Give us a BTU firmware downgrade option for NC700

Around On Ear Headphones
1

Bose product name

NC700

Country

 

Firmware Version

1.7.0 -most bad experience with, hope it doesn't auto update to 1.8.2
1.3.1 - best experience i had but unable to go back to.

 

App Version

4.1.1

What devices were you using that were affected and what version are they on

iphone, ipad all on latest ios 14.2

Detailed description of the issue and steps to reproduce

 

What environment do you experience the issue in?

everywhere, especially on public transportation(e.g bus)

 

When did you start to experience the issue? Did it work correctly previously?

Admit it, all 4 releases(1.41, 1.50, 1.70, 1.82) of NC700 firmware since 1.3.1 continue having issues people are not satisfied with, this is giving users bad experience an losing confidence in Bose as a reputable brand name. So PLEASE reinstate the ability in BTU to allow users to downgrade the NC700 headset to the stable release of firmware they are comfortable with, for my case is 1.3.1 and also give users the option to stop/prevent auto firmware update in the bose music app.

My NC700 was on 1.3.1 until it was autoupdated to 1.70 that's when i started to experience issues i never seen when I'm on 1.3.1

1) stuttering when connected to 2 mobile device

2) lesser ANC experience, even set to level 10, i can hear environmental (e.g humming from bus engine) noise and people talking from 2 meters away from me

3) autoplay incorrect last source after hanging up a call

4) reported battery life on full charge can't go more than 16-17 hours

 

previously when on 1.3.1

1) stuttering is observed only if i have one computer and a mobile and never when on 2 mobile.

2) the environmental noise i can hear was one that is too loud by nature. no humming when on bus, people talking loudly are reduce to muffled not distracting

3) did not seem to attempt autoplay from wrong music source, can't remember if autoplay was even there after hanging up call or i have to manually resume the playback after a call.

4) reported battery life on full charge was 19 hours closest to advertised 20 hour max charge

 

Any troubleshooting steps you took

just reinstate the downgrade option in BTU, your new firmware is making things worse rather than fixing it. with the reinstate of downgrade option, users will be more willing to try upgrading to see if problem is fixed and downgrade back to stable when its not.

Granted you will also lost important bug feedback from your white mice end users, but you are also losing something even greater, like customers and trust in brand, go figure which is more important.

 

2

I can only second this request.

Wonderfully written, and even giving you back the important "confidence factor" which has been lost:

"with the reinstate of downgrade option, users will be more willing to try upgrading to see if problem is fixed and downgrade back to stable when its not.

Granted you will also lost important bug feedback from your white mice end users, but you are also losing something even greater, like customers and trust in brand, go figure which is more important."

 

(and hats off to boliao45, I am not sure that I would  have added the "please", seeing how Bose is just disregarding the repeated demands).

3

Agree.  1.3.1 version was most stable and I have actually enjoyed my headphones. never had any problem with multiple devices, no stuttering nothing, pure music and good NC.

All other version degraded the performance. Everytime it connects two devices restarts and battery is not going over 15 hours. 

 

Only good thing in later versions are EQ, which is of no use when the headphones are not stable. 

4

   thank you both for supporting, let's hope more people will comment here and that will hopefully catches the eyes of Bose moderators.

5

  you're welcome.

And I must say that I am happy that you mention the ANC. I was starting to think that I was the only one having this issue (the stuttering is for me not a problem, as I explicitly have my headphone connected to only one device). In the mean time I found other occurrences .

 

 

6

This is an absolute necessity if Bose want to keep their good reputation!

 

You just can't keep auto-upgrading with firmware that makes the headphones worse and worse, without supplying the option of returning to previous versions.

7

1 to all the requests to downgrade. PLEASE! Or maybe push out a software update that doesn't break a bunch of things? Is there no testing beforehand???

Issues on 1.8.2:

- Stuttering when connected to multiple devices (including one device being the USB Module)

- Stuttering when ONLY connected to the USB Link Module

- Battery life reporting at 18 hours or less 

- "Conversation mode" only works for a few seconds (3-10secs) before returning back to noise cancellation mode.

- When music is paused, changing noise cancellation level also plays music again

- Noise cancellation does not work nearly as well as version 1.3 (many users have noted this, never acknowledged by Bose). 

 

The NC 700 promised the best noise cancellation, 20 hours of battery life, multi-device connection, and a functional "conversation mode", and best in voice call microphone clarity/noise cancellation. Today, 1.5 years after release, we have NONE of these.

8

"dear Santa" won't be able to help you on this, what we all need is attention of media,

Since last year's July similar occurrence for QC35 and only up till April this year small window has opened after plenty of media report outages.

Link to article

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/6/21209974/bose-qc35-qc35ii-noise-canceling-investigation-firmware

If the same happens to NC700 then likely we will be granted the wish.

9

 I'm surprised how there's nothing about these problems any where else despite hundreds of complaints on this forum. All the online reviews, Youtube reviews, major websites, all talk about the headphones as if they were working perfectly the way they were designed to. Even Reddit only has a little bit of chatter. Here I am over a year later and also having bought the official USB module, dealing with the most frustrating problems. WHY IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK.

10

I do not think either that the product is bad as such.

here is for example an extract from an Amazon review, which  corresponds totally to my opinion:

"The latest firmware is a killer. It worsens the battery life, the ANC and the microphone.
One can read about it here:
https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/Noise-Cancelling-700-Firmware-Update-1-7-0-September-14th-2020/td-p/546521
Bose refuses to admit its mistake and refuses any downgrade to stable firmware, although demanded by clients to have a functioning headphone.
So that's why Only 1 star.
Would Bose change its policy, that would be a 4 star."

 

Enough said.

11

Accidentally opened the Bose app and it updated from the 1.3.1, unfortunately NC has significantly worsened. Highly noticeable at home with kids running around, with music I could hardly hear them with the old firmware. It is known that firmware updates are used to downgrade a product after the release of a successor, but this seems a bit early for that. Would be interesting to get actual figures behind it but unfortunately I do not have the tools for it.

12

Here's another problem I just reported most likely caused by NC700 upgrade. Headphones won't connect to Bluetooth transmitter after upgrade.

 

https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/Bose-NC-700-won-t-connect-to-Foxnovo-transmitter-after-update/m-p/580353#M73610

 

I wish I could downgrade without voiding the warranty. Please bring downgrade support back.

 

 

13

Unfortunately downgrading did not resolve the problem of the decreased performance of the NC...

14

How did you downgrade the Firmware? I know one exists but now that Bose support is outside the US we can't get the kind of support we used to.

15

Goto github and search for bosefirmware/ced