2nd gen Bose noise cancelling earbuds add the one feature I missed on the old ones
The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) might be a mouthful to say, but improved adaptive noise cancelling promises to more smoothly filter out sudden loud noises than the original QC Ultra in-ears. Hopefully that means no more obnoxious muscle car exhausts or subway trains ruining that album you've had on repeat.
It's rocking Bose's tried-and-tested sound calibration tech, which personalises audio and noise cancelling based on your environment and the shape of your ear. The ear tips have been redesigned to stop yucky wax built-up, too. Bose has tapped AI to help the Ultra 2nd Gen's eight microphones (four for each ear) reduce background distractions at the same time as keeping your voice clear for phone calls, whether you're using both buds at once or just one.
Capacitive control haters will be happy to hear you can now disable the touch buttons completely through the Bose companion app, to guarantee you don't get any accidental presses when adjusting the fit – or your hair.
Wireless charging is the other new addition, saving you from hunting around for a cable when it's time to refuel. You had to pay extra for an optional case with the first-sen pair. Battery life hasn't changed between generations, so you're still looking at six hours of listening (or four with Immersive Audio switched on). The case can hold three full charges, and will give you two extra hours of listening after twenty minutes.
It uses the same Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity as the first-gen Ultra Earbuds, with aptX adaptive streaming, Snapdragon Sound low-latency, and Google Fast Pair.
The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd gen are set to go on sale from June 26, and are up for pre-order right now directly from Bose. You'll be able to snag a pair in Black, White Smoke, or the limited-run Deep Plum colour. They'll set you back $299/£299.
Joining them is the new SoundLink Plus, a rugged Bluetooth speaker that promises big sound from a relatively compact case. It weighs in at under 2kg, but finds room inside for a bass driver, tweeter, and four passive radiators – along with a battery good for 20 hours of play time. It can double as a portable power bank for your other tech, too.
There's no danger of losing it if you get the limited edition Citrus Yellow model. Black and Blue Dusk colours are also on the way. All three have the same powder-coated steel grille and soft-touch silicone finish as the rest of the SoundLink range, and are IP67 water resistant. They also float, and have a rugged nylon wrist strap for easy lugging.
Get two together and you can pair 'em in stereo, or pop it into party mode with any other SoundLink speaker. It's launching on June 26 for $250/£250.
Finally, Bose has given its diddy SoundLink Micro speaker the 2nd Gen treatment.
New for 2025 is a removable nylon strap to make it easier to clip the compact speaker onto your bike or bag. USB-C charging also makes the grade, and battery life has been boosted to twelve hours between top-ups. There's a single driver and dual passive radiators inside, and the whole thing is IP67 resistant.
It's not due to arrive until later in the year, where it should set you back $120/£120 in black or blue dusk colours.
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Stuff.tv
13-07-2025
- Stuff.tv
After 2 weeks of testing, the Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen are even easier to recommend
Stuff Verdict They're pricey and aren't brilliant on battery, but the Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd-gen still set the bar for commuters craving the sound of silence Pros No-one does ANC like Bose does ANC Clean, dynamic and well-balanced sound Hard to fault the comfortable, secure fit Cons No battery life gains, so comfortably bettered by rivals Immersive Audio is still very like-it-or-hate-it 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 2nd-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. How we test headphones Every pair of earphones and headphones reviewed on Stuff is used for a minimum of a week's worth of daily listening. We use a playlist of test tracks made up of multiple genres to assess sound, and use our years of experience to compare to other models. Manufacturers have no visibility on reviews before they appear online, and we never accept payment to feature products. Find out more about how we test and rate products. 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 2nd 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 2nd 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. Stuff Says… Score: 5/5 They're pricey and aren't brilliant on battery, but commuters craving the sound of silence owe their ears a pair of these. Pros No-one does ANC like Bose does ANC Clean, dynamic and well-balanced sound Hard to fault the comfortable, secure fit Cons No battery life gains, so comfortably bettered by rivals Immersive Audio is still very like-it-or-hate-it Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen technical specifications Drivers 9.3mm ANC Yes, adaptive Bluetooth version Bluetooth 5.3 Codecs supported SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive Durability IPX4 Battery life 6hrs/18hrs (ANC on, buds/case) Dimensions 12x20x24mm, 7.7g (buds, each) 166x59x27mm, 61g (case)
Stuff.tv
17-06-2025
- Stuff.tv
Here's when Amazon Prime Day is taking place this year
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Stuff.tv
12-06-2025
- Stuff.tv
2nd gen Bose noise cancelling earbuds add the one feature I missed on the old ones
Commuters craving the sound of silenced have a new saviour. Bose has updated its QuietComfort Ultra wireless earbuds to a second generation, with even better ANC along with a bunch of other welcome upgrades. It's not like the firm isn't also afraid to get loud, though – it's also updating one of its most popular portable speakers, and adding an all-new model to the line-up. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) might be a mouthful to say, but improved adaptive noise cancelling promises to more smoothly filter out sudden loud noises than the original QC Ultra in-ears. Hopefully that means no more obnoxious muscle car exhausts or subway trains ruining that album you've had on repeat. It's rocking Bose's tried-and-tested sound calibration tech, which personalises audio and noise cancelling based on your environment and the shape of your ear. The ear tips have been redesigned to stop yucky wax built-up, too. Bose has tapped AI to help the Ultra 2nd Gen's eight microphones (four for each ear) reduce background distractions at the same time as keeping your voice clear for phone calls, whether you're using both buds at once or just one. Capacitive control haters will be happy to hear you can now disable the touch buttons completely through the Bose companion app, to guarantee you don't get any accidental presses when adjusting the fit – or your hair. Wireless charging is the other new addition, saving you from hunting around for a cable when it's time to refuel. You had to pay extra for an optional case with the first-sen pair. Battery life hasn't changed between generations, so you're still looking at six hours of listening (or four with Immersive Audio switched on). The case can hold three full charges, and will give you two extra hours of listening after twenty minutes. It uses the same Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity as the first-gen Ultra Earbuds, with aptX adaptive streaming, Snapdragon Sound low-latency, and Google Fast Pair. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd gen are set to go on sale from June 26, and are up for pre-order right now directly from Bose. You'll be able to snag a pair in Black, White Smoke, or the limited-run Deep Plum colour. They'll set you back $299/£299. Joining them is the new SoundLink Plus, a rugged Bluetooth speaker that promises big sound from a relatively compact case. It weighs in at under 2kg, but finds room inside for a bass driver, tweeter, and four passive radiators – along with a battery good for 20 hours of play time. It can double as a portable power bank for your other tech, too. There's no danger of losing it if you get the limited edition Citrus Yellow model. Black and Blue Dusk colours are also on the way. All three have the same powder-coated steel grille and soft-touch silicone finish as the rest of the SoundLink range, and are IP67 water resistant. They also float, and have a rugged nylon wrist strap for easy lugging. Get two together and you can pair 'em in stereo, or pop it into party mode with any other SoundLink speaker. It's launching on June 26 for $250/£250. Finally, Bose has given its diddy SoundLink Micro speaker the 2nd Gen treatment. New for 2025 is a removable nylon strap to make it easier to clip the compact speaker onto your bike or bag. USB-C charging also makes the grade, and battery life has been boosted to twelve hours between top-ups. There's a single driver and dual passive radiators inside, and the whole thing is IP67 resistant. It's not due to arrive until later in the year, where it should set you back $120/£120 in black or blue dusk colours.
