Baseus is back with a brand new pair of noise cancelling headphones – but this time it’s collaborated with a special guest for improved sonic capabilities. That’s right: Bose has been brought on-board to fine-tune the Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones, which are said to offer “stunning details, depth, and clarity”. They were revealed in full at IFA 2025 and are available for purchase now.
According to Baseus, the result is an “uncompromising audio experience”. With a list price of just $149.99 / £169.99 (about AU$230), that doesn’t sound too bad, does it?
As well as that Bose-tuned sound, I was interested to see both adaptive ANC and ‘hi-res’ Bluetooth audio on the Inspire XH1’s menu. So, with my interest well and truly piqued, I managed to get an early look at these cans – I’ve been using them at the office, on walks, and at home for about a few days now. Can they compete with some of the best noise-cancelling headphones? I’ve collected a few of my thoughts below…
Linking up with a household name
Bose has been busy with a few collaborations in 2025. For instance, it linked up with Skullcandy for the Method 360 ANC earbuds and with Motorola for the clip-on Moto Buds Loop open earbuds. But this time, the audio giant has gone the full distance, collaborating with Baseus for a series of audio gear, including wireless earbuds, open earbuds, and, of course, noise-cancelling headphones.
The Bose logo adorns the XH1 Inspire’s headband, and you can see the specific tuning it selected for the cans in the Baseus app. Essentially, there’s a fair bit of emphasis in the mid-range at around the 800Hz mark, as well the upper-mid to lower-treble range, typically resulting in pretty prominent vocal performances.
When I first listened to tunes, I realized there was a Bass Boost toggle active, but I switched this off pretty quickly – it gave low-frequency sounds a slightly smothering characteristic. After doing this, though, I have to say, the Inspire XH1 sound pretty solid.
Tuning into Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan, I was treated to clear, punchy percussion, clear vocals, and expressive guitar, making for an enjoyable listening experience. Even in more bass-heavy tracks like Unison by Locklead, the Bose-tuned EQ calibration offered a decent amount of low-end weight without obscuring mid-range and treble sounds.
As you may expect for cans at this price-point, they don’t offer the incredible instrument separation, wide soundstage, or detail-oriented audio you’d expect from models like the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. Still, they put up a commendable sonic performance with Bose’s tuning in use.
A flurry of features
Something that really drew me to the XH1 Inspire, at first, was its broad feature-set. Perhaps the most eye-catching is adaptive active noise cancellation. What this essentially does is adapt the amount of ambient noise filtered in depending on your surroundings – something used on Sony’s flagship over-ear headphones, for example.
On top of that, there are different ANC modes for listening indoors, outdoors, commuting (via bus or subway), and business travel (via plane or train). Throw in wind noise protection as well as a transparency mode, and you’re looking at a highly customizable noise blocking experience. Now, as far as noise nixing is concerned, these can’t compete with more premium rivals like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, but while walking by a busy road, surrounding sounds were softened pretty effectively.
Other features include a low-latency toggle for gaming, multi-point connectivity, and even a sleep mode, which plays calming noises including a campfire crackling or ocean waves crashing. There’s also wired listening, customizable button controls, and a Find My Headphones tool.
Potentially the most impressive feature, though, is the battery life of the Inspire XH1. These muster up a mammoth 100 hours of playtime – that is, if you’re listening at around 50% volume with ANC off. But even with ANC on, you’re getting a meaty 65 hours of playtime – that’s more than even the wonderful Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless can serve up.
Finally, and as you’d hope, the Baseus companion app delivers a generous number of ways to customize your everyday listening experiences. There’s LDAC, which opens the door to higher resolution music quality over Bluetooth, Dolby Audio for more immersive music-listening or movie-watching, and a range of EQ options (including that Bose-tuned calibration).
My overall (early) impression
After a few days of testing, there’s a good amount that I liked about these headphones – they’re certainly an improvement over the Baseus Bowie 30 Max which I reviewed at the tail-end of last year.
They offer highly tuneable audio, a lot of ANC options, and brilliant battery life. They’re not as comfortable as some headphones I’ve tested in this price-range – the Anker Soundcore Space One Pro come to mind. They’re up-to-scratch sonically speaking, in part thanks to the Bose partnership – but again, audiophiles may prefer a more premium pick from our list of the best over-ear headphones.
Ultimately, I can see the relatively low cost of these cans being one of their key selling points – particularly in the US. But what do you think? Is this Baseus x Bose collaboration calling your name? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to get chatting in the comments!
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harry.padoan@futurenet.com (Harry Padoan)
