So these headphones are really popular right now. I wanna see are they worth the hype or are they overrated, I'll use them for gaming honestly but I want them to be loud and bassy, for story games since my monitor doesn't rlly have audio

But the quietcomfort ultra is way out of my budget so im going for the quietcomfort regular i guess, are they really worth all the hype???

quick note: Do they have analog 3.5mm jack? or even a usb-A jack, and can they connect to my ps5?

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.

Told myself I wouldn't get the Gen 2, but could not resist at least checking them out. Still quite unsure whether or not to keep and replace my Gen 1. My very quick initial impressions:

• Gen 2 feel slightly softer and with even lower clamping force already straight out of the box (even though I had no complaints on Gen 1). They really are super comfortable (still).

• Gen 2 has noticeably less hiss/white noise during ANC mode. There is some hiss during the first few seconds, but then for me it goes down to an (almost?) imperceptible level.

• ANC I just tested around the house so far and struggled to find any clear differences. They might be there, sure, but at least not immediately apparent.

• With Gen 2 you can now turn ANC on/off and set ANC strength from 1-10

• Sound quality I could not discern any noticeable differences (disregarding the cinematic mode)

• Microphones/call quality I did not test yet

• Gen 2 sand color is gorgeous, but I am quite partial to the darker sandstone tone of Gen 1

• They are really very similar headphones (well, obviously), this is nowhere near the XM5 -> XM6

So absent any call testing (where I am hoping they will have improved), imo the most noticeable upgrades are on ANC customization and the hiss reduction, otherwise not a WOW!-impact upgrade.

EDIT:

• Also, I have not been able to reproduce the thumping/popping sound with stronger movements on Gen 2, but I really wouldn't want to give any guarantees it is fixed. Just did some very brief tests indoors.

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!

are there any differences in anc? im in no way an audiophile. i just need good sound and top notch anc
(thats my priority really) to wear them comfortably and study undisturbed. they are available for 180 pounds in my area and itll take a long time for the newer quitecomfort to release here. shall i wait or purchase?

[Tl;dr: These are a perfectly good pair of ANC headphones that will serve most people very well. They’re not super resolving and their slightly bassy consumer tuning and their layering and instrument separation leave a lot to be desired from an audiophile standpoint, but they sound perfectly nice and the ANC functionality is great; exactly what I’ve come to expect from Bose. They’re also a distinct step up from some of their competitors with regards to their controls and app-accessible tools. They’re my new recommendation for anyone trolling in that market; if I didn’t already own similar products that I like better, I would probably keep a pair of these for travel. Unfortunately, they have to compete with the Airpods Max and Bose 700s in my collection, and those are headphones that I REALLY, REALLY like for this use case.

Whole-hearted recommendation for most people, they’re just not for me.

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 6 out of 10

Cost-sensitive: 7 out of 10

Hey y'all! I need some headphones for the upcoming semester. After doing some searching, I came across the Bose Quiet Comforts and think it might be a fit. I know there are already some posts on it, but I kind of wanted to see if any recent buyers could share their opinions so that I can compare reviews across the board. Feel free to add any other information or recommend other headphone models!

• How does it fit your head/ear size?

• Which is your favorite color? (I'm stuck between Chilled Lilac and Sandstone :P)

• How is the sound and noise cancellation? (I've seen some posts saying that the ANC wasn't great or added white noise, but can't remember if it was specifically for the Ultra)

• Did you buy on sale and if so, for how much?

• How's the battery life?

Putting this at the end just for some background: I purchased Beats Solo 3 when they went on sale. While the sound was good, they clamped on my ears horrendously and I often had to take frequent breaks between uses. I have small ears, but the ear muffs were too round I guess?

I need some new earbuds. Noise cancelling is very important as I wear these while operating tractors. And sound quality is extremely important to me. I build and tune musical instruments (steel pans) so I’m a pretty critical listener. My music is mostly Sirius XM Deep Tracks, Classic Vinyl, Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure, Dave Matthews, Bob Marley channels.

I’m thinking of getting Bose QuietComfort Ultra, but for $100 less I could get the plain vanilla QuietComfort. The only difference looks like the “immersion” sound. I listened to the demo on the Bose website, played through my Sony WF-C700N earbuds, and the immersion mode seems like someone was just playing with the balance (L-R) control. Did I miss something? Is the immersion mode just an expensive gimmick?

Are there any noticble benefits of getting the regular Bose QuietComfort headphones instead of getting the QuietComfort Ultra headphones, obviously besides the price? Are there any features or controls or performance that you actually like better on the cheaper option of the two? Or is the Ultra better in every single aspect, completely justifying the price difference?

Is it just me or is the noisecancelling on these headphones like lowkey non existent?? I'm switching between aware and quiet without any music and i can still hear background sounds?? Or is it just how its supposed to be? As a soon as I play music, I can't hear anything but when the music stops then the noise starts back up again. Am I delusional and its actually supposed to be like this or this is an error by Bose??

I bought the Bose QuietComfort recently and thought the noise cancelling was great and I overall enjoyed the sound of it way better compared to my old JBL 660NC. However, my friend who knows a lot about audio told me the quality kinda sucked and sounded flat for the price. I eventually refunded them, not because of the quality but because the bluetooth connection got weird and often started crackling which was annoying.

Now my question is, is there any wireless noise-cancelling headphones around the same price range (~$250-300 ish) that anybody thinks has overall better quality in their experience? Audio, bluetooth and/or noise-cancelling wise? Or should I give the QuietComforts another try?

i’m being really indecisive purely bc the price of the ultras is half my rent 😂 but i need the best ANC (i am autistic) because commuting and travelling is driving me insane. at the end of the day i don’t mind investing but only if QC ultra are extremely different from QC and worth double the price.

i tried sony xm4/5 but they were not good at all so i returned them. now i don’t know which ones should i choose between these two bose! thanks in advance

edit: would you buy from amazon or bose directly? (i’m uk)

edit2: thanks so much everyone. i have ordered them through amazon as they had £50 off! can’t wait to try them

I’ve had a bunch of noise-canceling headphones over the years: AirPods Pro and Pro 2, Parrot Zik 3, Sony XM3, and for the last five years, I’ve been using Bose QC35II daily. I absolutely love those for how comfy they are.

When the Bose QC Ultra Headphones came out, I watched a ton of reviews and figured it was time for an upgrade. So, I bought them, used them for a month, ran into a bunch of issues that nobody really talks about, and ended up selling them.

Here’s what bugged me:

1. Hiss from the noise cancellation. In a quiet room, when no music’s playing or it’s super low, there’s this annoying background noise. I get that some hiss is normal, but with my old Bose QC35 or AirPods Max, it’s barely noticeable.

2. Clicks/crackling while wearing them. Even when I’m just walking calmly, every step causes these clicks in my ears. It feels like a sudden pressure change, and it’s rough on the ears.

3. Overkill noise cancellation. After 20-30 minutes of listening, my ears feel tired from the pressure, and I start getting headaches. This might just be me, but I’ve used plenty of ANC headphones before, and this is the first time I’ve had this issue.

4. Terrible for calls. During a call, if someone starts talking at the same time as you, your voice gets muffled on their end. People kept telling me I sounded like I was moving closer and farther from the mic, or they could barely hear me. Total nonsense. Probably some buggy software.

When I was watching reviews, nobody mentioned these problems. But after I bought them and started Googling these specific issues, turns out I’m not the only one dealing with this. So, what’s your honest experience? Are you seeing these same issues, or did I just get a dud pair?

I’ve been researching so hard on Reddit and RReviews that I’ve had a headache for days. But it was so worth it! I would consider myself an avid music listener and lover, and I do pretty much anything to get the best audio quality that I can when I’m listening to music. I bought a whole new radio for my car and put it in myself for that reason. So when it came to headphones, I wanted something that provided great sound quality with great bass, without muddling the sounds around it. I also wanted noise cancelling, wireless, and preferably foldable. So it was mainly between the Sony WH-1000XM3, 4, or 5 (Many people said the sound quality for the XM4’s was a bit better than the 5’s, so I was into that). After a couple days of feeling pretty confident that I wanted the Sony XM4’s or 3’s, I kept doing research and came to the conclusion that if I preferred a louder sound, that Sony wouldn’t be it for me. And I was like what?! After all my research, I felt stumped because overall, I really do want loud music (Which isnt everyone’s cup of tea). So everyone said to try Bose instead, there were a lot of Sennesier’s mentioned too. For “cheaper” pairs of headphones, I noticed JBL’s were the least hated on amongst audiophiles, not bad for someone who’s on a budget, but I also cared about comfort and sound quality, which JBL lacked on. Beats and Skullcandy were the most hated on, being overpriced and overrated with poor sound quality and over-pumped bass.

So, I went to my local Best Buy today and tried on all different types of headphones. I was absolutely blown away by how good the audio quality was for the Sony’s, especially the XM4’s. I would say hands-DOWN that they were the best with sound quality, (and the XM5’s with noise-cancelling) The sound quality for the XM4’s was crisp and airy, but impactful and immersive. But as some had said, they didn’t get as loud as I had hoped. And they were much louder than the XM5’s, which makes sense, I would say the XM5’s noise-cancelling is better than its sound quality). I think for 90% of people, either of these would be an amazing pair of headphones.

For someone who’s preferring a tiny bit of a louder experience, the Bose is the way to go!! I’ve never been so happy with a purchase I’ve made for myself. These headphones also have amazing sound quality with really good noise canceling, not as good as Sony’s, but still extremely good!! I actually preferred the QuietComfort over the Ultra QuietComfort because the Utlras have specialized audio and I personally don’t like that, but the Ultra’s do have more features that I liked.

Trying on the JBL 440’s and 660’s, I was actually surprised at how loud the 440’s got, being that they are on the ear not over the ear. And at less than $100, I was actually not mad at this pair of headphones. The sound quality felt a lot more “fake” than Sony or Bose though, and I didn’t enjoy that. if I was on a budget, I would’ve definitely gotten these! The 660’s don’t get nearly as loud as they are over-ear and so I don’t really like them for that reason.

The last pair I tried on were Beats (they didn’t have any others to try on) and I was actually very surprised at how much I did not like these? On RReviews, Beats by Dre are not rated low exactly. They have a decent amount of good reviews, but they aren’t loved by Audiophiles and they are mainly bought for the look and brand. But one thing they had going for them was good bass and great compatibility with IOS. There were four Beats headphones, more than all the other brands, and each one that I tried on was so disappointing that I didn’t even keep them on for more than a minute. The sound quality was just horrible compared to everything else I tried on, though maybe they have EQ settings to adjust that. The bass was okay. I really didn’t like these at all. While I like the look of beats, I would never buy them personally, not even for a friend!

I would say Sony is like a 9.5/10 and Bose is a 9/10. If you’re more of an average person with an average budget looking for amazing sound quality, then these are the way to go. Audiophiles can and will spend up to 2k on a good pair of headphones, so don’t think these are the best. This is just what’s great for a wireless, everyday, not super expensive pair of headphones! Hope this helps!

SO...After some very long researches, my choices come down to those two. However, is the Ultra worth the proce difference?

Currently, the Quietcomfort are on sale for €210, while the Ultras are €324. I know the Ultras have a slightly better noise cancellation and immersive audio, which I would very much appreciate.

Do you guys recommend getting the Quietcomfort, the Ultras, or waiting for the future release of Ultras 2 and hence the drop in price of the Ultras?

Any opinion is highly appreciated.

I have been wanting Bose headphones because I have heard the noise cancelling is good, but I don't know is I should get the ultra or normal quietcomfort headphones. Which one of those headphones have better noise cancellation?

Hi all, I'm a bit confused on the naming scheme and whether the Bose QuietComfort Headphones are the same as the QC45's with a different name? Or are these 2 completely different models of the same product?

If these are indeed a new iteration of the QuietComfort Headphone series, is the lineage like this?
... -> QC25 -> QC35 -> QC35 II -> QC45 -> QuietComfort Headphones

I know theres a newer more "premium" product called the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones that is NOT this one. Very confusing stuff for them to drop the numbers with their iterations...

EDIT: Thanks everybody! These are indeed a new QuietComfort model. So Its safe to say we can call these the QC2023 or QC (2023) Headphones.

... -> QC25 -> QC35 -> QC35 II -> QC45 -> QuietComfort Headphones (2023)

Have there been any comparisons between the two new models of QC headphones?

From Bose's FAQ:

Bose QuietComfort Headphones:

• deliver high-fidelity audio performance and world-class noise cancellation

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones:

• most premium design

• most advanced technologies

• the best Bose listening experience in a headphone

• our best headphone noise cancellation

• audio quality personalised with CustomTune

• voice pickup

• other premium features

That anyone would drop £100 extra on a vague promise of "premium features" is beyond me.

Has anyone collated all the differences we know about so we can compare them directly?

Bose QuietComfort vs Beats Studio Pro - review/questions

My feelings are mixed but I wonder if it’s user error. I love Bose sound in our car so my first choice was Bose QC but my friend LOVES her Beats and all the Apple bells convinced me to try Beats.

I bought Beats on prime day and got them the following day. This is an upgrade from 1st gen AirPods that began to die recently (lose sound randomly). I put them on, they flawlessly connect to my iPhone as they should, I press play in Spotify and I almost started to cry…. The sound was horrific. No bass, high pitch, quiet at max volume. I was like wtf so I panicked.

I panicked so much, I ordered Bose because I felt FOMO and huge disappointment but since they too weee in sale for Prime Day I decided why not? Unfortunately/fortunately shipping took longer so in the meantime I figured out a few tweaks for Beats (like unlocking max volume settings, finding Spotify equalizer and unlocking volume there that is not in user manual of course) that made them sound acceptable. I literally almost cried when comparing them to my AirPods at first but got more excited as the days went on.

3 days went by and QCs arrived. And my oh my, they just sound amazing straight out of the box. The bass is amazing, I think ANC is better as well and they feel more comfortable (thinking of long flights). Here is where I stumble and hope for your perspectives:

Beats - what I love:

• flawless connectivity with Apple devices

• AppleCare+ if they are broken or stolen

• feels like a quality build with firmer click for headphones

• snug fit for working out like jumping running or laying down. There just isn’t much movement of the headphones while I’m the one moving.

• no need for any additional apps it is integrated with Apple so well

Beats - what could be better:

• mic volume - I recorded a voice message with Beats and it’s SO QUIET, when I tried making a call to BestBuy it didn’t hear me saying option out loud and the rep told me he could t hear me at all. I recorded message with QCs and it is like volume 10 vs 100. Is this just me?

• for is a bit tight around my ears and feels heavier on my head so after 2 hours my head began to hurt a bit, but I wonder if it’s just adjustment period since this is my first pair of over head

Bose - what I love:

• the bass. It’s just amazing straight out of the box. I am not super against natural sound but by comparison it just sounds amazing - better than AirPods which makes me feel it actually is an upgrade. By comparison to Beats now that I’ve figured out the settings and added Bass on equalizer they sound somewhat on par depending on a song

• comfortable fit, very soft and I think bigger ear opening so they are really around the ear vs Bears are still pressing on my ear a little

• much better mic volume and clarity of the output sound

Bose - what could be better:

• design - it feels slightly flimsy so I’m afraid to break them when I collapse them after the use where Beats just fold nicely and feel more reliable

• connectivity - it supposed to be a multiple device but for whatever reason the app make me forget the device and completely re-connect them again. Is this just me?

• lack of AppleCare like support. I need to check warranty but the fact there isn’t lost or stolen protection worries me a bit especially since there isn’t FineMe feature on these. Same goes for in case they break and for whatever reason I feel anxious about breaking them because of the build mentioned earlier. Anyone used these for a year or so that can confirm they are indeed not easily breakable at the swivel points?

• they feel a bit loose when I shake my head. I haven’t tested them in the gym yet.

Overall my soul is telling me to keep Bose because of how good the bass is and how comfortable my ears feel, but boy do I appreciate FindMe, Apple integration and AppleCare. Anyone on a similar path that could share their take on it? Any suggestions about Bose connectivity? Any tricks with Beats that made you keep them? Mic issue on Beats - has anyone experienced this and fixed it?

TIA

Would really appreciate your insight on my dilema. I really want to get Bose buds for their music quality and noise cancelling.

I can buy rn qc2 for 244eu or Ultras for 350eu.

I want buds that will stay for a couple of years for studying, training and listening to music while on transport or loud places. Do you guys think I should wait couple of months for the Ultras till their price drops or just get myself qc2 now?

Thanks for your input