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Tech · Bose · 2023

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

The strongest sense of low-frequency noise disappearing here, and the steepest asking price.

Every one of these is excellent for about an hour — #3

Overall

7.7

out of 10

Axis scores

Tech is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds: Performance 8.6, Value 6.8, Durability 7.4, Ease of use 8.0, Design 7.6.PerformanceBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Performance 8.6 out of 108.6ValueBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Value 6.8 out of 106.8DurabilityBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Durability 7.4 out of 107.4Ease of useBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Ease of use 8.0 out of 108.0DesignBose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Design 7.6 out of 107.6Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Codecs
SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive
Battery
About 6 hrs with ANC on
Water resistance
IPX4
Fit
Tips plus stability bands

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • Subway cars and aircraft cabins are where these will live
  • Tips have never sealed well for you and noise leaks in

Skip it if

  • You are weighing spec against budget, since this scores last on value here
  • Pressure in the ear canal bothers you

A train carriage, a bus, an office near an air handling unit — wherever low-frequency rumble sits underneath everything else, the difference is widest, and people who rank isolation first keep coming back to Bose. The stability band and tip system does real work there. The electronics build on the seal it produces, and a poor seal ruins cancellation on any in-ear design.

Multiple tip and band sizes ship in the box, and that fit kit is the underrated part of the package. People who have struggled with earbuds leaking sound have a genuine chance of solving it here, which is not true of pairs that ship three tip sizes and a shrug.

Immersive Audio is the marquee software feature and the most divisive thing about these. It processes audio to sit outside your head instead of between your ears, it costs battery when enabled, and owners split roughly evenly between leaving it on and forgetting it exists.

Price is the problem. This is the most expensive pair in this comparison, and the premium buys cancellation and fit almost exclusively, not a spread of features.

Codec support is aptX Adaptive without LDAC, so on an Android phone outside the Snapdragon Sound programme you are back on AAC. Battery is around six hours with cancellation on, mid-pack for the group.

If isolation is the requirement, they earn it. One requirement among several, and the money goes further elsewhere.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.