Bose QuietComfort Ultra Bluetooth Earbuds, Wireless Earbuds with Spatial Audio and World-Class Active Noise Cancellation, Deep Bass, Up to 6 Hours of Playtime, Lunar Blue - Limited Edition Color

I don't work in a peaceful environment with timid people, who are respectful of each other and know how to shut up. No. I work in a warehouse. Not a good warehouse. A small warehouse. With 30 people in a single room. People who literally SCREAM along with the music playing over the speakers. People who think being the most annoying person possible is funny. What's worse. It's 10 hour shifts. I've had enough. I decided, time for noise canceling headphones!! This review is for someone in the same position as me. That NEEDS, DESPERATELY, some way to shut down the noise around them. After much debate, I decided between two choices. The Jlab Epic Lab True Edition (200 USD) and the new Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra headphones. (250 USD) I went with these two because 1) I was very interested how jlabs new signature headphones would compare to the 20$ version they offer. I wondered how much better it could be for 200$, also I was interested in the Knowles corporation equalizer preset. Big audio company. 2) Bose is the leader of ANC headphones. I've never had a pair so I had to see what the fuss was about. I got both of these on Amazon knowing I can return the worst pair within 30 days. After using these, I want to apologize to my past self for not doing this sooner. I have broken them in over the past week at work, and it's the only time I have been there I haven't wanted to walk out within hours or gotten crazy depressed. I realized. I actually like my job. Let's start with jlab I'm going to get this out of the way. If you relate to my situation at all. These are not the headphones for you. IF you have a good life. A good job. One without people literally screaming in your ear 10 hours. Please get these. The audio quality on these are amazing. I was shocked. I honestly teared up when putting my favorite song on for first time. I heard parts of that song I have NEVER heard. You will experience this. The Knowles setting is life changing. These are a daily driver for sure. I am impressed. Comfortable and very water resistant. The active noise canceling is actually pretty good. I could barely hear my husband with music on. But my situation....multiple...people...yelling, in union, to Taylor swift. The jlabs can not handle it lol. It does get muffled...a bit. Which honestly, is loads better than just white knuckling it. But if you are looking for strictly ANC, don't get these at 200$. Are they worth 200$ on sound quality alone. Gods yes. Are they worth that...to ME. Ehh.. Bose. Honestly I was not expecting to like these as much. I heard a lot of things about loss of connectivity plus not being water resistant. In my warehouse. I do get water on my hands sometimes so I did not have high hopes. But let me tell you. The second I put these on at work, before the music played it did the ANC switch and I was the happiest I have been in months. It instantly took out the warehouse music, the machines, the fans, the background noises and 80% of the talking. I felt like I could breathe for once. The overstimulation gone like *snaps*. Then the music started playing. I was watching my coworkers mouths and I broke out in a huge grin that lasted minutes. I could see them talk, but hear them talk I could not. This is the first week in months where I didn't get depressed after about 30 minutes of that. So the ANC is legendary. The sound...is not. I keep looking at my jlabs like... ??? How do they sound so much better?! I think the bose default settings out of box is just too treble heavy. I used the app to set mine +9, +4, -2. That is the closest I can get it to sound like jlabs but they still don't. Why?! I don't know why. They still do sound good. Like a 8/10. That plus not hearing my coworkers discuss if lobsters have souls, makes this purchase on sale at $250 a steal for me. I'm going to be returning the Jlabs and looking for a future sale. I would like to have them in my collection for when I just need some good headbanging. Both headphones are great, but get the one you need for the life you live. Take care!

Bose Quality! I have a set of these and Galaxy Pro 2s and these sound way better and have excellent noise cancelling. I prefer this winged design over other in ear monitors as they do stay put better. They are great for the gym or heavy activity. They are comfortable for the life of the battery which is between 4-8hrs depending on usage and can be extended with the case. Charging is quick and portability is standard for in earbuds. They are a limited to a Bluetooth connection and the app leave a bit to be desired, but, overall my favorite buds so far.

I was forced to buy new earbuds becuase I accidentally left my old BOSE QC earbuds in my pants pocket and washed them. They would eventually power up but would not connect etc. so I opted for the new BOSE Ultra QC earbuds. But, the only thing ultra about these earbuds is that the sound quality is slightly better the the regular QC's and for me is the only Pro in my evaluation. I'll preface this with I use my earbuds on multiple devices. iPhone, iPad and laptop. Let's start with what I hate about the case. 1. Its smaller then the regular QC's which is good for slipping them in your pocket. What I miss in this case is the indicator lights that show you the battery level of the case. The ultra case does not have this and haveing it is very helpful to me. 2. With the regualer QC case you can also toggle between devices with the small button inside the case. Although the ultra case has this button on the back, its pretty much useless and barely has any functions. Its almost wasted effort in designn and manfacturing for BOSE. 2.a With the button on the regular case you can press it once to see what device it is connected to. very simple and very useful. The ultra case does not do this. You have to open the BOSE app on your device to see where its connected AND you have to use the app to change devices. This may be my biggest issue. Its musch easier to just toggle the button on the case while the buds are in your ears to change evices. I don't want to have to get my phone out, open the app, wait for the app to connect , touch the earbud icon to see my choices and select what device I want. I simply want to toggle the button on the case. 3. Trying to withdraw the earbuds from the case is not easy. The only way I can get them out of the case is by tugging on the rubber ear piece. I'm sure over time they will tear apart. This seems to not been thought through by the designers. Now lets go with the earbuds. 1. They are small and I guess that's ok not much of an issue here except for the earpice options. While I have to use the largest option from the choice of 3; even the largest option isn't really big enough. It fits ok but not great. My regular QC's biggest option is larger and fits really good. I'm not sure why they didn't retain the same sizing options for the ultra. 2. While using, you have to luanch the app to see the battery life. With the regular QC's you simply touch the left bud to hear the battery level. Again, very simple and useful. 2.a Lets talk about battery life. While initially I just used my new ultras for conference calls and listening to videos while connected to my laptop and it all seemed good. Then one day, with a full charge, I went for a walk that lasted just over an hour. With about 10 minutes left on the walk I started getting low battery responses. I'm like, no way. I can't have this. I normally have several conference calls that last over an hour and I can't have these dying in the middle of a call. I also travel a lot by air and often have flights over 2 hours. So reason #1 why I returned them. 3. The sound quality is very comprable for both and while the ultra may be slightly better but not worth the extra $$. I'm a sound nut and not opposed to spending extra doe for better quality but not here. Especially with the other issues I have for this version. All in all, I'm very dissapointed in BOSE's effort with the Ultra's. I have a lot of bose items and this is the first time I've been dissapointed in their products. So much so I sent the ultras back and purchased the regular QC noise cancelling earbuds like I had before. Now I'm happy again.

I rarely write reviews, due to lack of time and the fact that if a product performs the way it's supposed to, it doesn't deserve my time to review it. For the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, I will make an exception. Simply put, they are wonderful - the sound, the noise cancelling, the ease of fit and comfort. A solid product all around. I have never been a big Bose fan. I thought their products were good, but not great and overpriced. I was looking for a pair of earbuds to replace my old faithful Jabra 65T Elites that finally died. They were nearly 4 years old and didn't owe me anything. Based on reviews, I tried the Apple AirPod Pro 2nd gen, the Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Bose. I was interested in the AirPods mostly because of their compatibility with my Iphone and my son's recommendation. I returned them for three reasons. First, to get them to fit with a tight seal was an ordeal. Fifteen minutes of futzing around to finally pass the seal test (and that's with Comply foam tips -- the Apple silicone tips didn't work for me period.) And even after passing the seal test, I did not find the ANC particularly effective. Adjusting the volume by sliding my finger up and down the stem was wonky -- not working, pausing the music or shifting the bud, the seal I worked so hard to get, broke. Also, not having a real equalizer is a drawback. Apple has a customization wizard, but I like to have different settings for different genres of music. The customization wizard uses Apple's own sound track. On to the Sony's. I liked the Sony's. I have the WH-1000XM4 over the ear headphones for serious listening and they are great. But they are not suitable to wear for dog walking, bike rides or the gym. I need earbuds. The over the ears are also bulky to take on airplane flights taking up a lot real estate in my string pack or messenger bag. Anyway, I tried the 1000XM5's and liked them. The sound is very good as is the ANC. The three drawbacks are ease of fit, comfort and volume control. While easier to pass the seal fit test than the apples, it still took more futzing around than I care to do. Also, to pass the seal test, I had to use the large tips which hurt my ears after an hour. Finally, the four tap volume control is a pain. I either got know response or went back a track because I only tapped three times. So on to the Bose. Nirvana. Fit and Comfort. So easy to get a fit with their innovative tip and wing combo. The wings are really a small silicone gasket that fit inside your ear, but outside the ear canal. Select the right combo of tip and wing (sized independently) put them in your ear and you pass the fit test, first time, every time. I hardly feel them in my ears. Sound Quality. Superb. The Bose bathe me with aural warmth. I liked the Sony sound until I listened to the Bose. I would characterize the sound as warm but accurate. The Sony sound is like sunlight. The Bose sound is like an incandescent lamp. Despite the warmth, the sound is always clean and bright when it needs to be. I listen to a very wide range of music and the sound has been great for every genre. I think that classical music really tests the quality of an audio product due to the tonal range of instruments and voices and the variety of textures. Listening to Mozart's Requiem was sublime. It was like falling in love all over again. The immersion sound option raises the sound quality to a whole new level, bringing a depth and presence to the music. Just wow. And unlike the spatial music technology of Sony and Apple, immersion works for all sources. What I said about Mozart applies to any rock, jazz, and Latin that I have thrown out them. I've heard sounds, I've never heard before. The Bose app has a basic equalizer but I leave everything flat. ANC: Can't be beat. I can listen to quiet music while my wife is watching TV and it doesn't bother me. Sharp sounds such as a firecracker breakthrough but it's not a sensory deprivation chamber after all. I remember the early days of ANC -- it deadened the sound. Not these buds. The sound is alive and well. Can't wait to take them on my first flight in two weeks. And the aware mode is terrific. Just switch to aware and have a conversation without taking the buds out or when using them while on a bike ride. Controls: Work really well and sliding you finger to increase/decrease volume is easy, unlike my experience with the AirPod Pros. I learned that the double and triple taps to move forwards and backwards between tracks does not have to be super rapid. Overall, the touch controls work as well as the physical controls of my old Jabra's. Phone calls: Very secondary for me but so far they have worked just fine. I hear voices clearly and it seems that I am easily understood. Battery Life -- The only weakness- 4 hours with immersion on but I'm told with moderate volume, you can eke out 5 hours, enough for a cross country flight. And I will keep my over the ear Sony's up top in my carry on if I need them. I am not too concerned. Not concerned enough to take take a star off. Everybody's tastes are different. Some folks will be wed to Apple and it's ecosystem and the buds are $50 less. Sony has better battery life. But for me, Bose wins hands down for the combination of fit, comfort, sound quality, ANC and controls.

To put it up front, the only reason I'm not putting this at 5 stars is the lack of wireless charging and the size of this case. I have had the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro for the last 2 years, and I genuinely felt disdain towards them from very early on. I could never find a good ear fit, I bought several replacement ear buds, I did anything and everything I could. I got into running last summer and they'd stop detecting my ears, feel like they were falling out, and I constantly felt like they were not good fits for my ears. On a whim I decided to try these Bose QC Ultra buds, and it's night and day. The shape of these ear buds are definitely what my ears needed and they fit incredibly well. The little wings help them with reinforcement in my ears, and they just feel so much more natural. I also always struggled with the Buds 2 Pro's smaller size, where constantly having to adjust them within my ear would set off touch controls. Having a clear, distinct section of the ear buds that are meant to be touched is a welcome change to me in these Bose buds, and in general they're much easier to handle within my ears. Sound quality initially felt about on par with the Buds 2 Pro, but having listened to same sections of songs back to back, the Bose QC Ultra definitely are a step above. If the Buds 2 Pro were an 8/10 sound, I would put these at 9/10. Not a huge leap, but still a noticeable improvement in quality. The bass is strong (if you want), EQ is fully customizable with the low/mid/high ranges, and the volume is plenty loud for me. The battery life also has not been a huge issue for me yet. I've only had them a few days, but I've still used them for extended periods and still had plenty of battery life left. This may change as time goes on, but we'll see for that. Regarding the negatives, the lack of wireless charging is strange in this day and age. I also don't like how much larger this case is for charging, it's about 50% larger than the Buds 2 Pro case, which also supports full wireless charging. With such an increase in size and less features, it's strange to me. It's harder to carry these into the gym, where my Buds 2 Pro case fit neatly within my glasses case. It's not a huge change, but enough that my consolidated routine of keeping everything I needed in one section is a little more difficult now. Touch controls are also a little strange to get used to. You can stroke a finger from top to bottom of the touch section to lower volume, but it's such a small area that I typically end up just pausing the song I'm listening to. Play/Pause, next song, and previous song work great so far (Single Tap, Double Tap, Triple Tap respectively). I also wish there was a way to turn off the voice prompts for everything. For example, holding down my right bud turns on "Quiet" mode, which takes about 1-2 seconds of holding to activate. When it does activate, it lowers the volume on what you're listening for about a second while the voice says "Quiet", then brings the volume back up. I personally would prefer a simple audio queue to let me know it's activated and not interrupt my music. I also wish they could connect to multiple devices at once (like my Bose N700 do), but I knew that prior to purchasing and can't ding it for that. Overall the headphones are great with a few smaller issues I wish could be resolved. They're simple to sync up to any device, have great audio quality, fit my ears well at least, and feel like quality headphones. No issues with desync as others have mentioned (using S22 Ultra, also tried on Sony X85K TV with no issues).

I work in construction. Came from using Shokz OpenComm (the one with the microphone). I bought this so that I can make calls, to some extent of some noise isolation, listen to music / podcast and making calls traveling between job sites. Noise Cancelation: Its sounds great when you are in a quiet room. At the job site, its practically useless. It doesn't cancel out any heavy equipment noise. There is a bit of the noise isolation effect from how the seals are covering the ear and the ear canal. Generator noise: it can cancel out a fair share Jack hammer noise : meh. negligible cancelation. Circular saw noise : the earbuds cancels out some of the saw noise but create their own sharp shrieking noise counter to the saw noise Concrete saw noise : it can cancel out a fair share of the noise while the machine is cutting but it makes its own shrieking sounds. Driving a van : it does cancel out a lot of the ambient noise that you get while driving a van on the freeway. Swim meet at a Natatorium : It was really nice to be able to cancel out 85% of the crowd noise but of course, it was a struggle to communicate with people around you. Call quality: I have yet to find an environment where people would say that they could hear me well. The first pair was returned within a week. Volume while listening to music I would use about 30% of max volume but could go all the way up (to where it was painful). On calls, it would be stuck at 20% of max volume. I had to turn in my pair and wait 45 days for the new pair to arrive. Mic quality : comments from people I am on a call with : "sounds like you are in a tunnel far far away", "there is so much echo", " you sound muffled". Many a times I would just have to remove the earbuds, put them back in the case and use the phone regularly so that the other party could hear me without distortion. Bluetooth Connectivity : I have it paired with my Samsung S24 Ultra. It has stayed connected for the most part. For the few times in which it didnt connect well, I have just put it back in the case and took it back out. Ease of use : the most challenging part is trying to get it out of the case without dropping them. It has a pretty decent magnet to keep it in the case and somewhat limited grip area to get it out. It took a few tries at the start to learn how to put them on but after that, its was easy. Bose has its own app to control and personalize certain aspects of the user preferences but that is a few menus in to the app in order to change anything. They need a widget in which an user can have some quick buttons or controls to shift from modes or to fine tune certain uses. As a general comparison between the Shokz Opencomm with ear plug (hearing protection) combination vs Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Earbuds for my general work, over all calls, general functionality in use for noisy work environments : I would go with the Shokz Opencomm all day. For the few moments, in which the noise cancelation works and you dont need to communicate with anyone : just sit there and listen to your music/ watch your show : the Bose Quietcomfort Ultra has a better sounds quality and its an enjoyable product. For the price, I was expecting a whole lot more out of the Bose in quality of noise cancelation, quality of the mic for phone calls, ease of use. In general, just disappointing for a Bose. For a product at $300 range, it underperformed for what I needed.

I'm sharing the difference between the Bose sports buds and these QC Ultra. Which do I prefer? I'm still on the fence. It's the same as android vs iohone. They both have cons and pros. So what's my experience of wearing Bose earbuds? I wear the buds nearly everyday. In fact, I wear them 6-10 hours all day, at least 5 days a week. I am a highly active person. A fitness instructor, farmer's wife, country farm girl who cans and freezes all her garden produce and cares for the 6 acre yard, I have my buds in nearly everyday, all day long. Pros to QC Ultra: The sound is INCREDIBLE! The 3 different modes are crazy good! Perfect for whatever atmosphere you desire! Can't hear the LOUD white noise of the inside of aircraft, can't hear the mower when mowing the yard, can't hear water running when washing dishes. Turn in immersion and you hear everything perfectly 👌 Compared to Bose Sports buds, the buds I bought new twice, new in 2017 (lost this pair) and 2019 (didn't hold a charge more than 10 mins in mid 2023), were not as loud, clear or had the 3 different listening modes. They may have improved in all these areas. Cons to QC Ultra: The buds won't stay in my ears if I move around much. Examples would be 1. outside getting up, kneeling down, wiping sweat off of forehead while gardening, 2. the natural vibrations while mowing, 3. while singing along with the music talking and 4. Talking on the phone to someone since the jaw is moving the buds slightly, causing them to loosen and eventually fall out. Second: if you have long hair, wear hoodies or have your hands/arms moving by your head, you will activate the buds to perform a command. Mine will switch songs, change listening modes or end a social media app. Even my wet hair will trigger the mode changes. Blow drying my hair will change the modes. But when I tap it purposefully to pauce the music or change the listening mode, it doesn't consistently respond to the touch of my finger. This gets alittle frustrating when it appears the buds are so sensitive to touch but my own finger touching it with purpose doesn't consistently produce the same results. 3. These buds don't have a push button. They are only activated if they malfunction (stop responding in a way that you desire) by reinserting them into their case. This is aggrivating when I'm mowing or in the garden. Either I have to go get the case to reset them or carry the case with me wherever I go around my house and outside property. Ugh!! I wish they had a reset button like the Bose Sports. I could turn them on/off and reset, and even engage them to switch the BT device I wanted them to switch to. *So my review is meant to only serve as a tool to help you choose which you think would work best for you! If you need excellent music quality and clear crisp sounding videos, these are for you! The sound quality blows Galaxy buds & apple buds and away in my opinion. The only sound quality I've ever heard was Beats padded headphones. I'm not talking loud and blary or hearing the 5 string quartet crisp. I'm talking about hearing every instrument with perfect ease, easy to allowing your own mind switch and focus in on the the sax, to the drums, to the lead vocals, to the bass guitar kind of listening. A perfect blend of separate sounds. It's crazy! You can enjoy loud music from the sounds of the amazing Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert to a hard, bass-thumpin' NF or Aerosmith song. Anyone can listen to a band on a lesser quality set of buds with less instruments and hear the different sounds well. These Bose QC Ultra buds allow you to experience the beautiful chaos inside a "loud" concert and thoroughly enjoy each individual piece that creates the experiencial masterpiece! If you just need good music quality and know that the little quirks of the buds falling out and the sensitively of the buds will push you over the edge everyday, then I would recommend the sports buds. I honestly am not sure which I would choose if I bought another pair. I hope the sports buds have this same music quality. If so, I'd get them. If the sports buds don't have the music quality, well, I honestly don't know. I guess I'll tell you which I decide upon then, in another 3 years if these quit holding a charge (or God-forbid that I lose them).

These have a strong noise-canceling effect but the quality of sound is inferior to the QC II. I have 2 pairs of these (so it’s not like I got a bad one, both the Ultras perform the same). When I have to use my Ultras, the sounds is not as sharp, more blurry, and I have to turn up the volume compared to QC IIs in order to discern audiobooks and phone calls. I have multiple pairs of QC IIs. I have a medical condition that is greatly improved by the noise-canceling effect of headphones & wear at least one nearly all day on my more severely affected ear. The QC II are far superior. I have been using these since August. Because they are so inferior, I bought another set of QCII in October. I have been an early adopter of the very first attempts at noise-canceling headphones in the 90s. Now I use noise-canceling headphones upon recommendation of my doctor as it turns out I have an inner ear condition called superior semi-circular canal dehiscence, or third window syndrome, so these somehow improve my balance. I give them 3 stars as for me they are far superior to Apple AirPods. My AirPods fall out of my ears if I bend over, no matter what size silicone thingies I put on them. Apple products stick out so far they catch on things and fall out all the time. And they don’t noise-cancel as well. Like the QC II, they are comfortable, I can wear them all day, they recharge quickly from the case and it doesn’t seem like I have to charge the case too often, I can wear them on the treadmill, walking the dog, shake my head vigorously and they stay in. My ear canals don’t hurt even if I wear them all day. Would be nice if there were a way the case could “find” the earphone of it falls out. I have dropped my case with earbuds in it, then the earbuds fall out and kind of explode into a room, flying on different directions, or taken out one earbud to have a conversation with someone and dropped it, and haven’t been able to find the earbud. Of the earbud could make some kind of noise to help you locate it, that would have saved me literally hundreds of dollars, but that’s also a problem due to my balance issue which makes me clumsier than the average person. On the other hand, all the times I’ve dropped them with a big crash, neither the functionality of the case nor the earbuds was affected. Compared to Apple, sometimes I lose connectivity to the headphones for no clear reason I can tell and it can be awkward to re-establish connection and somewhat frustrating, have to turn phone on and off etc slightly annoying. I connected them to my work computer then they wouldn’t work with my phone until I reset. It wasn’t easy to reset when I was on the go, I had to do it on a weekend.