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Bose Review
For over 60 years, Bose has been in the business of bringing the best listening experience to folks everywhere. Imagine listening to music in your living room and feeling like you are live in the concert venue.
The experience that the brand accumulated over these decades has helped it create headphones and earbuds that have made listening to music a truly immersive experience for consumer audio users.
In this review, we will be looking at 5 of the brand’s headphones and earbuds that you can pick from to get a feel of what Bose has to offer.
We will be looking at the:
- QuietComfort Earbuds
- Ultra Open Earbuds
- QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds
- QuietComfort Headphones
- QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
Let’s get right into it…
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
Score by Specs
| Impedance and Amplification | 7.5 | Noise Cancellation | 7.5 |
| Frequency Response | 8 | Design | 6.5 |
| Sensitivity and Volume | 8 | Material | 6.5 |
| Total Harmonic Distortion | 7 | Battery Life | 7.5 |
| Isolation | 7.5 | IP Rating | 5 |
Quick Overview
- Bluetooth Version – 5.3
- Battery Life – 8.5hrs (31.5 hours total with case)
- Quick Charge – No
- Companion App – Yes
- Waterproof – IPX4
- Charging Port – USB -C
- Controls – Touch and voice
- Noise Cancelling – Yes
- Weight – Case (0.104 lb), buds (0.048 lb)
If there’s one thing that Bose excels at, it is creating great sounding gear and this is no different. This QuietComfort Earbuds is a 2024 version of the 2022 QuietComfort Earbuds II. With these earbuds, it is immediately clear that Bose decided to do away with frills so it can focus entirely on delivering the perfect audio quality.
The plastic casing does not inspire so much confidence as it feels cheap. Weighing about 47 grams, the case is a bit more bulky than current users will like. The earbuds themselves may also not be the best choice for folks with small ears as they may experience some discomfort with its use.
That said, the case holds enough juice to fully recharge the earbuds’ two and a half times over. Since the earbuds have an 8.5-hour battery life, an additional two and half charges will yield a total play time of about 31.5 hours. This is quite sufficient for most users.
Let’s take a look at its isolation and ANC feature. First, it has a pretty good active noise cancelation function which independent testing confirms averages 80% reduction for most noise types. This, of course is a combination of the isolation offered by the multi-sized tips and the ANC.
It’s therefore important that a snug fit is achieved. Thankfully, these buds come with three sizes of ear tips to fit different ear sizes. It also includes three sizes of fins which are designed to help keep the buds securely in-place. Once you can achieve a good fit, you can enjoy this impressive noise cancellation.
We’ve already mentioned that these earbuds offer great sound delivery across the frequencies. The lows are emphasized but not over powering. When used with the companion app, you get access to a 5-band EQ with its 5 presets. With the companion app, you also get to train the buds to recognize your voice for easy voice control. Yeah, you can control it with your voices. Just say “hello headphones” and it will be ready to do your bidding.
Do you want great sounding earbuds with a top level noise canceling feature but you don’t want to break the bank getting one? At under $200 (as at the time of this review), the Bose QuietComfort Earbbuds are surely worth considering.
Bose Ultra Open Earbuds
Score by Specs
| Impedance and Amplification | 6.5 | Noise Cancellation | 0 |
| Frequency Response | 7 | Design | 7 |
| Sensitivity and Volume | 7 | Material | 7 |
| Total Harmonic Distortion | 6.5 | Battery Life | 7 |
| Isolation | 1 | IP Rating | 5 |
Quick Overview
- Bluetooth Version – 5.3
- Battery Life – 7.5 hours (27 hours with charging case)
- Quick Charge – Yes
- Companion App – Yes
- Waterproof – IPX4
- Charging Port – USB-C
- Controls – Buttons
- Noise Cancelling – No
- Weight – Case (43.8g) Single bud (6.35g)
As great as active noise cancellation earbuds are, there are a number of safety concerns regarding their use especially on busy streets. To this end, headphone manufacturers came up with a new design known as the open earbuds. The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds is one such product.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds is designed to offer in-ear sound delivery without the usual isolation and active noise cancellation. This makes it ideal for athletes or exercise enthusiasts who love to take runs on busy streets. With the open earbud design, the runner or user is aware of their surroundings at all times.
It’s however important to note that this open design results in some loss in audio quality. Actually, the audio quality that you will get at any point will depend on the noise level at that location. Truth be told, this type of earbuds are not really great if you want to listen to some pumping music while working out. They are best for listening to motivation talks or other similar audio files as you work out.
Now let’s look at some other aspects of these earbuds. It connects via Bluetooth 5.3 and supports multipoint connection. This means that you can connect to multiple devices at the same time which is always a good thing.
As a mobile device, battery life is of great importance. These earbuds can run for 7.5 hours on a single charge. In fact, independent testing showed that they actually lasted more than 8 hours when used without the extra features. The case provides an additional 19.5 hours of play time, bringing the total playtime to about 27 hours.
Like we stated above, this is a good earbud if you want to listen to some simple audio and still stay aware of your environment while going on those runs or while working or walking. This is however not the best option if you want to enjoy great music while on those runs.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds
Score by Specs
| Impedance and Amplification | 7 | Noise Cancellation | 7.5 |
| Frequency Response | 6 | Design | 7.5 |
| Sensitivity and Volume | 7.5 | Material | 7 |
| Total Harmonic Distortion | 7 | Battery Life | 6 |
| Isolation | 6.5 | IP Rating | 5 |
Quick Overview
- Bluetooth Version – 5.3
- Battery Life – 6hrs (24 hrs with case)
- Quick Charge – Yes
- Companion App – Yes
- Waterproof – Yes
- Charging Port – USB-C
- Controls – Touch control
- Noise Cancelling – Yes
- Weight – Earbuds (7.7grams each), case (60 grams)
Bose continues to stake its claim to a chunk of the earbud’s market with the QuietComfort Ultra. Let’s start by discussing the areas where these buds really shine.
Before you even begin to experience whatever features they may possess, you will first take in its looks. They look neat and promising. The fact that achieving a good fit is quite easy, especially with the included ear tips and stability bands, means that you can already achieve great isolation even without the ANC.
Aside from the good fit, they are also quite comfortable. Considering the fact that most users tend to have their earbuds on for long periods of time, the comfort factor is surely something that should matter to any user.
Now for the ANC, Bose shows its intent with the quality of noise cancellation achieved in these buds. Independent tests show that these earbuds can attenuate sound under 400Hz by as much as 34dB and sounds above 1kHz by as much as 39dB. These numbers mean that you can enjoy almost 90% noise reduction of most day to day noise with these buds.
Another area where the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds does well is its battery life. While some other models have better battery life, a total of 24 hours (6 hours for the earbuds and 18 hours additional charge with the case), it’s pretty decent and sufficient for most users.
If you’re wondering about how it sounds, well, the first thing that a critical listener will notice is the massive emphasis on the lows. While this can be tweaked with companion app, that low frequency boost will likely put off audiophiles. However, folks that love thumping bass may actually love it.
So, this is a brief overview of the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds from Bose. It may not offer it all, but what earbud does?
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