Customer Ratings & Reviews

My daughter loves them. Much better than her previous model.

I loved this Bose, they are perfect for focusing on studying

I’ve always use Bose products as it is proven and the sound quality is superb.

Got as gift my dad loves them. Sound amazing great bare and very comfy

Good build, metal hinges beats Sony for me. Although Bose needs to get into hi res like Sony.

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

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

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

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.

I've been a longtime owner of Bose QC35 headphones. While I've had several headphones since then, I keep coming back to the QC35 headphones for ease of use and steady performance. One of the things I just kind of lived with for a while now is the charging port of the Bose QC35 headphones. It's a Micro-USB connector where most of my modern devices are USB-C. It doesn't really affect my overall travel packing when I'm traveling with my family as I've got older Kindle tablets that require Micro-USB. But it's still a luxury that I'd like in new headphones. In comes the QuietComfort Ultra 2 Headphones. I haven't gotten Bose headphones since my QC35 headphones so this will be a decent jump. Taking it out of the box, the new QC Ultra 2 is about 30 grams heavier than the QC35. What strikes me off the bat is that the QC Ultra 2 has metal forks which is a welcome upgrade since I've had other branded headphones that broke after 1 year of use. I noticed that the QC Ultra 2 only has two buttons. A labeled Bluetooth button and a non-labeled button. After looking through the quick start guide, both of these buttons are multi-function. There is also an embossed bar that is a capacitive touch volume control. The other cup has my coveted USB-C charging port. The USB-C port also allows USB audio. It also has a headphone jack for connecting to older planes and other audio devices. I've had several Bose devices that work well with the Bose Connect App, but now these QC Ultra 2 Headphones utilize the Bose App. After connecting to the Bose App and then connecting to my PC, I found it very easy to switch Source from within the App or by pressing the Bluetooth button. However, the Bluetooth button is a multi-function button that also controls the Power On/Off. So it took a little trial and error to press and hold the button for the right amount of time to jump between switching sources, power or go into Bluetooth pairing. That's where another function tries to help. The On/Off is also controlled by placing the headphones on your head. Within 5 seconds of placing on your head, the headphones automatically turn on and I suspect similarly when you lay them down, they take about 5 seconds to turn off. This is where I like the QC35 with the physical on/off slider and when you push past the On detent, it switches the Bluetooth. The EQ in the app is somewhat disappointing. While the out of the box sound profile is great, I want more EQ channels than just the 3 (bass, mid, treble). Immersive Audio in the App is kinda fun. When you have it in Still mode, it sets the sound stage virtually in front of you, but as you turn your head, the sound is virtually stationary and you get more sound to the 'closer' ear and less sound to the 'farther' ear. While it's fun, I don't see myself using it very often. Noise Cancelling. Bose has always been very good with Noise Cancelling. Even with the QC35, white noise is tuned out very well. With the QC Ultra 2, they take it a step further and try to tune out sudden noises above the white noise for a more pleasant experience. I really enjoy this. Add to it, I've been reading comparisons of the QC Ultra 2 against the XM6 and they are neck and neck when it comes to Noise Cancelling. Audio performance. Despite only having the ability to EQ 3 channels in the app, I have to say, I really stuck with the out of the box settings. Bose starts you off in a really good place. I was listening for hours before I realized how much time had passed. If you don't mind getting used to multi-function buttons, these Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 headphones are top notch contenders. They are light, have good battery life, provide solid ANC performance and are great on the ears.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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)

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.