Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, Wireless, Bluetooth, Proprietary Active Noise Cancelling Technology in-Ear Headphones with Personalized Noise Cancellation & Sound, Triple Black

These headphones are without a doubt the best headphones I have purchased so far in my entire life. I say thus far, because I know that technology is able to continue to become greater and greater as we advance through time, but as of 2023 these headphones are so packed with technology that they meet every need that I could want out of headphones, and additionally have some extra really cool perks. I want to talk first about the number one need that I wanted these headphones to meet. They claimed that they had 100% noise canceling and I can confirm that that is absolutely correct. Closing out the loud outside world is something that is real true need of mine. I live in a major city, and everything is so loud that I can barely concentrate. I can't go to the grocery store, out to eat, for a walk down the road, or sometimes even sit in my own home without having some sort of overpowering noise that I don't want to hear. So here's how these headphones work noise canceling-wise. I'll give you two scenarios. Scenario one, I have had a hard day and had to talk to people all day. I'm hungry, tired, don't want to talk to anyone or hear anyone's voices. I go to my favorite fish restaurant because I'm too tired to cook but I know that I'm going to need some peace and quiet when I get there. I place my food order, then sit down at my table in a very noisy environment with lots of peoples conversations going in the background. Relaxation is just about to begin. I take out my Bose headphones, I insert one into my ear, and then immediately I hear this sound that sounds like a lightsaber. That's the Microphones in the headphones testing the ear seal to make sure sound doesn't get into the headphones. I insert the second headphone into my other ear, and hear another lightsaber like sound. For about two more second I can still hear peoples voices and then all of the sudden I hear a "beep" and everyone's voices fade away! The noise cancelling has kicked in, and it's time for me to enjoy my dinner with some relaxing peaceful music. I'm now sitting in the middle of a restaurant and I can only hear my music and no one's voices at all. Sometimes I'll turn my music off in the middle of the restaurant, and I'll watch funny Instagram videos in the headphones. Usually after a 20 minute meal and some funny videos, I'm so relaxed and happy even after a hard day's work, that I'm ready to go home and go to sleep. Scenario two. I live next to a very busy major street. I can hear lots of road noise, exhaust, loud stereos, and many other kinds of noises. I like to take walks and relax. It's not very relaxing walking when I have to hear a lot of these noises. I insert my bose headphones , and all of the road noises fade away. All I can hear once again is my music. I have to make sure that I stay on the sidewalk when walking, because these headphones cancel out noise so well that if I try to walk on the road, I'll likely get hit by a car because I will not hear the cars driving near me. So that being said, the main thing I love about these is the noise canceling. I mentioned that there were couple cool extra things about these that I wanted to tell you about. I do like the amount of bass that these headphones are able to produce. It's way more than I expected. Additionally the clarity on these headphones is so good that I can can barely describe it in words. There is a treble mode, and a bass mode within the app so I can choose between these two modes and intensify the kind of clarity and or bass that I'd like. The charging case is a medium to small size. It fits well then my pants pocket and doesn't get in the way when I'm in the gym. That's one other thing that I wanted to make sure I told you about, is that these are the perfect headphones for the gym. I've seen several other people in the gym with them on, and now I know why. They don't move around in my ears at all! I work out very intensely, and if headphones were going to move around then they would move around on me. They stay exactly where I put them even though I'm sweating on them non-stop for over an hour each day. I love everything about these headphones. My only regret is that I let the price of these scare me away for so long, and I didn't order them soon enough.

I love these earbuds. They are light weight, comfortable to wear (find what earpieces fit you), sound absolutely amazing, have a long battery life (6 hours non stop), and the noise cancelling is the best out there. The personalized ear pieces really keep them in your ears and fit well. I am pleasantly surprised how well these sound. The bass and highs are outstanding. It paired really quickly and easily with an iphone 13. Great product I will use every day. The only minor complaints: 1. The connectivity gets broken with my iPhone more so than airpods pro 2 do. I have had some annoying issues with connectivity that I simply do not have with Klipsch or AirPod earbuds. I have noticed if the Bose earbuds are not fully charged, they will have issues pairing at times. Also, I have had to forget the device on my phone, reboot, and reconnect as a new device periodically. This is really the only annoyance with this product, and it rarely happens, but when it does, it is annoying. 2. It is hard to find out how much battery life is in the case? The earbuds battery levels are shown in the app, but not the case. I personally like to know the power level of the case. So this is annoying to me. I hope they will fix this with an update. 3. They have put out a case that will allow wireless charging which is awesome! I wish they would add an update on their app that allows us to know the battery life of the case and multi-point connectivity. These can only pair with one device at a time. It would be nice to at least allow two devices that can be switched back and forth from. These two issues have caused AirPods Pro to be superior to them. Although Bose have the airpods beat in sound and noise cancelling. Hopefully this helps.

UPDATED REVIEW: Returned to Amazon. Multiple problems cropped up after several days. 1) Only the right bud would work. 2) The accompanying app refused to acknowledge the existence of my iPad - the iPad that I've used with the buds since I got them. iPad Settings could see the buds, but couldn't connect to them. 3) Finally, this morning the buds could "see" but would not connect to my Dell Win11 laptop, with which they've worked since I bought them. I did the usual stuff: forget and repair, reset the buds, blah, blah, blah. As you'll understand if you read my original 3 1/2-star review, there is little about Bose support for this device that would tempt me to believe that contacting the company would be any use at all. When the buds work, the sound is good. But my entire user experience has suggested from the start that there is something very wrong with Bose's management of this product, from its design to its documentation and support. This is not a $200+ product - at least, not in my experience. In fairness, your experience may, of course, be different. BTW, the link to the online English user manual for this product is still in French. When I looked at it more closely, I realized that it is not even for the QC buds - it's for some amplifier or other! If I were responsible for product support at Bose, I'd be making it my business to see that Amazon reviews of my product were read and acted on by someone at the company. This relatively minor problem with the online user manual suggests that Bose doesn't read our reviews .... :( ORIGINAL REVIEW: These were my replacement for my Jabra Elite Pro 7 wireless buds, the left of which gave out less than a year after I bought them (just like it did for many unfortunate purchasers). Let me talk about the pros of the Bose earbuds first: 1) Excellent fit in the ears; 2) Excellent, full, warm sound (though I qualify this a little below); 3) Ability to connect to up to 8 devices. The buds remember those devices, so the moment you select the Bose earbuds in your device Bluetooth app they'll connect. Easier than either of my Jabra sets; 4) Magnetic, so won't fall out of case; 5) Can be "recognized" by your device as soon as you open the case - you don't need to take them out; 6) Friends says that the call quality on their end is excellent; 7) Works fine with Windows devices - something that Jabra still doesn't seem to be able to do; 8) The buds appear to remember your various settings even if you use them with a device that doesn't have the app. Very good! 9) You can use one earbud (e.g. for phone calls); 10) Noise canceling is excellent. A word here about the sound quality, which I wouldn't class as either a pro or a con. The buds seem to me to be very bass-heavy, but in saying that I'm aware that the tight fit of this sort of earbud design is so much a part of bass response that it might be my fit, though it is entirely comfortable, is too tight. I run the bass end of the equalizer at about -4 (db? - there's no volume unit specified). OK, now having said that, the bass response seems to me to extend way down the spectrum in the orchestral music that I listen to. You can almost feel the resonance of the bows on the double-basses, or the movement of the air when the bass drum is struck. Far and away more satisfying than any other in-ear phones, wireless or wired. Now for the cons. Some of these are simply eccentric design decisions. Some of them suggest sloppiness in overall product management or integration into the overall product experience. 1) The fit in the case is peculiar. Getting them out requires an odd pinching of forefinger and thumb, and I can't take out the left bud with my right fingers - I have to use the left hand. Similarly, stowing the buds isn't intuitive at all, either in the left-right axis or top-bottom axis. I'll probably get used to it, but it's definitely a little strange. I have the glossy black ones, so there are no tell-tale shadows in the case to guide the eye; 2) There doesn't seem to be any obvious way of determining how they work when you first open the package. There's a small QR code, but that gives information about installation, not use. If you go to the Bose website (at the time of my writing this review) and download the user guide in English, it turns out to be in French! And at least one of the web links from the app is dead. 3) Controlling the buds involves touching the outside of the buds in various ways: brief touch, long touch, or a slide of the finger. This has the advantage of being "solid-state", as opposed to a clickable switch that can wear out. But the buds sit far enough out from the ears that knowing exactly where that "touchable" area is to be found can be difficult. And that is a problem, because a tentative slide (change the volume) can be interpreted as a touch (stop/start) - you need to be confident. 4) The app is poorly designed. Here's an example: You can connect the buds using your regular Bluetooth connection, although the app supposedly will do it for you. If you have connected without using the app, however, then the app doesn't know you've connected ... and you won't be able to do anything else with the app until that connection takes place. And I've not found out yet how to delete the "Work" profile I created at the app's suggestion .... 5) There is a young woman in my earbuds, and when she talks to me about battery strength she sounds bored to death. I'm not surprised, since she insists on telling the the name of the device I've connected to, and the default name of Windows devices is a long and incomprehensible string of gibberish .... OK, here's the summary. I like the sound and the fit, and I'm glad I bought them. However, the overall attention to the user experience doesn't suggest Bose to me, or any sort of premium product for that matter. At $149 they'd be a no-brainer. At their present price, which suggests a luxury experience, I think they're too expensive.

——— UPDATE: March 2026 ——— Still loving my earbuds! I have occasional connection issues but am always able to troubleshoot and resolve on my own. Call/mic quality is great, I use them for phone calls all the time. The only complaint is the mic picks up certain noises too well; like a crinkling bag or water running. I’ve mastered the touch controls, so no complaints there. Still thrilled with my choice. ——— November 2022 ——— This is my very first purchase of wireless earbuds (well, I purchased 3 others at same time, to compare them to each other). I did a decent amount of research in a short period of time, and landed on three of the highest rated. These, the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Beats Fit Pro. I'll start by stating that I haven't felt compelled enough to actually write a review in years. I was so afraid these would disappoint me based on other reviews and Reddit threads, but after just a couple minutes listening to music with these and the Sony earbuds - I had determined an easy winner. I didn't even bother opening the Beats Fit Pro because I knew there was no way they wound better than Bose. My previous earbuds were Bose Soundsport (a gift from someone), so maybe I just have some bias because I'm accustomed to the sound that Bose delivers. My only other prior experience with ANC wireless earbuds is Apple Airpods Pro (I think first generation?) and all I remember when I tried them is instantly thinking the music quality wasn't even close to my Soundsport. Which is a good segue into my Pros and Cons list. PROS: 1. Sound/Music quality. I'm not educated on all the components of sound/music, I don't know the exact science of what's what, I only know what sounds good to me. I know when music sounds "full bodied" and that's how I'd describe these/the Bose sound. The bass especially. I love Bose bass. 1. Comfort. One of my biggest gripes with the Bose Soundsport was the fit/the wing tips. I HATE the wing tips, even with the smallest size they would cause soreness in my left ear in less than hour. In contrast, I LOVE the way these fit/feel. I have worn them for 3+ hours with zero discomfort. And that's with the size that they came with, I haven't even tried the other sizes yet to see if they can be even more comfortable. 2. Noise Cancelling. Again, I'm not highly educated/experienced in this area (Soundsport didn't have ANC), but I can tell these do it well. I blow-dried my hair while listening to music and I couldn't hear the blowdryer at all (I did have my music up to max/near max volume), but still. I did try to compare this feature with Sony's, and either Sony's ANC was malfunctioning (I researched and troubleshooted), or it was just really bad in comparison to Bose. 3. Easy set-up/sync. Scanned a QR code, downloaded the app, and boom, I was connected. I've had zero connection issues. (I have a Galaxy S21+). 4. Aesthetic. I like how they look. I didn't like the weird knob thingy on the Sony, and I don't like the very obvious "b" Beats logo that's on the Bits Fit Pro, so I am extra grateful that I ended up liking these the most, because I also like how they look the most. CONS: 1. Hiss/static noise. One of the biggest complaints I saw people have with these is the faint static/hiss noise (when no music/sound is playing), particularly when in Aware mode (ANC turned off). And yes, mine make the noise, and it can be heard even if music is playing at a very low volume, and yes it's annoying, but when I considered how infrequently I would have my earbuds in but not have any music/sound playing (or have volume low enough to hear the static), I determined that's really not a deal breaker for me, and it doesn't outweigh the pros. 2. At first they were a little difficult to remove from the case, but I have quickly gotten better at knowing where to grab/how to remove. NEUTRAL FOR NOW/WILL UPDATE LATER: 1. Call/mic quality? In my research I also came across a lot of complaints about call quality, people say that the other person on the line can barely hear them/there's a lot of noise, etc. For me, I literally didn't even consider this a factor in my decision making, because I barely care. It's not my primary purpose or use for my wireless earbuds. However, I'll eventually test it out and will update my review later with my experience. 2. Touch controls. I'm new to this, so it could just be a learning curve, but every so often I have trouble getting the touch controls to respond or do exactly what I want. I like it, I think it's neat, and I'm sure I'll get better at it, but I also expect touch controls in general to be finicky on occasion. CONCLUSION: While I would recommend these to anyone, I do believe the best choice for everyone is going to be different, and that it's important to know what your priorities are, what annoys you more, etc. For me personally, the primary purpose of my earbuds is for enjoying music for relatively long periods of time, oftentimes while engaging in physical activity/chores, so sound/music quality and comfort are my two greatest priorities, so for my purposes, I am absolutely thrilled with these.

Man, I thought I'd found the perfect earbuds and am so bummed I have to return these. A little background: I've been using v1 of the Airpods Pro for about 2.5 years. One of them flaked out last week so I began searching for a replacement. While I'm well within the Apple universe (MacBook Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPad Pro, etc) I also use Windows quite a bit. In my search I read dozens of reviews on earbuds, and the vast majority of them almost presumptively point Apple users to the Airpods Pro 2. I get it, in theory everything syncs up and works better. But there were things I didn't like about the Airpods Pro 1 (ANC was mediocre, and particularly bad on a plane; sound quality was meh). So I was actually eager to step outside the Apple box and try something a little more universal. I narrowed my search down to two, and ended up purchasing both the Bose QC II as well as the Airpods Pro 2, with the intent of doing my own use case testing and returning one. Upon receiving and trying both, it took me less than 30 minutes to decide which to keep: The Bose QC II. The ANC on the Airpods 2 was very, very good, but the Bose QC II just took it a couple notches better. As I travel on airplanes quite a bit the ANC was very important to me, and like I said my experience with the original Airpods was lacking. Additionally, after playing a few of my favorite songs with each unit, the Airpods Pro 2 sounded good, but the Bose QC II again came out on top. I'm not an audiophile, but the sound was just richer, with more depth; I heard certain notes in a different way than I ever had with the Airpods. It was at this point that I decided to send the Airpods back, which I did the following day, ready to begin my new and better audio life with the Bose QC II. Everything started out in a state of bliss. Working out of a home office, I could no longer hear my wife working through her accounting problems via Zoom calls in the other room. (FWIW, I also didn't hear her when she came up behind me and asked if I wanted something for lunch). I received a call, and though I fumbled a bit with the controls the first time the call quality was fine, and they seemed to be able to hear me OK. However, the first chink in the armor came just this evening when I tried connecting the Bose QC II to my Windows system in preparation for a call I have tomorrow. Connection via Bluetooth was simple and straightforward. I then went to a news site that I knew had videos and listened. For some reason the sound kept clicking in and out. I thought it might be the connection with the site, so opened Spotify and played a couple of songs. Same issue. I then went to the Bose app on my iPhone, which said it was having trouble connecting, even though it was in fact connected to the PC (albeit a little glitchy). At the end of the day, this last experience seems consistent with so many of the other reviews that I read up here (thank you), and I just don't want to be dealing with this again and again (and especially not after I'm past the return window!). I have no interest in going through a tech support call with Bose or them sending a new pair. For $300 plus tax I shouldn't have to, and these should work more seamlessly. So I'm returning, and I'm not sure what I'm going to replace them with. A few other observations: - The controls for pausing, skipping forward, moving back, volume control, etc. work and are intuitive, however a few times I inadvertently paused music when I was just trying to adjust the earpod. This wasn't the deal killer; I figured in time I'd get used to the sensitivity and figure it out. But it was a little annoying and perhaps some sensitivity adjustments, or more of a haptic-type feel would work better. - The earbuds themselves fit great out of the box. I didn't even try the other sizes. They were very comfortable. - I liked how each time I put the earpods in it told me how much battery was left in each. - The charging case is slightly larger than the Airpods case, but still very pocketable. I could care less that it doesn't support wireless charging, just not a big deal to me. The magnet holding the earpods in also seemed a little stronger than Apple's case, which I really liked because anytime I accidentally dropped the Apple case the earpods would fall out and slide all over the place (wood floors). In summary, again I really, really wanted these to work out. I was so impressed with the ANC and sound quality, and liked how the bass and treble could be adjusted in the Bose app. It's just a shame that it had these connection glitches with my computer system. To be clear, I've read that Bose customer support is good and fair, but again if I have to call customer support to just to properly use a pair of $300 earbuds then something is wrong. UPDATE: So before returning I decided to try one more time with connecting to computer. I shut down all devices (iPad, etc) that were near the computer, to reduce any potential interference. This resolved the issue with the sound breaking out and the earbuds worked fine. I then shut down the computer and reconnected them to the iPhone. All good. However, when I rebooted the computer I somehow lost the connection with the iPhone, and what I was listening to stopped playing. I then looked at the Bose app and it was somewhere in no man’s land, searching for a connection with the earbuds. Only a reboot of the phone got the app out of this mode, and allowed me to reconnect. So… this takes me back to my original point: These are among THE MOST EXPENSIVE earbuds on the market right now. I’m the consumer and it’s not my job, nor interest, to troubleshoot problems and jump through hoops to figure out what’s going on. That should have happened at in the Bose QC department, but from my brief experience combined with all the reviews I’ve read, it seems like something slipped past them. Thank you and God bless.

I've had Bose Soundsports for 6 years. Sound quality has been amazing. I gave them tons of use (gym, yard care, etc) but it's time for new buds. I started looking at Bose products because of the sound quality. But the new rings they use for ear fit concerned me. How will they stay in my ears during workouts without the effective 'wings' I'm used to on the Soundsport? Short answer: They stay in great. I switched out the earpieces and rings to customize the fit and after 2 hardcore trips to the gym, I have no issues with fit. Comfort was also great after 90 minutes of continuous use. I had concerns about connectivity after reading the reviews. I initially freaked because I had an issue right out of the box. The left bud wouldn't immediately connect and the tap control features on the buds were not consistently working. However, I downloaded and installed the software update and I've had no connectivity issues since. They are working flawlessly with my iPhone 14 Pro. I'm not concerned about battery life because I only use buds for a couple hours at a time. However, I will join others in questioning Bose for not including wireless charging as a standard feature. It's not a dealbreaker for me, but it would be nice to have without dropping more $ on a new case. I'd also like to give kudos to Amazon. I ordered these at 6pm with an expected delivery time of 5a-8a the next morning. They arrived at 10p the same night I ordered. Impressive. Had them ready to go for a trip to the gym the next day. Rock on, Bose and Amazon!

Edit: They have finally glitched out and died on me. I do stand by that these are the best ear buds as far as hardware is concerned but their software is bad-borderline terrible. After 11 months they just wouldn't connect anymore but Bose did honor their warranty and even send me ultras as a nice gesture.. but they had so many connectivity issues throughout my year with them, very often having to do a hard reset to clear whatever glitch was going on. They also don't have an ANC off mode??? There's no excuse for it and it makes these earbuds totally useless in windy conditions, on a boat, car with the windows down, bike, motorcycle etc... bose.... Take 10 minutes to add an off setting to these buds in the software. There's already code for it since they turn off when you put them in the case or take them out of your ear... Let us turn them off. Worst feature and they didn't change it for the ultras As of April 2023, these are by far the best ear buds on the planet. I live in my ear buds.. every day, almost all day I have them in watching videos and streams and some music so I always splurge on what the reviews say are the best. I had the Sony XM4s for 13 months and I used them every day until their battery very quickly went from lasting 6 hours to 4 to literally 1 hour. Their warranty is 12 months and at 12 months and 1 day, they won't honor it. Had to throw them away after 13 months. I was extremely impressed with those so I was actually shocked when I first put these QC 2s in my ears... -The noise cancelling is revolutionary. Like, actually a game changer. I have $1200 noise cancelling aviation headsets and they don't come close to these never mind the XM4s. It makes every other noise cancelling I've experienced seem like a gimmick toy by comparison, it's actually a strange sensation is so amazing. -the sound isn't even comparable to anything else. These are night and day way better than the XM4s and every other ear buds I've ever heard. The base actually sounds like a crisp powerful sub woofer with in depth deep powerful notes when listening to explosions or music. It's just a powerful and full sound without any lacking areas. -they are extremely comfortable, so were the XM4s. It's kind of a wash here because I could have both in my ears for 10 hours and be happy and I probably readjust them just as often as any other bud at the gym. -they look cool, better than the girlie XM4s that had that rose gold jewelry look that I had to sand down and paint black. These are masculine and nice right from Bose. On the bigger side but couldn't care less for the noise cancelling and auditory performance. -the app and controls kinda suck, not going to lie. Had some connectivity issues with the app and had to reset the buds for it to connect to them. You need the app to connect to them change any settings.. I find it annoying that you can't turn the controls off or customize any of the touch shortcuts. I had much cheaper buds with completely customizable touch controls and the app would let you turn off all or any singular touch control you don't want for any situation. Bose, epic hardware, just hire one good software guy too. -the only actual problem and complaint I have with these are you can't turn off the noise cancelling or noise enhancing feature entirely. If you are on a motorcycle or in heavy wind, noise cancelling buds give loud feedback and the XM4s allowed you to turn that off but still get audio, these are always on. Again, epic hardware, hire a software guy. Overall, nothing even comes close to these ear buds regardless of the mediocre software attached to them that you will almost never use after initial setup. That being said, they should solve that issue cause it's not very hard to do and for $300 and the best hardware on the market, a good fully customizable software program to go with them would really seal the deal and complete the package.

Bought these back in February on sale for $250 after my Jaybirds (I had for nearly 5 years) finally bit the dust. As someone who uses earbuds daily for work, home, and gym; God knows how many hours I had on my Jaybirds listening to music, podcasts, and audio books. I actually felt sad when they broke and had huge expectations with these Bose. They're the first Bose I've ever had and I REALLY wanted to love these. The first month-ish they were great! Getting a new piece of tech years ahead of your previous, you really notice the sound quality, noise cancellation, batter life, and quick charge features. Unfortunately, that was were the good news stopped. Immediately, I noticed the right earbud is like the main unit. They won't operate independently while the right earbud is in the case which was a bummer not having that feature anymore, since I had this from a product years older, but not a dealbreaker for me. The BIGGEST problem is the connection issues. The software/ Bluetooth in these SUCK. You could have the greatest speakers and noise cancellation features in an earbud ever and it doesn't mean a damn thing if they don't actually connect/ work properly. I've had all manner of problems on this front from the earbuds not connecting in general, to the left/right speaker individually not connecting, or going-out/dropping randomly. Sometimes they'll be working just fine, until you pause whatever you're listening to and then you lose the sound/ connection and have to reset the Bluetooth connection/ put them back in the case and take them out again to get the sound back. There have been times when you place them in your ear and they register they're connected via the echo sound and voice saying so, only for you to wait 10-45 seconds for the sound to actually come through the speakers. I can go on-and-on about this forever, like every other month some new problem with the connection appears. I have a Galaxy S22 ultra so one of the newest/top end phones at the time as I believe the 23s were just about to roll out as I got these earbuds. Kept everything up to date, only device paired, have unpaired and cleared the cache then re-paired with the device, and every other trick Bose recommends on their website for troubleshooting the connection issues... It's still an ongoing issue that has been such a frustration. Another issue I've found was they never stayed in your ears very well. Moving your head suddenly or side-to-side can easily cause them to fall out. I switched the earpieces to the largest size that it comes with but still have problems now and again. I'm sure its a personal thing with the earpiece sizes and you could order 3rd party earpieces that fit better to solve this issue but with the connection issues being what they are, I never bothered investing more $ in a defective product. This leads me to my last issue though, due to previous issues, I never used these earbuds for the gym/ working out/ running. So you'd think that would cut a lot of wear and tear down on the product. Yet, come October here and the hinge on the top cover of the case gave out and broke off. Luckily the magnets on the earbuds are strong enough to keep them in place in the case to not fall out while in your pocket. But that was it, roughly 8 months of ownership and the case already gave out which caused me to come back and write this review. When they work, they work great, but unfortunately that was short-lived in my case. If you wana roll the dice good luck! Personally, its been such a let down and pain that I will never buy another pair of Bose again after this.