I’m reviewing these purely for those who need headphones for running. After my trusty Bose Sound Sport gave up the ghost I’ve tried the Pixel Buds 2 pro and Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 and sent both back. The Pixel Buds sounded OK but a bit of wind and they were all over the place, skipping tracks and generally misbehaving. Thought I’d give the Cambridge Audios a go given the great reviews. They did sound great when not moving but after a while the sweat drips were leaking into the ear canal and lost all the seal making the sound totally useless. Back to Think Assemble then before my final throw of the dice, these relatively cheap Bose Quiet Comforts.I downloaded the app and fiddled with EQ settings for a bit more bass and was ready to go. I found turning the noise cancellation to off stopped most of the intrusive wind noise whilst given you still some awareness of what’s around you. What I noticed straight away was how comfortable they felt. The sign of good running headphones is when you forget your wearing them and these definitely did that over the 15 mile run. At no point did I worry they were going to fall out and they also give a great seal, no sweat leaking into the ear canals. In fact when it came to taking them out I almost had to rip then out so tight did they fit. These are Bose so no need to worry about sound quality, bass is responsive, trebles clean and mids nicely textured. Overall everything you could want from a reasonably priced pair of headphones – £129 purchase price, over £100 cheaper than the PowerBeats Pro for example. If you need them to handle long, sweaty runs these are definitely the buds to go for.

I like these more than my current Bose Quiet Comfort 2 ear buds. They sound better and the noise cancelling is at least as good as the QC 2. The Bose ANC is the best I’ve used so far (though I haven’t as yet tried Sony earbuds). It’s fun to put some loud aircraft cabin white noise on the stereo and feel the background noise but be able comfortably listen to music. The best sound quality for me is through a good pair of wired earbuds or headphones and normally that’s what I use. When you’re in a noisy environment though even the best passive isolation can’t beat good ANC and that’s where the QCE work so well.The case can sit on a flat surface with the lid open unlike the QC 2 case. The EQ is better than the QC2 giving a 5 point equaliser instead of 3. The sound quality is to my ears better than the QC 2 even without messing around with EQ. The buds seem larger but don’t feel bulky in my ears and one advantage of a larger surface area for touch controls is that they seem to work better and more reliably. The app works a bit better than the QC2 app and so far connects perfectly each time (on Android that is, iPad connection is a bit flakey). The app could do with a hearing or fit test because both of those make a difference to sound quality and how well the ANC works.I know that QC 2 and QC Ultras are available at well under £300 but these QCE still undercut even discounted QC2. And that makes them a real bargain for me.

Good earphones
I have a few things to mention about this product.Firstly, make sure the earphone is securely pressed into your ear; otherwise, it will pause when the sensor isn’t activated. I don’t mind this, as I actually prefer it over my other earphones that keep playing and wasting battery when I’m not listening.In terms of comfort, these earphones are excellent. I can wear them all day without any complaints. However, when I’m in a busy place with no sound playing, the noise cancellation can feel slightly uncomfortable—but that depends on individual sensitivity. While it doesn’t completely block out very loud noises, I’d say it cancels about 95% of ambient sound when walking on the streets or at home.The sound quality is outstanding. You can really hear the highs and lows, as well as the different instruments in a song. I never noticed these details when using cheaper earphones—it’s like rediscovering music.One minor downside is that switching between devices isn’t always seamless. Sometimes it connects instantly, other times it doesn’t. But for me, that’s not a dealbreaker.Also, if you’re next to someone talking, I highly recommend turning on ambient sound mode—otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to hear them. The noise cancellation is that effective.Overall, this product delivers on both comfort and sound quality, making it a great choice.

Great Value
These are good! I am coming from some older earbuds, namely the original pixel buds pro earbuds. I felt that those earbuds hit a better price point than their successors, the pixel buds pro 2, did. They recently started to give me some trouble and the battery has been degrading quite rapidly, so I know I needed to look for a new set. These Bose buds caught my eye as the largest limitation with the OG pixel buds was their ANC performance. I use earbuds a lot when performing yard work, so drowning out various tools and traffic noise were top of my priorities. Additionally, I did not want to spend 200+ USD on something like the AZ100 or the more premium offers from Sony/Bose.These have filled those requirements nearly perfectly. I am very impressed with ANC performance, they seem very similar to my Sony WH-XM3s. This is a very impressive feat for in ear buds, but I know that the Sonys are a few generations old at this stage. I can say that they handily outperform the pixel buds. This seems especially true with higher frequency sounds. Overall, very impressed with how they handle noise suppression/ANC in busy environments as well. Voices seem to be suppressed quite well.I was also presently suprised by sounds quality. I think that these sound a little better than the OG pixel buds do. Clarity is better, especially in the mids. These also tend to get really loud, especially compared to the pixel buds. I notice I am often not using more than 50% of the volume available to achieve normal listening volumes. Bass is somewhat bloated, overall similar to the Sony WH-XM3s, but this is overall a pleasurable tune and can be adjusted with a 5 band equalizer.There are some potential downsides. While the buds themselves feel high quality, the case feels relatively cheap and oversized. The OG pixelbuds have been rock solid for me. Their case has survived numerous drops and being mistaken for a dog toy a time or two. The Bose QC case feels much lighter and the cover feels much thinner. The hinge also does not feel nearly as robust. With that said, I do appreciate that they sell a replacement charging case for 60$. While it was touched on, I do also want to mention that the case seems just a little too large. It’s about 50% thicker than the pixel buds or airpods. It’s still very pocketable, but I do not think I will carry them with me at all times like I did with the pixel buds. The intrusiveness of the larger case in conjunction with my concerns about durability make me hesitant.Overall, these are really nice earbuds. I have not experienced any connectivity issues using the latest update. They connect and play quickly as expected. They have had great stability in ear, even while running. I think these strike a very good value for money where spending more may have diminishing returns. I think this is especially relevant as it seems that all wireless earbuds tend to have a lifespan of a few years before they are end of life due to wear or battery degradation. It’s hard for me to justify spending more on something I can only expect to last 2-4 years.