BoseQuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds - Moonstone Blue, Base

For the last 3 months, I wanted to find a pair of wireless earbuds that were, at the very least, comfortable.My previous pair of wireless earbuds, Sony's WFSP800N were, by far, the most comfortable wireless earbuds I have ever experienced. That being said, they're going on four years old. They disconnected randomly from my phone, they often remained on when I put them in their charging case, and on a few occasions, just my sweat would be enough to trigger the touch sensors and either skip or pause whatever song I was listening to.So, I set out to try just about every major brand that *wasn't* Sony this time around.I tried the top of the line in the $200 price range from Jabra, Beats, and Sennheiser.Jabra was by far the one I wanted to succeed the most. I picked up the Jabra Elite 8. The sound was good. Noise cancelling was automatic and easy to cycle. And the fact that the materials were military grade and built to withstand just about anything really sold me. Unfortunately, prolonged wear hurt my right ear. I returned them a few days later and tried the Beats Fit Pro. I thought that the wings would provide stabilization and comfort. I was wrong. I didn't even get a chance to really try them out. My ears were in agonizing pain due to the rigidity of the wings. I returned them the same day I bought them. I had high hopes for Sennheiser, and though they sounded amazing, they hurt in the same way that Jabra did.Cue Bose to come in. The thing that set them apart from the competition were the comfort wings. They come in three different sizes. I tried using the medium wings first, but prolonged use still caused pain in just my right ear, even though my left was fine. The small wings though fit perfectly in both, and have not created any issues of discomfort or pain. They're actually on par comfort wise with the Sony earbuds I got almost 4 years ago.Now, the sound was night and day to anything I have ever tried before. The sheer depth of everything was immaculate, and with the app you can adjust the different tones accordingly. But the features that won out was the noise cancelling "quiet" mode, the sound heightening "immersion" mode, and the all around "aware" mode.These are the best noise cancelling earbuds I have ever experienced with the quiet mode. The immersion mode let's you listen to music in all levels around you as if you're sitting in the middle of an orchestra. The aware mode transfers sound from the outside to you as if you aren't wearing headphones at all.All three modes are miles above the other competing products I have bought. But the Aware mode is absolutely amazing as any other version of this sounds Tinny or Electronic. This was the first time I have ever forgotten I was even wearing headphones. The music may not have been playing, but the background noise was so clear that I just didn't need to take the headphones out and put them away. This actually made it easy to listen to music at a low volume and still be able to keep up with concentrating on conversations or work place activities and lectures.The case uses the USB C charging cable, and you get a full charge if it's completely dead in about 2 hours. That being said, I probably get about 6 to 8 hours with consecutive use of the earbuds on a single charge. With the charging case, I can probably go 20 to 25 hours without needing to recharge. But what I love is that not only will the earbuds audibly tell you when they are low after they've been sitting in the case, the case itself has a light indicator to tell you when the charging battery is drained.Overall, is this worth $300? Considering it blew every other $200 competitor, including my original earbuds out of the water (which I paid $250 for when they were released near 4 years ago), I would say that TO ME, they are worth the money. I'm not comparing them to current Sonys on the market, nor have I ever tried the Quiet Comfort 2s. If you feel that it isn't big enough of a jump, then cool. But to me, comparing them to all of the earbuds that caused me pain, I do feel like this is a case of "Getting Your Money's Worth."I sincerely like these, and I am happy I spent the money for the sake of impressive comfort and impressive sound quality.11/14/2023

I purchased the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra earbuds in the Moonstone Blue color to replace/be a backup to my Samsung Buds 2 Pro earbuds. Like all flagship earbuds/headphones, they ARE expensive, but you have to pay for quality - and if you can get them at a discount, don't hesitate to snag them immediately.THE BOSE APP: The same Bose app works for all of your Bose Bluetooth sound devices. For example, the Bose SoundMax Speaker. The app is necessary to access certain functions/features. For example, these features require the app: The simplistic Equalizer settings, renaming the device (helpful if you have more than 1 connected Bose device, changing/adding Modes (Quiet, Aware, Home, Exercising, etc), testing earbud fit, change the order of cycling between Modes, Turning voice Prompts on/off, and configuring what the long press on each ear does. The app works and is free, though the equalizer is simplistic with only Bass, Mid and Treble plus and minus. I've set mine to -3, +3, -1. Once any setting is changed via the app, the earbuds "remember" the settings and uses them on all devices to which they connect.NOISE CANCELLATION: Bose was correct to make the first word of the product name "Quiet". I have never experienced such complete noise cancellation. At maximum, and without music playing (also possible), it's not unlike what it must be to suffer near-total hearing loss. Any sound you hear is muffled and has an oddly mechanic tone. By far the noise cancellation is the best I've ever experienced. Out of the box the earbuds come with 3 uneditable modes, 2 of which are "Quiet" & "Aware." Quiet is Max noise cancellation and Aware is minimum and, in fact, slightly amplifies sound around you to compensate for having something blocking your ear canal. I was surprised how natural ambient sound is with the "Aware" mode. At the other end of the scale, I'd say that maximum is for when you don't want to hear ANYthing/one around you if you're using a jackhammer to break up your backyard sidewalk. If you're listening to music you won't hear anyone talking to you, possibly even if they are right next to you.SOUND: The sound is classic Bose. By this I mean a little heavy-handed with the bass with clear highs. The mid-range is OK. I knew this going in and compensate for most of this using the Bose app equalizer. Sound can get painfully loud without distortion and bass can be made to make you feel like it's going through your head (if you're into that sort of sensation), all without muddying the sound.BATTERY: I have found that the 6 hour expected battery life with ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) is accurate for the "Quiet" mode of maximum cancellation. I have discovered that you will get more than that if you don't set the noise cancellation to maximum. So only set it to the minimum that you need. In the Bose app and in the voice prompts, battery life is only reported in increments of 10 (10%, 20%, 30%...90%, 100%).FIT: I have unusually sized/irregularly shaped ears and ear canals that has led to so much frustration over the years. What works for one ear will not work for the other. For example, with other manufacturers, I've struggled to get a good fit (both with my senses and the manufacturer's software fitment tests) - even if I buy after-market tips. Bose is the only company for which I can get a fit that is both comfortable (doesn't lead to pain) and doesn't eventually fall out. This is because of their use of fitment bands that go around the middle of earbud in 3 sizes, combined with 3 sizes of tips.FEATURES:Other than the Quiet and Aware modes that cannot be modified in the level of ANC, the level of ANC can be changed to any of about 10 steps of cancellation for any Mode that you add to the list in the Bose app. This is helpful so that you can save battery by only using the amount of ANC you need for your environment.Using the app you can not only add and remove modes to choose from, but using the star/favorite icon in the Bose app you can set which ones are included in the list to cycle between. For new Modes you add to the list - and ONLY those - you can set a custom level of noise cancellation at any one of about 10 steps between off and Full, important to saving battery (see above).I did not play with the Immersion feature as I've never found that battery-hogging feature interesting to me. Oh, it works and it's freaky to play with, but at the end of the day it's a gimmick created by someone with WAY too much software development time on her hands.There is no detection of me talking that automatically switches the buds to "Aware" mode, but this mode is automatically engaged when taking a phone call or when only 1 earbud is inserted.Phone calls are clear and natural sounding both for me and the other person.Multipoint Bluetooth connection can be turned on in the Bose App and works as expected, allowing you to simultaneously connect to more than 1 audio source (first come, first served).Range for Bluetooth is great (as expected). Easily reaches me in the when I go to the ground floor to use the restroom from the basement where I work from home and leave my phone. Even at that range (about 50-70 feet as you walk and about 20 straight line feet traveling through the floor to the restroom). There is no skipping or sound quality degradation.I HIGHLY recommend these earbuds, as they are my new favorites.