Best Bose Headphones & Earbuds
Best Bose noise cancelling headphones
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
Slightly improved Bose noise-cancelling headphones
Bose QuietComfort Headphones
Best new open earbuds with an innovative clip-on design
Bose Ultra Open Earbuds
What are the best Bose headphones?
Bose headphones and earbuds are known for their comfort, sound quality, and excellent noise cancellation, which is arguably the best out there, although Sony has been a close competitor in recent years as both companies battle to become the king of noise cancellation. Among the best wireless headphones and the best wireless earbuds on the market. Bose models are usually quite expensive, but are often on sale.
As for the best Bose model, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are clearly Bose’s best headphones. However, if you want something smaller, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the ones to get, offering some of the best cushioning on the earbud market. That said, you won’t be able to plug these into an in-flight entertainment system on a plane because they’re strictly wireless, while the Ultra Open Headphones have a wired option.
I have tested all of the Bose models on this list and will update it with new Bose headphones and earbuds as they come out. Bose’s latest headphone product is its Ultra Open Earplugsthe only model on this list that doesn’t have noise canceling. They have an innovative clip-on design (it was a big improvement over the design of cheaper clip-on earbuds that were previously on the market) and best-in-class sound for open earbuds.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds for 2024
Best Bose Headphones Are Earbuds Of 2024
While Bose’s new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones may not be a huge upgrade over the company’s Noise Cancelling 700 headphones, they do feature a more premium design along with Bose’s new Immersive Audio feature, which offers some improvements to sound quality. In addition to excellent sound and great noise cancellation, the QC Ultra Headphones are also excellent for taking calls, with top-notch background noise cancellation. A worthy rival to Sony’s highly rated WH-1000XM5 and Apple’s AirPods Max, we named them the best new noise-cancelling headphones of 2023 , and they remain a top pick for noise-cancelling headphones in 2024.
While the QC Ultra Earbuds aren’t a huge upgrade over Bose’s excellent QC Earbuds 2, which came out in 2022, they’re certainly a bit better. They should fit most ears, and they have excellent noise cancellation—arguably the best out there. And a natural-sounding Transparency mode with a new ActiveSense feature activates some ANC if the noise around you gets too loud (it’s a bit like the Adaptive Audio feature on the AirPods Pro). They also sound a bit better overall, with a touch more clarity, and their new Immersive Audio feature opens up the sound a bit.
When Bose released its new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, it also replaced the QuietComfort 45s with a new, slightly updated model simply called the QuietComfort Headphones. Like the QC 45s, this model carries over the very comfortable, tried-and-true QuietComfort design that has been around for a few generations and that many people still love. The QC Ultra Headphones add Bose’s new Immersive Audio feature and have a more refined design with some metal parts (they also have Bluetooth 5.3 instead of Bluetooth 5.1). But the QuietComfort Headphones still offer very good sound (the Ultras offer a slight step up in sound quality), excellent noise cancellation, and strong voice call performance.
As for the differences between these and the QC45s, Bose says it’s tweaked some electronics to improve battery life (now 24 hours versus 22 hours) and changed the logos to “visually differentiate the products and bring them more in line with its latest design language.” It’s also added an inline microphone to the aux cable to “help accommodate users who may prefer a plug-and-play solution over Bluetooth pairing.” There’s also a Wind Block feature and some additional minor performance improvements thanks to software upgrades. Finally, the headphones come in new color options, including green and a light blue version that’s only available on bose.com.
While the QuietComfort Headphones have an MSRP of $350, which is $50 higher than the QC 45s, we expect them to be regularly marked down to $250 and possibly less by 2024 — so buy them while they’re on sale. You can read our QuietComfort 45 review to get a full understanding of the QuietComfort Headphones.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds have one of the most unusual designs of any earbud I’ve tested in the past few years. They literally clip onto the sides of your ears, sort of like a pair of earrings, and their open design features microspeakers that fire sound into your ears while still allowing you to hear what’s going on around you. At $299, they’re a bit overpriced, but there’s a lot to like about them, including a surprisingly comfortable, secure fit and very good sound quality for an open-bud model.
We test wireless earbuds and headphones based on five key criteria, comparing models with a similar style and price. These criteria are design, sound quality, functions, voice call performance And value.
- Design: We not only assess how comfortable the earbuds or headphones are (ergonomics), but also their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. For earbuds, we also look at their water and dust resistance ratings.
- Sound quality: We assess sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks and comparing models to top competitors in their price range. Sonic characteristics such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are important factors in our assessment.
- Features: Some great-sounding headphones and earbuds aren’t packed with features, but we still note the extra ones that are on board. These include everything from noise cancellation and transparency (ambient sound) modes to specialty sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you remove the headphones from your ears.
- Voice call performance:When we test voice call performance, we conduct conversations on the noisy streets of New York City and evaluate how well earbuds and headphones reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear your voice.
- Value:We determine the value after evaluating the strength of the headphones and earbuds based on all these criteria and what they can deliver compared to other models in their price range.
