A benefit of my job is I get to try a lot of audio equipment out, and I've listened to most of not all of these,Bose has the most impressive noise cancellation but the Sony WH-1000XM3 models have noise cancellation that's almost on par, and the sound quality is better overall by a long shot, not mid heavy like Bose, pretty balanced although the bass is a little to boosted you can adjust it in Sony's headphone app with a pretty nice equalizer.
It's hard to get all the best features out from one single pair of NC headphones. Bose have the best noise cancelling. Sennheiser have better sound quality. B&O have them both but they're just too expensive. Sigh.
The Bose QC35S2 is better than the Sony WH1000M2 because the ear cups on the Bose are much more comfortable and on the Sony the ears start to become sweaty and heated after about 30 minutes of use. The QC35 has a more thorough noise cancelling too
I own the Bose QC35II and the PXC 550.
For most cases I prefer Bose.
The Bose has better imaging, noise-cancelling, comfort, clarity, and bass ( it doesn’t hit hard at all but it sounds precise)
bose is better in a noisy office.
Sennheiser is more elegant and has stronger Bluetooth, the sound is more laid back.
the noise cancelling is also better on the Bose when outdoors if you set it to the low setting, you won’t hear all the wind.
From my personal experience, Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) made me feel like I was at the recording session of the song being played. Sony was deeper beat drops but Bose for me any day!
Surprised that Sony beat Bose for votes, I didn't find the WH-1000MX2 that much better sound-wise when I tried in the shops. 'Course, I'm new to the whole audiophile scene so 🤷♀️