Customer Ratings & Reviews

Ultra--Beyond the range of limits; Beyond the ordinary. Bose Ultra--what a great name for these incredible earbuds--they are BEYOND all other earbuds! They are so good, my wife liked mine so much I gave them to her and I had to buy a second pair for me. Best ANC earbuds, hands down. Aware mode (transparency) is also great (I thought it was just as good as Apple Pros). Quite comfortable for hours at a time. These buds stay in my ears whether walking, running, eating, sleeping (well, until the pillow knocks one out of place). The sound is RICH and has DEPTH--and the immersive mode brings some music to a completely different level (I have found that some things I listen do not sound as well in immersion mode--so it is really a personal preference). I have not had connectivity issues with these (I did with several pairs of QCIIs). In my opinion, these are by far the best earbuds being sold (and I tried pretty much every option over the last few months--Beats Studio+, Sony XM5, Apple Pro (2), Sony Linkbuds S, and Quiet Comfort II). And they look fantastic--the metal touch bar on each bud adds style! I do wish they had multipoint connection so that I could connect seamlessly to my iphone/ipad/Mac, but that isn't a necessity (for me) and Bose does give you the ability to choose a device to connect to at a single time. So definitely not a deal breaker for me. I know a lot of people bring up the lack of wireless charging--wired charging works for me so again, not a deal breaker for me (AND Bose now offers a case cover that allows the case to charge wirelessly). My only real complaint is that the Bose app does NOT show the battery percentage of the charging case--you have to rely on the colors of the tiny lights on the case to figure out when you need to charge. (@Bose--y'all really need to fix that!). So hear is the bottomline: Sound: 5 out of 5 ANC: 6 out of 5 Aware (Transparency) 5 out of 5 Connectivity: 4 out of 5 Battery: 4 out of 5 Comfort: 4.5 out of 5 These buds truly are ULTRA!

## What's the difference between the QuietComfort Earbuds II and these Ultra earbuds? The biggest difference is the addition of "Immersive Audio," or what some companies may refer to as "Spatial Audio" (more details on this later). The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds include all the features of the QuietComfort Earbuds II, but also add support apt-X Adaptive Hi-Res audio (if your phone supports it; iPhones do not at the time of this review). ## Design The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and accompanying case are bulkier than the Apple AirPods Pro, but are available not only in white but in a black color as well. They feature a shiny black exterior with a matte, dark silver "stem" with the Bose logo that also serves as a touch button. Unlike the AirPods Pro, the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds have an additional silicon "wing" that further helps stabilize the earbuds and secure it in your ear. There are two additional "tips" and "wings" included in the package, so you can experiment and find the proper fit for you. The case has a matte black finish with the charging port located on the bottom and the pairing button located on the back, much like the AirPods Pro. However, the case is bigger than the case for the AirPods Pro, so it will definitely take up some pocket room. ## Performance ### Active Noise Cancellation While the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are bigger, they also feature bigger Active Noise Cancellation compared to the Apple AirPods Pro. While the focus of the Active Noise Cancellation is on lower frequencies, such as the hum of an airplane or engine, they are also somewhat effective on higher frequencies, such as people talking and babies crying. My only gripe with these earbuds would be the "whoosh" sound they play every time you place the earbuds in your ear. This is to test the "seal" to your ear canal, but it is somewhat loud and it catches me off guard. ### Immersive Audio The biggest new feature is the addition of Bose Immersive Audio, which provides a wider sound stage than older earbuds. This makes the music sound like it is coming from all around you, as if you were sitting in the same room as the band. The Bose Immersive Audio feature can be set to two different modes: - Still: This makes the music sound as if it were coming from in front of your body, even if you turn your head to the side. This can be a little disorienting at first, as it feels like the earbuds are not even there and that you are hearing "real" music in front of you. - Motion: This setting is a little more comfortable (yet less impressive) as it allows the music to follow your head, so the sound feels like it is always coming from the same direction your nose is facing. ### Aware (with ActiveSense) As with the previous generation of QuietComfort Earbuds II, the "Aware" setting is still present, which relaxes the Active Noise Cancellation and pipes in the outside world for those times when you need to hear an announcement or otherwise hear what is going on around you. I really appreciate the "ActiveSense" setting that you can enable for "Aware" mode, which helps prevents loud sounds from being over amplified as it is piped into your ears. For example, if you're walking and someone were to suddenly scream in your ear, you would still hear it, but the volume of that scream would be reduced before reaching your ears. I tested this feature by blaring a Sonos speaker next to me and putting the earbuds in. I could still hear the music, but it was at a much more comfortable listening level. ## Features - App: The Bose Music app allows you to assign a "shortcut" and customize how holding either earbud works. You can choose from cycling through the modes (Quiet, Immersive and Aware, which you can shorten by selecting two favorite modes to toggle between) or accessing the voice assistant on your phone. - IPX4 sweat resistance: You can use these earbuds for your workouts as they're rated against sweat, but you cannot immerse the earbuds in water. - Single earbud use: You can leave one earbud in the charging case and use the other earbud in "aware" mode. ## Battery Life The QuietComfort Ultra earbuds can last up to 6 hours on a single charge, although if you use the Immersive Audio feature, this can reduce play time to about 4 hours. The case holds up to 3 additional full charges. ## Summary The Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds have an impressive new "Immersive Audio" mode that can further enhance the music you're listening to and make it sound as if it were surrounding you. The Active Noise Cancellation technology is also more effective than my AirPods Pro (1st gen), but the earbuds are bulkier than the AirPods.

Pros: Great Sound (a little improvement over the QC II, definitely more bass, a little more highs and better clarity). Much stronger ANC (lower and higher frequencies). Comfortable for hours of listening, they stay in my ears no matter what. The Immersion feature is nice. Makes the music sound more clear (keeping the thumpy bass), but it is not for all music genres. Definitely great for movies. More stable connection with the phone and with the app. Still buggy sometimes with the app, but better than the QC II. Cons: They have a faint static noise on the left earbud. I have two pairs (Black & White Smoke) and both have it. And I've read on the internet that it is a common issue. You can hear it on quiet environments. Hope Bose is aware and fixes this issue with a future firmware update. No wireless charching for a premium earbuds. Although Bose sells a silicone case cover for $50 that enables wireless charging. Not fair to spend an additional $50 on a $300 earbuds. No múltiple connections. It's only limited to one device at a time. Hope Bose enables this feature with a firmware update too. Battery it's still around 6 hrs (less than average), but Immersion drains it faster, 4 hrs. I wish you could turn of the NC or Ambient mode engine so you could get more hours of playtime.

Pros: Great Sound (a little improvement over the QC II, definitely more bass, a little more highs and better clarity). Much stronger ANC (lower and higher frequencies). Comfortable for hours of listening, they stay in my ears no matter what. The Immersion feature is nice. Makes the music sound more clear (keeping the thumpy bass), but it is not for all music genres. Definitely great for movies. More stable connection with the phone and with the app. Still buggy sometimes with the app, but better than the QC II. Cons: They have a faint static noise on the left earbud. I have two pairs (Black & White Smoke) and both have it. And I've read on the internet that it is a common issue. You can hear it on quiet environments. Hope Bose is aware and fixes this issue with a future firmware update. No wireless charching for a premium earbuds. Although Bose sells a silicone case cover for $50 that enables wireless charging. Not fair to spend an additional $50 on a $300 earbuds. No múltiple connections. It's only limited to one device at a time. Hope Bose enables this feature with a firmware update too. Battery it's still around 6 hrs (less than average), but Immersion drains it faster, 4 hrs. I wish you could turn of the NC or Ambient mode engine so you could get more hours of playtime.

Bose needs no introduction when it comes to ANC. They've been at the top of ANC lists when it comes to earbuds and headphones by producing products that cancel out some of the most noise. Bose is back in less than a year with the QC Ultra earbuds, which I'll call the Ultra from now on. They released the QC Earbuds II last year with great audio quality, measurably the best ANC, and a smaller form factor than their QC Earbuds I. However, the earbuds were buggy. Bose's app isn't the smoothest, it took them a few months before they released the independent earbud firmware update, call quality wasn't the best, and the earbuds were all around a buggy experience with them not fully connecting to source audio devices, skipping, causing audible issues, etc. Now Bose is back and what have they changed with the Ultra? They upgraded the Bluetooth chip. Still Bluetooth 5.3 (and not supporting new 5.3 audio standards), but now they've added head tracking and aptX Adaptive, but only if your Android phone/tablet is Snapdragon Sound certified. I have an iPhone and Apple devices, so aptX Adaptive doesn't do anything for me. However, the new Snapdragon chip could be less buggy than the 1-year-old Bluetooth chip. I'll get straight to the point: these are still buggy. Initial pairing through Bose's app didn't work. I had to manually pair them with my iPhone and finish setup through Bose's app. I have since experienced two times when the earbuds would not reconnect to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. The right earbud usually makes the calibration noise while the left one does not. Then ANC doesn't kick in and I can't manually connect to my iPhone. Putting the earbuds back in their case for 30 seconds fixes the issue, but it's a pain, especially for $300 earbuds. So, if you were looking for a complete bug-free experience, you'll need to look elsewhere. Otherwise, these still have class-leading ANC. People often need to stand in my office and wave their arms to get my attention. landscaping equipment, heavy trucks, and various other noises are all canceled out. One major improvement I experienced was a lack of ANC and sound imbalance. Before, with the QC II, a sound could start playing on my right side and that earbud would let audio in for 10-15 seconds and play audio louder in the left earbud. After that time period, the ANC would kick in and the audio would either keep the imbalance, requiring me to pause/play media to kick them back, or go back to normal. I haven't experienced that issue here. As for immersive audio, it's a gimmick. I mainly listen to metal and some hard rock. All vocals sound like they're recorded in an aluminum shed, underwater with the microphone 20-30ft away. Stereo separation is removed with instruments coming only from the center and drums sound like they're compressed down to 64kbps mp3. Immersive audio also quickly drains the battery. These go from 6 hours of use to 4 with immersive audio enabled. No thanks. Some pop mixes sound OK, Atmos songs in Apple Music sound fine but, aside from not having head tracking, forcing Apple Music to play Atmos songs as-is through the earbuds results in a better experience that still lets you place instruments in the room. I'm not a fan of head tracking anyway, it's another gimmick and I absolutely hate needing to keep my head flat and looking straight just to have audio play balanced. Immersive audio isn't a reason to get these earbuds despite it being a major feature heavily advertised by Bose. Mic quality has somewhat improved. It's better than the QC II, still not on-par with competitors at this price (or even half the price). People haven't complained about not being able to hear or understand me, but it's not as solid as less expensive options from others. Sound quality is still solid. These earbuds have an increased bass out of the box, more bass than the usual Harmon curve. You can adjust the EQ to your liking use the 3-band EQ in Bose's buggy app. I left things as-is Overall, the connectivity improvements, small bump in call quality, and improved ANC performance (not ANC level) are worth the upgrade for me. I still think that Bose should have included Qi charging with the plastic case, or included the Qi charging case with the Ultra since they're so expensive and the QC II were launched less than a year ago. Another improvement is the wing tips. I don't think Bose changed the size of the Ultra compared to the II, but the Ultra fit my ears better. I no longer need to wear the large wing tips. The medium ones that came preinstalled fit my ears just fine. It's easier to replace the wing tips and get them locked into place. There's now a notch at the top of the earbuds instead of a weird square at the bottom that didn't seem to latch onto anything. Immersive audio isn't worth upgrading to these. It sounds awful. I can still recommend these if you want a better experience than the QC Earbuds II. It's still not a smooth experience, which it should be for this price, but it's an improvement experience. I like the two-tone color of these earbuds, the silver accents are a nice touch.

I’ve been primarily a Beats headphone/earbuds user, until the last couple of years. I first bought the Sony 1000XM4 headphones and loved them. They are still my main use headphones. This year I bought Sony XM5 earbuds and loved those too. Then I bought the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. I really really love these earbuds. Between the two, the Bose have overall better sound and fit. Out the box they sound awesome but they can be fined tuned via the Bose App. It’s easy to find a secure fit with the extra wings and tips provided. Noise cancellation and battery life are also great. My two issues with these buds are 1) for the price they don’t support multi point connectivity. You can store several devices and switch between them, but you first have to connect to the device when you switch, and 2) the case doesn’t support wireless charging. To get that you have to buy a separate case cover. For me the quality of the sound and the extremely comfortable and secure fit of the QuietComfort Ultras outweigh those two issues.

Being a long time Bose fan back to the black and white plug in headphones from 90's /2000's. Their noise cancelling has progressively improved and the sound quality has always been top tier. With these earbuds the following are awesome; * Noise Cancelling is unbelievable * Battery life with noise cancelling easily 5-6 hours consistently *Spatial /Immersion sound is unbelievable For the money you spend they deliver in above and are my first buds i grab for commute and headed to work. Sitting in most cubes now you will encounter the loud talkers and i hardly every hear those people with these. Only thing i will knock them on is the call quality is not as good as Air Pod Pros and they disconnect from your bluetooth on occasion for no reason. Other than that they are awesome.

Sound quality is good , bass is amazing the only negatives are the volume and connection disruption

They sound fantastic, coming from Air pod Pro's I can say they're better in the lows but similar overall. Personally they're much more comfortable though. Being able to change the tips and pieces that hold it in your ear is great. I sometimes work in a loud data center type environment and can take a call in there without issue on my end, and have got reports they can not even tell I'm in there, which has not been the case with any other headphones.

Got the money they are just okay. In my opinion can get better sounding for less money. These do have awesome noise canceling and fit. Never have to worry about then falling out.also had a few connection issues with these that i havent had with any if my other buds

After a year of ownership, I highly recommend these noise canceling earbuds. They are efficient and comfortable. The battery life is perfect, and the charging time is fast.

I purchased the Bose earbuds about a month ago. I've tested a lot of earbuds and these by far are the best ANC earbuds I've ever tested. They block out quite a bit of noise and the fit is very superb. As for the sound, they sound awesome. There's quite a bit of bass that can be adjusted via the EQ app to give you a balanced sound signature. Two gripes about these earbuds are, one the low volume on a call and no wireless charging. I've reset the earbuds and of also updated the firmware and the volume on cause is still low. hopefully there's a firmware upgrade coming soon to resolve this issue, if so, I think these are the best earbuds on the market.

It just like a I’ve been using the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for a bit now, and while there are definitely things I like, I don’t think they fully lived up to the hype for me. What I liked: The noise cancellation is really good—probably one of the best I’ve tried. It blocks out background noise almost completely. The sound is clear and full, especially with spatial audio on. Music and podcasts sound rich and smooth. They're also pretty comfortable, even for longer use, and they look sleek and modern. headphone.

The sound quality is perfect. The noise cancellation is the best I’ve seen so far. Battery is great. The reason I gave 3 stars it’s because the volumes of call is so low. I am a driver so I can only keep one in my ear at a time. And I struggle to hear at max volume. ( something that I wouldn’t have a problem with a very cheap Bluetooth) and also it keeps connecting and disconnecting all the time. To other than that it’s pretty perfect.

These headphones are undoubtedly the best that Bose has to offer. From my experience, they perform exceptionally well, particularly when it comes to noise cancellation, which is a crucial feature for me given the nature of my job. The ability to block out background noise allows me to focus and increases my productivity, making them an invaluable tool in my daily routine. The build quality of the headphones is above average, which is a positive aspect. However, I have encountered some issues; I’ve had to return a few pairs over the years. Yes, I’ve gone through more than three pairs in the four years I’ve owned them. This is primarily due to the heavy usage they endure as I rely on them consistently during my work hours. Despite trying other brands in an effort to find alternatives, I always find myself returning to the Bose QuietComfort Ultras. They simply offer the best combination of comfort, sound quality, and noise-canceling capabilities. Each time I stray to another brand, I’m reminded of why I keep coming back to Bose. Overall, these headphones are the perfect choice for anyone seeking quality and reliability in their audio experience.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds are hands down the best in-ear noise-canceling headphones I’ve used. Whether I’m deep into music production, taking calls for work, or just unwinding with immersive audio, they deliver rich, detailed sound with incredible depth. The spatial audio makes everything feel more lifelike, and the noise canceling is so good it’s like flipping a switch to pure focus. Comfortable for long sessions, great battery life, and the sound quality is simply top-tier. An absolute joy to use!

Excellent sound quality leaning more into bass. Bose really knows how to make their products feel comfortable, but it comes at the expense of some features. The case is too big, and you can feel it's mostly empty inside. Removing 1 star for no wireless charging and odd spacial audio behavior (kicks in and out randomly so I have to turn it off for most things).

I love the sound quality of these earbuds. The fit is so comfortable that I sometimes forget they are in my ears. Because of this, I am willing to deal with the connectivity issues. The buds automatically connect to the last device you had them connected to. You cannot go from device to device seamlessly and you have to go into settings and select the buds on the device you are switching to. Also, I can be listening to music on my phone, get a call and answer it, but the caller is heard through my phone and not the ear buds. I have the iPhone 15 ProMax. It is pretty frustrating and I am sure Bose can do better. Hoping for an UPDATE!!!

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds offer outstanding sound quality and noise cancellation. Comfortable for long wear, they have impressive battery life and sleek design. Stable Bluetooth connectivity adds to the seamless experience. Worth the investment for top-notch audio and features. Highly recommended for any music enthusiast.

Bose has created a winner with the Quiet Comfort Ultras. I own several of the latest earbuds and I have returned several because they did not have the quality and features I expected at the $300 or higher price point. Before buying the Ultras, I was using a preferred earbud for music, movies, and videos. I had a separate earbud for Microsoft Teams meetings. The QC Ultras have met my needs for all tasks. The sound quality is excellent. The sound options are alert, quiet (noise canceling), and immersion modes, which are controlled by performing an extended touch and hold on the right earbud. I am very impressed with the immersion mode. The music surrounds you and it feels like it is in your head. (I know, sounds weird.) If you touch and hold the left earbud, you can toggle between still and movement modes. Still mode is great for listening while stationery. The music stays centered in front of you as you turn your head to the left or right. Movement mode allows your ears to remained equally immersed in rich and engaging sound. These are the first set of earbuds I can wear for extended periods of time without ear pain. So far the battery life has been good. I purchased the Bose wireless charging case as an option for wireless charging. The QC Ultras are a must buy. Job well done!!