Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen review: raising the noise-canceling bar yet again

By Becky Roberts Published August 29, 2025

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Less than two years after launching its QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (and Ultra Headphones over-ears), Bose is already back with an Ultra sequel, which is available now following an early September 2025 release. The – deep breath – Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen don’t exactly appear to illustrate the March of Progress when you compare their design and specifications to those of their predecessors, with battery life, Bluetooth codec support, form factor and even price ($299) remaining the same. 

But look beyond the surface and the noise-canceling kings have made significant under-the-hood improvements not only to the original’s biggest talent, ANC, but also to Immersive Audio, sound performance and – a slight weakness of the originals – call quality. The sequels also fix the only other criticism in our QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review: the absence of wireless charging.

Are the QC Ultra Earbuds 2 now the complete package, then? Spoiler: yes, they are.

Quick take: The most comfy, secure-fitting buds around.

More or less unchanged from the ergonomically excellent originals, the design of the QC Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen earbuds themselves is somewhere between the bulbous shape of the Sony WF-1000XM5 and the stem form of the AirPods Pro 2, with a flatter earbud combined with a short stem that doesn’t extend beyond the earlobe. The best of both worlds? I think so.

They’re among the most secure-fitting earbuds I’ve tested that aren’t specifically designed for sport, thanks not only to a combination of the bud’s shape and light weight (0.2 ounces) but also the fact that three sizes of both silicone eartips and ‘stability bands’ (which wrap around the chassis to help them stay anchored in your ear) are supplied to help cater to a wide range of ear canal and concha sizes.

And while they aren’t the most discreet looking, I appreciate that the stem nozzle offers a larger surface area for the touch controls.

Speaking of, a single tap on either stem plays/pauses playback or answers a call, two taps skip forward a track or end a call, and three taps skip backward a track, while a sliding motion up or down adjusts the volume. You can’t customize these controls, but you can choose in the accompanying Bose app what a hold-press does – your options are cycling through ANC modes (my preference) or Immersive Audio settings, switching between connected source devices, resuming Spotify playback, or accessing your phone’s native voice assistant. Or you can turn it off altogether.

The case, meanwhile, is on the larger size (it takes up most of my palm) and fairly nondescript. I like how removing the buds from your ears and putting them back in the case can be done in one smooth action, with no fiddling required, and the magnet pulling them into position with no user force necessary. Just be aware that their snug position in there and the buds’ glossy chassis make it a little tricky to pull them back out as effortlessly with anything but desert-dry fingers.

Design score: 9/10

Quick take: Bose sets the benchmark for ANC.

Whenever a new pair of premium wireless earbuds comes along to review, I have always compared their ANC quality to that of whatever Bose’s latest earbuds are at the time – the brand’s QuietComfort model has for years set the benchmark for sound-blocking ability, and that doesn’t change now that the QC Ultra Earbuds 2 have come along.

Bose might have gotten away with resting on its laurels for another generation of QC earbuds – the first-gen Ultra’s ANC was that good  – but I’m glad it hasn’t. The company has made the automatic adjustments in noise-canceling levels smoother to prevent your music from being disrupted by sudden loud noise (a siren, for example). While I didn’t have the original buds to hand for comparison, I was impressed with how the new Bose buds handled my house alarm going off when I purposely (and safely!) set it off.

I spent most of the testing time in the highest intensity ‘Quiet’ setting, but such is its effectiveness that it made me feel eerily isolated at times when out and about. Thankfully, the ‘Immersion’ setting lessens that blanket silence while still more than capably drowning out street and coastal path wind noise for such occasions. Still, ‘Quiet’ proved a Godsend when I traveled to Spain on a plane, completely hushing those jet engines as well as passenger noise (all but the high-pitched baby cries, anyway).

As for ‘Aware’ – the buds’ transparency mode – it’s one of the most natural I’ve come across and lets you hold a conversation without removing the earbuds.

I was particularly impressed by the Boses’ call quality, too, which the company has supposedly improved with a new AI-powered noise suppression system. Voices came through with clarity and substance, and on the other end I was told that I sounded clear, even in windy conditions.

Noise-canceling score: 10/10

Quick take: Immersive Audio is decent for what it is, while sound quality is generally difficult to fault.

‘Entertaining’ is the single word I would use to describe Bose earbuds and headphones to a friend. The brand has, for as long as I remember, opted for an energetic and rich sound tuning, and that has, particularly in recent reference models, been accompanied by competitive levels of insight. It only takes a listen to St Vincent’s Hell Is Near to be assured that Bose hasn’t strayed from that tuning here.

Weighty, defined lows, lush, forthright and subtle mids, and prominent highs that strike a ‘just right’ balance between being smooth and sharp: tick, tick and tick. The track’s opening bass drum booms ominously as it should, while her echoic vocals come in with a striking ethereal presence over the top. There’s the organisation to track the strings that ride beneath, the dynamic expression to play into the hands of the climax, and the full-bodiedness and texture to fully appreciate the mandolin and synthesized piano. The track’s momentum and groove are communicated effortlessly.

It’s once again a universally likeable sound signature, which is probably more than can be said of Bose’s Immersive Audio. Such spatial audio technology is generally divisive, and in my experience using it across various hardware and software in recent years, its value depends on the track’s mixing, the product’s implementation… and indeed whether you personally care for the effect or not.

I probably fall into the latter camp, but Bose’s Immersive Audio is one of the best implementations I’ve come across, second only to Apple’s. Here it comes in two flavours: ‘Still’ (which keeps the sound anchored to the device) and ‘Motion’ (which, using head-tracking gyroscope sensors, moves with you). The idea is that the audio sounds as though it’s being listened to through speakers out in a room as opposed to from headphone drivers mere centimetres from your ears, and with a decent track (such as Oxytocin by Billie Eilish), it sounds preferable in spatial than stereo – her vocal floats appealingly in front of you while the instrumentation also opens out without losing focus.Sound score: 9/10

Quick take: Decent enough, but the Immersive Audio mode takes its toll.

Bose claims you get six hours in the earbuds with ANC on, which is decent enough and on par with the AirPods Pro 2, but nothing to shout about exactly – particularly considering that Immersive Audio mode drops that to a mere four (the AirPods’ spatial audio mode doesn’t have nearly such a hit on battery). In comparison, the Sony XM5 and Technics EAH-AZ100 offer around eight hours.

Those claims are pretty sound, mind you, the Boses squeezing out more or less six hours on a single case charge during my week-long testing with the volume almost always between 60 and 75%.

You get three additional earbud charges from the case, for a total 24-hour battery life, before the case needs replenishing itself via a USB-C cable or Qi wireless charger. The absence of wireless charging was a bit of a bummer in the originals. It’s a shame Bose couldn’t squeeze out an extra hour or so in the move from the first to the second generation of Ultras, but it’s not the end of the world.

Battery life score: 7/10

The battle to be the best wireless earbuds at the premium end of the market is one of the most intense in the whole headphone category, with Apple, Sony, Google, Sennheiser, Technics, Bowers & Wilkins and Master & Dynamic (phew!) vying for your hard-earned cash with very decent propositions. 

But the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen also make an exceptionally strong case to be your number-one choice – not least if you’re an Android user who prioritizes ANC above all else and is intrigued by today’s buzziest headphone feature, spatial audio. They can be comfortably worn all day and are natural-born entertainers on the sound performance front. Really, battery life is the only minor chink in their otherwise rock-solid armour.

Unless you aren’t in a rush to buy new earbuds and are tempted to wait and see how the Sony WF-1000XM6, expected to launch soon, fare, there’s little reason not to pounce on Bose’s best buds to date.

Of the Boses’ strongest competitors, I would consider the Technics EAH-AZ100 if you are happy to spend the same money. While not quite as strong in the ANC or spatial audio departments, they just about edge the Boses for sound quality and offer a better battery life while also nailing all-day comfort levels.

The AirPods Pro 2, meanwhile, are hard to resist for Apple users and have the only spatial audio I’ve heard that beats the Bose’s Immersive Audio effect. Would happily spend less? The advantage of buying the Sony WF-1000XM5 is that you get 9/10 or 10/10 performance across the board and save money. Just be aware that the next-gen AirPods Pro 3 and Sony XM6 are rumored to arrive in the coming months.

I subbed these Boses in to replace the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 as my daily drivers for one week, comparing their sound and ANC performances directly against the pricier earbuds as well as the AirPods Pro 2 and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 that I also had to hand. 

I wore them for multiple hours per day, and during most of one 9-to-5 shift to test their long-wear comfort and Bose’s battery claims. They accompanied me on my (windy!) coastal walks, which proved a solid test of their ANC and call quality, and accompanied me on a holiday to Spain, when their unprecedented noise-canceling intensity proved invaluable on the plane over.