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Bose put the strongest noise cancelling in the category into a pair of earbuds, then gave them six hours of battery.
Nearly every argument for and against these buds follows from that sentence. The second generation left both halves of it alone.
The verdict, before the detail
If the noise is the whole problem โ a Tube carriage, a bus in traffic, a cabin at cruise โ nothing at this price removes more of it. If you listen for more than six hours at a stretch, look elsewhere.
It has traded below RRP repeatedly โ check today's price.
Bose has been building cancelling hardware for longer than anyone else currently selling earbuds, and the QuietComfort line is where that work ends up.
The second generation is a refinement rather than a redesign. Cancelling improved a little, the tips sit slightly deeper, and reviewers who compare buds for a living place it at the top of the class for outright quiet.
The rest of the specification is competitive rather than leading. That is the honest shape of the thing.
Battery6 h + 24 h caseANCCustomTune, per insertionCodecsaptX Adaptive, AAC, SBCWaterIPX4ChargingUSB-C and wireless
What the numbers buy you
CustomTune remeasures your ear each time you put them in
Cancelling depends on the seal, and the seal shifts with the shape of the ear canal and how deep the bud happens to sit that morning.
Bose plays a tone on insertion, measures what comes back and adjusts both the EQ and the cancelling to suit. That is why the quiet holds between one wearing and the next rather than drifting.
Six hours covers a commute, not a working day
Six hours with cancelling running covers a return journey and a long-haul leg. It does not cover a day at a desk.
Switch on Immersive Audio and the figure falls to four. Twenty minutes in the case returns two hours of play, which is the number that rescues an evening.
The call microphones are the quieter reason to buy
SpeechClarity separates your voice from the noise around it before anything is transmitted, and clarity on calls in loud places is the strength reviewers name most consistently after the cancelling itself.
If you take calls from a platform or a pavement, that counts for more day to day than a codec does.
| QC Ultra Earbuds 2 | Sony WF-1000XM6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Battery, ANC on | 6 h | 8 h |
| Total with case | 24 h | 24 h |
| Wireless charging | Yes | Yes |
| Water rating | IPX4 | IPX4 |
| Multipoint | Two devices | Two devices |
Those are the numbers โ see what they cost today.
Two drawbacks worth knowing
The battery lost the argument and never returned to it
Sony's WF-1000XM6 manages eight hours with cancelling on, and Apple's AirPods Pro 3 claim a comparable figure. Bose stayed at six through an entire generation change.
The buds are large, and they protrude
The housing is unchanged in shape and sits proud of the ear. Long-session reviews mention pressure after a few hours, and the pause tap is occasionally read as a volume slide instead.
Who these suit
A good fit if you
- Commute or fly through steady, low-frequency noise and want most of it gone
- Take calls in loud places and would rather be understood first time
- Top up in the case through the day rather than listening straight through
Look elsewhere if you
- Wear earbuds for more than six hours without a break
- Have small ears, or dislike anything sitting proud of the outer ear
Still on your shortlist? See today's price.
What to pay
Paying full RRP makes little sense here. Prime Day and Black Friday have taken a substantial slice off this line repeatedly, and the pattern has held across generations.
Nothing about the product changes in a sale. Unless you are replacing a dead pair this week, waiting is the cheapest upgrade on offer.
Check today's price on AmazonBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) โ
Questions people ask before buying
Is the 2nd Gen worth upgrading to from the 1st Gen?
If you already own the first generation, no. The cancelling gain is small, the battery is identical and the shape has not moved. The upgrade only makes sense from something older.
Does six hours mean charging them every night?
Only if you listen for six hours. The case holds 24 hours and twenty minutes in it returns two hours of play, so most commuters charge the case twice a week and never think about the buds.
How much noise do these actually remove?
Most of the low, steady sort and far less of the human sort. Our explainer on what active noise cancellation really does covers why engine drone vanishes while the conversation behind you does not.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links. We were not given this product and were not paid to write about it.
