Customer Ratings & Reviews

Love these. I place them 2nd out of my two dozen headphones.

It works excellent I can’t live with out my headphones

Got for a 18 hour plane ride. Block out all noise. Sounds amazing.

I like the Brand the design but they don't do great on the noise cancellation much work to do to improve it there's another ones better like beats audio which already have

As someone who was upgrading from the First gen. I'm actually disappointed in some ways how this is a downgrade. First off the ear cuffs were somehow more uncomfortable than the last model and I was starting to feel pain around the ear and in turn, was starting to get a headaches from wearing it, and what makes it even worst is that I bought 3rd party replacements for the ear cushions on the gen 1 and that gave me a better cushion than the new ones. And because I'm upgrading from the previous version, there is no one to justify paying again over 450 dollars for a worst version of headphones in terms of comfort. And the fact that the Gen 2 should not even be called gen 2, this a gen 1.5 upgrade that's somehow charging the price of a new version. Deeply disappointed this time around.

This is a big upgrade from a prior one I had. Major updates make it great

The same as Gen 1. The same audio the same quality.

Note: There will be comparison references to Sony’s WH-1000XM5 (XM5 henceforth). It is the next best item I have on hand to compare. The moment Bose’s QCU Headphone was delivered and unpacked, I noticed it has a nice design that is interestingly smaller than Sony’s XM5 headphones. Part of the reason is the fact that the QCU can be folded into a compact design that makes packing easier. It doesn’t require a lot of space and it surpasses Sony’s XM5 in this regard. While I have heard the XM6 rectifies the compact problem, the bulkiness of the headphones mean it is still “thicker” than the QCU. While I am unable to comment on the build quality, its lightweight feel is important for long listening sessions. There is a physical button for playback control and to change profile modes. A touch slider is right of the physical buttons to adjust volume, with an optional shortcut to set a custom action. Despite that the headphone is compact, when the earcups are rotated to be laid flat, they rotate outward. This is the same problem that plagued Sony’s XM5. The issue lies in that when people take their headphones to let it hang around their necks. Having the earcups rotate toward you so that the speaker faces your chest assists in protecting the earcups from the elements (ie dust or rain). Both Sony’s XM5 and the QCU suffer from the terrible design where the earcups rotate outward, exposing them to foreign objects that can potentially land inside. Also of note is that these are small headphones. I ended up expanding the band to the maximum length to comfortably set on my head. And the earcups are just big enough to cover my ears completely. This is the tradeoff for having compact headphones. Following Bose’s instructions, you’re tasked with downloading Bose’s app first before turning the headphones on and pairing it. The app asks for an account login and there is an option to continue as a guest. I chose to make a new account. Using a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, the setup process was smooth and easy. The Bose app has settings for noise cancellation level, EQ, profile “modes” for quick application of settings, multi-point control, and shortcut (for the volume control touch strip). A setting called “Immersive Audio” is an interesting piece, as it allows audio “positioning” depending on how your head moves. It works pretty well despite that all I did was turn my head a few times. I left it off just to keep the audio from shifting around. The volume slider has an optional shortcut with limited capabilities - checking battery level, digital assistant, Immersive Audio mode, and a Spotify shortcut. I set mine to the digital assistant. The noise cancelling is very good. It is so good that I find it difficult to find out which one is better. It’s not a wonder why a lot of people say that both companies have the best active noise cancellation for headphones. As for how the audio sounds, by default it sounds like it has an ever so slightly heavier bass than Sony’s XM5. It’s not a bad thing. And some people prefer that kind of sound profile. The sound is nicely neutral which is what I prefer, as I listen to a variety of genres and melodies. Okay, so everything said so far is supposed to be standard fare for a flagship ANC headphone. Here’s one thing that sets it apart from Sony’s XM5: USB-C audio. While the QCU is able to support AptX, it’s not widely supported on big name phones. Thus most Bluetooth connections will be using AAC for audio compression. USB-C audio requires no compression at all and delivers full audio quality straight to the QCU. USB-C audio also doesn’t exhibit issues that can arise with Bluetooth, such as interferences and random audio drops/stutters. Another advantage this has over Sony’s offering, the length of the included USB cable. It may sound like I am nitpicking. But every Sony audio gear I’ve tried all come with a pitifully short USB cable. Not with Bose’s. Included is a USB-C cable that is reasonable in length that can be connected to a charging block, a phone, or a laptop. And it is long enough that the headphones can be set down to allow for charging. Overall, I am liking the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones 2nd Gen. It’s lightweight, sounds great, excellent noise cancellation, and has a compact carrying case for easy packing. I sorely wish the earcups would rotate inward towards the chest. This alone kept it from getting a full perfect score. The option of being able to use USB-C audio for potential lossless listening is great. And I’m glad at least one company implemented this idea on an ANC headphone. If you know you don’t have a big head and ears, it’s a recommended buy for one of the best-in-class ANC headphones. The Good: best-in-class active noise cancelling, can be folded for compact travel, 3.5mm or USB-C audio The Bad: earcups rotate outward, not for large heads or ears The Ugly: random foreign particles finding their way into the headphones because they’re exposed Verdict: buy (you’re either a Bose user or a Sony user)

Great audio and ANC but I felt the hinges were a bit too fragile for me.

Had the first gen and I can’t say I recommend the upgrade, I prefer the sound profile on the first gen. The ANC did improve but it’s not like 1st gen was bad at all

Honestly prefer the gen 1 sound profile and the anc was already good so the slight improvement isn’t worth the upgrade if you currently have gen 1

Terrible product, its mindblowing all these people didnt catch a huge flaw with these. Gen 1 uses full power anc on quiet mode and immersion modes(not aware mode), but gen 2 uses adaptive(which gen 1 supposedly uses, but uses it right anyway)which means changing at all times, but these people dont notice because the anc is still at 50 perecnt and the music is loud enough so they dont know its lowering your anc at all times and making it so i hear backgound noise all the time. Stick with gen 1 unless u dont care about anc stability. To check this put on quiet mode and then quickly play a song at medium volume, then quickly pause and listen to the anc change, no way to change this. Dumbest pair of headphones i ever bought, super bummed.

Nothing Bad to say about these! I have been using a pair of flagship ANC bluetooth cans from another company for a couple of years now, and I really didn't think these would be a big improvement. I was wrong. Taking into account that the tech has moved forward (it would be disingenuous for me to say I didn't expect these to be at least a bit better), I was really blown away by these second gen QuietComfort Ultras. First off, the build quality is quite nice. I haven't had these very long so I can't say they will hold up to everyday use over the long term. Just holding and using these cans, they feel like they are made of quality materials. While the headband and cup outer shells are plastic, they don't feel like cheap plastic. The yokes for the cups and the attachments are nice solid feeling metal. The headband padding is a nicely supple and pleasant material (shaved head guys like me will appreciate that it's not cheap and sticky feeling!). I am not really about flash or flair, and I really like the almost gunmetal look of the metal parts with black of the cushioned and plastic parts. In terms of comfort, these headphones are outstanding. I usually use my headphones for an hour or two a night. I don't wear anything all day like some, especially those that work in busy office settings I am told. I can only say that in two hours of wear, I have experienced no "fatigue" or discomfort from the headband or the ear cups. I have average size ears I think, and the cups completely cover them without touching, and make a nice comfy seal without pressing too tightly. After just a few minutes I can honestly say I have forgotten that I am wearing them. I have never had a pair of headphones that had such a light feel to the headband, even when it is right on the skin. The functional design features are also a pretty good improvement over my older headphones. The button are well placed for intuitive control during wear. May favorite feature is the volume control "strip" up the back of the right ear cup. I have found this to be an extremely intuitive and precise control and have come to really prefer it over clicky buttons. Battery life appears to be quite good. Even after about a week of using these in ANC mode a couple of hours a night, I am still at 60% life. Sound quality out of the box was fine, and extremely crisp, though I thought it was surprisingly "thin". Upon first connecting it to my tablet I was prompted to install the Bose app, which has some presets and adjustable EQ options. After a bit of a test drive with the stock settings I jumped into the app and I found that it was very simple to make some small tweaks to the tone, that made a big difference to the way I wanted to hear my music. After dialing in the music aspect, I did some videos and music. These Bose QuietComfort Ultras really beat the tar out of my old headphones in the movie category. With essentially no messing around with settings the movie sound was dramatically improved with the dialog being especially clear. I will say that I played around with the immersive sound settings, but I didn't think they made a big difference for music (I prefer my music to stay "centered" as I move my head around anyway) but it did feel like an improvement when watching a show or movie, as my eyes were more likely to be on the image anyway. If I did move my head, the shift in soundstage was extremely natural and gave a real feeling of watching something with open ears and no cans. As a test I turned away from a video completely and discovered that there was a spot where the headphones couldn't quite decide if they should shift left or right and the audio noticeably wavered from ear to ear. This was a bit unrealistic as a test, but just thought it was interesting to find the break point of the system. Last but not least is the active noise cancellation feature. Simply put, it blows away anything else I have tried. I thought my old headphones were great. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 is OUTSTANDING. Most of the time I want to eliminate the outside noise of another program or just ambient household sounds to enjoy some music or watch a video. To test these headphones I compared them to my old ones using a white noise/fan noise machine. I used a very loud and very aggressive randomized fan sound, roughly 18 inches away. To put it simply, turning these headphones on completely turned off the sound of the noise machine. Like flipping it off at the power switch. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could hear the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. That. Is. Outstanding. After a couple of hours of wear, I noticed none of the fatigue I had experienced with lesser headphones with ANC (to be fair my older flagship cans were the same in this respect). Switching to the hear-through setting I was able to carry on conversations easily without removing the headphones, though I must admit I typically will slide an ear cup off just to not appear to be rude. What can I say, I am old school. I cannot say that these are better or worse than the other flagship tier ANC headphones out there as I haven't had an opportunity to try them all. They are all quite pricey though, and if you were already willing to pay for something in this class, I cannot see how you could go wrong with these.

I have been a fan of the Bose QC line for some time. This update did not disappoint. The inside flap of the box contains a QR code to download an updated APP from what I had been using. Upon arrival the headset was charged to 60 percent so I could get started right away. This APP made it easy to setup. As expected I was able to quickly pair with both my Android phone and my iPad at the same time. The APP has links to explain all the features available. I expected great sound but I have to say the Immersive audio is not just a marketing gimmick, it is truly impressive and worth the upgrade. I did the quick calibration so when I move my head when listening to music the sound source moves as if I turned away from the band or artist. You get the feeling you right in front of the source of the music, an amazing feeling. Of course the music reproduction is spot on. I did add just a little treble using the EQ available on the APP. The headset is comfortable. I used it on a 3 hour training video without any discomfort. Human voice is natural sounding as expected and in sync with the video. While watching the video on my iPad I received a call on my Android phone. The video stopped, I answered the phone and had a conversation with great audio in both directions. When I hung up the call the video continued from where it left off. This shows the functionality of the headset being able to pair with two devices and integrate them perfectly. This is not a new feature but nice to know it still works. Of course Bose has many years of experience in noise canceling technology, so needless to say the noise canceling is flawless. The APP provided me with many MODE choices. Two options I use in some of the MODES are Active Sense and Wind Block. ActiveSense adjusted the amount on noise canceling in a loud room and Wind Block did the same from wind noise from the fan on my desk. I have not used it outdoors in a windy location. Volume control is available via sliding a finger on the outer ring of the right side earpiece. I also have the ability to change MODES via a headset button. The headset has an on-off-pair button but if the headset is laid down on a flat surface the power shuts off. Two cables are included in the zippered carrying case. One is a dual USB-C for charging and the other is a mini TRS if you are not going to use BT, such as on a plane. No power brick is included. I am very pleased with this upgrade. Bose excellence continues in this crowded market. I would not hesitate to recommend this headset to friends and family. You will not be disappointed with this purchase.

The Bose brand has been synonymous with quality audio for just about as long as I can remember. I've owned a lot of headphones over the years, and while some have been better than others, they've all melted together in my mind as one conglomerated item. I expected more of the same with these - decent audio, decent comfort, decent battery life - but ended up being completely dumbfounded. Now, I'll be upfront. I'm no audiophile. I love listening to music and everything, but as long as I can hear all the different parts and they're not too muddy, I haven't cared much about the fidelity of what I'm listening to. It's certainly possible that a certain model of wired Sennheisers would blow these out of the water, but as an average listener who normally doesn't spend more than $40 on headphones, I never knew music could sound this way. These are nice and bassy. More than any headphones I've used, even the ones advertising extra bass. It's not overwhelming, though. In fact, the clarity of the other parts of the music come through more clear than I knew recording accomplished. I could genuinely discern that the flutes in a certain video game OST weren't the highest quality, for example, despite having listened to the song dozens of times before on other headphones. I noticed things like that in almost every song I listened to. They are comfortable for long periods of time. Wore them for 3 hours straight while writing and barely noticed. They're not comfortable enough that you forget you're wearing them, but they're not bothersome. The battery life is fantastic. Have used them for a few hours every day since getting them and haven't needed to charge them once. They come with a nice case, for storage, which I like. They are robust in build quality. The microphone in them is nice - on phone calls, people couldn't tell I was using headphones at all, when with most headphones, there's a notable drop in audio quality. The one concern I have is about the fake leather on them. Most fake leather I've seen, especially on headphones, starts to flake off in a couple years at best. Then you're pulling flecks of gray or brown or whatever out of your hair for wanting to listen to music, and you're in the market for a new pair. I don't know that these can circumvent the issue; only time will tell. But for now, they're excellent, and I would highly recommend them.

These were no good but the associates there are amazing they know what they are doing and very helpful

The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are extremely comfortable to wear on trips. I recently took them on a train ride and found them extremely comfortable to wear. The ANC (Active Noise Canceling) is top notch, with the ability to tweak the amount of noise canceling that you want to apply. I also found the BeAware mode, which allows sound to filter through to be a good feature to use when you don't want to eliminate outside noise. The sound on these headphones are top notch, as you would expect from Bose. If you have had previous headphones or speakers from Bose, that warm sound profile that is typical with Bose is present here. I tried the new CinemaMode that Bose offers for a movie. It simulates a surround sound environment and works pretty well. Does it fully replicate what an Atmos surround system can offer, no, but it is quite enjoyable and I think that I will try to use these more often for gaming on my PC. Battery life is rated at up to 30hrs with ANC on which is great for long flights and trips. The headphones can be charged with USB-C which is convenient. The USB-C can also be used to connect into your phone, tablet, or PC to experience lossless music from streaming services that offer it. I could not try this out for my review, as I don't subscribe to a service that offers lossless music. Overall, I think this is another quality product from Bose. Excited to take this on flights, where I will really get a chance to experience the ANC features. I do wish that it offered wireless charging given the price, but it's not a deal breaker.

I was not impressed by the noise canceling compared to other competitors. It just sounds like a white noise machine while other brands i cant hearwhats canceling the noise

Over the years, Bose noise cancelling headphones have been a go to for many and it’s nice to see that in the newest generation they have added additional features that improve upon the quality of life over the first generation. There is still much to like that makes this a strong contender in the field of active noise cancelling headphones. To start off, as with the previous Bose headphones I have tried, it is immediately comfortable to wear. The ear pads are nice and soft and provide an excellent seal against the head. The headphones are light enough and the headband has enough cushion that you can wear for long periods of time without strain against the top of your head. The adjustable headband makes it easy to fit your head size and you are not limited to predefined positions. Overall, it is hard to compete against how nice it is to wear especially for long plane rides. However that is not the only selling point. Paired with their mobile app, you are able to adjust a lot of different settings to really make the headphone yours. The active noise cancellation is adjustable to ten different levels, because sometimes the max level does not always feel the most comfortable after a while or maybe you want to hear more exterior noise. The touch controls can be configured or even disabled if you do not want to accidentally trigger them. Other smart controls can also be disabled like the auto play/pause when it detects your headphones are not on your head. Another nice little feature in this generation is the ability to play music through the usb-c cable instead of just bluetooth, giving you the option for lossless audio. If I have to give a complaint, it is that the touch controls for controlling volume are a little finicky. Sometimes when you slide slowly it would increase/decrease the volume a few clicks instead of just one. It makes it a little frustrating and something to get used to while on the go. Overall, this has been an enjoyable experience using these headphones. I am excited to see the improvements over the first generation. While not a huge gap between the generations, there are some new features that can make it worth the upgrade. For me, the adjustable noise cancellation really sells it.

In the box, you get a new carrying case; with a usbc cord and an aux cord! It’s been a while since I’ve seen a company give an aux cord in the box. First Impression - As someone who’s had the first generation, I was excited to hear that they were coming out with a new version. These are a slight improvement of the first ones. Upon opening the box, the first thing that you see is a QR code that will take you to their new app to set up your headphones. It’s super easy and convenient, the app has a bunch of modes (like immersion, studio, noise control) and tells you the percentage of battery life of your headphones. Comfort - The sides of the headphones are adjustable to fit your ears. And the fit is perfect, no sound escapes from these even when the sound is turned all the way up. The headphones are lightweight and comfortable, I forgot that I was wearing them at one point. Sound. - As someone who has had the first generation, not much has changed in the sound. The noise cancellation has improved and is still really great quality. With the new modes it gives you a new listening experience. The immersion feature is cool, because as you turn your head the sound changes between left and right ear, so it sounds like you’re in a concert. Notable Features - Do note that these headphones are sensitive, so if you slide one ear back it will pause whatever you’re listening too. Even when you take them off, they’ll disconnect from your device. And if you don’t turn them off yourself they will stay on the entire time, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t affect your battery life. For people who are active, there’s a wind block feature that I’ve used on my walks and it’s perfect. Even while jogging all you can hear is music, no wind, or cars passing by. And the muffs are a soft leather, so even if you sweat they don’t make your ears hot. But other than that they’re virtually the same as the earlier model. Battery Life - The headphones come charged to 60%, which lasted pretty long in my opinion. The battery in these headphones are nice, great for long stretches of time. They last well long over 24 hours of continuous use without having to charge them. These headphones are nice and I would recommend them to anyone looking for new over-the-head headphones. I would recommend to friends and family and I would purchase again.