QuietComfort Ultra Bluetooth Headphones (2nd Gen), Wireless Headphones with Spatial Audio, Over Ear Noise Cancelling with Mic, Up to 30 Hours of Play time, Desert Gold - Limited Edition

6 days in, here are my thoughts. COMPARISON WITH SONY: Straight off the bat, have to say, much better than Sony. While I appreciate Sony’s palm over ear gimmicks, something to keep in mind is its impossible to tell which side is which because Sony made it really small on the outside (most headphones have inside L and R indicators), so I spent like an hour trying to figure out my whatsapp calls wouldnt go through — turns out it was the wrong side. SOUND: While Sony does have the nice gimmicks, Bose is unmatched for sound. The bass hits HARD, the sound is crisp and clear. Billie Jean and other trailer music or bass-heavy songs sound incredible. Noise cancellation is obviously also unmatched. Both Sony and Bose leak sound though, so keep that in mind. It’s not a huge issue for me, and it isnt that bad for me. Charging is pretty fast, im honestly blown away by how quick it charges. Within a few minutes, it jumps from 0 to 10, then about a while in, perhaps half an hour-to an hour, its at full (though id check other reciews to make sure). Connectivity is pretty easy too like airpods, switching between devices. Mainly, i turn off bluetooth in my phone and move to another device and just tap the connect button on bose if it doesnt go through the first time. The controls like EQ, mode, etc are pretty easy to go through using the app, but i dont know if i would recommend the shortcut feature, since its super easy to trigger it with just the slightest pressure, so take from that what you will. I would prefer not to trigger it that easily, but each to their own. My personal choice for EQ: base at 10, mid at 6, treble at 3, and test out Billie Jean. Cinematic is a solid choice for mode. I dont know too much about durability since im only a week in, but ive done a shake test, tested the hinges, and it works great. So far, pretty durable. Ive seen other reviews attest to this before buying it too. The design is honestly so much better than Sony xm6, looking a lot more “expensive” or sleek. It also feels about the same in comfort, but I have to give the edge to Bose for that. The ear puffs are very soft, is lightweight and the headphones are adjustable somewhat. The ear puffs are also replaceable whereas Sony’s are not. Apparently Sony has a connectivity bug going for years. In my opinion, while Sony can be a second cheaper option, Bose is a better longer term investment, and a better value for money. Im keeping this one. Best of luck choosing :)

Absolutely blown away by these headphones. The sound quality is incredible with deep bass, crystal clear vocals and a really immersive feel, especially with the spatial audio turned on. Noise cancelling is excellent too — perfect for flights, trains and busy environments. What surprised me most is how light and comfortable they are. I’ve used AirPods Max before and while they sound great, these Bose QC Ultras are far better for travel in my opinion. They’re noticeably lighter, don’t clamp your head as much and are much more comfortable for long listening sessions. I can wear them for hours without any discomfort. I also rate them above my older Sonys, however I do use the Mk5 Sonys for when I’m in need of good inears Battery life has been brilliant and the build quality feels premium without being overly heavy. Bluetooth connection is fast and reliable as well. If you travel a lot or just want premium headphones that are comfortable enough to wear all day, these are easily 5 stars. Bose absolutely nailed it with these. Paired with a Questyle QCC pro and iPhone so release lossless audio

Excellent noise cancelling and sound quality. I upgraded from gen 1 after they gave up on me (after six years daily use) Tried a couple of cheaper options first but these are the best by far. The battery life is great with simple USB C charging. I have fallen asleep in bed with these on a few times so comfort and durability is right up there too.

Gave 5 stars to my Ultra gen1, and I am shocked how bad these are. The ANC is now using some "dynamic" version of ANC so that it adjusts itself - very poorly at that. I use these a lot for work in relatively quiet environment with nothing playing and they can't block even a bathroom fan. If you clap the ANC goes up for few seconds - can't hear fans etc. then goes back down to the close to useless point. Also it goes completely crazy when the dryer is running - ANC goes super high to the point it gives the pressure feeling which I have never experienced with Bose ANC, then few seconds later goes down, then back up and keeps doing this which makes me nauseous. Classic case of something nobody asked for which made a great product a completely disaster. The start-up chime on the old was pretty terrible - these take it one level further by having extremely loud chime at the start which you can't adjust or reduce the volume (apparently this is a feature to tune the sound to your ears - another snake oil feature nobody asked for). Sound is close to the same with the previous. The only real improvement is the mic quality on these. Have been using Ultra gen1 for 2 years and these are real downgrade. Easily the worst Bose product I have purchased - at this price this is a joke.

Easily on a par with more expensive products. The clarity and definition of sound is studio quality where listening to music on other devices then sounds ‘flat’. Noise cancellation is also brilliant and they’re not too heavy on the head. Recommend for anyone looking to spend a bit more on headphones to get top quality.

This is a review from feedback my brother who I purchased these on behalf of - they were, hopefully, to be an upgrade from the Bose QC35 he’d had for 8 years to the month. He really like these and apart from getting me to replace the ear cup covers twice they remained as good as they were from new. Used most days for an hour or few, sometimes more. First impressions… * Feel smaller, lighter, more comfortable fit * Sounded significantly better with the bass response really impressive * Noise cancellation significantly improved with the transition from quiet to the new aware mode smooth and not jarring. After three weeks… * Much better than QC 35 … sources include Classical lrock and other music, speech from TV and Radio * Lighter on head * More comfortable ear cuffs so can use much longer * Continuous adjustment of headband better than QC 35’s step * Better Noise Cancelation * Aware mode uses microphones to provide very good sound from noisy’ish rooms with TV and even modest music * Better Base Sound Environment * Aware Mode provides better in ear awareness as uses headphone’s microphones to recreate ambient sounds in the headphones * Cinema mode produces more understandable lyrics * Use of iOS App to control headphone functionality Is preferable to using the on headphone buttons and slider * Very impressed. A considerable better experience over my QC 35

A little bit of background, I’ve owned a pair of B&O Beoplay H4 over ear bluetooth headphones for about 10 years now. I paid £250 for them brand new and they’ve been utterly fantastic. The best headphones I’ve ever owned and an absolute bargain considering how long they have lasted. Recently however, the leather has started to look very tatty and I’ve found myself using my Airpods 4 earbuds more and more for their noise cancelling capabilities, which the Bang & Olufsen H4s don’t have. So I decided to finally retire my B&O H4s and treat myself to new pair of over ear headphones with noise cancelling. I quickly balked at the idea of buying B&O headphones again because they seem to be aiming purely for the very high-end market these days, with prices to match. As I own an iPhone and a MacBook, and as I’ve been very happy with my Airpods 4 earbuds, the Airpods Max were the obvious choice, so I bought a pair 5 months ago as a little Christmas present to myself. What can I say? The Airpods Max are a brilliant pair of headphones. The sound quality, the noise cancelling, the fact that they look premium, the little design touches like the rotating crown that controls volume. I loved everything about them except for one thing, if I wore them for more than 30 minutes or so I got terrible tension headaches. I don’t know if it’s because of how heavy they are, how strong their clamping force is, or a combination of both these things but I just couldn’t wear them for any extended length of time. Which is a pretty big problem for headphones. I really tried to make them work because everything else about them was absolutely perfect. I tried stretching them, I tried slowly acclimatising myself to them but nothing worked, so I reluctantly decided to sell them and look for something else. Which leads to me to where I am now. I watched countless headphone reviews on YouTube and read countless headphone reviews online and came to the same conclusion that I’m sure most people arrive that, that for premium Bluetooth headphones with noise cancelling, your choices are pretty much Airpods Max, Sony XM6, Bowers & Wilkins PX7 or Bose QuietComfort Ultras. Obviously the Airpods are out so I was left with a choice between 3. Sony, Bowers & Wilkins or Bose. After my experience with the Airpods Max, I resolved to put comfort first. What’s the point in headphones if they’re not comfy? Every single review I came across seemed to state that the Bose are by far the comfiest and are also universally praised for having best in class noise cancelling. It seemed like my decision was an easy one, the Bose QuietComfort Ultras gen 2 are the stand-out contender. And better still, they come in white. I love white gizmos. My iPhone is white, my very expensive Bluetooth speakers are white and I really wanted my new headphones to be white too, so I order the Bose in white smoke. I was disappointed as soon as I unboxed them. They are not white, they are an ugly beige colour. At first I thought that maybe Amazon had sent me the wrong colour. I know these headphones also come in a colourway called driftwood sand so I thought maybe I had been sent those in error. But no, these were definitely the white smoke colourway, easily distinguished because the driftwood sand model have gold coloured accents whilst the white smoke model have silver coloured accents. A lot of people won’t care too much about the colour and a lot of people will actually like the ugly beige colour but that's irrelevant to me as someone who really, really wanted white headphones. And if they're not actually white, which they aren't, why do all the official product photos make them look white? Why do they have white in their name? They are not white. They are not even close to being white. They are beige. Possibly ecru, I don’t know, I don’t work for Pantone. If, like me, you remember the 1990s you will probably associate this colour with one thing and one thing only, that awful beige that every computer seemed to be coloured with. The Commodore Amiga, PCs back when they were described as IBM compatible and had 486 processors, they were all this same shade of ugly beige and that’s the colour that these White Smoke headphones are. I have included a photo to show what they really look like and made sure that I photographed them next to my Airpods 4 case to really show the contrast between the beigeness of the Bose against something that actually is white. I really don’t understand why they use photos that make them look white when they’re not. It’s borderline false advertising and I can’t be the first or last person to purchase this colourway and be immediately disappointed. I can only assume that they’re called white smoke because they look like something that used to be white but have been stained with nicotine after sitting in a chain smoker’s living room for the last 30 years. Anyway, that's enough of my issue with the colour. I was undoubtably unhappy but if everything else about the headphones was top class, maybe I could learn to compromise and live with it. But everything else about the headphones was not top class and I’m really struggling to see what everyone else sees in them. The sound quality was poor out of the box but I followed some online advise and via the Bose app, changed the 3 band EQ to -6, 0 -4. This made the sound quality better but far below that of the Airpods Max. I then decided to test the noise cancelling by wearing them out for a walk and quickly became even more disappointed. I’ve seen people describe their noise cancelling capabilities as being akin to sitting in a bubble of isolation, completely shutting out the outside world but this was not my experience whatsoever. I heard every car that went past, every barking dog, every conversation from passers-by. They undoubtably dampened down the sounds of the outside world but nowhere near to the level that I was hoping for and nowhere near as effectively as either the Airpods Max or my Airpods 4 earbuds. I even had to check a couple of times to make sure that the noise cancelling was actually turned on. It was. It just wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. Even worse than that though is that the noise cancelling did a very strange thing with my footsteps. Every footstep I made seemed to be amplified somehow. Not the actual sound of my feet hitting the pavement mind you but a strange sort of booming vibration. It was like my footsteps were being scored by Hans Zimmer. VWAAAMP VWAAAMP VWAAAMP every single step I took. Awful, just awful. Not fit for purpose whatsoever if you intend on wearing these and walking at the same time and as most humans do tend to walk, that seems like a rather large design flaw. To be somewhat fair, I have read that Bose specifically optimised the noise cancelling in these headphones for air travel but that is a very specific activity and most people will not be buying these headphones purely for wearing whilst in an aeroplane. So far, so bad. A colourway that differs to their product photos, average at best sound quality and noise cancelling worse than what I was used to. However, remember when I said that I had resolved to put comfort as my main priority? If they were super comfy maybe I could live with all these compromises and learn to love them but once again they fell short. The comfort is fine. Just fine. Like everything else about them. Aggressively average in everything they do. I've seen people describing them as like wearing fluffy clouds on their ears, that you can’t even tell you’re wearing headphones but yet again, this was not my experience. They weren’t uncomfortable but I’d be lying if I said I found them particularly comfortable or that their comfortability was in any way remarkable or noteworthy. They were fine and I was certainly aware that I was wearing headphones. The one positive thing I will say about them is that they are light, a lot lighter than the Airpods Max for example… but that lightness comes at a rather large cost. In order to keep weight down they are made almost entirely from plastic and they look it. For a pair of headphones that cost anywhere from £350 to £400 you’d expect them to look like a premium product but these do not look premium. Not at all. They look cheap and plasticky. Because they are cheap and plasticky. Well, they’re not cheap but they are definitely very plasticky. Compared to the Airpods Max or my 10 year old Bang & Olufsens, which both looked like expensive, premium products, the Bose look cheap, very cheap indeed. So, here we are. A £400 pair of white headphones that aren’t white, with disappointing sound quality, disappointing noise cancelling, that look cheap and are nothing special in the comfort stakes other than being quite light. As you might have ascertained, I quickly decided to return them and will not be buying Bose products again. I’m so surprised by how average everything about them is considering the almost universal praise they have garnered. A lot of reviewers rate these headphones as the absolute best you can buy, which actually blows my mind a little bit. I just don’t get it. I know these things are highly subjective and I have no doubt that a lot of people will genuinely love them, maybe I’ve been spoiled by my experiences with the Bang & Olufsens and Airpods Max but the Bose QuietComfort Ultras 2 just don’t do it for me. Not by a long shot. For £400 they need to much better than this, at everything. If they were cheaper, I think a fair score would be 3 out of 5 stars but considering their price, considering the misleading product photos for the white smoke colourway and considering my total disappointment at everything about them, I can only give them 2 out of 5 stars and can’t find anything about them to recommend. If you can live with their weight and clamping force, the Airpods Max do absolutely everything better than the Bose and it’s not even close. I have no idea how the Sonys or Bowers & Wilkins compare but I would be very surprised if they are worse than the Bose. So finally, for me, the search for a new pair of comfortable over ear headphones continues. I don’t like the colourways of the Sonys (or their huge earcups) and the design of the Bowers & Wilkins doesn’t appeal much either. And worse than that, neither of them seem to score highly in the comfort stakes. Who knew it was so hard to find a good all-round pair of headphones when you’re willing to pay £400? Against my better judgement I might try the Sonos Ace next or maybe I’ll just start playing the lottery and hope for a big win so I can go back to B&O. Anything but Bose.

Knowing a lot of consumers of these types of headphones, you've already done a bunch of research before you got here; but you're reading this so just as an extra heads up... The controls are easy to understand and use. I'm always happy to just go with what's available that way as I do most things through the device I'm attaching them to and can understand that when you press a button a thing happens. The feel and weight definitely sets itself apart from cheaper alternatives. I wear them all day during work and they don't hurt even a little bit. I have a tiny skull but they are very comfortable on the smallest band length. The noise cancelling is, according to far too many youtube videos that I've watched, absolutely best in class. If you try to disagree with that then I won't be able to hear you, so job done. They connect to everything, bluetooth wise, without fuss or issue. I'm usually quite careful with expensive purchases like this, which must be why I dropped them on the floor the first day I used them. Absolutely nothing broke or even scratched so that's a lovely relief. I now carefully place them in their satisfyingly designed case when not charging them with the provided cable. There are so many things for you to fiddle with in the app that it gives you the illusion of free will in a late-state capitalist cost of living crisis. Clever girl.

Der Preis ist Heiss.... aber die Leistung auch. Ich habe seit rund 9 Jahren den alten Bose QC 35, damals der Erste mit NoiceCanceling, damals für die Öffis optimal. Aufgrund meines Nachwuchses und BabyPhone habe ich mir nun die neue Version zugelegt, denn beim QC35 konnte man zwar NoiceCancelling abdrehen, aber dann klang es irgendwie "schirch" direkt gesagt und man hörte den eigenen Kopfhörer wenn man den Kopf bewegte oder den Wind... und... man hörte die Umgebung eben nur so wie durch einen Kopfhörer. Dies ist beim Ultra Gen2 nicht mehr der Fall. Man kann tollen Klang geniessen, und hat zudem Einstellmöglichkeiten um "Alles" wahr zu nehmen. Dabei fühlt es sich vom Ton so an als hätte man echt nichts auf, es ist total sauber und neutral, sehr gut gemacht! Ich habe so eine Funktion auch auf dem Logitech-Headset, praktisch beim spielen, aber da klingt es trotz Anpassungen oft zu laut und bei weitem nicht so angenehm (aber ich höre eben auch das Babyphone und das ist gut so ! Fürs Spielen reicht es) Auch der Sennheiser Momentum 4 kann es annähernd so gut, die Umgebung dennoch "klar und sauber" wahr zu nehmen, aber bei dem merkt bei diesem man dennoch ein wenig es ist "künstlicher", aber dennoch auch beim Momentum 4 ein sehr gutes Ergebnis. Das ist aber sehr streng bewertet, man merkt einfach beim Sennheiser ganz ganz gering man hat einen Kopfhörer am Ohr. Auch der Sennheiser ist betreffend Noice-Cancelling und Anpassungen um Welten besser als der alte Bose QC35. Sennheiser als auch Bose kann man betreffend Umgebungs-Wahrnehmung in Stufen regeln. Beim Sennheiser ist es etwas praktischer wenn man anpassen will: mit Doppel-Tipp auf rechtes Ohr kann man es 100% deaktivieren, mit "zoom in/out" Bewegung mit 2 Finger kann man es anpassen wenn es "ein" ist. Bei mir 100% aus und fertig, genau, wegen Babyphone *g* Beim Bose über die App oder Profile. Ich kaufte den Sennheiser auch wegen der Arbeit und war vor allem neugierig auf den Klang, der auch sehr gut ist, aber Bose ist halt doch noch etwas besser, was zu erwarten ist bei fast dem doppelten Preis. Und der Sennheiser hat zwar Equalizer aber keine "imersives Audio" bzw auch keinen echten Kino-Mode. Aber in Stereo/Musik und der App-Funktion für individuelle Anpassung klingt es dann auch sehr gut. Der QC Ultra Gen2 hat auch noch den Kino-Modus. Ich kaufte ihn nicht nur für Musik daheim, sondern auch für Filme/Serien. Hier hat er mehr Räumlichkeit, klingt echt gut, ABER.... Umgebungsgeräusche sind da fix deaktiviert. Ist auch für mich verständlich... Aber für meinen Bedarf derzeit noch "nicht passend". Wird der kleine Mann im Haus dann älter, kann ich aber den Mode dann verwenden. Immersives Audio des Bose QC35 Ultra 2 ist mit den 2 Möglichkeiten (Bewegung/ohne Bewegung) auch sehr nett, passt aber für meinen Geschmack nicht zu jedem Lied. Hier habe ich fallweise "deaktiviert" lieber. Jeder hört anders :) Bei Filme ist es aber gut, und man kann wiederum NoiceCancelling abdrehen. Yea! Bose als auch Sennheiser: Verarbeitung sehr gut. Klang sehr gut. Noice-Canceling sehr gut. Bose ist bei allen Punkten aber noch etwas besser finde ich, aber verglichen mit dem Preis/Leistung sind sicher auch viele mit dem Momentum 4 zufrieden wenn man kein "Immersives Audio" oder "Kino" braucht. Also nur Stereo. Für mich alles perfekt beim Bose, aber auch Sennheiser (Preis-Leistungs-Hinweis!) Ich hoffe der Bose hält lange :) so lange wie der QC35 den ich nun seit 9 Jahren habe und noch immer alles funktioniert, alleine die Ohrpolster habe ich durch Alternativen ersetzten müssen weil sich das Material aufgelöst hatte. Aber das ist das "Alter" und alles ok.

Słuchawki prze-fantastycznie funkcjonują, a jeszcze lepiej się w niej słucha muzykę (audiobooki również). Oprawa zakładana na uszy jak sam dźwięk słuchawek jest niczym jakiś głos, który kusi je nosić wieczność. Jeszcze immersja oraz wyciszanie i odciszanie tła umożliwia decydowanie czy się chce słyszeć jakie są dźwięki wokół lub i nie. Mega porządna i wyśmienita jakość jak i wykonanie!

I’ve owned the Bose QC35 II for 8 years and use them daily, so the QuietComfort Ultra is a significant upgrade. The noise cancellation is outstanding and easily the best I’ve experienced. Sound quality is well-balanced rather than bass-heavy like Sony’s XM series. With Immersive Audio off, the QC35 II still holds up surprisingly well, with only slightly less bass. Mids and treble are very similar. Immersive Audio is impressive and creates an open, speaker-like effect, though it sounds a little tinny to me, so I usually leave it off to extend battery life. Transparency mode is excellent—better than my AirPods Pro—and I can comfortably take calls without removing an earcup, unlike with the QC35 II. Comfort is exceptional. They’re lighter than the QC35 II, and I’ve worn them for over 10 hours a day without discomfort. Battery life has been excellent. I got through an entire weekend of around 24 hours of listening, plus another 20 hours across the following weekdays before needing to recharge on Thursday night. I mostly use Spotify Lossless wirelessly, but wired on my iPhone and iPad the sound quality is even better. As an enthusiast (not an audiophile), I’m very satisfied. Bluetooth performance is mostly reliable, though I experienced occasional static with a Pixel 9a, likely due to Android multipoint issues. My biggest disappointment is multipoint switching. My QC35 II switches audio almost instantly when I pause my TV and start a video on my phone. The Ultra has a noticeable delay of a few seconds, making it feel more like Sony’s implementation. The volume slider takes some getting used to, but it’s only a minor annoyance

Ascolto musica di qualità da 60 anni. Scrivo la recensione dopo qualche mese di utilizzo. Ho utilizzato numerose cuffie ma nessuna con il livello audio di questa. Sei al centro di un’orchestra. Non solo perché identifichi i numerosi punti da cui giunge ogni strumento. Ma perché percepisci la differente profondità da cui ti giunge la musica se gli strumenti strumenti sono collocati nello stesso punto. In sostanza come se fossero su una stessa linea orizzontale uno dietro l’altro. Quindi esperienza musicale unica quanto a polifonia. La tonalità delle frequenze è ben bilanciata. Una sorta di loudness ma senza nascondere alti nitidissimi e bassi decisi e eleganti, con medi sempre evidenti. La comodità di utilizzo è confermata, anzi leggermente migliorata quanto a delicatezza nell’indossarle. Ho provato cuffie della stessa fascia alta di prezzo molto lontane da questo modello. Un unico appunto i comandi sulla cuffia non sono all’altezza delle altre qualità e possono essere migliorati ad esempio prendendo spunto da quelli della cuffia di punta Sony.

Pensé que eran falsos porque la caja donde vienen se veía súper sencilla, medio chafa la verdad pero todo bien, mi suegra tiene la generación 1 y desde que me los prestó, quedé fascinada, son de los mejores audífonos que he probado, también son muy cómodos y fáciles de usar, la aplicación si queda por debajo de otras como la de Sony, sé que valen la pena pues mi suegra ya tiene 2 casi 3 años con los suyos y siguen como nuevos, a pesar de que los usa diario, se le han caído y siguen funcionando, las mejoras son ligeras pero si se sienten, el color es tal cual, negro con detalles en negro piano con efecto espejo, otra cosa que no me gusta es que se doblen hacia afuera cuando los traes sobre el cuello, en lugar de hacia adentro con las almohadillas sobre tu pecho, el peso es súper ligero comparado con otros como los de la manzanita y las almohadillas son mega cómodas y resistentes, mi cuñada compró los sonos y en menos de un año ya se le rompieron las almohadillas, también son más cómodos y fáciles de llevar que los XM5 y XM6 de Sony