Review: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen)

When it comes to cutting out annoying outside noise, there is no brand in history that has denatured more decibels than Bose. The pioneers of noise-canceling haven’t been without challengers in recent years, including Sony, Apple, and others, but Bose has maintained the crown for generation after generation. Perhaps no product showcases this iterative talent more than its latest earbuds, the QuietComfort Ultra 2.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the first pair. I liked their ergonomic fit, excellent noise reduction, and bold low end, not to mention their excellent microphones, angled toward your mouth in an homage to Apple’s popular AirPods Pro.

With the new QC Ultra 2, we get wireless charging, more customizable sound, better immersive audio, and improved noise reduction. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re a business traveler or someone who wants a compact pair of headphones that truly removes the sound of the world around you, these are—once again—the best you can buy.

Generation 2

Photograph: Parker Hall

I find it very hard to fault Bose for its rubber-stamped design approach; the previous pair were very comfortable and functioned extremely well. The slight changes that appear on the new model are welcome, and I’m not mad at the lack of physical changes.

You now get wireless charging in the clamshell case and a guard to prevent earwax buildup, and you can toggle the included touch controls in the app, which is very helpful when doing activities where you might brush your ear.

Places I don’t find improvements include the weight (the new buds are about a gram heavier but still perfectly fine in your ears) and battery life (the new buds have the same six hours with ANC on, 24 hours in the case as the old model). Bose has even opted for the same drivers in this new generation of buds, with slight tuning adjustments that I’ll get into in a bit.

Features Galore

Courtesy of Bose

If you’re new to the world of wireless earbuds or are coming from a more basic pair, the amount of customization that you can do with Bose’s latest buds can feel daunting. You can choose various “modern traditional” adjustments like EQ and noise canceling/transparency modes, but the buds also allow you to dial in two kinds of immersive 3D upscaling (one for staying in place, one for while you move around), among other wild and fantastical new settings that take advantage of modern processors and machine learning tech.

When you put on the new QC Ultra 2, Bose uses a welcome chime as a sort of calibration tool, listening to the chirps and adjusting the sound profile and ANC response to the actual shape of your ear canals.

That’s wild technology to just implement without end users even noticing, and it’s a testament to Bose engineers’ commitment to delivering the best noise reduction and sound quality possible, flashy physical changes or not.

One other favorite was the Aware mode, which lets you hear the outside world but with loud spikes in sound smoothed out; great for folks who get jumpy at loud noises.

Sound Quality

Photograph: Parker Hall

The new buds may not get new drivers, but improved processing and adjustments to tuning make them stand out as immersive and excellent when listening with noise canceling on or off (or any of the myriad in-between settings Bose offers).

They don’t overcompress content like some modern earbuds can—they don’t make quiet sounds too loud, they're good enough to reveal them at the right volume. The subtle count-in on Charlotte Cornfield’s cover of “You Can Have It All,” for example, sneaks in at an appropriate whisper just before a round kick-drum punch and the wide guitars, keyboards, bongos, and cymbal swells of the song take over.

Lower-quality recordings like Cleveland Francis’ powerful “Hot Sun” gain gravitas and focus, with the opaque tape-y midrange feeling more like a blessing than a curse, and doing the iconic performance a clear service.

I recently discovered Chicago cosmic country band Tobacco City and have been really enjoying the way songs like “Autumn” mix guitars. There aren’t a pair of buds that reveal the wide stereo acoustic and electric guitars as well as the QC Ultra 2. The strings feel like they’re hanging out of my ears like some heavy ’70s earrings.

This type of detail is best when noise canceling is engaged, but they remain pretty well balanced with ambient sound piped in, or with noise canceling disengaged entirely, which speaks highly of Bose’s commitment to consistency across extremely varied listening conditions.

Everyday Accessories

Photograph: Parker Hall

The sound reduction itself is wildly good for a pair of earbuds, slightly besting the previous pair all around. You can barely hear even tough-to-tame high frequencies like keyboard clicks or the high-pitched overtones of a Weedwacker, and HVAC sounds and other low-frequency noises all but disappear completely. The Sony WF-1000XM5 model, which is probably the closest direct competitor, sounds slightly better overall, but these best them on sound reduction. Add that to the other features and excellent sound quality, and I found the QC Ultra 2s to basically be perfect everyday buds. The only reason I'd choose the Sony model over these is if I had smaller ears or wanted a slightly smaller charging case.

As far as cutting noise, the QC Ultra 2 act as the perfect foil to my toddler’s enthusiastic background screams while I’m working on a draft, and they also let me listen for her and her mom when they pull in from day care. I use them when I mow the lawn and also when I go to the grocery store and might want to chat with a random neighbor. On calls, they’re as good or better than the last pair, with mics that pick up my voice but seem to magically reject unwanted background noise like some kind of anti-HVAC Gandalf.

That’s Bose for you. The brand is owned by MIT and has a very smart CEO, and lately it shows. I am sure it will have its fair share of faulty products in the future—frankly, I hope that it remains bold enough to do so. There are excellent pairs from Sony, Apple, and others, but these new earbuds are the top of the noise-reduction pile.