These Bose earbuds are an easy pick over AirPods for me – why I don’t regret it

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen)

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds 2 can be found for $299 in 5 colours.
• They provide stellar immersive sound expertise, all-day consolation, and wonderful noise-canceling efficiency.
• Nonetheless, bugs may cause connectivity points, and the case is bigger than most popular.

extra shopping for selections

oct / 2025

On paper, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) tech specs could appear painfully incremental, however there’s extra to them than meets the attention. It is spectacular how seemingly innocuous updates from one era to the subsequent can considerably improve the consumer expertise, and Bose is a masterful participant on this regard. 

Assessment: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)

They add important options that had been lacking from the 1st-gen product, and do one thing higher whereas retaining the identical price ticket. Nonetheless, additionally they retain some signature Bose quirks that I want did not trouble me as a lot as they do.

I traveled with the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 on two journeys, and whereas they have not changed my Pixel Buds Professional 2 utterly — for causes I will clarify later — there’s rather a lot to love right here. This is the way it went. 

Constructed for consolation

The brand new Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 prioritize perform over aesthetics. They’re designed for out of doors use and supply all-day consolation in a well-recognized type. The earbuds themselves function a guard to handle earwax buildup, which Bose says helps make it “simpler to seize and take away earwax after extended use.” I have never confronted any earwax points with the brand new Bose product, however this design additionally provides them a comfortable match.

The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 aren’t essentially the most aesthetically pleasing earbuds and are bigger than the competitors. Based mostly on their look, I used to be skeptical of the match based mostly on the earbuds, however throughout my few weeks of utilization, I have never had them by chance fall out of my ears as soon as. 

I’ve worn them on airplanes, throughout commutes, and even on walks (IPX4 score for sweat resistance) with Transparency mode on, and encountered no unintended earbud drops in any respect. I really like the comfy match of those earbuds, because of their gentle eartips with assist bands. I might fee them above Sony’s WF-1000XM5 earbuds and Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 when it comes to consolation.

Additionally: Not enough people are talking about the Google Pixel Buds’ best feature – especially Android fans

Just like the earbuds, Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2’s charging case is cumbersome and awkward-looking, nevertheless it’s constructed to final. They arrive in Black, White Smoke, Desert Gold, Midnight Violet, and Deep Plum shade variants. I have been utilizing the White Smoke mannequin, and regardless of unintended drops, I can not discover a single scratch on my unit. 

It has fared significantly better than my Pixel Buds Professional 2, which acquired soiled inside per week, and the AirPods Professional 3, which acquired a number of unknown scratches. That stated, this case will be inconvenient to hold, particularly if you wish to place it in your pocket.

Immersive Audio is a success

What does the big earbuds measurement get you? Identical drivers as earlier than, however with even higher sound. The QC Extremely Earbuds 2 produce pleasing audio with boosted bass and highs. They assist AAC, SBC, and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs (together with aptX Lossless), in addition to Google Quick Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for fast connections between gadgets.

The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 provide an pleasing sound efficiency. At default settings, paired with Apple Music on my iPhone (SBC) and Vivo X100 Professional (AAC), they’ve a powerful bass response. You’ve 4 primary EQ presets (Bass Enhance, Bass Reducer, Treble Enhance, and Treble Reducer) to select from, which will be additional adjusted inside the app. 

Additionally: Your Sony headphones have new tricks in a free update – but there’s a catch

The earbuds do an incredible job at reproducing the sub-bass and do not sound too sharp at excessive frequencies. I loved listening to my favourite songs via numerous genres, together with rock and acoustic music. They sound spacious and full-bodied, with good instrument separation when a number of devices are current within the combine.

The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are among the many finest earbuds for spatial audio. On most merchandise that go for proprietary spatial audio codecs as an alternative of Dolby Atmos, audio copy sounds synthetic and shrill. However Bose has completed a superb job with its Immersive Audio mode. You possibly can select between Nonetheless mode, with head monitoring disabled, and Movement mode, with head monitoring enabled. I selected the latter for essentially the most half and beloved it.

Additionally: Bose just did what Apple couldn’t with the QuietComfort Ultra headphones – and I’m sold

They’re one of many uncommon earbuds that sound pure whereas making the music extra energetic in spatial audio, on par with AirPods Professional 3. However I might put on the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 for longer durations than Apple’s earbuds. As ZDNET’s audio editor, Jada Jones says, these earbuds sound “simply heat sufficient to make long-term put on and listening simple on the ears.” The low- to mid-frequency vary struggles a bit, however the total expertise is sensible. If you wish to expertise immersive audio, these are the earbuds to go for.

How’s the efficiency usually?

If the AirPods Professional 3 are the brand new ANC champion of earbuds, the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 aren’t far behind. Because of eight microphones and new algorithms, they will reduce almost all bothersome frequencies, from ambient public chatter in cafes to the rumble of airplane engines. 

In truth, Bose’s AI-powered energetic noise cancellation, ActiveSense, is without doubt one of the finest makes use of of AI on a shopper product. It employs noise cancellation when your atmosphere turns into too loud, which is right for if you’re in public, the place noise ranges are ever-changing. ActiveSense adapts to those adjustments within the background swiftly and easily. 

Additionally: I tried Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds’ AI noise cancelling, and can’t go back to regular ANC

Bose’s transparency mode, dubbed Conscious mode, is equally good and my default noise setting. Human voices sound pure, and you may modify them to match the noise stage in your atmosphere. It adjusts routinely with no lag once I’m speaking to somebody, and the exterior noise naturally fades to the background once I’m completed. Bose’s function performs extra naturally and easily than Apple’s Dialog Consciousness or Sony’s Converse-to-Chat function.

The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are rated to last as long as six hours with ANC on and 4 hours in Immersive mode. The case can present a further 24 hours of playback time. Though their battery life is not the shortest, it is also not the longest, which may very well be a difficulty on long-haul flights.

Lastly, the Bose app is simple to make use of. The Settings menu gives intuitive controls for adjusting the EQ, Modes, Supply, and extra. You too can create your personal noise cancellation mode, which generally is a bit tedious and lead to a lack of ActiveSense. Nonetheless, it’s price making an attempt for those who’re not happy with the default ANC modes. The Earbud Seal Take a look at and Match Take a look at are further options for fine-tuning your expertise for those who’re not happy with the match.

Be careful for these caveats

I might wish to level out two points that occurred randomly all through my utilization, they usually relate to connectivity and firmware points.

Additionally: Why I keep 4 pairs of headphones with me at all times (and the unique role each one plays)

First, when multipoint is enabled and you’ve got linked the earbuds to 2 gadgets as soon as, they proceed to seek for the second system after being faraway from the case. I linked the earbuds to my iPhone 17 Pro Max and Vivo X100 Professional. Now, I do not carry my Vivo on commutes. 

So, once I take the earbuds out of the case, they hook up with my iPhone however preserve the pairing tone going, in search of a second system. Because of this, you’ll be able to’t simply join and play your music. The pairing tone interrupts your music for a couple of seconds. I had the same difficulty with the Bose QuietComfort Extremely headphones, nevertheless it was resolved later.

Second, the earbuds generally join individually or do not join in any respect to my iPhone. I’ve to place them again within the case and take them out once more to reconnect. Furthermore, putting in an replace was a irritating expertise. I needed to reset the system and reinstall all the pieces simply to get the replace to switch to the earbuds. 

Additionally: You should probably clean your earbuds right now (or else this happens)

The QC Extremely Earbuds 2 debuted with SpeechClarity, a function that makes use of Bose’s patented technology to detect speech and course of it for enhanced readability. This function is just accessible via an replace; it wasn’t put in within the earbuds out of the field. Sadly, I could not get this replace to put in on my unit, however ZDNET’s Jada Jones reviews, “With this function enabled, I did not obtain any complaints about warbled or muffled speech when calling family and friends. Even in windy or noise environments like a busy grocery retailer, the earbuds’ microphones held up properly.”

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) retain their giant kind issue however enhance on numerous elements. If Bose can squash the aforementioned bugs, these could be my go-to suggestion for the immersive audio expertise. At $299, these could also be costly, however they’re definitely worth the price ticket. They’re akin to the brand new AirPods Professional 3 when it comes to noise cancellation, however present a extra comfy and safe match. 

If you happen to’re in search of a pair of earbuds that match properly, sound nice, provide wonderful ANC efficiency, and full the function set with an distinctive spatial audio expertise, the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are a straightforward suggestion.