Living up to the claims of a product’s name is a feat many companies strive for, but not all achieve. Bose is one of the big examples of not only the former, but also living up to the brand’s reputation for premium quality. The Bose QuietComfort headphones and earbuds lineup showcase the stellar audio experience customers expect from Bose products and nail the execution for delivering great noise cancelling performance and comfort to match. But with big competitors adding pressure, Bose must keep the lineup fresh and add value for folks not willing to pay top dollar for flagships. The second-generation Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are the company’s latest attempt at capturing the sub-$200 USD earbuds space.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen
Summary
Cheers to Bose for offering a fiercely competitive noise-cancelling product for under $200 that provides a noticeably elevated audio experience compared to other wireless earbuds in the budget tiers.
Pros
- Outstanding sound
- Great noise cancellation
- Comfortable to wear
- Good battery life
- Qi charging
- Multi-point connection
- Helpful app
Cons
- Chubby case
- Earbuds stick out
About the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen
The Bose QuietComfort lineup can seem a bit confusing; many of the products get the same “quiet comfort” branding without much differentiation. First, there’s the QuietComfort earbuds which were released in about 2020, which I reviewed. Next came the QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra.
While I found the Ultra earbuds very comfortable and offering terrific sound and noise cancelling, the $379 CAD and $299 USD launch price was a bit of a turn-off and the battery life wasn’t class leading.
Watch my full video review of Bose QC Buds
These new 2024 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, which I believe are referred to as Gen 2, formally succeed the original model, and comes with a more modest price tag of $249 CAD / $179 USD.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen features a “Chilled Lilac” color variant (which I received) in addition to the usual Black and White Smoke colors.
Don’t confuse the QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen with the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II. Launched back in 2022, those earbuds featured the same oval-shaped design as their predecessor so you can consider the 2024 version of the QuietComfort Earbuds as a reboot of the series with a rounded earbud design and a smaller (but still a bit chubby), pill-shaped charging case.
I would like to thank Bose for supplying a test pair of earbuds for me to try out in my home. Well the company did send me a pair at no charge, it did not ask for, nor receive permission to have any input into this review so these thoughts are all my own.
What’s in the Box?
The box includes the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds with medium ear tips and size 1 stability bands pre-attached. You may optionally swap these ear tips with a pair of smaller and larger sizes and size 2 and 3 stability bands all included in the box, for a better fit.
Finally, you get the charging case and USB-C to USB-A charging cable.
To take advantage of some extra features and customization you will want to download the Bose QC earbuds app.
As a quick aside, Bose seems to have about half a dozen different apps for its headphone product and finding the right one is not always easy. Fortunately when you put these into pairing mode and go to connect your phone it should prompt you to download the correct version.
Design
Right out of the gate I like the design of these earbuds a little bit better. Well they are still a bit chunky, they seem a little more streamlined at the same time. They have a nice oval design that is easy to grip and remove from the case and well there are plenty of edges and ridges, everything has been nicely softened. Despite the suave look, these feel pretty durable and substantial while also feeling light in the ear.
Fit & Feel
One of the big issues ladies like me have with earbuds is that they tend to be designed for men’s ears, making them extremely bulky and often painful in a woman’s ear. I’m glad to say it appears these have been trimmed down a touch. While they do fill the ear concha, the fit is not tight. While Bose has designed these to be a little more low profile, these still do stick out enough from the ears that they are both very noticeable and would be unsuitable for side sleepers if you’re a bedtime earbud advocate.
Sound quality
I listened to a variety of different audio on these buds over about a week. I started out listening to YouTube videos and found the voice replication was excellent, and the audio was perfectly in sync with the video. I moved on to listening to music and covered a wide span of genres over my seven days.
The sound quality is, not surprisingly, really great. With lots of subtlety and an outstanding balance of clear highs with a deeply resonant bass, the audio quality was outstanding whether grooving to Chromeo, working out to Eminem or Busta Rhymes, or chilling to jazz or lo-fi hip hop during the workday.
Features
The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen comes with some nice surprises that you won’t even find in the pricier Ultra variant.
Going Beyond Ultra
I’m delighted to report that the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds addressed one of my main complaints with the Ultra model; the battery life.
Battery life & charging
Expect a fully charged pair of QuietComfort Earbuds to run for about 8 and a half hours with the charging case providing a further 21 hours. If by chance you have forgotten the charging cable, you can use any Qi wireless charger to juice up the case!
Customizable Touch Controls
Tap gestures on earbuds are often confusing or hit and miss, especially if you are migrating from a different pair of earbuds. Fortunately, you can use the Bose QC app to fully customize the actions behind single, double, or triple tapping the left and right earbuds. The default positions are a quick tap for play or pause and tapping and holding the earbuds adjust volume as well.
Noise cancellation + Aware
It’s almost unheard of for a more premium brand pair of headphones to be without two key features nowadays; that’s noise cancellation and aware mode. Noise cancellation of course is designed to block out extraneous sounds from bleeding in, while aware mode will deliberately pipe ambient sound into your buds if you need to keep an ear out for something.
How is the noise cancelling? Several things can affect the quality of noise cancellation including the fit of your headphones which is why it’s important to make sure you’re wearing the right size ear tips and you have a good seal created.
To test out noise cancellation I always run the same type of test. I engage the noise cancellation setting but don’t play any audio; that way I can really hear how much sound might be bleeding in.
With the Bose QC Buds 2nd Gen, I found the noise cancellation was extremely good at blocking out any type of sound, even when it was playing right in front of me. I’d say the noise cancellation succeeds at blocking out about 90 to 95% of all noise intrusion on its own.
With almost any kind of music or audio playing the noise cancellation succeeds admirably in creating a total cone of silence.
When it comes to the aware mode, I found it was able to pipe sound in extremely effectively while also giving it a very natural sound; not like it’s being piped through earbuds or a tunnel, but almost as though you’re not wearing earbuds at all.
In short I give both the noise cancellation and the aware mode a nine or a 10 out of 10.
The earbuds also offer a special Low Latency Audio Mode for gamers or media lovers who demand more synchronized audio.
Water resistance
While I don’t recommend using the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds for working out or running outdoors, the buds do boast an IPX4 water-resistance rating allowing them to function just fine under light rain, splashes, or some sweat. However, keep in mind that the charging case doesn’t enjoy any water protection.
Multipoint
These headphones have the option of connecting to two devices at one time, and allowing you to switch audio playback between them. This is a feature I really appreciate in headphones and it means I can keep them connected to my phone and tablet simultaneously.
The multipoint connection worked really well and I was able to swap between watching YouTube videos on my iPad and picking up a call on my iPhone with ease.
Other features
There are a few other features packed into these earbuds also, including EQ presets which allows you to use a handful of preset sound modes to change how your audio comes through. You can use voice control to control the headphones so you never need to reach for your phone and something called fast mute lets you quickly mute or unmute your microphone during phone and video calls with just a quick press on the headphones. There is even a gimmicky setting called remote selfie which allows you to use your headphones and the voice control or touch controls to have your smart phone camera take a photo.
The Not-So Ultra Stuff
Two of the QuietComfort Ultra’s marquee features that didn’t make the non-Ultra cut are the Immersive Audio and Snapdragon Sound.
Considering the midrange pricing, Bose made the right call with these feature cuts as spatial audio performance tends to vary depending on the track and streaming service while Snapdragon Sound only works with a handful of modern mobile devices.
No points deducted for these omissions but something to be aware of in case they are key features for you. If so you can certainly make the upgrade to the Ultra.
Overall review: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen
Cheers to Bose for offering a fiercely competitive noise-cancelling product for under $200 that provides a noticeably elevated audio experience compared to other wireless earbuds in the budget tiers.
Let’s go over the pros and the cons so you can see if they might be right for you.
On the pro side the sound quality is outstanding, and the noise cancellation and aware modes are top-tier. The fit and comfort of these has been greatly improved and means they are a lot more comfortable to wear for longer stretches of time. The battery life is also pretty reasonable and well within common standards, and with Qi wireless charging, you get yet another premium level feature at a much more affordable price. I have to also shout out the new lilac colour which is subtle but cool. I’m also a huge fan of the multi point connection and I can say the Bose QC earbuds app actually provides a lot of options for customization and adjustment.
So what are the downsides? It’s been hard trying to find things to crack on. I suppose some of the biggest complaints people might have is that the charging case is still pretty chunky particularly when compared with other competitors. And the earbuds do still stick out quite substantially from the ears.
In short I think these are a great pair of premium sounding earbuds from a top notch audio brand now offered at a more affordable price and I can definitely recommend Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2nd Gen to you.
Those QuietComfort Ultra buds still have a place in premium land, but if the product isn’t on sale, I think you’ll get outstanding bang for the buck with these rebooted QuietComfort Earbuds.
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