Bose QuietComfort Ultra Review – The Best Noise-Cancelling Earbuds?

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Bose has revamped its entire QuietComfort lineup recently, but I think it’s fair to say that, among my audience, the new earbuds are the most hotly anticipated.

Whenever I review a pair of noise-cancelling earbuds I’m told, in no uncertain terms, to immediately try the Bose QuietComfort, instead.

I’ve resisted until now. And I think that was a smart decision because the wait has been utterly worth it.

Bose sent me the brand-new QuietComfort Ultra earbuds a couple of weeks ago and, well, spoiler: they are absolutely incredible. I can now see what all the fuss was about. Yet, ironically, you probably haven’t tried these yourselves yet.

So, let’s get into it.

QuietComfort Ultra earbuds specs

The QuietComfort Ultra are priced at £299.95 in the UK and will begin shipping in October.

They offer a number of headline-grabbing features over the Earbuds II they replace, including ‘breakthrough Bose Immersive Audio’, Snapdragon Sound certification, Google Fast Pair, a new metallic finish (in black or ‘white smoke’), and a new notch alight meant feature for the stability bands.

Everything else remains largely the same. The QuietComfort Ultra are IPX4 sweat and water-resistant and have Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint connectivity and a range of up to nine meters.

We can expect six hours of battery, and the charging case holds an extra three charges (why don’t other manufacturers explain it in that way?). That adds up to a total of 24 hours of listening time, and two hours can be grabbed in a pinch with a quick 20-minute charge.

I’d like to give a quick, special mention to the setup process for the QuietComfort Ultra. For starters, there’s a curious and very welcome injection of personalisation whereby you can name your earbuds. Instead of opting for the standard product name, Bose gives us a few options including ‘Bass Bumpers’, ‘Ear Confetti’, and ‘Penguin’.

Because – why not?

Beyond that, there’s a lovely guided tour of the earbuds where we learn that the orchestral tone that is played when you place them into each ear is actually for the CustomTune technology. This uses that sound to calibrate each earbud for the best noise cancellation and personalised audio – a super smart feature that avoids the need to run specific tests.

We’re also shown how to choose the right tips and bands, before being introduced to a demo of the immersive audio features.

This is definitely a pair of earbuds which demand a download of the app (and, yes, I am often the sort of person who skips that step entirely!).

Noise cancelling: a new era!

My go-to recommendation for noise-cancelling earbuds has, for the last twelve months, been the second-generation AirPods Pro.

Until now.

I won’t beat about the bush: there’s a new king in town.

Put simply, the noise cancelling on the QuietComfort Ultra is utterly stunning. Compared to Apple’s effort, Bose’s earbuds go much quieter. And I really didn’t think that would be possible. There is literally no competition between the QuietComfort Ultra and AirPods Pro 2.

AirPods Pro took us close, but I think the QuietComfort Ultra has tipped us over the edge and into an era where earbuds can offer just as good noise cancelling as their over-ear counterparts.

No, really.

I think there are two reasons Bose’s earbuds are so good. It’s the combination of the CustomTune technology – which auto-adjusts the noise cancellation – and the fit that comes from the bands and tips. As a result, there’s a significant amount of passive noise cancelling before the earbuds switch on the active stuff and the seal feels better than any other earbud I’ve tried.

Even the aware mode is impressive and more than capable of helping you hear yourself while taking calls (for which the QuietComfort Ultra work brilliantly, incidentally) or when you want to be aware of your surroundings. And there’s a very smart feature which, when you take one earbud out, lowers the noise cancellation in the other one to ensure a balanced listening experience.

So, we’re off to a killer start with the noise cancelling – Bose has really lived up to its name here.

But what about sound?

Sound: beyond daily driver

I’m not going to labour the point here, either. The QuietComfort Ultra sound brilliant.

Really, really brilliant – and straight out of the box without any EQing. Although, obviously, you can EQ them very easily via the aforementioned Bose app if you want to, along with the choice of some simple presets.

The sound produced by the QuietComfort Ultra is huge in a way that, just like the noise cancelling, is completely at odds with the size of these earbuds. They even dealt with my headphone killer test track, Pop Evil’s Breathe Again with ease – and that’s no mean feat for a pair of earbuds.

They cope with any genre with aplomb. The QuietComfort Ultra sound alive, non-fatiguing and, most importantly, exciting. There’s also no distortion, the mids are clear, and the top end doesn’t grate.

If you’re wondering about the low end – it is buttery smooth and avoids drowning out everything else.

I’m not an audiophile and I never dive into frequency-by-frequency reports for headphones and earbuds, but what I am interested in is whether or not the QuietComfort Ultra are £299.95 good – because that is a lot of money for a pair of earbuds.

The good news is they are indeed good enough for that price tag. In fact, they sound better than that. The QuietComfort Ultra sound expensive and capable, but they also come with a new trick in the form of immersive spatial audio.

This arrives in two flavours. The first is ‘still’ which places the sound ‘in front of you’. Move your head left and right and the sound stays in place, as though it’s played through external speakers. Leave your head in a new position for a bit and the sound will return and centre itself.

The second setting is ‘motion’, where the sound follows your head as you move around. Whereas ‘still’ is intended for static listening, ‘motion’ is best for when you’re moving about.

If you’ve never experienced spatial audio before, the effect is mesmerising, although beyond the wow factor, it is intended to add more depth to whatever it is you’re listening to.

For music, immersive audio adds a live feeling to studio recordings and the sound stage does indeed get much larger and wider than stereo. There’s a palpable sense of height in the audio, too. But where this technology really comes alive is when you’re watching movies or TV shows.

Immersive audio is clearly going to become the default way we experience that kind of content when wearing headphones and earbuds, and the QuietComfort Ultra ensure you can get ahead of the crowd on that front.

Comfort and convenience: all day long

These are incredibly comfortable earbuds. I’ve worn them for extended periods of time without trouble, and that combination of the bands and tips does make a huge difference.

Bose has also opted for touch controls (the usual taps for play and swipes for volume) which, although rarely my favourite method for interacting with earbuds, are at least unobtrusive and they haven’t annoyed me at all. You can also set up shortcuts for your favourite immersive audio settings, which is pretty neat for quickly switching listening modes.

It’s also worth noting that the QuietComfort Ultra will auto-play and pause when you take them in and out of your ears – a feature which is curiously absent from far too many earbuds and headphones.

Battery performance on the QuietComfort Ultra is superb, and the fact Bose insists on informing users of the remaining battery life when you place them into your ears is something I always miss on other earbuds.

The QuietComfort Ultra are a nice-looking pair of earbuds, too, and they favour a stem design, which always gets my vote. As for the case, while it’s a tad on the large side, it is well-made and satisfying to use.

The big question remains: should you buy the QuietComfort Ultra?

Conclusion

Yes.

I loved the Bose QC45s because of their all-around daily driver brilliance. The QuietComfort Ultra are exactly the same in that regard, but they raise the bar, big time, with the best noise cancelling I’ve heard on a pair of earbuds and sound that is exciting, engaging, and which works brilliantly for every music genre I care about (which is a lot).

I’m blown away by these earbuds. In fact, I’m confident in saying that the QuietComfort Ultra are the best earbuds I’ve tested this year.

Sure, the price is knocking on the door of over-ear noise-cancelling headphones, but the QuietComfort Ultra are just as good as those cans.

These really are going to take some beating, guys.

Buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds here

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