Headphones and earbuds · Bose
Owners keep the QuietComfort Ultra for noise cancelling that held up against the rivals they tested, with a fit several of them can wear for hours, though comfort divides the room.
The noise cancellation is what wins people over: one owner picked these after trying JBL, Technics and Huawei rivals and called the ANC the best of the group, and another put it on a par with Sony's flagship. The mixed accounts do not fault the cancelling itself; they fault the transparency mode, which one cyclist found unusable in wind and unnatural for long conversations.
Owners are divided on comfort. Some say these are the most comfortable headphones they have owned and wear them for hours; others are unconvinced enough to be shopping the Sennheiser HDB 630 as a replacement and ready to return the Bose if it wears better.
Pick up to three. You get a page with just those, side by side, on the subjects owners raised.
Once the novelty passes, the noise cancelling is the part that stays in daily use. Owners who compared it against Sony, JBL, Technics and Huawei sets stuck with the Bose, and one credited a good microphone and a fit that suited their ears as part of the reason. Several arrived here after finding the Sony XM5 too tight or hard on the ears, and for them the Bose is the answer to that problem.
The adjustment is around the ambient mode. One owner who used it often stopped, because voices sounded less natural than on open-ear designs and wind while cycling washed it out. Sound quality gets described as decent rather than a selling point, and one owner is openly waiting to see if a newer Sennheiser beats it on sound and comfort before deciding whether to keep the Bose.
Nothing in these accounts describes a QuietComfort Ultra failing. The one account of a channel dropping out and making a loud whooshing noise after a few months concerns a Sony pair the owner later replaced, not the Bose. Owners here talk about fit, cancelling and sound, and about buying on sale rather than at full price, but not about anything breaking or wearing out.
That is because the long-term record is thin. Most of the accounts we have are from owners in their first weeks, still comparing the Bose against alternatives or deciding whether to keep it. We cannot yet say how the pads, battery or earbuds hold up over a year or more, and this page will be updated when owners report back.
Nothing with a clear majority yet. Owners who raised these subjects were split, or too few to judge.
Nothing has a clear majority against it yet. Counted from the owners who raised each subject, not from everyone. A subject is judged once at least 4 owners raise it.
The same owner, asked again at each point. Fills in as owners answer.
More in headphones and earbuds: Sennheiser M4, Apple AirPods 4, Apple AirPods Pro.
Public discussions we read and summarised in our own words. Nothing here was submitted to Still Kicks.
Counted from public accounts by people who said they own it, and summarised by Still Kicks in its own words. Not a manufacturer claim, a lab test or an estimate.
Nothing here asks for anything about you unless you write to us.