Sony got a lot of the practical nuances wrong. I own both the Sonys and Boses (QC35) and if sound quality is dismissed, then I feel that Bose wins in every possible criteria. They are smaller, more streamlined. They come with the best travel case, which is very similar to Sony's except again a bit smaller and has better features. In silent environments, Sony ANC has an audible hiss which is almost completely nonexistent with the Boses. (Bose's achievement is really impressive, because it will actually tone down the natural echoing noise inside the ears that's is due to small sealed ear cups.)
One fairly big gripe with the Sonys, for me, is that the cups rotate in the opposite direction to the Boses. This means that to pack them up in their travel case, you have to turn the headphone around in the air, which feels pretty dumb when you stop to think about it. With Boses you only take them off of your head, fold them and put them down.
Sonys also make noises (plastic crackling) while wearing them, while the Boses are completely silent.
But all of these are nuances, tiny details, nothing earth-shattering. They're all pretty great cans.
Sound quality is more subjective but I think both are average at best. Though, Sony supports more advanced Bluetooth codecs that are supposed to enhance sound quality, but my devices don't support them, so I can't comment on that.
Basically it comes down to whether or not you appreciate the additional features that Sony offers over Bose. That is different ANC modes, touch controls, and maybe I forgot something.
No, not via Bluetooth at least. I guess that they will work in passive wired mode, though, that is without ANC and the extras.
Squeaking isnt an issue on my device, at least, and the rest of the gripes you described are absolutely subjective. I never rotate my earcups for storage, for instance, I just fold them up.
It ia true that the 1000x hiss a bit more than the QC35, but as far as SQ is concerned, they re night and day, there s no way someone can test the 1000x thuroughly and finf them "average sounding", just check the multitude of online reviews, dont take my word - oh and they need to be testsd a few days at least - burn in is as real as it gets with these headphones, they open up quite a lot after about 40 h of use.
Violins and strings for instance sound incredibly artificial with NC on on the bose, yet they re quite filled with emotion on the 1000x.
I wrote a detailed review a few pages back, but basically, what I can say is:
A) Though NC, 1000x are the only NC headphones that to my ear suffer no sq drop due to NC
B) They re basically a more precise, dynamic and controlled in the bass MDR 1A headphone. It seems that Sony took all the 1A criticism and made the 1000x
C) They sound fenomenal through my Dragonfly Red. Better than the 1A (provided you dont push the volume over 60-70%, powered on, NC off, as the bass heavy tracks will distort a bit past that point). And I compared the 1A prior to getting the 1000x on the Red vs the Dennon MM400, oppo PM 3, Msr 7, momentum 2 and BW 7. 1A and P7 sounded thr best to my ears and on my music: I am always searching for fun, engaging, slightly bassy full sound. I dont like extremely flat and lean sound. I want to feel the emotion, not monitor the audio for producing purposes. And now on the same DAC the 1000x sound better than thr 1A.
C) If used from a smartphone (tested the Xperia XZ and iPhone 6s plus), the sound is noticeably better on BT than jack. Sound is more precise, midds are better defined, bass is less bloated and faster, more controlled.