Bose has long been a titan in the audio industry, particularly renowned for its noise-cancelling technology. With the release of the new QuietComfort Ultra Bluetooth Earbuds (2nd Gen), they aim to push the boundaries further, offering an immersive audio experience wrapped in a stylish, limited-edition Deep Plum finish. Having spent considerable time with these earbuds, here’s a comprehensive review of what makes them stand out.Unparalleled Noise CancellationTrue to Bose’s legacy, the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds deliver an absolutely phenomenal noise-cancelling experience. From the moment you activate the feature, the world around you seems to melt away. Commutes on bustling trains become serene, office chatter fades into the background, and even the drone of an airplane engine is significantly muted. It’s not just about reducing noise; it’s about creating a personal sanctuary where your audio can truly shine. The “Aware Mode” is equally impressive, allowing you to seamlessly blend your music with your surroundings when needed, ensuring you stay connected to the world without removing the earbuds.Immersive Audio: A New DimensionThe standout feature of these 2nd Gen earbuds is undoubtedly the “Immersive Audio.” This technology creates a spatial soundstage that makes it feel like the audio is coming from outside your head, rather than directly into your ears. Whether you’re listening to music, podcasts, or watching videos, the effect is captivating. Music gains a new depth and spaciousness, making instruments feel more distinct and vocals more present. It’s a subtle yet profound enhancement that genuinely elevates the listening experience, making it feel more lifelike and engaging.Rich, Deep Bass and Balanced Sound ProfileBose has always excelled at delivering a rich and balanced sound, and the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds are no exception. The deep bass is prominent without being overpowering, providing a satisfying thump to your favorite tracks. Mids are clear and articulate, and highs are crisp without being sibilant. The overall sound profile is warm and inviting, suitable for a wide range of genres. Whether you’re into bass-heavy electronic music, intricate classical pieces, or vocal-driven pop, these earbuds reproduce audio with fidelity and enjoyment.Comfort and Design: Elegance Meets ErgonomicsThe Deep Plum limited edition is a visual treat. It’s a sophisticated, understated hue that adds a touch of elegance to the earbuds, setting them apart from the standard black or white options. Beyond aesthetics, the comfort factor is paramount. Bose has designed these earbuds to be incredibly lightweight and ergonomic, fitting snugly and securely in the ear without causing fatigue, even during extended listening sessions. The included ear tips and stability bands ensure a personalized fit, crucial for both comfort and optimal noise cancellation. The IPX4 rating provides peace of mind, making them resistant to sweat and splashes, perfect for workouts or light rain.Battery Life and ConnectivityWith up to 6 hours of battery life on a single charge, these earbuds offer ample listening time for most daily activities. The charging case extends this significantly, providing multiple additional charges. Bluetooth connectivity is rock-solid, offering quick pairing and a stable connection with minimal dropouts. Call quality is also clear, with effective microphone performance even in moderately noisy environments.The VerdictThe Bose QuietComfort Ultra Bluetooth Earbuds (2nd Gen) in Deep Plum are a triumph of audio engineering and design. They combine industry-leading noise cancellation with a truly innovative immersive audio experience, all wrapped in a comfortable and stylish package. While they sit at the premium end of the market, the performance justifies the investment for audiophiles and anyone seeking a superior personal listening experience. If you’re looking for earbuds that can transport you into your audio, silence the world around you, and look good doing it, these are an exceptional choice.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds II deliver excellent noise cancellation and a comfortable fit — classic Bose quality. The sound is rich, detailed, and immersive, especially for music and movies.However, after trying the new AirPods Pro, I found Apple’s offering noticeably better in everyday use. The AirPods are easier to connect, switch between devices seamlessly, and their microphone quality is miles ahead for calls. The overall listening experience feels more balanced and natural too.If you’re mainly after noise cancellation and comfort, the Bose are still great. But if you value usability, call quality, and everyday convenience, the AirPods Pro take the win.

Gen 2 are not worth the price
Gen 2, really? It say so on the box.. but there is no difference to these other than the grill on the earplugs compared to the gen 1… and wireless charging, but that can be bought for gen 1 as well.Gen 2 are good if you want great noise suppression and comfortable earbuds, but they are simply not good enough for calls, unless you want to be heard as you’re talking into a tin can. The charging case, which has support for wireless charging, is a bit bulky and Very very flimsy compared to Samsung Galaxy buds 3 pro or any of the AirPod versions.If you have AirPods or Galaxy buds or any buds that you are comfortable with and you’re happy with the noise suppression you get then do not, I repeat do not purchase these they are not That good, AirPods Pro are actually better.. if they fit!______Edit after firmware update 4.9.30 on August 6, which claims that it “Introduced SpeechClarity voice enhancement for Bose best call quality yet”… I tried their newest and best call quality IN A QUIET ROOM… and it still sounds like you’re talking in a tin can, not much of a difference.And since this is what they claim to be a Gen 2, i.e. a brand new hardware version it should have been updated with better microphones, well nope, it has the same crappy ones as Gen 1, it’s just a way for them to make us pay for firmware updates. Another Red flag, so again, stay away from Bose if you want good call quality they simply cannot deliver on that.

expensive, but very very good
I have owned various Bose products over the years, including earbuds a long long time ago now. Bose was the leader of active noise cancellation back then, now a number of other companies have since caught up. I found these earbuds to be a departure from my previous experience with Bose products:* noise cancellation: the noise cancellation is still one of the strongest I’ve seen, especially in earbuds, but the pressure in my ears from it is now gone! I have trouble telling if it is actually on, then today I was inflating some tires with a portable air compressors and could barely hear it. This was a loud repetitive noise, though: the earbuds did get “confused” by a sudden one-off loud noise, such as me closing the door of my car, and I could hear the noise-cancellation trying to “catch up” to my environment. Yeah, it’s working, and in a very subtle not-in-your-face fashion!* size: they are much smaller than other noise-cancelling earbuds out there, and also lighter. Unlike others, they stay securely in my ears. This is welcome, the only other noise-cancelling earbuds I have found that were able to accomplish this feat without significant tinkering are the Jabra products.* sound quality: Boses always favoured the low-ends with very crisp articulated highs. I found these earbuds to be much better balanced, almost flat-sounding, but still very crisp.* sound stage: these earbuds completely blew my other earbuds out of the water. They sound like I am in a concert hall. With immersive audio that shift the music when I move my head and the earbuds being so light, listening to music makes it difficult to distinguish if the earbuds are the ones playing the music, or my computer through its speakers* touch controls: I hate touch controls and Bose delivers nothing I like here. It triggers when I adjust the earbuds in my ears, it does the wrong thing, and is just a nuisance. Unfortunately everyone else seems to think it is cool and manufacturers keeps adding it in products large and small. Please bring the buttons back!* battery life: pretty good so far, I haven’t reached a situation where they run out of juice on me and I have been using them for a few hours continuously.* battery case is a bit bigger than I thought it would be, and lacks a feature I would have liked to have, such as ability to transmit audio to the earbuds. The Jabras have that, why can’t the Boses? Also, no one seems to think about how one is expected to carry this thing: no attachment for lanyard, carabiner or anything else: you have to get a case for that, then hope it doesn’t fall out of the case.* wireless charging: this is a new feature for the gen 2 battery case. It works, but it doesn’t shut off the pad when done. As a result I have to remove them from the charging pad or they become warm to the touch.* price: like other Bose products, very very expensive for what they are.* app support: I found the app to be very basic with only a few controls. Other brands have better ones.

C’est du Bose, donc proche de la perfection
On pourrait dire que mon opinion est un peu biaisée :Ça fait des années que j’utilise Bose, des écouteurs à la barre de son pour mon téléviseur !Ce qui est appréciable avec cette marque, c’est qu’ils ne s’endorment pas sur leurs lauriers. Ils continuent de s’améliorer, de génération en génération.Et c’est le cas avec ces écouteurs intra-auriculaires QuietComfort Ultra 2ème génération.D’accord, ce ne sont pas les écouteurs les plus discrets quand vous les portez.De même, le boîtier chargeur reste un peu gros, bien que l’autonomie des écouteurs soient un peu inférieure à ce que propose la concurrence à ce niveau de prix et en dessous.(Ça, c’était pour le négatif !)Pour le reste, c’est un sans faute.Tout d’abord là où Bose dépasse de la tête et des épaules la compétition :La fonction de réduction de bruit.J’ai essayé ces dernières semaines plusieurs concurrents, comme le Sony WH-1000XM5 ou le très décevant Sennheiser True Wireless 4.Si le Sony n’est pas loin, ni l’un ni l’autre n’est au niveau de Bose.Aussi surprenant que ça puisse paraître, seul le bien moins cher Soundcore Liberty 4 NC s’en approche sans le rattrapper.Si vous avez choisi les embouts qui correspondent exactement à votre conduit auditif (une option dans l’application Bose – pour iOS et Android – vous permet de vérifier si vous portez correctement vos écouteurs avec les embouts qui vont bien), lorsque vous sélectionnez l’option de réduction de bruit, quel que soit l’environnement dans lequel vous êtes, vous serez assuré(e) qu’au moins 90 à 95% des sons extérieurs seront coupés.Je l’ai testé près d’un chantier de construction d’immeuble, dans le bus, en marchant dans une rue très animée, le résultat est constant – les sons autour de vous sont à peine perceptibles.Vous avez également une option appelée ‘Aware’ qui sera très utile pour bien écouter votre musique préférée ou vos podcasts tout en entendant les sons ambiants sans que ça soit gênant.C’est pratique pour entendre la voiture qui arrive derrière vous !Et enfin vous avez l’option de transparence qui vous permet de toujours entendre la musique sans qu’aucun filtre ne vous coupe de votre environnement.Depuis l’application, vous pouvez même créer votre propre mode de réduction de bruit, en plus de ceux proposés par défaut par Bose. Pratique.Vous pouvez passer d’un mode à l’autre soit depuis l’application Bose, soit grâce aux fonctions tactiles des écouteurs – que vous pouvez paramétrer selon vos préférences depuis l’application.À ce propos, quel que soit l’environnement sonore, les appels téléphoniques sont eux aussi de qualité (une grande différence avec la génération précédente), même en cas de grand vent – pour ça, vous devrez sélectionner une option ‘Vent’ dans l’application pour que les oreillettes gèrent correctement le bruit du vent.Côté son, c’est aussi proche de la perfection :Je suis loin d’avoir l’oreille absolue, mais en tant qu’auditeur de base j’ai trouvé la qualité audio exceptionnelle avec beaucoup de subtilité et un bel équilibre entre des aigus clairs et des basses profondément résonnantes.J’ai pu lire ici ou là que certains concurrents de Bose (en particulier Technics pour ne pas les nommer) proposent un son plus riche et plus raffinés.C’est possible.Pour ma part, lorsque j’écoute des podcasts, les voix sont cristallines et bien compréhensibles.Quand j’écoute du jazz, j’entends la richesse et la subtilité de jeu de chaque instrument. Quand j’écoute du classique, la puissance de l’orchestre, le détail du piano ou du violon solo se détache bien.Vous êtes dans la salle de concert, à la meilleure place.Bref, on a un son riche et immersif.Enfin, ces écouteurs ne s’appellent pas ‘Comfort’ pour rien !Avec seulement 7,7 grammes par oreillette, vous ne sentez pas grand chose quand vous les portez, même si vous les gardez plusieurs heures (en tenant compte que l’autonomie est d’en moyenne de 5 heures ‘seulement’).Jamais elles ne deviennent inconfortables, et quels que soient vos mouvements, elles tiennent bien en place.De plus grâce au standard IPX4, vos oreillettes ne risquent rien même si vous les portez un jour de grande pluie.À tout ça, vous pouvez ajouter que vous avez une autonomie moyenne cumulée de près de 24 heures avec l’étui de rangement qui se charge avec un câble USB-C (fourni), ou en sans fil (technologie Qi).Cerise sur le gâteau : ces oreillettes Bose sont ‘Bluetooth Multipoint’, ce qui veut dire que vous pouvez les connecter à plusieurs appareils en même temps.Je crois n’avoir rien oublié, tout en réalisant qu’il y a encore d’autres fonctionnalités dont je n’ai pas parlé.à vous de les découvrir ! 😉Tout ça pour dire que ces oreillettes intra-auriculaires Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2ème génération sont certes chères, mais elles valent le prix demandé.Après en avoir essayé plusieurs dans le haut de gamme, ce sont les seules et uniques que je recommande.C’est simple, au moment d’écrire ces lignes, les oreillettes Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2ème génération sont sans aucun doute les meilleures du marché.