Videos
How do you control the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.)?
The controls for the product are a little confusing, but capable enough. However, it is a low point for me because it’s less intuitive than it should be at first.
How do you pair and connect the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.)?
If fast pair doesn’t work for you, the headphones are pretty to put into pairing mode and connect to your source manually; it just takes a few steps.
- Put the headphones on your head, fit comfortably.
- Turn the headphones on with the Bluetooth button, holding it down until after both the cello chord sounds, and the pairing prompt is read.
- Open your device’s Bluetooth menu. Ensure that it’s on.
- Hit “scan” and locate the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) in the list of available devices.
- Tap to connect.
The reason you have to do things this way is that the CustomTune tech that uses a tone to calibrate the headphones plays at startup, so you should already be wearing the headphones for the system to work properly. There currently is not a way to re-take the tone after you’ve been listening a while, unlike the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen).
What does the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) microphone sound like in the real world?
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) microphone demo (Office conditions):
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) microphone demo (Street conditions):
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) microphone demo (Windy conditions):
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) microphone demo (Reverberant space):
Bose typically does a good job handling outside noise, and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen.) is no different. Though some incidental noise does make its way through, it’s fairly well mitigated. However, sometimes the audio dips in emphasis to account for noise reduction. This is pretty common with aggressive noise reduction.
After six years, I’ve just upgraded from the XM3s after trying out the XM4,5,6 in store and borrowing a friend’s Ultra Gen 1.
The driftwood sand colour is beautiful, isn’t nearly as pink as I thought it would be based on the photos.
Comfort: I’d say these are the most comfortable I’ve ever worn, slightly beating out the Ultra Gen 1. Noticeably weaker clamping force than all the Sonys. The comfort was night and day between this and the Sony XM6, and this is the biggest reason I went with the Ultra Gen 2.
Sound Quality: didn’t sound perfect out of the box on all songs, I’m no audiophile and am still playing around with the EQ. Sounded great on vocal tracks however EDM and bass heavy pop sounded a bit muddy for my taste. Some tracks sound wonderful and some still need a bit of tweaking. For now I think the sound isn’t clearly better than the Ultra Gen 1 or the XM6. But also not clearly worse. Need more time to test this category. Lossless audio over USC is one of the main reasons I bought these over the XM6 alongside comfort so will be looking forward to testing that.
Looks: Love this colour, case and overall design. The shiny bands look really good in person at least on this sand colour. Feels alright, doesn’t attract as many fingerprints as expected.
ANC: not in depth testing but my initial thoughts were that the ANC is significantly better than my old XM3 which isn’t surprising. Seems to be slightly better than the Ultra Gen 1 and on par with XM6.
Cons: Personally really hoped the Bose app would have 5 band EQ instead of just 3. The controls and buttons are lacking compared to Sony XM6.
Overall, happy with spending $699 AUD on these for my birthday after 6-7 years on the XM3. Let’s hope we get some good reviews on sound quality and ANC from actual audiophiles soon.
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.