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Tech · Bose · 2023

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

The most convincing low-frequency isolation here, wrapped in the most comfortable clamp.

Cancellation bunches up; comfort and hinges separate — #2

Overall

8.1

out of 10

Axis scores

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

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — 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 Headphones: Performance 9.0, Value 6.9, Durability 7.8, Ease of use 8.4, Design 8.4.PerformanceBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — Performance 9.0 out of 109.0ValueBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — Value 6.9 out of 106.9DurabilityBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — Durability 7.8 out of 107.8Ease of useBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — Ease of use 8.4 out of 108.4DesignBose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — Design 8.4 out of 108.4Editorial 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

Type
Over-ear, closed
Codecs
SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive
Battery
About 24 hrs with ANC on
Folding
Folds flat and inward

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

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • Aircraft cabins and train carriages are your normal listening environment
  • You wear headphones for six hours at a stretch
  • Glasses make most clamping headbands unbearable

Skip it if

  • You want deep EQ control rather than presets
  • aptX is irrelevant to you and the premium is hard to justify

In a pressurised aircraft or a train carriage, the subjective result is more complete than the specifications suggest, and owner reports on this are close to unanimous. Bose has always tuned for the sensation of pressure disappearing, not for the widest measured attenuation, and that difference is exactly what makes cabin noise vanish.

Comfort carries the other half of the argument, and it is why people who fly frequently keep returning. The clamp is firmer than Sony’s, which improves the seal and therefore the passive isolation. The pad material and headband distribution are tuned so that firmness does not become pressure over six hours. It folds properly too, inward at the hinges, into a case meaningfully smaller than the competition’s.

You give up control. The app offers modes, not curves, and the EQ is limited compared with what Sony and Sennheiser provide. The immersive audio processing Bose promotes heavily is a preference. Some owners leave it on permanently; many switch it off within a week and never return to it.

Codec support is aptX Adaptive without LDAC, so the advantage lands on Snapdragon Sound Android phones specifically and nowhere else.

Then there is price. This is the most expensive pair here after the Apple option, and unlike that one it does not include unusual materials or ecosystem integration. You are paying specifically for cancellation and comfort, and nothing else in the box narrows the gap. Need those two things badly enough and the premium is defensible; shop on capability for the outlay and this is not the pair to buy.

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