Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review: The best ANC headphones money can buy

Years ago, I tested the Bose QC35II and eventually Bose QC earbuds. While the active noise-cancelling (ANC) was excellent, I found the sound quality a bit flat for my taste. Since then, Bose has changed that sound signature, releasing one of my absolute favorite open-ear products, the Bose Open Ultra. I was also highly impressed with the Bose SoundLink Plus and how robust its audio playback is.

With those recent experiences, I was looking forward to seeing what Bose has done with the latest generation of the QuietComfort Ultra over-ear headphones! I’ll let you know right now, I was definitely not disappointed with the sound quality this time around. There are some things you should know before buying, though, so I’ll get into all of that below.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Price, availability, and specs

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) is widely available for $449 through Bose’s own website, Amazon.com, and in many brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy in the United States.

There are some new colors on offer this year, in addition to black and white; you get the limited edition colors of Midnight Violet, Driftwood Sand, and Desert Gold.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): What I like

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There is a lot to like about 2025’s Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). As full-size headphones go, you get a relatively compact hard case to carry your headphones in. They fold up small to fit in the case, and you’ll find the included USB-C and 2.5mm-to-3.5 mm cables in a small pocket on the case’s lid.

Some cosmetic changes were made this year: the matte finish of the first gen has been replaced with shiny metal earcup yokes. The 2nd generation QC Ultra Headphones are still incredibly comfortable during long periods of wear, due to their weight (~264 grams/9.3oz), a respectable amount of padding on the cans and the headband, and a clamping force that feels almost non-existent- and that’s a feat, considering that I have a huge melon.

Despite having such a light clamping force, the headphones don’t wobble or make noise when walking, jogging, or working out. I was surprised by how well they stay in place when lying down on a weight bench. I’d advise against using them at the gym as they have no water-resistance rating, though.

Similar to the previous generation, you get a touch-sensitive volume strip, which also allows you to assign one of four shortcuts to trigger when you touch and hold it. USB-C charging is still on board, but this year, you also get USB-C audio support for 16-bit, 44.1 kHz, or 48kHz audio, and you can charge while listening, in all modes this time around.

Also new is the ability to remove the headphones and lay them flat on a solid surface to disconnect from your source device, which took around four seconds during my testing. Lying flat for 20 minutes, the headphones will enter a deep sleep, power-saving mode. When I picked them up again, the QC Ultra 2nd Gen would wake and reconnect to the previously connected device in under 10 seconds every time.

Building on that, the headphones’ wearing detection functionality has been top-notch. Highly responsive!

New this year, you can completely deactivate ANC through the app. The ANC menu features an on/off toggle and a slider that allows you to adjust the noise cancellation level to your preference. Specifically, where the QC Ultra 2nd Gen excels over the competition, such as Bowers & Wilkins’ excellent Px7 S3, is its ability to reduce high-frequency noise significantly.

Many competitors do a good job of hushing the noise of car engines in a metropolitan landscape, but the whoosh! of cars passing by, the squeal of a subway car’s brakes, or airplane cabin noise is often where things fall apart. Not the case with the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen).

In addition to my testing while out and about on the streets, I used 80dB of airplane cabin sound on YouTube to test high-frequency ANC, and the QC Ultra 2nd Gen continues to shine in this area.

One aspect of the ANC function that I enjoy is when you transition from the natural-sounding Aware mode to Quiet mode via the multifunction button on the right earcup; it takes a few seconds to fully activate. As the noise cancellation ramps up, ambient sounds gently fade into the background. While some may not like that, it’s a very pleasing auditory experience for me.

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What about the sound quality, though? Overall, the QC Ultra 2nd Gen’s default sound profile is a V curve with warm lows for modern music listeners, and solid clarity in the upper mid and high frequency ranges. The soundstage is fairly airy, with good stereo imaging, sound separation, and instrumentation. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of detail retrieval from these headphones as well.

The app includes a basic set of EQ presets and three-band EQ customization to get the sound closer to what works for you if the stock sound doesn’t completely do it. The headphones take well to those three-band adjustments. Just be careful with the bass slider — at higher volumes, you may experience some distortion.

Listening to Snoop Dogg’s “Tha Shiznit,” you can clearly hear a detail that often gets lost with other headphones: the sleigh bells in the background. In Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” you can hear the backing vocals that play during the intro as well.

Listening to Michael Abel’s “Violin Duel” from the “Chevalier” OST, the attack and decay of the aggressively bowed violins, where the martelé technique is being liberally applied, are rendered much better than I had anticipated.

Listening to music and movies with the Immersive and Cinema modes was a mixed bag. One of the muddiest Hip Hop tracks known to man, Method Man’s “Biscuits,” sounds better with Immersive mode on, as it makes the vocals pop despite being buried by the bass.

However, on other tracks with more balanced mastering, I’ve found that while Immersive mode widens the soundstage a bit, it ultimately renders the treble a bit too bright for my liking. Not sibilant, though, so it isn’t all bad.

I also found myself deactivating both Immersive and Cinema mode when watching action movies like “Thor: Ragnarok” or “Blue Eye Samurai,” as it buries bass response in favor of pushing forward the frequencies that contain dialog. I can see how, with films that mix more chaotic sound design with dialogue, Cinema mode could be pretty helpful, but in movies and content with percussive sounds like Thor’s hammer clobbering minions in Surtur’s den, that thump gets diminished in an unsatisfying way.

Final notes on sound quality:

• As good as the QC Ultra 2nd Gen sounds via AAC, the detail retrieval and overall sound quality reach a new level thanks to a great DAC chip when plugged in via USB-C. Sound quality is also great via the included analog cable.
• Read my article here about using Bluetooth dongles with phones that don’t support aptX Adaptive, like my Google Pixel 9. With Sennheiser’s BTD700 plugged into the phone and connected to the headphones, HiRes Wireless Audio is a delight. The downside is that you lose connection to the Bose app by going this route.
• The headphones have been clutch on Google Meet and other video conference calls, using my Microsoft Surface Pro 11, but listening to music is a different experience. Like the Pixel 9, hi-res codecs aren’t supported, so this is yet another use case for the BTD700. Streaming .flac files from my laptop over Bluetooth via the MusicBee Windows app is a much better experience with it.

Having had the headphones for only a couple of weeks, I’ll need more time to test, but so far the battery life has been very good. The previous-generation QC Ultra headphones were rated for 24 hours or 18 hours with Immersive mode activated, while this second-generation model is rated for 30 hours or 24 hours with Immersive mode activated.

It’s going to take you three hours to fully charge them when drained, but a 15-minute charge will get you three hours of playback in a pinch. The good news is that with the addition of USB-C music, you can also charge while plugged in, so the number of times the headphones are dead and unusable for at least 15 minutes should be minimal.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): What could use improvement

For the most part, my complaints are very minor. Starting with putting them away, you’ll need to position the cables and any dongles in a corner of the lid pocket for the case to close properly. This means that using the entire pocket is a non-starter.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) doesn’t support passive playback, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you get ANC and Aware mode functionality when wired. On the other hand, if the battery is dead, you can’t just plug in the aux cable and go, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Additionally, the built-in microphones don’t work when wired, so you’ll have to raise your phone to your mouth to chat. That brings me to my final area of improvement.

The call quality has definitely improved over the previous iteration, but with so many microphones on the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) and at this price point, I expect it to be even stronger. It isn’t bad at all, but my voice could be clearer and a bit brighter. As it stands, in my testing, the sound quality is a bit bassy.

The bright spot, though, is the ability to use the app to control how much of your own voice you’ll hear while on a call.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Competition

At $450, Bose has a lot of competition on sound quality, but the only other headphones that currently reach, and potentially exceed, its level of high-frequency noise cancellation are Sony’s WH-1000XM6.

In terms of sound, there’s no clear winner between Sony and Bose, as the differences are very subjective. Sony wins over Bose in terms of sound customization as its app’s EQ options are much more extensive than Bose’s three-band sliders. That said, Sony still doesn’t offer USB-C audio, so you’ll get more flexibility out of Bose when it comes to sound sources.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 feel more luxurious and sound better than Bose, but can’t match the level of ANC, so if you’re a frequent flier, the QC Ultra 2nd generation headphones will likely be the move.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Should you buy them?

You should buy them if…

• Noise cancelling is your #1 priority
• You want future-proofing that Sony lacks, with USB-C audio
• Your phone supports Snapdragon Sound, not LDAC

You shouldn’t buy them if…

• You want a product whose app has deep customization options
• You want headphones with a more “premium” fit and finish at this price point

For their entertaining sound, top-tier noise cancelling, and USB-C audio, the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) is a tough act to follow. And we can’t ignore the elephant in the room! Sony’s WH-1000XM6. Which is better is really a matter of preference.

I thoroughly enjoy hearing all an audio file has to offer, so the inclusion of USB-C audio does it for me, giving the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) the edge. For that and the ability to charge while connected, my money goes to Bose.