port on the right earcup’s bottom edge. The cable appears to be a little short, but this is minor. The headphones are Bluetooth 5.1 compatible, with AAC and SBC codec support, and the Bose Music app for Android and iOS allows for simple pairing. Turn on the headphones, launch the app, and the headphones will pair with your mobile device without you having to go to the Bluetooth menu. It’s not as seamless as the way the AirPods Max connect to iOS devices, but it’s still simple and convenient. Once paired, you can use the app to switch between Quiet and Aware modes, which are already available on the headphones. You can also connect to different sound sources that you’re paired to at the same time, allowing you to easily get audio from your phone, laptop, or other device. Aside from that, the settings menu only offers a few basic options, such as adjusting the automatic power-down times and the level of mic monitoring. Bose recently added adjustable EQ to the QC45, allowing you to fine-tune the bass, midrange, and treble to your preferences or choose from a variety of preset options. The inability to adjust ANC levels is a key difference between the QC45 and the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, which provide granular ANC adjustments.
