Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2: A great buy… once the Gen 1 dies

In the increasingly frenzied arena of premium over-ear headphones, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra managed to stick out on release in 2023. It provided exactly what its name promised – quiet, from one of the most impressive active noise-canceling systems in the business, and comfort, from pillow-soft earcup cushions and a padded headband. It sounded great, too.

Time marches on, and so comes the sequel – the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2, a pair of headphones that seems designed to test the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ to its limits. This new set of cans promises better ANC, better spatial audio and a few other improvements, but is very much a continuity candidate.

Is this enough for it to be considered among the best Bluetooth headphones? I tried it out to find out…

Sound profile

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I’ll be referring quite a bit throughout to my review of the original Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, because this Gen 2 version is a very similar prospect in many ways. Case in point – the out-of-the-box sound profile. Just as with the previous headphones, the overall headphone sound is very good. It’s warm, detailed and spacious, with clear nuances across the frequency range.

With that said, the bass is once again a little bloated. Listening to Moby’s Play really rammed the point home – for the most part, the tracks felt smooth and polished, and I appreciated the detail I could pick out from the different layers. But every time the bass went big, it went a touch too big.

Though I made myself listen to the whole thing on the default settings for the purposes of this review (the things I do for you people), I was itching to get stuck into the EQ and sort it out – especially since I knew from my experience with the previous QC Ultra that doing so would improve things dramatically.

Trebles too are punted to the fore – tracks are never unpleasantly shrill or sibilant, but there’s a lot of presence to the high end that you may want to rein in a tad when you get to the EQ.

It should be stressed though that these aren’t huge criticisms. Even if you’re not going to touch the EQ, the stock sound of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 is very good indeed. The midrange tones are crisp and well-defined – I took Lady Gaga’s Chromatica for a spin and adored the whip-snap pop of the drumbeats under the velvety layers of synths, all in service to a warm and full-bodied vocal sound with plenty of breathing room.

There’s a lot of competition in the premium headphone space, and I’d say in terms of its stock sound, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 sits comfortably among its peers. The stock sound of the overpriced AirPods Max 2 is a bit better-balanced, and the stock sound of the slightly more expensive Sennheiser HDB 630 is a little richer and more detailed. But I really can’t imagine anyone donning the QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 and being unhappy with what they hear. The headphones sound great.

Features

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The EQ functionality on the Bose app is exactly the same as it was for the original QuietComfort Ultra, and I have no issue with that. It’s a three-band EQ, not as comprehensive as what you’ll get with the likes of the Sennheiser HDB 630, but I think it’s super user-friendly, and is a great way for those who maybe haven’t tried EQ-ing their headphones before to dip their toe in. I find that reining in that flabby bass and the slightly over-sparkly treble – essentially inverting the classic V-shape – produces a balanced sound that works for most tracks.

Let’s talk about ANC. When I reviewed the first QC Ultra headphones, I was hugely impressed with the ANC’s preternatural ability to banish the noises of the outside world. I may not have literally used the word ‘witchcraft’, but that was certainly the spirit.

Well, Bose has made it better. Not leagues better – we are reaching something of a technological plateau in terms of how effective ANC can be – but better. Bose has fine-tuned its technologies like ActiveSense, which is designed to compensate for unexpected loud sounds. The app allows you to select your precise level of noise-cancelling, depending on how much awareness of the outside world you want to have – there’s the ‘Quiet’ mode for blocking out everything, ‘Aware’ mode for staying cognizant of your surroundings, or you can set it to a custom level.

I’d say that ramped up to max, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2’s ANC is slightly more effective than that of the Sony WH-1000XM6, but honestly we’re at the point of splitting hairs. They’re both excellent. As was the original QuietComfort Ultra. There’s not enough in it to make a fuss about.

Bose has once again proudly touted its Immersive Audio tech – meaning spatial audio, whereby the headphones can track your head movements and adjust the sound to compensate (so a sound that’s on the left, say, remains in the same place even if you turn your head). I was unconvinced last time and remain so now – it blunts the dynamic range of your music for questionable benefits in return.

Bose seems to be aware of this, and is pushing Immersive Audio for watching movies and TV rather than listening to music, which makes more sense. A dedicated ‘Cinema’ mode ramps up ANC and Immersive Audio, designed to effectively simulate a surround-sound experience. I’ll be honest, I don’t watch movies with headphones very often (my partner calls it ‘anti-social’ for some reason) but I tried it out with a couple of episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and it does really get you immersed, with dialogue crisp and clear. Great for anyone who’s finding themselves turning subtitles on more and more often these days.

Price

Sitting at a street price of around $399 / £399 (which is already a little discounted from launch), the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 sits in what we might call the upper middle of the pack when it comes to premium headphone pricing. It’s more expensive than everyday faves like Sennheiser’s Momentum 4, and cheaper than overpriced premium cans like Apple’s AirPods Max.

Though the most significant point of comparison is that the QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 is around $100 / £100 more expensive than Bose’s own original QuietComfort Ultra, which is still readily available, and offers much the same deal. Whether slightly better ANC, a Cinema mode and improved Immersive Audio are worth that extra outlay is a question that only the individual can answer. For me, they are not. If I were spending my own money, I would save a chunk of it and get the original Bose QuietComfort Ultra.

Comfort & build

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Excellent once again. The original QuietComfort Ultra was very comfortable, and Bose has seen no reason to mess with a winning formula. I may be imagining things, but I feel that the clamping force is perhaps a little tighter than the original. But once again, these headphones proved so comfortable that I was able to wear them for hours and basically forget I was doing so. The ear cushions are delightfully soft, and the headband well-padded for long-term comfort.

The hinged design allows the QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 to fold up into a relatively compact pill-shaped case. Once again the earcup controls are well-designed, with that pleasantly intuitive capacitive strip for controlling volume. You get 2.5mm and USB-C ports for wired listening (the USB-C port on the QC ultra is charging only), and I do have to say a word about the ‘Midnight Violet’ colour scheme of my review unit. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but you can’t say it’s not distinctive.

Should you buy?

The thing about the original Bose QuietComfort Ultra is that it was a very good pair of premium headphones. When making the Gen 2, Bose had no need to rock the boat, and didn’t, so this pair is a mild improvement in every sense. The ANC is mildly better; the spatial audio has been mildly improved. The battery life is a bit better – 30 hours rather than 24. The USB-C port works for wired listening now.

The fact that the original QuietComfort Ultra is still hanging around, for around $100 / £100 less than the Gen 2, throws the iterative nature of these improvements into sharp relief. Would you really pay a three-figure tax for those? Maybe you would. I wouldn’t.

As time marches on, it’s likely that the Bose QuietComfort Ultra will disappear from production, the Gen 2’s price will come down a bit, and it will take its rightful place as one of the best pairs of everyday headphones you can buy. Until that happens, it’s a bit of a tough recommendation.