Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)

Bose's CustomTune snapshots your ear anatomy and compensates the sound to it, and Gen 2 adds a more balanced, less bass-heavy tuning plus a custom three-band EQ. Most reviewers call it the best-sounding Bose headphone yet, though the stock tune still leans bass-forward and a three-band EQ limits how far you can refine it.

• This is the best sound presentation reviewers have heard from a Bose headphone — Gen 2's tuning is more refined than the first generation, especially in the highs.— Headphone PH
• Versus Gen 1, the second gen plays the whole frequency range — bass, mids and treble — nicely together; the original emphasised bass much more, almost up to 15 dB around 30 Hz in the sub-bass.— SoundGuys
• CustomTune works by snapshotting your ear's response and then compensating for it — and for the best sound quality you need ANC or noise-control mode turned on, since the tuning relies on it.— The Headphone Show
• The stock tune is bass-heavy and best treated like a store-demo mode — it sounds best with some of that bass dialed back in the EQ.— The Headphone Show
• Out of the box you must apply EQ to get the maximum sound quality — but once tuned, Gen 2 is a very enjoyable and balanced listen with very few weaknesses.— RecordingNOW
• Bose still only provides a generic three-band custom equalizer with bass, middle and treble sliders — fine-grained tuning means relying on third-party EQ apps.— SoundGuys
• The Gen 2 trades a little of the original's raw loudness for a more detailed, refined sound — a tradeoff worth taking over the louder, boomier Gen 1.— RonOnTech
• Reddit owners praise the sound: the ANC is so effective you don't need to crank the volume to enjoy the full sound.— Reddit r/headphones

Noise cancellation remains the QC Ultra's headline strength — adaptive ANC that reviewers repeatedly call best-in-class for travel and the office, measured at an 87% reduction in perceived outside loudness. The new option to switch ANC fully off is the main functional change; transparency (Aware) mode is good but lacks Sony's automatic talk-detection.

• Six months on, the noise cancellation is still without question the best the reviewer has heard on any pair of headphones tested.— 6 Months Later
• Lab testing measured the QC Ultra 2 reducing the perceived loudness of outside noise by an average of about 87% — a slight improvement on the original's ~85%.— SoundGuys
• On a plane, the ANC easily reduces the 80-85 dB cruising hum of a jet engine to barely a background murmur, though there is sometimes a half-to-full-second delay before it fully clamps a sudden 100+ dB takeoff spike.— foXnoMad
• Bose stays top of the tree with Sony when it comes to ANC headphones — the second gen keeps that crown.— Mark Ellis Reviews
• Switching ANC fully off is a new capability the first generation never had — and it is what unlocks the headline 45-hour battery figure.— Headphones Pro Review
• The big remaining gap versus Sony: with Bose you must press a button to switch into Aware/transparency mode, where Sony detects when you talk and does it automatically — owners call that a dealbreaker.— Reddit r/HeadphoneAdvice
• Owner experience is nuanced: the ANC is fantastic on consistent noise like trains and buses, but less convincing against sudden, unexpected sounds.— Reddit r/bose

Comfort is a near-universal win — a light ~262g build, soft glasses-friendly pads and low clamping force make these one of the easiest flagship ANC headphones to wear all day. The design, dimensions and case are carried over unchanged from Gen 1, with only updated leather-style materials and a slightly more premium feel.

• After two months of daily use these are the best-feeling headphones the reviewer owns — wearable for very long stretches where many headphones get uncomfortable after two hours.— Mike O'Brien
• The headphones weigh in at 262g — lightweight for a pair of premium ANC over-ears, where rivals often sit between 280 and 300g.— GYMCADDY
• Around 260g with a soft-padded headband, the ear cups fold inward on a proper hinge and drop into a hard-shell carry case with a magnetic clasp.— Headphones Pro Review
• The ear cups fold in, making the case significantly more compact than much of the competition — a real win for regular travellers.— 6 Months Later
• Bose has stepped up the build with aluminium elements and sturdier plastics while keeping the headphones light — a long-standing critique partially addressed.— Headphone PH
• This is an iterative refresh: the dimensions, case and controls are identical to Gen 1, with the changes limited to a slightly different leather-style material and what Bose calls an updated design.— Mark Ellis Reviews
• RecordingNOW measured Gen 2 at 262g, around 8g heavier than the Gen 1 it tested — still light, but not a weight reduction.— RecordingNOW
• Reddit owners back up the comfort: they fit super nicely and are really light, with leather and build quality that feel top-notch and premium.— Reddit r/bose
• The pads do not have the thickest foam, so passive (ANC-off) noise blocking isn't class-leading, and warm weather can mean airing the cups out occasionally.— Mike O'Brien

Battery is the clearest spec upgrade over Gen 1: up to 30 hours with ANC on (23 with immersive audio) and a brand-new ANC-off mode reaching 45 hours. Independent testing lands at a real-world 27-28 hours with ANC on. A 15-minute quick charge returns 2-3 hours, a full charge takes ~3 hours, and you can now listen over USB-C while charging.

• Battery is now 30 hours with ANC on, up from 24 on Gen 1 — Bose finally bringing it up to flagship level — with a 15-minute charge giving roughly 3 hours of listening.— Joshua Chang
• The QC Ultra 2 is rated at 30 hours with ANC on; real-world testing landed consistently between 27 and 28 hours.— Headphones Pro Review
• In SoundGuys' standardized battery test the QC Ultra 2 ran for 27 hours 12 minutes — roughly 10 hours short of the Sony WH-1000XM6's 37 hours 14 minutes.— SoundGuys
• Bose's own support figures: up to 30 hours with ANC on and immersive audio off, 23 hours with both on, and 45 hours with both off.— Bose Product Support
• A full 0-100% charge takes about 3 hours, and a low-battery 15-minute top-up powers the headphones for up to 3 hours.— RonOnTech
• For the first time you can use the Bose while it is charging via USB-C — a 15-minute fast charge returns around 2.5 hours of playback.— Headphones Pro Review
• A new auto power-save mode kicks in when the headphones are laid flat, and they sleep after 20 minutes off your head — small touches that stretch real-world endurance.— Bose Product Support
• Even with the bump to 30 hours, the QC Ultra 2 still charges slower than rivals — Sony's WH-1000XM6 returns 3 hours of playback from just a 3-minute charge versus Bose's 15.— Brian Tong

Call quality is solid for everyday use but not class-leading. Bose improved the call experience over Gen 1, yet independent mic testing shows the headphones let in more background noise than some rivals in loud, dynamic environments — and reviewers expect a future firmware update to add Bose's newer speech-clarity feature.

• In dynamic loud-noise mic testing, the QC Ultra 2 let in among the most background noise of the group, but still delivered relatively clean speech.— Weekend Gear Guide
• Reviewers expect Bose to ship a firmware update adding its newer speech-clarity voice-enhancement feature, which is needed to lift call quality in windy and loud environments.— Weekend Gear Guide
• Against the AirPods Max 2's new studio-grade microphones the Bose trails, but it still gets the job done for the most part on calls.— RecordingNOW
• Calls hand off smoothly: a phone call will seamlessly switch to the headphones even on a non-Apple device like a Pixel.— Mike O'Brien
• Some owners feel a premium flagship from Bose should have shipped with better microphone call quality — it remains a relative weak point.— Rawan's Reviews

The QC Ultra 2 keeps full physical button controls plus a touch strip, multipoint pairing and aptX Adaptive high-res support, and adds USB-C lossless wired audio and a movie-optimized Cinema mode. The Bose companion app, however, is widely seen as behind Sony's, and a controversial OTA update changed or removed functionality for early owners.

• Gen 2 adds USB-C wired audio supporting 24-bit/48kHz lossless playback while charging — its biggest single upgrade — alongside the ability to turn off ANC and a new movie-optimized Cinema mode.— Aaron X Loud and Wireless
• Full physical button controls — better than touch for glove-wearers in winter — sit alongside a touch strip on the right cup for volume and a configurable shortcut.— Aaron X Loud and Wireless
• All of Bose's DSP features — EQ, ANC and sound profiles — keep working in wired mode, so going USB-C doesn't strip out the headphone's processing.— Headphone PH
• Multipoint keeps two devices connected, and switching a third in is as easy as picking the Bose in that device's Bluetooth settings to pull the connection over.— DHRME
• The headphones still ride on aptX Adaptive for high-res — DHRME notes Bose hasn't moved off the aptX suite, and there's no LDAC.— DHRME
• A controversial over-the-air firmware update removed some functionality and changed other behaviour, leaving some early owners unhappy.— 6 Months Later
• The Bose app is consistently called a weak point — Reddit owners say it has always been a disappointment, and that Bose focuses on acoustics while Sony's software clearly exceeds it.— Reddit r/headphones
• One owner reports audio cutouts when connected to multiple devices at once despite multipoint being an advertised feature — a connectivity reliability concern.— Reddit r/bose

Bose Immersive Audio returns and is improved in Gen 2, with Still and Motion modes that head-track to spatialize music and video. Reviewers find it a genuine, fun expansion of the soundstage — but it costs roughly 6-7 hours of battery, and the new Cinema mode is aimed squarely at movie watching.

• Gen 2's immersive audio is improved, and in Still or Motion mode turning your head left to right gives the sense of listening to a 2.0 stereo system in the room.— Danny Pops
• Both Bose and rival flagships now head-track to build a fun, 3D dynamic soundscape — an enjoyable feature to use day to day.— Yash Bhika
• Immersive audio carries a real battery cost — switching it on drops rated playback from 30 hours to 23.— GYMCADDY
• One reviewer largely skips immersive mode, finding the small audio difference not worth the ~6 hours of battery it costs.— foXnoMad
• Used on a flight, immersive sound paired with the strong ANC made watching a movie genuinely enveloping.— Mac Sound Solutions inc.

At an unchanged $449 the QC Ultra 2 sits head-to-head with the Sony WH-1000XM6 and AirPods Max. It wins on ANC and comfort and undercuts the AirPods Max, but trails Sony on battery and software — and with the near-identical Gen 1 now heavily discounted, the value case depends heavily on how much you weigh the new battery, USB-C audio and refined sound.

• Forbes tested more than 25 pairs and named the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) the best wireless headphones overall.— Forbes
• Gen 2 launches at $449 in both the US and UK — exactly the same as Gen 1's launch price, a small step up from the older $429 QC Ultra.— The Verge
• Against the AirPods Max 2 the Bose gives 30 hours of battery to Apple's 20, weighs about 120g less and costs $100 less — the more practical daily driver.— RecordingNOW
• Versus the Sony WH-1000XM6 it's a genuinely close call — Bose wins comfort and ties on ANC, but Sony pulls ahead on battery life and the depth of its app and automation.— Mark Ellis Reviews
• Because Gen 1 is roughly 90% the same headphone and now sees steep discounts (as low as $299 on Black Friday), a discounted original can be the smarter buy for value hunters.— RecordingNOW
• A reviewer writing an ANC buying guide rated a rival as the headphone to get — yet still found the QC Ultra more impressive in certain ways, making it a difficult choice at this price.— The Headphone Show
• For travel and desk work the QC Ultra 2 is reviewers' clear pick — the comfort, ANC and battery make them the headphones owners reach for all the time.— Mike O'Brien