Verdict
The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are the best haphazardness - cancelling over - ears on the market with Bose somehow managing to beneficial its predecessors ’ already splendid performance . improvement to the audio , barrage fire life sentence , and wireless performance are also welcome , although the call quality is slightly iffy . While the Immersive Audio is a confident stab at spacial audio recording , it ’s not quite an essential feature .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
When rumours were flying around of a young Bose headphone , I was expecting a continuation to the popularNCH 700series . It ’s a surprise to me that the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones arrived instead .
The Ultra Headphones are part of Bose ’s revampedheadphoneline - up . Despite theQuietComfort 45andQuietComfort Earbuds IIbeing fair recent ; they ’ve been ushered away for fresh models that embrace higher quality performance and spacial audio .
3D audio could be the future if a brand beget it right , and if you ’ve ever buy a pair of Bose ANC headphones , you ’ll know how telling they are . Can Bose , with its QuietComfort Ultra Headphones , make the ultimate pair of wireless over - ear ?
Design
leave the popularity of the Noise - Cancelling Headphones 700 , my assumption was a sequel to those headphones that carried the same design – but no . The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones see Bose back on more traditional ground as far as aesthetics go .
They appear like a more premium variation of the QuietComfort 45 , more rounded and sylphlike in appearance but still clearly Bose . The earphone can be fold up up and stowed out in the accompanying carrying case , and if that ’s important to you then at least the Bose incorporates that design feature .
Available in black , white , and a fetching sandstone conclusion , these are very comfortable headphones even if they are not quite as comfy as theSonos Ace . The clamping violence is not too tight on the head , and the weight of the headphones is kept to a very acceptable 250 g. The earcups are a piffling bulky but there ’s enough blank within to accommodate my fairly big ear .
As far as go the headphones is concerned , most of that is hold in to the proper earcup . There ’s a capacitive touching - airstrip for volume control and shortcut that consume a little while to get used to ; as well as physical control for power / Bluetooth and a multifunction button that cross playback and noise - cancel modes . The feedback from using physical release is always welcome when it comes to controlling headphones .
Turn your attention to the left - hand earcup and there ’s a USB - C input ( USB - C to USB - A cable length ) for agitate – it seems you ca n’t listen to sound over the connection which is a ignominy , and there ’s a 2.5 mm cable television service that terminates in a 3.5 mm jack for pumped hearing .
Features
earphone such as theTechnics EAH - A800andSennheiser Momentum 4 Wirelesshave upped the ante for battery life , but I ’d imagine Bose still believes in the musical theme of tone over quantity .
Bose claims 24 hr with ANC ( the Immersive Audio feature is around 18 hours ) and a run corroborate that a three - minute drain leave them at around 80 % – so 23 - 24 60 minutes is realizable .
Bose has always been one of the respectable brands for delivering top noise - cancellation , and with the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones it has fit the headphones with a new mic array to glean an even good performance .
Whereas with late generation I mat the Bose were quite even with their Sony counterparts for ANC , the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are a footmark ahead of theWH-1000XM5or any over - ear earphone for that matter . I ’m not peach about complete quiet but most sound that get close to the Bose ’s mics are like an expert dispatched with .
Such is the military capability of the ANC that even when there ’s a lull in euphony , I ’m still able to hear what ’s playing at nonpayment volumes without being disrupted by fence noises . Public transport , aeroplane , and in use environments are food and drink for the QC Ultra Headphones .
The only area I ’ve noticed it ’s not as imperious is when the London Underground make an almighty blare – the line between Finsbury Park and Highbury is too meretricious for even these earphone to chill out down , though they are splendid in dulling screeching speech sound on the tube . In most of these situations , a jog on the volume control help .
There used to be a chilly tone to Bose ’s noise - cancel , one that made music sound slightly processed and less natural but that ’s gone . The Aware Mode is very in effect done – loud and clear to the tip where I can find out other multitude and their conversations . The difference between wearing the phone with Aware Mode and shoot them off at times seems negligible . The other audio musical mode is Immersion , but I ’ll get to that in the sound quality segment .
Bose says it has improved the call quality of these headphone but I ’m not too sure . An update rolled across all its new earphone was mean to help out with vocalisation pick - up with machine learning integration but does n’t appear to have had too bully an outcome .
factual call quality is unanimous , and representative pick - up is excellent but like the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds , whenever you bulge out talking the headphones let in external noise – so much so that the person on the other destruction heard loud bang and crash noises whenever a loud vehicle kick the bucket past . It ’s not enough to distract from what ’s enounce but whenever I was n’t talking , the headphones permit in no dissonance . Strange .
The QuietComfort Headphones Ultra useBluetooth 5.3for wireless connectivity , with SBC , AAC and aptX streaming , which includes aptX Lossless delivered courtesy ofSnapdragon Sound . Aside from a few stutters , the wireless performance is as self-colored as you could get from a twosome of over - pinna . Bluetooth multipoint is also included for link to two twist at once .
Another marketing point is Bose ’s Immersive Audio . It ’s a strain of spacial audio frequency that takes two-channel rails and upconverts them to create a bigger , more immersive presentation .
lead into the Bose Music app and you could calibrate it to personalise the experience to your head ( it takes practically a second to do ) , and from there you have the option of Still and Motion mode . Still provides the great spacious soundstage but audio bide in space ( best suit for sitting down ) , Motion keep up the movements of your head , so if you turn your head word , music will shift to compensate .
The app itself has n’t change too much over the years with small additions added . There ’s a fairly simple EQ setting for the audio , with a three - striation custom setting or the choice to boost or reduce triple and bass .
you may stick to between the noise - cancelling and Immersive manner , check stamp battery life-time , enable a multi - point connexion and shift between various paired equipment . The app is where you may choose a cutoff , which can be either battery prompts , Immersive Audio mood , part assistance , or skip over back into your Spotify mix . you may also command volume and sound in the app too . The app keep thing comparatively straightforward , which is appreciated .
Sound Quality
Audio is transmit through 35 mm full - image dynamic drivers , although the sizing of the drivers does n’t appear to have had an wallop on the size of the sound .
What ’s more pertinent is the tuning . I ’ve felt that Bose headphones in the past times had a frizzy , skimpy tuning that did n’t lend themselves to the most melodious performance , especially compare toSony ’s headphones . That ’s all change with the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones .
There is a smoother sounding and heavy listen , but still asseverate that balance through the frequency ambit .
The bass part is rich when listening to Royal Blood ’s Troubles Coming than either the QuietComfort 45 or Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 , both of which were defined by a taut , punchy palpate towards the crushed ending . But the QC Ultra Headphones ’ performance is not to the level where bass overwhelms or is a encumbrance on midrange clearness . There ’s a o.k. sense of particular and clarity about how the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones go about their stage business , gift a more mainstream sound than before by give the low absolute frequency a little cushioning .
The highs are reproduced with detail , clearness and variation , though short of the sharpness the Sonos Ace can bring forth . The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones have a clarity to treble that march out the Sony WH-1000XM5 with GoGo Penguin ’s wipe out by Sunlight , which takes a copious approaching to key out highs .
It ’s the midrange where it feels like the Bose ’s new tuning has had the most impact . vocal consistently sound clear on the Bose than they do on the suave , richer - sound Sony with the Bose dropping the clinical tone of late Bose headphones . There ’s more emotion and naturalism conveyed with singer ’ voice on this Bose than I recall on sure-enough modelling .
point and clarity levels are above that of the Sonos Ace , but in a uncoiled fight with the WH-1000XM5 , Sony ’s headphone retrieve more point from the midrange and sound more dynamic and exciting of the two . The Bose benefit from nudging the volume up as they lack a bit of dynamism and energy at their default mass .
The Immersive Audio feature is an impressive piece of technical school – move around and the medicine be active with you , or you could prefer to keep still and profit from a wide sensory faculty of space . Switching to Immersive Audio does result in slenderly lower levels of detail , but having listened to the Sonos Ace ’s dynamic Head Tracking , there ’s a thinness to the Immersive Audio . Performers ’ voices and instruments are resolved a little too thin compare to when Immersive Audio is off .
There ’s also the interrogation of whether it works for all type of tracks and genre . listen to Neil Young ’s Old Man , Young ’s voice is more distant in the soundstage compared to the untouched stereophony track . Do you need to be further from the player or tight to it ? My bet is on the latter .
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Should you buy it?
Bose has go past theSony WH-1000XM5 in the racket - cancelling bet . If you want the most suppressive execution , the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones presently don that treetop .
So while Bose offers the best ANC , the Sony are still the good to hear to with their exciting , dynamic , and detailed performance .
Final Thoughts
To encircle back to the interrogation in the foundation of whether the Bose could be the ultimate couplet of wireless earphone , the answer is “ not quite ” , though the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are good than the brand ’s predecessors .
They ’re one of the most well-heeled headphones to tire , the randomness - cancellation is outstanding and the audio quality is an upgrade over the QuietComfort 45 and Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 . Bose has incite more towards a mainstream speech sound that ’s well remove from the lean tone and lack of musicalness of other model .
But the Immersive Audio doesn’tquiteblow my socks off . You get a good sensation of depth and movement but you miss a sliver of detail , definition , and clarity , as well as music becoming thin with it on , although the capitulum tracking is genuinely telling . Like theYamaha YH - L700A , this is a confident attempt at 3D audio but I still prefer listening to medicine with Immersive Audio off .
All that said are an fantabulous brace of wireless over - ears , the noise - cancellation is class - leading for over - ears , the wireless performance is terrific and they good call quality . If hell is other masses then the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones will take you closer to audio heaven .
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FAQs
The Bose QC Ultra Headphones have their own manakin of spatial sound in the Immersive Audio feature , which can take any stereo track and upconvert it into 3D.
