Pros & Cons
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- Incredibly effective noise cancellation
- Outstanding audio with rich bass and bright highs
- High-quality codec support
- Good transparency modes
- Wireless charging
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- Large buds with finicky controls
- EQ options could be better
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) Specs
| Active Noise Cancellation | |
| Connection Type | Bluetooth |
| True Wireless | |
| Type | In-Canal |
| Water/Sweat-Resistant | |
| Wireless |
Bose is back to battle Apple and Sony with the $299 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen). The company's latest buds are even better than their capable predecessors at eliminating unwanted noise and providing rich sound. They also support high-quality Bluetooth codecs and include a basic user-adjustable EQ. We wish the touch controls were less fussy and the battery lasted a bit longer, but these are minor quibbles considering how good they are at everything else. Sony's $299 WF-1000XM5 earphones sound more natural and support more high-resolution audio codecs, and the $249 AirPods Pro 2 are a natural fit for iPhone owners thanks to their deep integration with Apple products. But the second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the best at cancelling noise and do so while sounding superb, earning them our Editors' Choice award for noise-cancelling earphones.
Design: More of the Same
You'd be hard-pressed to point out any visual differences between the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) and the previous generation because the earbuds look exactly the same. The second-generation earphones come in the same Black or White Smoke colors at launch, and a Deep Plum color, available later this year, appears to be replacing the Blue version of the outgoing buds. Bose is no stranger to launching new colors after launch, so we may eventually see more options.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)Bose has clearly designed the earbuds around their functionality rather than the other way around. The buds certainly aren’t ugly, but it's hard to appreciate the super-wide stem and overly busy look compared with the smooth AirPods Pro 2 and the curvy WF-1000XM5. There are many angles and cavities, and the buds are quite large.
Despite their appearance and size, the buds are relatively comfortable, though not as comfortable as the AirPods or XM5s. Bose’s buds do a fine job of creating a seal in your ear canal without applying too much pressure. Overall, I found them comfortable enough to wear for hours at a time, and they stayed securely in my ears. They aren't as snug as dedicated workout buds, but I can run with them without worry.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The controls are easy to remember and are duplicated on both buds. The outer stem includes a capacitive touch-sensitive area that accepts taps and swiping gestures. Tap once to play or pause audio, twice to skip to the next track, or three times to go back to the previous track. Swipe up or down to control the volume. Tap once to answer an incoming call or twice to decline or hang up. Tapping and holding the touch surface activates your chosen shortcut, which you set using the app. By default, both earbuds cycle through noise and immersive audio modes. However, you can change the shortcut to switch devices (when multipoint is enabled), activate your voice assistant, or resume Spotify playback.
The biggest issue with Bose's design is that it's hard to adjust the buds' fit without accidentally triggering one of the control surface actions, like pausing your audio or skipping a track. Earbuds in general are often too small and finicky for touch controls to be reliable, and the Bose earbuds make it a chore to avoid the touch surface when you need to adjust them. It took me hours of listening to remember that I needed to pinch the buds in just the right way to avoid touching the control surface. You can turn the touch controls off entirely via the Bose app, but in doing so, you won’t be able to manage playback or calls.
The earbuds are rated IPX4, which means they should survive just fine if you get caught in light rain or wear them during a sweaty workout. However, if you accidentally drop them in the pool, there are no guarantees. The charging case is not water-resistant. Sony's XM5s have the same rating, while the AirPods Pro 2's IP54 rating makes them better protected against dust.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)Bose doesn't disclose the buds' driver size or frequency range, but indicated that the drivers are carried over from the previous generation. That means they measure 9.3mm across. The earphones connect via Bluetooth 5.3 and support Bluetooth multipoint, Google Fast Pair, and Microsoft Swift Pair. They support the AAC, SBC, and aptX Adaptive codecs, including aptX Lossless, for high-resolution listening. It's somewhat surprising that Bose didn't opt for Bluetooth 5.4 or 6.0.
The charging case looks the same as the last generation, which is to say that it’s a bit large at 2.60 by 2.35 by 1.06 inches (HWD). It’s pocketable but noticeably bulkier than the cases for the AirPods Pro 2 and XM5s. While it looks the same, it gets a new trick—wireless charging. This is a handy addition, though Bose is playing catch-up here (Apple and Sony's cases already support wireless charging).
Bose buries the earbuds deep in the case, making them difficult to retrieve. While it's easy to drop them into place, it’s a challenge to extract them quickly—all the more so because the buds are slippery.
Battery life is merely good. Bose claims the earphones will give you six hours of continuous listening with ANC on. Using immersive audio drops battery life to four hours. The charging case contains three additional recharges, bringing the total to 24 hours. I would have liked to see an improvement to seven or eight hours here, though Bose's buds run for about as long as the Apple and Sony buds do. When you do run out of juice, you can fast-charge via the USB-C port on the bottom of the earbuds. Twenty minutes of charging gets you two hours of listening. Bose doesn't say how long a full recharge of the buds and case takes.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)Bose provides the earbuds, the charging case, a short USB-A-to-USB-C cable, and two additional pairs of eartips and fit wings, for a total of three pairs of each. I would have preferred a longer USB-C-to-USB-C cable.
App Experience: Mostly Good
You need to turn to the Bose app (available for Android and iOS) to control and manage the buds. The app's design is fluid and clean, but it could stand to provide a few more features.
From the main screen, you can change the volume, see the battery level, and access any firmware updates. A settings button lets you explore tools like the Earbud Seal Test and Fit Test, manage your Bluetooth connections, and control settings like in-ear detection. Lastly, the main screen provides access modes, the EQ, immersive audio settings, and the customizable shortcut button.
(Credit: Bose/PCMag)Bose's preconfigured modes are essentially a combination of noise control and immersive audio settings. The Quiet and Aware modes run with Immersive Audio turned off by default. Quiet mode turns the noise cancellation all the way up, and Aware mode acts as a transparency setting. Immersion mode turns noise cancellation up but sets Immersive Audio to Motion, which turns head tracking off.
You can create your own modes, though the process is slightly confusing. When you create a mode, you use a noise control slider (labeled Noise Cancellation) that adjusts between full transparency when all the way down and full noise cancellation when all the way up. Some limitations exist as to what you can do with your own modes. For example, while the default Aware mode has an ActiveSense toggle that allows the earbuds to automatically adjust noise cancellation depending on your environment, this toggle isn't available in any other mode.
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Unfortunately, Bose hasn't changed the app's anemic EQ. It has four basic EQ presets: Bass Boost, Bass Reducer, Treble Boost, and Treble Reducer. You can tune your own EQ curve using three controls for frequencies labeled Bass, Mid, and Treble, but there's no indication of which actual frequencies they adjust. It's the poorest user-adjustable EQ of any premium wireless earbuds, other than Apple, which doesn't provide an adjustable EQ at all.
Noise Cancellation: Still the Class Leader
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have eight microphones and new algorithms for active noise cancellation. The new buds are better than the previous generation at cancelling noise, which was already better than anything else on the market.
The earbuds are excellent at eliminating noise from consistent droning sounds, like the rumble of an airplane engine or the hum of an air conditioner. They cut nearly all frequencies, not just the low ones, and handle higher sounds almost as well. You put them in your ears, and the outside world falls into silence. It’s quite stunning the first time.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)They are also useful in environments with inconsistent noise, like on a city bus, where they effectively reduce most of the low-end grinding from the engine and blanket the higher squeals and scrapes from the suspension and doors opening and closing.
In a busy cafe, the buds completely eliminate faraway conversations, leaving only quiet background noise from the closest voices that is easily drowned out by your music. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds cancel noise better than their predecessors, the Apple AirPods Pro 2, and the Sony WF-1000XM5.
I encountered two minor issues in testing. First, the buds introduce a small amount of background hiss to the audio, which we don't like to hear. It's only audible when you're not playing any content. Second, the buds clip at sudden loud noises, like when your bus hits a bump or there's a loud bang. We experienced this problem with the first-gen buds and were hoping the company would have resolved it the second time around.
Background hiss is also audible in the Aware mode, though it is less noticeable than on the first-gen model. Although this transparency mode sounds natural, you can hear at least some hiss in the background. They are on par with the Sony WF-1000XM5s in this department, but both fall behind the AirPods Pro 2, which are still the best in the business at transparency.
Bose's transparency modes are most effective when you manually adjust them to match the noise level in your environment. However, stopping to perform this adjustment negates the usefulness of the feature, which is supposed to react automatically when someone begins speaking to you.
Overall, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds cancel most noise more effectively than any other earphones we've tested.
Sound: Simply Wonderful
It's not all about noise cancellation. Thankfully, the second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds also happen to sound excellent. They produce rich and full-bodied audio, which softens the blow of the limited EQ, even if they don't deliver the most neutral listening experience. Bose has tuned them so you have a bit of a U- or V-shaped curve, with the bass and highs boosted and the mids dialed back somewhat.
(Credit: Christian de Looper)The audio sounds superb with the default settings (no EQ present, and Quiet mode) in place, with a particularly strong bass response. The earbuds do a phenomenal job at reproducing the sub-bass on our test track, “Silent Shout” by The Knife, where it sounds powerful without overshadowing other aspects of the music. Instruments that rely more on higher frequencies, like the shaker and the lead synth, are crisp and detailed. The track as a whole sounds warm without becoming muddy.
That excellent bass response is plainly enjoyable on Kendrick Lamar's “Loyalty," which has a well-defined sub-bass line that runs through much of the verse and chorus. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds deliver a more thumping bass response on this track, but it isn’t too much. The earbuds are as capable as the outstanding Technics EAH-AZ100 ($299.99) at reproducing this bass line—and I consider the Technics the best-sounding buds available. I also appreciate the roominess on the track, with Lamar and Rihanna’s vocals finding plenty of room to breathe as the song moves from start to finish.
The bass is less front and center on Bill Callahan's “Drover,” where it is replaced by crisp percussion and a natural-sounding acoustic guitar. Callahan’s baritone vocal is deep and resonant, and while the kick drum's frequency is boosted somewhat, it isn’t over the top. The track has a pleasingly natural tone.
Busier orchestral tracks, like the opening scene to John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound spacious and full-bodied. The instrument separation is good enough to allow each section its own space in the mix, and both the vocal soloist and the choir can easily cut through.
The earbuds include spatial audio and let you turn head-tracking on (Still mode) or off (Motion mode). Bose's spatial implementation is more natural-sounding than many others. The effect makes some low-mid frequencies a little muddy-sounding, and it has a bit more character than competing buds, leaning more into the live music vibe with the way it handles reverb. The Immersive Audio mode is about as good as the AirPods Pro when it comes to spatialized stereo tracks, but the AirPods still have a first-party advantage thanks to Apple Music's Dolby Atmos mixes.
The microphones sound quite clear. During calls, they picked up my voice with ease; even when I spoke quietly, it was easy to hear each word in a test recording made with my iPhone.