Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have had quite a few Bose headphones over the years, and it is fun to see the changes and improvements they make with each generation. The original QC Ultra model is still in my rotation, and I enjoy using them at the gym. I love how Bose headphones never have too much clamping force on my head, and they always feel light. These QC Ultra 2nd gen are no different. However, they have made changes to make them look and feel more premium. The frames around the cups are now made of metal instead of plastic, and are finished in a black chrome. They not only feel more sturdy, they also look better in my opinion. Adjustment and overall fit is still light and comfortable. The noise cancellation is top notch, which is expected from any Bose headphones. They have added some additional options and shortcuts in the app. There is now a touch sensitive volume slider, as well and immersive audio settings. Your preset modes can be cycled through by holding the mode button. I have mine set to cycle between quiet mode (full ANC), Aware mode (you can hear what's going on around you), and Immersive (enables the immersive audio setting that follows your head movement). Overall I find these gen 2 QC Ultra headphones to be a worthy update to an already great pair. The additional features and sturdier/nice build quality with the additional of a metal frame really takes these headphones up a notch in quality.

The exterior of these QC Ultra headphones is almost the same as the old one, attractive, understated, with no “look at me” lights or gaudy markings. The new ones add a bit of flair with the previously matte look on the metal headphone cup forks being changed to a shiny black chrome finish. The new look extends to the Bose logos on the outside of the headphone cups. The difference is small, but noticeable. Still good looking, still understated, good job. Sound quality is of course excellent out of the box. Some might find the bass a bit heavy, but it is strong to be audible over whatever (usually bass-y) noise the headphones are cancelling. On the subject of bass, the sub-bass on this pair is really good for TV and movies, the full spectrum sound really draws you in with the Cinema mode. Music is well rendered, even with a fair amount of noise in the room. They can get overwhelmed with a really noisy area while still playing music - if you turn down the volume on your source it usually helps. These new Bose headphones offer incremental improvements over their predecessor, still with the best ANC out there, but it ducks the noise cancellation if content is not being played. I can only imagine this is to conserve battery. There should be a mode that you can select beyond just “Quiet” to get full noise cancellation even if I’m not playing anything. It’s not a big enough gripe to get in the way of enjoying them, but I am docking a star from what are almost perfect cans. I have not been able to fully run down the battery on the new set, but it’s at least as good as my 1st generation pair, and they’ve had time to break in. The Gen 1’s battery seems to stretch its legs after a few charge/discharge cycles. Perhaps the new ones will do the same. Absolutely recommended.

You can’t go wrong buying Bose headphones. And sure enough, these are the latest in a series of headphones that do not compromise on sound quality. The latest QuietComfort Ultra headphones cannot disappoint you with their sound quality or their noise cancelling abilities. I can talk about the audio to no end – the audio is excellent to my ears. Both the highs and low sound fantastic. Out of the box the bass is a tad bit low for my tastes, but with the Bose app, you can configure the bass response to be a little heavier (more on the app later). What you’re really buying these for is their noise cancellation abilities. Compared to my Bose QC 35 II headphones, I can say that these seemingly are more able to cancel the sound around you. The drone of the office, the clicks of a keyboard, and chatter outside seem to all disappear with ease. At home, I find I can focus through what would have been an interrupting noise and just continue with my task at hand. Using these for work has me on tons of Zoom calls and my coworkers have had nothing but praise for the quality of the microphone. One of them said I sounded more “booming” and powerful. The nice part about the Bose quality here is that when you pick up an audio call, the sound doesn’t suddenly deteriorate to that of a phone call – it still sounds like CD quality audio. Not having this ability bothers me a ton and it is a frequent thing I deal with bouncing on and off calls all day, so I’m very pleased to hear the attention to detail. What is also nice is that when you place the headphones on your desk to walk away, they go to sleep almost instantly. Coming back and putting them on has them wake up just as quickly. Learning how to interact with the controls on the side of the headset I think has been the hardest part of owning these headphones. There’s a touch-sensitive strip on the outside that lets you change the volume of playback and two buttons – one “multi-function” button that lets you play/pause/skip forward/skip backward/change modes and another for Bluetooth capabilities. I frequently find myself reaching for the touch strip when I am trying to find the multi-function button or confusing the Bluetooth button for the multi-function button. I also miss the presence of a physical switch to turn them off; the Bluetooth button behaves as the power button, but if you don’t hold it for the exact correct amount of time, you can either get into a pairing mode or just have an announcement of the currently connected Bluetooth device. The app is _almost_ required to get the most value out of these headphones. In it, you can configure the metric ton of features that are somewhat difficult to configure from the headset. In it, you can configure things like “Immersive Mode” – a feature that makes the audio sound like it is coming from a sound source in front of you. Moving your head makes it still sound like the center of the room by changing the balance depending on which way you rotate your head. It’s cool and in my opinion, makes your music sound more “live” than it does in non-immersive modes. The app also enables you to change the power of the noise cancellation and to set the equalizer mode. There is a cool little feature that you can configure when you install the app – you can make it such that when the headphones come off, your music is automatically paused. It’s a neat trick, but sometimes I like to listen with one ear, and this is simply not compatible with that feature. One major complaint that I do have about these headphones is related to a white noise that they seem to inject into your audio. When you start playing music, they will start playing a low-level white noise track, I think to raise the noise floor. If you listen for it in your music, you can absolutely hear it. This noise continues to play while the audio channel is open on your device until something is paused (or you leave a call); about five seconds later it will stop. I can see the reason for raising the noise floor in that there is less to cancel but hearing the white noise actually _removes_ the immersion for me. This seems to be a modern Bose change – my QC 35 II’s do not seem to have it, but my most recent QC pair do. The key difference between the two is that the modern QC headphones do not fade to silence when audio stops playing, which somehow feels better. Overall, you can’t go wrong with these headphones. They work well for office workers or people who love listening to uncompromised audio. With an app that lets you customize them to an astonishing degree, they are truly “yours” and have earned a place in my “off to work” bag. I’d rate them higher if the option for configuring the white noise insertion mentioned above existed.

I have been a “mixed” fan of Bose products for a long time. Some of them just hit all the perfect points. Others have things that I tend to walk away from. The Bose QuietComfort (QC) line of headphones have been a go to for me when it comes to solid sound quality, uncanny noise cancellation, and comfort. The second generation of the QC Ultras, this headset you’re looking at here, is what I would call a refinement of a product that I found to be all around a solid product, with a couple of things I didn’t prefer. Not deal breakers, but could be better. The QC Ultra 2nd gen headphones continue the ultimate experience for active noise cancellation. They don’t completely eliminate all outside noise and sound, but the ones that matter are usually gone. Not having been on a flight since getting them, I decided to simulate that experience by playing an in-cabin soundtrack loudly on my home surround sound system. The QC Ultra 2nd Gen does a very effective job of taking away the engine noise. One of my must haves. Where there is a little sound bleed is when people are talking around me. I can hear voices, as well as things like car horns and babies, but they are brought down to a very low level. If I am not listening to music they are there, but turn on a source and they are effectively gone. That’s a good thing! The only thing about the ANC, what Bose calls “Quiet,” is there remains an audible hiss to me that is the headset applying it’s noise filter. Usually I can delete this sound mentally, but when there is no source of music, say when I want to just drown out the outside world, the hiss does distract me. The sound quality here is definitely top tier. I do have to adjust the three band eq in the Bose app to get the sound profile I want, but it’s not a hardship, and what I get is a full, rich sound that punches cleanly in the lows, gives well-round highs, and the mids are present and clean. There is a decent separation between them. In other words, I find the soundstage of the QC Ultra 2nd Gen to be wide enough to not feel like I’m just sitting between two speakers. The immersion mode is fun, but I don’t use it for music. I have used on video sources and it gives you a good enough surround effect that I will probably continue using it for those times. The controls are easy enough also, and this time, Bose has given you the option to turn off ANC if you want, whether that’s to get the natural sound isolation of the headset for listening, or if you are trying to save battery. I tend to leave it on, and it seems the battery life has improved from previous products enough that there is plenty of life for listening on travel. The volume slider is still here, and it works about the same, I tend to be gentle when I go in to press the sound mode button or play/pause because you can easily bump it. The comfort continues to be a Bose hallmark. The headset is light on the head, the ear cups are large for a very pleasant feel around the ears, and other than what I believe to be a slight increase in clamping on my head, I would confidently say these are an all-day wear. I would recommend these to anyone who is a Bose sound fan, you will love these. I would also recommend these to travelers and those who commute because there is so much comfort and sound quality here that it will be a really enriching experience to be on the move. If you are looking for an audiophile type experience, I would say there are other options that might give you more music fidelity, but these do have a solid, everyday sound that will be pleasant and are full and rich.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones are fantastic, built well and sound great. The active noise cancelling is top notch, of course. You can set the level of noise cancelling within the Bose app which is very convenient. However, I did get a bunch of feedback while laying on my side in bed. I must have blocked some port for the ANC. After turning it off, the sound went away. Connecting to the app was easy, also. You can change the EQ, update firmware and more. Have never had issues with the app so make sure to get that downloaded. The sound quality is great, of course. Everything sounds clean and clear. The bass isn't over done or artificial sounding. Overall, the sound signature is really good. The build quality is nice. You get a nice polished metal that gives it a very sleek look. It does seem to add some heft to the headphones though. The earcups seem to be the same, or very similar to previous QC versions. They are comfortable and replaceable if needed down the road. Hopefully, the earcups last longer than the QC35's. My stubble seems to damage the material over time. I have had to replace the earcups three times on my QC35's. Overall, a great set of headphones with the sound quality you'd expect from Bose.

These are a huge upgrade from the first generation QC's which I owned for about 2 years. I really like the automatic turn on and turn off function as I sometimes forget to turn them off and they still have battery when I come back to them. I have not exhausted the battery, but Bose claims 30 hours. I used them on a coast to coast 6 hour flight and they still worked for 2 days following the flight. Perfect companion on airplanes!!!They are a bit tighter on my head than the first generation, but maybe that is because they are new and not yet "broken in." The cups seal very well and are comfortable. As expected the ANC functions are industry leading and do not disappoint. I also am a fan of the app as it is very easy to use and is intuitive to adjust for just the right sound given the source. I have not yet used the USB connection as I am thrilled with the Bluetooth connection and it's rich sound. Perhaps a wired connection might be better, but I am happy with Bluetooth. These are on the pricey side, but I cannot find fault with any of the features, and am happy with the performance and the convenience. They are worth every penny. To Bose: this set is going to be tough to top with your next model that updates it - good luck with that!!!

These Bose QuietComfort Ultras are the most comfortable and usable pair of headphones I have ever used (and being a techy in my late 30’s, I’ve used many for a bunch of different brands) The sound cancellation is the best I’ve ever used also, AND on the flip side, being able to tune it the opposite direction allows me to leave my headphones on and still hear what's going on around me. It seems to charge fairly quickly, and I have easily gotten multiple hours of usage while only using 10-20% at a time! The included case is great also, keeps these fancy headphones safe, so then you can just toss them in your bag without worrying about something breaking them. The overall comfort is great, I have an extra large head, and while I had to max them out, they still fit great, the ear cups are comfy without making my head sweaty. Connecting them is a snap, I first connected them to my Pixel 9, messed around with the settings until I found what I liked in the app, and then I was able to add my ROG Z13 tablet as well! Works great with both for gaming on the Z13 or music from my phone! Recommended for anyone looking for premium sound cancelling headphones!

LOVE, LOVE the Bose headphones! Even though we did not get them due to an employee error giving us wrong information. You can totally never go wrong with a BOSE product!

Comfy and the sound quality is crazy good ! Best headphones out right now!