Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 review

There are a staggering variety of choices if you wish to purchase a pair of wi-fi earbuds in 2022. If you wish to spend a good quantity to get a superb pair, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 are an ideal alternative.

Whereas a glimpse in your native excessive avenue may need you consider that most individuals simply purchase AirPods, there are numerous earbuds on the market that greatest Apple’s ubiquitous buds in sound high quality, energetic noise cancelling (ANC), and good options.

The Earbuds 2 aren’t the neatest available on the market, however they excel in these different two areas, with superior sound and class-leading noise cancellation is actually astonishing; it’s pretty much as good as some over-ear headphones’ ANC, which is a feat for earbuds to realize.

Design & Construct

• Safe match
• Contact controls on each buds
• Barely cumbersome case

Bose has reworked the design of the clumsily named QuietComfort Earbuds 2 from the primary technology, and all for the higher.

Our Opinions Editor, Chris, reviewed these in 2020 and disliked the cumbersome outdated design of the case and the buds themselves, which caught out your ears and appeared like old fashioned Bluetooth handsfree units.

Whereas Bose hasn’t utterly deserted that look, the QC Earbuds 2 have morphed into one thing altogether extra refined. Within the ear they now seem like an AirPod with a flat exterior edge; an edge excellently used as a contact delicate pad to regulate playback, ANC, and quantity.

The buds are fairly fats as they incorporate a wingtip that nestles within the outer ear to maintain it in place, together with a silicon tip that goes into the ear canal to type a seal.

There are three sizes of wingtip and ear tip within the field so you will get the very best match. I’ve fairly small ears and so used the smallest sizes of every, and even then I discover the buds make my ears ache after a few hours.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

My tiny lugholes have additionally proved problematic with the match of different true wi-fi earbuds just like the excellent Sony WF-1000XM4, which I merely can’t get to remain in my ears. For what it’s price, essentially the most comfy in-ear buds I’ve ever used are Apple’s first-gen AirPods Professional.

Except you’ve gotten minuscule ears, the Bose ought to fit your needs positive. They’ve a fundamental IPX4 splash-resistant ranking.

The case is a little bit cumbersome, deal larger than the case of any model of AirPods. Regardless of this, I carried it in my entrance denims pocket with out an excessive amount of discomfort. It’s a tough plastic with a flip-top opening for the buds, with a USB-C port on the underside and a single button for Bluetooth pairing.

Two LEDs on the entrance and contained in the case present battery life and mode, although I by no means paid a lot consideration to both as a result of they aren’t that helpful.

Sound High quality

• Clear impartial sound
• Detailed replica
• Wonderful bass
• No hi-res codec help

An important factor about any pair of wi-fi earbuds is how good they sound, and fortuitously the QC Earbuds 2 sound superb.

In contrast to the Sony XM4 or NuraTrue Professional they don’t help excessive decision audio codecs similar to LDAC or FLAC. Such help continues to be considerably uncommon in wi-fi earbuds, even costly ones. The Earbuds 2 help SBC and AAC to cowl all fashionable client Bluetooth units.

Meaning the Bose don’t have aptX or any spatial audio help both. Bose has a behavior of including help for such in futures through software program updates, however for now, they’re wanting options in comparison with Sony which boast issues like Adaptive Sound Management and Converse-to-Chat.

Nonetheless, whether or not taking part in downloaded music recordsdata or streaming from a service similar to Spotify or Apple Music, the Bose sound phenomenally good. They’ve fairly a impartial sound however characterize all frequencies very effectively.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Angels & Queens by Gabriels sounds wealthy with the vocals proper on the fore, bass effectively represented, and all devices audible in what’s a busy combine. That is typically the place spending extra on earbuds pays off as they’ve drivers that may correctly separate completely different tracks. Cheaper buds sound muddier.

You may hear the string buzz of the bass guitar on Silverchair’s Tomorrow which is inaudible on lesser headsets. Likewise, strings twang anew on Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue.

Cannonball by The Breeders hums together with nice roundness and the Earbuds 2 don’t attempt to put a sheen on the sound or push up the bass like Beats merchandise are likely to do.

On this manner, Bose says it tries to recreate songs “simply because the artist supposed”. I’d agree, although if you happen to don’t there’s a respectable EQ characteristic within the Bose Music app, which is in any other case a little bit barebones.

These buds can get extremely loud, sufficient that I needed to flip down some tracks for concern of damaging my listening to. In addition they have glorious sign, with a stable connection as much as 9 metres away from the paired system.

The ethereal soundscape of Solely Shallow by My Bloody Valentine’s pulsates with partitions of guitars by way of the QC Earbuds 2, and bears repeated listens to understand layers I had missed when listening over time on inferior headphones.

Disguise & Search by Stormzy sounds ridiculously good; expansive, with a strong bass response that made me overlook I used to be sporting earbuds relatively than large over-ears with drivers thrice the scale.

Principally, solely the pickiest audiophile will have the ability to discover fault with these earbuds. They’re on the identical degree of fantastic high quality because the Sony XM4.

Noise Cancelling & Good Options

• One of the best ANC round
• Wonderful reactive ‘Conscious’ mode
• Faucet and swipe controls

This audio prowess is made all the higher due to what I can solely describe as astonishing energetic noise cancellation. It’s the perfect I’ve ever skilled on wi-fi earbuds, and pretty much as good because the ANC on Sony’s superlative WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones (I’ve not personally tried the XM5).

With the buds nestled in my ears, exterior noise is sort of utterly silenced. In an workplace setting with no audio taking part in, I may nonetheless hear voices however they have been like faint fragments of sound on the sting of a sea of nothing. Somebody talking at regular quantity two metres away was inconceivable to listen to.

Bose has undoubtedly improved the ANC from the first-gen mannequin of the QC Earbuds and it was already glorious. It really works by taking part in a reasonably loud chime sound into your ear once you put every bud in. The bounce again sound is learn by the buds’ microphones, which then regulate the extent of ANC for the form of your ears. Once you play music, you’re feeling completely remoted from the ambient sound round you.

It’s additionally a little bit spooky at instances, and folks may assume you’re ignoring them. A colleague of mine thought I used to be, however I genuinely couldn’t hear him with my music taking part in and ANC on.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Fortunately Bose’s Conscious Mode is great. Faucet and maintain both earbud they usually let loads of ambient sound in so you’ll be able to speak to folks or be extra conscious of environment like site visitors.

An amazing new characteristic is ActiveSense, Bose’s tech that listens out for louder sounds and turns them down. It’s unimaginable – on a busy highway with Conscious Mode on however listening to music at a medium quantity, the buds simply and precisely heard an approaching police automobile siren and turned it proper down within the combine whereas nonetheless letting in different ambient noise. I used to be very impressed, and it’s just like what Apple’s second-generation AirPods Professional can do.

In contrast to different buds on the market you’ll be able to’t regulate the degrees of ANC (Quiet Mode) or Conscious Mode on the fly, they’re both on or off. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to create your individual modes, inside which you’ll customise the extent of noise cancellation.

Both bud also can management play/pause with a faucet, and ahead and again monitor with two or three. Quantity is managed by sliding up and down. You can too summon your telephone’s digital assistant.

It’s nice to have all this perform obtainable with out getting out your telephone, however the faucets did are likely to push the bud a little bit painfully into my ear.

A draw back to the Bose over Sony or Apple’s newest is you’ll be able to solely be related to at least one Bluetooth supply at a time.

Sony and different rivals allow you to join to 2 with Multipoint and might seamlessly play audio from each. Apple has tech that may flick you between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV relying on which is taking part in audio.

No such luck with Bose. It’s not a purpose to not purchase the QC Earbuds 2 because the sound high quality and ANC are sufficient for me to assume they’re well worth the asking worth, however if you wish to be related all day to 2 units then you’re going to get aggravated.

The Bose Music app can bear in mind as much as six paired units, however you will need to go into the app to pick which one you need because the audio supply.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Battery Life & Charging

• 6 hours on one cost
• 24 hours in whole with case
• No wi-fi charging

Battery life fulfils Bose’s promise of six hours on a full cost, which is about common within the wi-fi earbuds class.

The buds take an hour to totally cost from empty and the case three hours. The case has sufficient juice when totally loaded to cost the buds thrice. That’s 24 hours with the case – however (sigh) Sony’s XM4 can go 36.

You may get two hours of listening from a 20-minute cost. There’s a cable within the field however as with most earbuds nowadays, no charging brick. There’s additionally no wi-fi charging.

Value & Availability

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 value $299/£279.95.

Within the US you should buy them direct from Bose and Amazon.

You should buy them within the UK direct from Bose, Amazon, and John Lewis.

The arguably superior Sony WF-1000XM4 value $280/£250 however may be discovered for a lot much less on the time of writing. I noticed them for £199 at Sony and John Lewis.

Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 value $249/£249 and are a good choice if you happen to stay in Apple’s ecosystem.

Verdict

Bose has made some unimaginable progress with the QuietComfort Earbuds 2 which are a rustic mile higher than the primary technology. The sound high quality is large, and the noise cancellation is industry-best.

The thorn in Bose’s aspect on the excessive asking worth is the WF-1000XM4. Sony provides higher battery life, extra good options, and help for extra (and better high quality) audio codecs.

I personally choose the match and ANC of the Bose, however that’s the problem with choosing wi-fi earbuds – ears are all completely different, and the way they match and sound is extremely subjective.

However with a number of suggestions and wings within the field to assist with the match, solely the fussiest audiophile will take problem with the Bose’s minor downsides. To focus on them is to undermine a phenomenally good product.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Specs

• Energetic Noise Cancelling
• Wi-fi: Bluetooth 5.1, SBC, AAC
• Vary: As much as 9.1m
• Voice management: Sure
• Contact controls: Sure
• Battery life: 6 hours Charging case: Further 18 hours
• Ear suggestions and wing suggestions: Three sizes
• IPX4 sweat and climate resistant
• Weight: 6.24g per earbud