Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) Review

The new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) offer energetic sound quality and unbelievable active noise cancellation (ANC). They improve upon the previous-gen model in small but valuable ways and are a perfect option for listeners who want to enjoy uninterrupted music while traveling, commuting, or working. The biggest caveat is their size, which may not fit comfortably in the smallest of ears, but barring that physical consideration, there’s little to complain about.

I’ve spent more than a decade obsessing over audio devices, and these are some of the most refined earbuds I’ve tested. They shy away from some of the fancy features you can get on a few rival buds, like heart rate tracking and automatic language translation, but Bose does a great job sticking to the basics by focusing on what matters most: music listening, noise blocking, and call quality.

The new buds offer small but welcome improvements over their predecessor

To be clear, Bose’s first-generation QC Ultra Earbuds really knocked it out of the park when they launched in 2023. If you can still find them at a good discount, they remain an excellent buy. But this new second-gen model tweaks a number of things while keeping the same suggested retail price as the older model they’re replacing. That said, these adjustments are mostly small improvements rather than radical upgrades.

For example, call quality is better thanks to new AI-based background noise suppression (called Bose SpeechClarity). Bose’s ActiveSense adaptive noise cancellation tech, which automatically kicks in when there are spikes in ambient sounds, has also improved. Likewise, the noise floor has been reduced and sound tuning has been refined. The Bose mobile app can now display the charging case battery life and has an option to disable touch controls.

Those are all appreciated changes, but they simply build upon the first-gen model’s already solid performance. The only completely new features are the addition of wireless charging support for the earbuds’ case and the inclusion of in-ear wax guards on each bud.

Generally speaking, people who still have the first-generation model have little reason to buy this new pair. In fact, the two models are so visually similar that I mixed them up while conducting this review and put the old ones in the new case. This is where the wax guard comes in handy as a good visual differentiator.

However, people rocking older Bose earbuds or those who don’t own any headphones from the brand should put the second-generation QC Ultra Earbuds high on their list of potential buys.

Audio quality sparkles and brings songs to life

The second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds offer heart-pounding bass and crisp vocals, seemingly without breaking a sweat. Finer instrumental details, like fingers sliding along guitar strings or electronic flourishes in dance music, all carry a clean presence. Even a song like Lorde’s “What Was That,” which starts musically sparse, manages to sound full and all-encompassing.

Although the drivers of the first- and second-generation earbuds are the same, the tuning has been tweaked for this new model. The goal was better bass response and smoother high frequencies. I played dozens of songs back to back on both pairs, listening for the differences.

When A/B testing them, there is an audible difference between the two sets of earbuds, but it’s small. The new ones sound a touch warmer and better blended, but it’s hard to pick out a single area where the first generation felt lacking or the new buds are substantially better. However, the new QC Ultra’s strengths stand out a bit more when pitted against popular rivals from other brands.

Compared to the AirPods Pro 2, the QC Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) produce beefier ultra-low frequencies when using the default EQs. Of course, for general music streaming, it’s hard to find much fault with the AirPods Pro 2, but Bose’s earbuds do have more boom out of the box.

Meanwhile, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 earbuds have a great sound as well, with a clear midrange and full depth. But the second-gen QC Ultra Earbuds once again deliver a more expansive low end using default settings, which bass heads will likely favor.

The Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are great for listening to music, but they’re also good for watching movies and TV shows. I used the earbuds to stream videos on an iPad, and they helped create an enjoyable cinematic experience.

ANC performance is at the top of the pack

The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are great at a lot of things, but their ability to block unwanted noise is essentially unmatched. I’ve used many of the best noise-canceling headphones on the market, and I consider these to be the top earbuds of the bunch. However, I could also say the same for the first-gen model’s ANC performance.

To test the earbuds’ ANC capabilities, I played the sounds of an airplane cabin at 55 decibels, sitting about 18 inches away from the speakers. Without music playing, the Ultra Earbuds 2 could significantly cut out the noise. The ANC was able to block out nearly all the sound. I tried this with Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, and they also did really well. But the way the Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) completely silenced the ambient hum was scarily good.

I also raised the airplane cabin noise to 62 decibels, at the same distance, and I was able to make that noise completely disappear with music playing at 25% volume. With music playing at 35% volume and ANC on, the earbuds were able to block out cabin noise at 70 decibels from 18 inches away. This level of noise-canceling is impressive and better than any I’ve heard from rival brands. But as far as I could discern, the first-gen QC Ultra Earbuds deliver similar results. So, while this new model carries over the first-gen earbuds’ incredible ANC performance, its improvements are subtle.

It’s also important to note that good ANC performance is heavily reliant on getting a proper fit and seal with each earbud. Without a tight seal, the ANC technology can’t fully do its job, and there will be some noise leakage. To help with this, the earbuds come with additional ear tips and stability bands in the box. There’s also an ear-fit test in the Bose app to help you confirm that sound isn’t leaking.

By default, the earbuds let you choose between three audio modes in the app: Quiet, Aware, and Immersion. Quiet has the highest level of ANC. But if you’re sensitive to heavy doses of noise cancellation, you can also create your own custom mode with 10 levels of adjustment.

Meanwhile, Aware mode deactivates ANC and uses the earbuds’ microphones to enable a transparency feature that lets in outside sound. This mode also uses Bose’s ActiveSense tech to prevent sudden spikes in outside noise.

Finally, Immersion is Bose’s spatial audio mode. This adds depth to music (kind of like a faux surround sound mode) by positioning audio around you. The mode uses 100% ANC by default and repositions sounds based on your orientation, so if you shift your head, the audio tracks your movements. You can also disable head-tracking to create a fixed sense of 3D audio, so the sounds stay in the same place when you move your head.

It’s hard to predict what people will think of Immersion until they try it. However, this kind of processing isn’t for me. I never found it to actively ruin songs or shows, but I prefer the way standard stereo playback sounded for most content. If you do play around with the Immersion setting, just be aware that turning it on does use more battery life.

Speaking of which, the earbuds are rated for up to six hours of use, which is the same amount as the first-generation model. That’s a decent number, but not as high as some competing earbuds, like the premium Technics EAH-AZ100, which can offer up to 10 hours with ANC on.

Call quality is also exceptional

Although microphone quality rarely gets the spotlight it deserves, it’s a critical part of modern earbuds and headphones. Many people use their earbuds for phone calls, video conferences, and FaceTime chats, so good microphone performance ensures that users are easy to hear and sound natural.

The second-gen QC Ultra Earbuds have a new feature to boost call quality. It’s called Bose SpeechClarity, and it’s currently exclusive to this model. SpeechClarity uses AI-based proprietary technology to suppress background noise. Though Bose is far from the only headphone brand to offer a feature like this, few competitors pull it off as well as Bose does with these earbuds

I recorded my voice in several quiet and loud environments to get a sense of how I would sound during calls. Compared to the first-generation earbuds, the second-generation QC Ultra sound noticeably better, with a fuller tone. Even in a noisy environment, they managed to keep my voice present, full, and extremely clear.

When I recently conducted the same set of tests with a similar feature on the Nothing Headphone (1), that brand’s effect was too aggressive and clipped some of the words I was saying. That was never the case with Bose’s earbuds.

Should you buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen)?

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are a stellar pair of in-ear headphones, especially if you want to keep unwanted noise away. They’re my new go-to pair of travel earbuds. This second-gen model isn’t a radical improvement over the previous generation they replace, but they offer a more refined experience and better call quality.

That said, if you already own the first-generation QC Ultra Earbuds, then there’s little reason to upgrade. But if you don’t have the original model and you want a pair of powerful noise-canceling earbuds that can easily melt away the blaring hum of an airplane cabin, then I highly recommend this new model. The addition of wireless charging is nice, and there are a few other small tweaks that make the second-gen QC Ultra Earbuds the superior option.

The Bose QC Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are now available for preorder and will officially launch in stores on September 10. You can currently choose between black or white colorways, and a plum option is coming in October.