Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review: I've never felt so immersed in my music

Bose is one of the most well-known audio brands in the world — it makes everything from noise-cancelling headphones and smart speakers to soundbars and portable speakers.

In September 2023, the American-born company refreshed its headphones portfolio with the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, the QuietComfort Headphones and the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones.

If you're searching for alternatives to AirPods and don't mind splashing out, Bose's latest true wireless earbuds are a very tempting choice. They have a lot going for them including Immersive audio, aptX Adaptive codec support and a shiny new design.

At launch, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds would set you back about £300, but we've already seen the price drop to as little as £220 since then. Keep an eye on them during big sales like Prime Day, Black Friday and Amazon's Spring Sale.

I've been trying them out over the last couple of weeks to find out everything you need to know about the design, comfort, sound performance, noise cancelling, battery life and connectivity. Ultimately this Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review should help you decide whether these in-ear headphones are right for you, or not.

Bose Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

Now 27% Off

£219 at Amazon

Pros

• Class-leading noise-cancelling
• Impressive awareness mode
• People-pleasing sound quality

Cons

• The case is a little flimsy
• The battery life could be longer

Weight	6.24g per bud (59.8g with the charging case)
Battery life	6 hours (up to 24 hours with the charging case)
Wireless charging	No
Noise cancellation	Yes
Water resistance	IPX4

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds came in to replace the Bose QuietComfort II. The QC II were £280 at launch, while the Ultras started at a slightly higher price of £300. There aren't loads of differences between them, but there have been a few improvements to justify the extra cost.

One of the biggest changes is the new Immersion mode, which you get in addition to the Quiet and Aware modes. The QuietComfort Ultra also now support the aptX Adaptive codec which was lacking before.

The design has also been enhanced with a new glossy stem, making the most recent earbuds look even more sleek than their predecessors.

Bose knows how to make good-looking gadgets and the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are exactly that.

You can buy them in three colours: black, white smoke and moonstone blue. I tried out the white version, which has a grey undertone to it. It looks pretty smart although after a few days of use, the case and the earbuds picked up a bit of grime, so I constantly found myself wiping them clean.

The case is a little bigger than other true wireless earbuds, yet it still fits in the palm of my hand and is small enough to slip into my pocket. The Bose logo is written discreetly across the front, next to a small LED light to let you know the case's battery level. On the back, there's a button to reset the earbuds or put them into pairing mode.

Generally speaking, the case feels sturdy but the lid doesn't feel that secure, which is a concern given the fact that we've known the QCII case to break in the past.

Each earbud has a wide stem with a silver plate over the top. On the inside are grooves to help seal the sound, with silicone stability bands and umbrella-shaped tips to improve comfort. You'll get three sizes of stability bands and three pairs of tips included in the box.

To help you figure out if you've picked the right size, there's an earbud seal test in the app which takes a few seconds to tell you whether there's a good seal, or not.

I was impressed by the earbuds' aesthetic design because they look more like an accessory than a bit of tech. But to add to that, they were super comfortable. At 6.24g each, they are heavier than some other earphones, but the fit provided by the silicone bands and tips meant that didn't matter so much. I wore them everywhere and it took a long time for my ears to feel fatigued.

These earbuds stayed put no matter what. I took them out running a few times and at no point did I feel they were even close to falling out. Plus the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are IPX4 water resistant, which means they'll survive sweat and splashes of rain.

You can control the music without reaching for your phone thanks to touch controls on both buds. Tapping either panel once pauses the music, twice skips to the next song, three times skips backwards and swiping up or down changes the volume.

You can also press and hold to use the shortcut, which can be switching between noise cancelling modes, changing the immersive audio from still to motion or calling upon your voice assistant. If you're not happy with the default shortcut, you can change it through the app.

Producing people-pleasing sound is what Bose does best. Unlike other brands, its default tuning doesn't lean too far in any direction.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are a prime example of that. The sound quality is rich and punchy without being overbearing, you still get the crisp detail from the treble without muddying of the mid frequencies.

In real-world terms, that means that every genre of music sounds excellent. Ballads give you crystal clear vocals, energetic dance tracks are dynamic and exciting and you can hear every instrument in classic rock tracks.

Away from music, I regularly used these earphones to listen to podcasts. Again, the content was clear and coherent, although it tended to be a little quieter than music, so sometimes I had to dial the volume up.

If you like to have control over the sound, there are a few EQ options in the dedicated smartphone app. Most people will only go as far as to use one of the four preset sound settings, but audiophiles will appreciate the manual four-band equaliser to tailor the audio in more detail.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds nail noise cancelling. That's something that not a lot of brands can say when it comes to their true wireless earbuds. As soon as you put these in your ears, the world around you disappears. Most surprising is the fact that it even works when you don't have music playing. These earbuds are top of the class in that sense.

Listening to playlists, I felt completely engaged in the sound. It's a bit of a weird sensation at first but it's a marvel, particularly in a noisy office or on a loud underground train. I could barely even hear the sound of my keyboard taps. As a team, we have tried every pair of earbuds you can think of, from the AirPods Pro to the Sennheiser Momentum 4, and none of them beat Bose's ANC.

Bose gives you the choice of three sound modes: Quiet, Aware and Immersion.

Quiet is standard noise cancelling which cuts out distracting sounds from your environment. Unfortunately, there's no way of adjusting how much sound is cut out, nor can you turn it off entirely. But what it can do is very impressive.

Aware is Bose's transparency mode, which uses the microphones on the earbuds to boost outside sounds so you can hear what's going on through the music. It's useful for listening to announcements on the train or if you need to speak to someone. Compared to other headphones, Bose has one of the best transparency modes I've ever used. Again, it's better than anything currently on offer from Sony or Apple or Samsung.

But it's the Immersion mode that sets these earbuds apart from the crowd. Bose's take on spatial audio makes the music sound as if it's coming from two separate speakers in front of you that follow you as you move your head. It's really cool. I felt like I was hearing the music played live.

You can use the Immersion mode when you're sat still as well as when you're on the move, you'll just need to switch the settings over in the app (it'd be great to see this be automated at some point).

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds last for up to six hours of music at a time. They can be topped up three times using the charging case, which holds about 24 hours of play time.

The total time between charges isn't as impressive as some other pairs of true wireless earbuds, like the JLab Epic Air Sport ANC which provide a total of 55 hours with ANC turned on. In saying that, I used the QC Ultras daily for my commute and workouts, and it was just over a week before I needed to plug the case in.

When they're inactive, the earbuds automatically switch off to preserve the battery.

According to Bose, it should take about three hours to charge the case and an hour to charge the earbuds. If you're running late, you can plug the case in for 20 minutes to get up to two hours of use.

Bluetooth 5.3 made sure there was a stable uninterrupted connection between the buds and my phone. Occasionally, one of the two earbuds wouldn't connect straight away, but I found putting it back in the case and trying again fixed the problem.

Speaking of calls, the Bose QC Ultra Earbuds delivered clear and precise phone calls on both ends. The person on the other end could hear me perfectly well, and I could hear them equally as well.

There aren't many downsides to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. The design of the lid could be a bit sturdier, the case could be smaller, the battery life could be longer, it'd be nice to have the option to turn off the noise-cancelling and it's a bit annoying that sometimes both earbuds don't connect immediately. But in saying that, none of those points are dealbreakers.

Bose is out to impress with the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. I thoroughly enjoyed testing them out, so much so that I would be inclined to buy them.

There are barely any negatives to point out, and yet there are tonnes of good things to say.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds look great, they sound fantastic and they work well. But the very best thing about them is the noise cancelling which is about as good as it gets. They create a little bubble of music for you to live in, and it's so much fun.

If you want to shop around, we'd recommend considering the Sony WF-1000XM5. The design is a little different, they sound great, the ANC is solid and they have around 24 hours of battery. They're also slightly cheaper than Bose's earbuds, but you won't get Bose's impressive Immersion mode.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds

Now 27% Off

£219 at Amazon