Bose Announces New QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Earbuds

[TheLostSwede]

Today, Bose announces the next generation of its iconic QuietComfort line: the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, and the QuietComfort Headphones, all featuring the world-renowned hallmarks that the QuietComfort name has become synonymous with—world-class noise cancellation, high-quality audio, and legendary comfort and stability. And now, the QC Ultra Headphones and Earbuds both feature an all-new premium design and debut Bose Immersive Audio, taking audio performance to an entirely new level.

The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds will be available beginning early October for $429 and $299 respectively. Both are available in Black and White Smoke. The QuietComfort Headphones will be available on September 21st for $349 also available in Black and White Smoke, plus a limited-edition Cypress Green. Pre-orders for all products begin today in the U.S. on Bose.com.




"We know that listening to music is a deeply personal experience—what you listen to, when and where you listen, and the emotion it has the power to evoke," said Raza Haider, Chief Product Officer for Bose. "The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Earbuds with Bose Immersive Audio won't disappoint. The lifelike listening experience, superior noise cancellation performance, and modern design truly make both products the ultimate companion for any music lover."

Bose Immersive Audio
Bose Immersive Audio goes beyond special effects. It creates a wider, more spacious soundstage so your content becomes multi-dimensional and layered, regardless of the audio platform or device—making spatial audio accessible to all. It will bring you closer than ever by virtually seating you right in the acoustic sweet spot. Traditionally, when listening to recorded content through headphones, the soundstage is collapsed into your head between your ears. Bose Immersive Audio reveals its true depth, spatializing what you're hearing by virtually placing it in front of you. This effect is enabled by an onboard IMU and newly developed, proprietary Bose digital signal processing software in the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Earbuds.

There are two options for listening to Bose Immersive Audio: "Still" or "Motion." "Still" is best when you're not moving because the audio stays in place—perfect for when you're sitting down and want to feel as if the sound is fixed in a specific position. "Motion" allows the audio to move with you, so it's always out in front of you—great for staying immersed on the go.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
Replacing the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 as the brand's flagship banded headphone, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones offer a powerful combination of Bose Immersive Audio, world-class noise cancellation, and CustomTune audio calibration for unmatched performance from an over-ear headphone. Bose Immersive Audio and CustomTune technology work together to deliver enveloping sound that's fully optimized to your ears.

A completely re-engineered system includes proprietary signal processing, a robust chip set, and advanced microphones. All of this innovation not only enables improved noise cancellation and CustomTune technology, but it also supports Bose Aware Mode with ActiveSense, and remarkable voice pickup. Using a beamform-array to differentiate your voice from 360 degrees of unwanted nearby sound, the QC Ultra Headphones deliver crystal clear calls to friends and family, clients and coworkers, and stunning accuracy from VPAs for seamless convenience when summoning playlists, texts, or directions.

The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones feature a modern, more premium design. Minimal seams and part splits convey a sleek overall appearance, while still allowing the Ultra Headphones to fold flat into a compact storage case.

Intuitive physical controls make the headphones easy to use. The right earcup is home to three controls: a power/Bluetooth pairing button, a capacitive touch strip for volume control and shortcut access, and a multifunction button for toggling between listening modes, answering or ending calls, and content playback control. The left earcup includes an LED indicator, 2.5 mm jack, and a USB-C charging port. The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones offer up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge while Bose Immersive Audio is turned off, and up to 18 hours when Immersive Audio is turned on.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds
The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds replace the award-winning QC Earbuds II and continue to offer world-class noise cancellation, CustomTune sound calibration technology, responsive touch controls, and an IPX4 rating—and now they offer improved far-end call quality. With the support of dynamic microphone mixing and adaptive filters, voice pickup is more intelligible in less-than-ideal environments. These technologies work together in real time to determine and prioritize which microphone on each bud is experiencing the least wind noise, and selecting from a variety of noise filters so your voice presents more clearly to those you're calling.

The Ultra Earbud's design has also been refreshed to incorporate a new metallic treatment for a sleeker, more luxe look. The earbuds' stability bands also feature an improved, interlocking fit on the buds to help ensure they are mounted correctly, delivering optimal comfort, stability, and performance.

The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds offer up to six hours of battery life on a single charge while Bose Immersive Audio is turned off, and up to four hours when Immersive Audio is turned on. An optional new wireless charging case cover is also now available and is compatible with both the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and their predecessor, QC Earbuds II. Available for $49 on Bose.com beginning October 20th, the silicone case cover easily slips on the existing charging case to enable wireless charging.

Bose QuietComfort Headphones

Rounding out the new headphone portfolio are the Bose QuietComfort Headphones, which will replace the QuietComfort 45 Headphones. Offering powerful high-fidelity audio paired with legendary noise cancellation, the QC Headphones now offer the ability to adjust noise cancellation levels and set custom modes. For wireless listening, they offer multipoint Bluetooth 5.1 capability and up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge via USB-C.

An audio cable with in-line mic is also included for wired listening or communication. Spotify Tap is also supported to start your listening session at the push of a button.

Compatibility, Connectivity, SimpleSync, and the Bose Music App
Both the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds feature Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite, enabling support for the latest Qualcomm aptX Adaptive codec for audio streaming—including lossless and low latency capabilities. Snapdragon Sound also allows for more seamless and robust connectivity with premium Android devices. The Ultra Headphones and Ultra Earbuds also layer on Google Fast Pair for added ease-of-use when pairing Android devices and are both Bluetooth 5.3 compatible.

All three new QuietComfort products are compatible with Bose SimpleSync technology. SimpleSync allows you to pair Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling headphones with select smart soundbars and speakers for a personal listening experience. Independent volume controls allow you to lower or mute the soundbar while keeping the Bluetooth headphones as loud as necessary.

The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, and QuietComfort Headphones work with a mobile device's built-in voice assistant and use the Bose Music app for additional features like shortcut settings, listening modes, and adjustable EQ. The Bose Music app is also used to release software updates for new features and benefits that may become available in the future.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Space Lynx]

This is my stop and what I have been waiting for, even Sony has not been able to match the previous gen of Bose ANC earbuds, so yeah I probably am going to treat myself to these earbuds. $300 is a lot, but honestly I am sick of hearing the highway traffic near where I live, sick of my neighbor playing basketball, sick of hearing everything in the house cause the walls are so thin, I have a strong feeling this is going to be the best $300 I ever spend, I hope so anyway.

 

[Assimilator]

But will you be able to charge via USB-C and listen to them via Bluetooth at the same time? The current NC 700 (a pair of which I own) don't - if you want to charge and listen you have to use the 3.5mm jack/cable, which is intensely annoying.

 

[TheLostSwede]

But will you be able to charge via USB-C and listen to them via Bluetooth at the same time? The current NC 700 (a pair of which I own) don't - if you want to charge and listen you have to use the 3.5mm jack/cable, which is intensely annoying.

That's an odd oversight. Can't test with my old Sony's, as I don't have a long enough charging cable...
That said, no problem to charge and use my Corsair headset.

I also don't understand why so few of the ANC headphones allow you to use the USB cable for audio, since they have a built in DAC. Maybe something to do with the Bluetooth chips used? But if it works with a headset, why not with headphones?

Bose also really needs to stop using 2.5 mm jacks for analogue audio input.

The Ultra headphones look nice though, but it all comes down to how comfortable they are with something like that.

This is my stop and what I have been waiting for, even Sony has not been able to match the previous gen of Bose ANC earbuds, so yeah I probably am going to treat myself to these earbuds. $300 is a lot, but honestly I am sick of hearing the highway traffic near where I live, sick of my neighbor playing basketball, sick of hearing everything in the house cause the walls are so thin, I have a strong feeling this is going to be the best $300 I ever spend, I hope so anyway.

Keep in mind that you're likely to get ear faitgue after 4-5 hours, no matter how well they fit.

 

[Space Lynx]

Keep in mind that you're likely to get ear faitgue after 4-5 hours, no matter how well they fit.

true, but even with over ear, I typically don't like wearing over ear for longer than a few hours.

I am considering the Ultra overears though, best ANC money can buy... that's been my dream for a long time now, so I think I might just do it. even if I just play some nature sounds as I read a book with them on would be heaven in my hectic household...

now I just need to decide between earbuds or ultra over ear, I already decided I am getting one or the other.

 

[TheLostSwede]

true, but even with over ear, I typically don't like wearing over ear for longer than a few hours.

I am considering the Ultra overears though, best ANC money can buy... that's been my dream for a long time now, so I think I might just do it. even if I just play some nature sounds as I read a book with them on would be heaven in my hectic household...

now I just need to decide between earbuds or ultra over ear, I already decided I am getting one or the other.

I've never owned any Bose products, but my better half bought some fancy B&O ones around the time Sony launched the WH-1000XM2 and they were ok, but not that amazing.
Then she got given a pair of WH-1000XM2 and it was not hard to tell the difference between the two. Yes, the Sony's were a bit "janky" in comparison when it came to build quality, but the ANC was that much better. She decided to pass them on to me, as she wanted earbuds and got the WF-1000XM3, which were not that great overall, lots of firmware bugs and what not, so she ended up with the WF-1000XM4's shortly after launch and have been very happy with those.

I ended up getting some cheap earbuds due to some news I posted here and the ANC on those were ok, but she decided to get me a pair of XM4's well and it's a huge difference between them in audio quality, despite the fact that the cheap ones I got are supposed to have a balanced armature and a regular dynamic driver.
The only bad thing I have to say about the X4's is that I get ear fatigue in my right ear after a couple of hours, sometimes a bit longer, but it always happen. It's possible that the smaller XM5's are better in that regards.

One other slight downside is that LDAC seems to be a lot more prone to interference than at least standard aptX, but I haven't tried anything with aptX Adaptive, which might suffer from that as well, but normally this is only an issue if there are a lof of other Bluetooth devices around, since Bluetooth has a very limited frequency band it can operate within.

Just understand that not everything can be cancelled out, but most things are at least muffled with ANC.

 

[ZoneDymo]

pretty high price tbh

 

[Assimilator]

pretty high price tbh

It's Bose, there will always be a price premium. But the benefit is that the previous generation will quickly drop to a somewhat affordable price. That said, I got my NC 700s on Black Friday when they were less than their predecessors the QC 35s.

And while I'm generally the last person to pay for high-grade audio, the noise cancellation capability of the NC 700s is absolutely worth the cost. I can use them while sitting half a metre away from a portable aircon that runs at over 60 decibels, and hear absolutely nothing from it.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's Bose, there will always be a price premium. But the benefit is that the previous generation will quickly drop to a somewhat affordable price. That said, I got my NC 700s on Black Friday when they were less than their predecessors the QC 35s.

And while I'm generally the last person to pay for high-grade audio, the noise cancellation capability of the NC 700s is absolutely worth the cost. I can use them while sitting half a metre away from a portable aircon that runs at over 60 decibels, and hear absolutely nothing from it.

But do they prevent you from hearing screaming babies/kids?

 

[Space Lynx]

pretty high price tbh

no one beats Bose in active noise cancellation, Sony did for about two years with their highest end ANC line at $399. They lost the lead 2-3 years ago though and have not got it back. Bose does ANC better than anyone, for some of us, a $300-429 price tag is worth that.

@TheLostSwede I still can't decide. it's either going to be the $429 Ultra or the $299 earbuds. both say ship October 3rd on Bose site. so I need to make up my mind soon. lol

i am just not super confident the earbuds will be able to do ANC as well, or that I will even get a great fit with the ear tips, its always been hard for to get a good fit on earbuds. not doing the new $349 line either, as it doesn't have bluetooth 5.3, only the new $429 Ultra has 5.3, and I am assuming the Ultra has the best ANC of any headphone on the market once it comes out... Bose has a 90 day return policy. so I think I am going to grab the Ultra $429 variant. I have been dreaming of top tier ANC for years, I have heard budget ANC but it was never good enough.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede I still can't decide. it's either going to be the $429 Ultra or the $299 earbuds. both say ship October 3rd on Bose site. so I need to make up my mind soon. lol

Why not go to a store and try them?

 

[Space Lynx]

Why not go to a store and try them?

no store here, not even microcenter has a $400+ headphones out for people to try, they have cheaper ones like $100-150 Razer, Sennheiser, etc. Never seen a place that has something that expensive on display to try

Bose has a 90 day return policy if you buy direct from there site. so I guess I could order the earbuds and if it doesn't suit me return it and get the ultra headphones.

 

[TheLostSwede]

no store here, not even microcenter has a $400+ headphones out for people to try, they have cheaper ones like $100-150 Razer, Sennheiser, etc. Never seen a place that has something that expensive on display to try

Bose has a 90 day return policy if you buy direct from there site. so I guess I could order the earbuds and if it doesn't suit me return it and get the ultra headphones.

Best Buy or something like that ought to, or some local HiFi store?
I guess that's an option as well.

 

[Assimilator]

But do they prevent you from hearing screaming babies/kids?

I can't hear my neighbours' 4-year-old throwing a tantrum when using them, so yes.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I can't hear my neighbours' 4-year-old throwing a tantrum when using them, so yes.

Hmmm, I could still hear crying kids on flights with all the ANC headphones I've had.

 

[TheLostSwede]

no store here, not even microcenter has a $400+ headphones out for people to try, they have cheaper ones like $100-150 Razer, Sennheiser, etc. Never seen a place that has something that expensive on display to try

Bose has a 90 day return policy if you buy direct from there site. so I guess I could order the earbuds and if it doesn't suit me return it and get the ultra headphones.

You might be interested.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review: Spatial audio makes all the difference

The addition of Immersive Audio makes all the difference on Bose's latest noise-canceling earbuds.

www.engadget.com

 

[Space Lynx]

You might be interested.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review: Spatial audio makes all the difference

The addition of Immersive Audio makes all the difference on Bose's latest noise-canceling earbuds.

www.engadget.com

thanks for thinking of me mate, much appreciated, going to read it now