After 2 weeks of testing, the Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen are even easier to recommend

Introduction

It wasn’t all that long ago Bose gave its flagship wireless earbuds an Ultra overhaul, so this second generation set feels a little early to the party. But rather than a full follow-up, the Ultra Earbuds 2^nd-Gen are more like an album re-release, with a few bonus tracks complimenting what was already a five star listen.

You can expect the same impactful and enjoyable audio, soundstage-expanding Immersive mode, and almost supernatural ability to silence the outside world as the original Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds. Only now the adaptive noise cancelling copes better with sudden loud sounds, and its microphones have been tuned for clearer speech when making calls. Wireless charging is also finally the norm, rather than an optional extra.

None of that sounds likely to mess up a winning formula. The bigger question is whether the upgrades are enough to see off the increasingly capable competition – and justify the high $299/£299 asking price.

Design & build: wax lyrical

You’ll need a good eye – and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Bose’s colour palette – to the the 2nd Gen Ultra Earbuds apart from the originals. My White Smoke review unit is a little more grey than the 1st gen’s white, and the black is an even closer match. Only the limited run Deep Plum gives the game away.

That means these are still relatively chunky in-ears predominantly made from plastic, but the metal effect finish sticks around to smarten the styling up a bit. The ergonomic shape means you won’t notice the size once you pop ’em in your ears, either. They stay firmly in place, thanks to rubber stability bands that rely on a twist-to-fit approach. It’s easy once you get the knack of pushing them in and then angling them into place.

You can then get your sweat on without worrying they’re going to fall out, although these aren’t strictly speaking workout earbuds. They have the same IPX4 rating as before, which is enough to shrug off minor water splashes and light rain, but not much more.

The biggest design change is internal; each ear tip has been redesigned to stop yucky wax build-up from getting into the driver housing, although (grim) I still needed to give them a bit of a wipe down after a few weeks of wear.

Features & battery life: let’s talk about it

Colour aside, the charging case looks identical to the old one – except wireless charging comes as part of the package. I thought Bose was cheeky to make this an optional extra for the first-gen Ultra Earbuds, when similarly-priced rivals were including it as standard. This brings the 2nd Gen back up to par. It fits easily enough in a pocket, but is far from the smallest case I’ve used.

Sadly battery life hasn’t improved at all between generations, so refuelling will be just as regular. With noise cancelling enabled you’ll get just six hours, which is an hour or two less than the best competition. Immersive Audio then saps listening time by a further two hours. The case has enough juice for three full recharges before it’ll need topping up itself, at least, and twenty minutes inside will give the buds two extra hours of listening time.

Bose has given call quality a leg up for the 2nd gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, though. Rejigged algorithms have really helped voices to come through more clearly than they did previously, even with a fair bit of background noise, and I had no complaints from the other end either. That’s true whether you’re wearing both buds at once, or just the one.

Immersive Audio, Bose’s take on spatial sound, hasn’t changed all that much. It still lives alongside the ANC modes, so is just a tap-and-hold away if you want to feel surrounded by your tunes. It expands the soundstage significantly, and manages not to colour your music quite as much as some rivals, though stereo snobs will still say it’s not what the artist intended. The Still mode keeps things fixed, while Motion locks the sound right in front of you using head tracking. This still feels a bit artificial to me, but I can understand why it has its fans.

Interface: no surprises

Bose hasn’t overhauled its companion app at all for these earphones, so the layout will feel familiar to anyone coming from an older pair. It’s clean and straightforward, with a pretty typical selection of features and functions. Still, there are a few standouts that make it worth a download.

If you don’t swap between ANC modes all that often, the left and right touch controls can be independently reassigned to switch between paired devices, activate Immersive Audio, resume your last played Spotify playlist, or wake your phone’s voice assistant. Capacitive control haters will also like being able to disable the touch buttons completely, to guarantee you don’t get any accidental presses when adjusting the fit – or your hair.

Multipoint Bluetooth lets you swap between two connected devices with a tap. The buds can remember even more gadgets if you have them, with the app letting you pick which two are active at any one time.

I hope you like Bose’s default tuning, though. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have just four other simple EQ presets to pick from (think “more bass”, “less treble”) and the three-band equaliser is also pretty basic. There’s no way to save your settings for having different setups for different content types, like podcasts or movies, either.

Sound quality and noise cancelling: still sets the standard

Noise cancelling was the one area Bose didn’t need to mix things up. The original Ultra set the bar for in-ear ANC, and the 2^nd Gen maintains that lead, effectively silencing trains, planes and busy shopping streets. Sudden loud noises aren’t as obvious anymore, and there’s next to no audible background hiss even when listening to spoken word podcasts. Transparency mode is also noticeably better, with speech sounding clearer than the outgoing pair.

It doesn’t have any effect on the overall sound, so whatever you pipe through these earbuds, it’ll sound rich and engaging. Bose’s typically punchy bass was present and correct on Modestep’s Hang my Heart, but it manages not to overwhelm the mid-range. A clean top end then preserves plenty of detail, and vocals are given room to shine as well.

The soundstage feels expansive for a pair of in-ears, even before you reach for the Immersive Audio mode, and things stay controlled even as you reach the upper end of the volume range. I think the Technics EAH-AZ100 have a slight dynamic edge overall, and the Bowers &Wilkins Pi8 give more precision, especially at lower volumes and with gentler acoustic tracks, but the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are still comfortably near the top of the pack.

Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen verdict

They might not be a true sequel, but the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2^nd Gen still address most of the original pair’s shortcomings. Call quality has received a welcome boost, they’re easier to keep clean now, and wireless charging won’t cost you any extra. Battery life could always be better, but noise cancelling and sound quality remain top notch.

Small gains, perhaps, but enough to keep Bose at the front of the class.

Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen technical specifications