Hey y’all!
Currently in a bit of a dilemma on what headphones I should be getting.
My employer gets me access to Bose’s employee purchase program of sorts and I get a discount on certain products.
Currently, I can get The QC45 from BestBuy for $229 or the QC from my employer website for $269 or the ultras for $329.
Given these reduced prices, which one would be the best option especially given my levels of usage? I’d mainly wear them when I walk to work, travel or at the gym and that’s about it.
Videos
Are the ear cups on Bose QuietComfort Ultra and QuietComfort headphones replaceable?
The ear pads are replaceable, but the ear cups aren’t. You can find replacement pads on online retailers’ sites or the Bose site in your country.
What do the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores mean?
- Timbre (MOS-T) represents how faithfully the headphones reproduce the frequency spectrum and temporal resolution (timing information).
- Distortion (MOS-D) represents non-linearities and added noise: higher scores mean cleaner reproduction.
- Immersiveness (MOS-I) represents perceived source width and positioning: how well virtual sound sources are defined in three-dimensional space.
How has this article been updated?
- This article was updated on November 13, 2025, to add a note about the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.)
- This article was updated on April 29, 2025, to correct outdated information.
- This article was updated on November 29, 2024, to update measurements for the comparison.
I can get the Ultras for £270 from the Bose refurbished site which is a lot cheaper than on amazon or I can get the base QuietComfort's for £180. People who have bought from the refurbished website are the products still good quality? I've also heard from videos that there's not much difference in the sound quality and the ANC between them but correct me if I'm wrong? I also currently have a pair of Sony WH-CH720N which have lasted me like 3 years but would like a decent upgrade.
I received my QuietComfort Ultra earbuds today from Amazon. I have been using the II version for most of this year.
Here's what I noticed so far. I don't think I'll discover anything new because I am set for now.
- I use an Android phone as my mp3 player. I noticed that the phone shows the battery charge percent for each earbud. In the II it used to show just one number. This can be useful. My earbuds now show 100% and 90%. Not sure why one would be less than the other.
- New Immersion listening mode. Other than Quiet and Aware modes. This is Bose's spatial audio mode. A nice extra feature.
- ANC is very important for me. I turned on the garbage disposal and kept switching between the Ultra and II to compare the noise cancelling. Hmm.. why is II"s canceling better!? I remembered that I switched the II's eartips to the larger size. I did the same for the Ultra and the noise canceling improved. I couldn't notice if there was a difference between the two earbugs ANC performance.
- Even though switching to the larger eartpis gave better performance, I think my earhole started to feel pain after extended use of the earbuds. I don't think it felt the same with the medium size. I will start experimenting with the the sizes. It seems I might have to make a choice between. Better ANC but pain with the larger size and extended use vs less ANC but more comfortable with the medium size.
My advice is to try the different sizes even if the default medium feels fine.
I have several reasons for owning both versions. Oneof the reasons is that the battery life is not enough for long flights. My idea is take both on long flights (international flights across oceans) and when one set of earbuds run out of battery life, put them in the case to charge and switch to the others and repeat.
I am not impressed with the earbuds battery life. I aso read that the immersion mode drains the battery faster.
- I also have the issue with the II is that sometimes one of the earbugs is not working when I take out of the case. What I do is put them the case for a few seconds and repeat till they work. Sometimes I wait and I then hear a pop sound in the good earbud and the silent earbud starts working. Kinda like an auto reset that happened.
I probably can do a hardware reset but I don't want to lose the pairing information and start over. The earbuds are paired with 3 devices.
I hope this info was helpful.
Hi! I’m a female college student looking to invest in a pair of Bose headphones. I’ve never owned any headphones before, only the Apple AirPods, so I’m not very experienced or knowledgeable about headphones. The AirPods I have aren’t noise canceling and they tend to make my ears hurt after about 45 mins of wear which is pretty annoying.
I’ve been looking into buying the Bose headphones based on recommendations from friends and reviews I’ve read online, but wasn’t sure if I should spend the extra money for the Ultras.
I’m mainly focused on noise canceling and comfort, since I tend to spend hours in the library, cafes, and other study spots on campus. Sound quality isn’t that big of a deal for me, but I’ve heard Bose is good in that aspect too.
What do you all recommend? I was thinking of just going with the basic QuietComfort headphones because there doesn’t seem to be enough justification to splurge on the more expensive Ultras but would love your thoughts!