Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds (2nd Gen)
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds 2 can be found for $299 in 5 colours.
- They provide stellar immersive sound expertise, all-day consolation, and wonderful noise-canceling efficiency.
- Nonetheless, bugs may cause connectivity points, and the case is bigger than most popular.
extra shopping for selections
oct / 2025
On paper, the Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds (2nd Gen) tech specs could appear painfully incremental, however there’s extra to them than meets the attention. It is spectacular how seemingly innocuous updates from one technology to the subsequent can considerably improve the consumer expertise, and Bose is a masterful participant on this regard.
Evaluate: Bose QuietComfort Extremely Headphones (2nd Gen)
They add important options that had been lacking from the 1st-gen product, and do one thing higher whereas retaining the identical price ticket. Nonetheless, in addition they retain some signature Bose quirks that I want did not hassle me as a lot as they do.
I traveled with the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 on two journeys, and whereas they have not changed my Pixel Buds Professional 2 utterly — for causes I will clarify later — there’s quite a bit to love right here. This is the way it went.
Constructed for consolation
The brand new Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 prioritize perform over aesthetics. They’re designed for outside use and supply all-day consolation in a well-known type. The earbuds themselves characteristic a guard to handle earwax buildup, which Bose says helps make it “simpler to seize and take away earwax after extended use.” I have not confronted any earwax points with the brand new Bose product, however this design additionally provides them a comfortable match.
The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 aren’t essentially the most aesthetically pleasing earbuds and are bigger than the competitors. Based mostly on their look, I used to be skeptical of the match based mostly on the earbuds, however throughout my few weeks of utilization, I have not had them unintentionally fall out of my ears as soon as.
I’ve worn them on airplanes, throughout commutes, and even on walks (IPX4 score for sweat resistance) with Transparency mode on, and encountered no unintentional earbud drops in any respect. I like the comfy match of those earbuds, due to their tender eartips with help bands. I would price them above Sony’s WF-1000XM5 earbuds and Apple’s AirPods Professional 3 when it comes to consolation.
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Just like the earbuds, Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2’s charging case is cumbersome and awkward-looking, however it’s constructed to final. They arrive in Black, White Smoke, Desert Gold, Midnight Violet, and Deep Plum colour variants. I have been utilizing the White Smoke mannequin, and regardless of unintentional drops, I can not discover a single scratch on my unit.
It has fared significantly better than my Pixel Buds Professional 2, which acquired soiled inside every week, and the AirPods Professional 3, which acquired a number of unknown scratches. That stated, this case may be inconvenient to hold, particularly if you wish to place it in your pocket.
Immersive Audio is successful
What does the big earbuds measurement get you? Identical drivers as earlier than, however with even higher sound. The QC Extremely Earbuds 2 produce pleasing audio with boosted bass and highs. They help AAC, SBC, and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs (together with aptX Lossless), in addition to Google Quick Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair for fast connections between units.
The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 supply an pleasant sound efficiency. At default settings, paired with Apple Music on my iPhone (SBC) and Vivo X100 Professional (AAC), they’ve a powerful bass response. You might have 4 primary EQ presets (Bass Enhance, Bass Reducer, Treble Enhance, and Treble Reducer) to select from, which may be additional adjusted throughout the app.
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The earbuds do an ideal job at reproducing the sub-bass and do not sound too sharp at excessive frequencies. I loved listening to my favourite songs by means of varied genres, together with rock and acoustic music. They sound spacious and full-bodied, with good instrument separation when a number of devices are current within the combine.
The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are among the many greatest earbuds for spatial audio. On most merchandise that go for proprietary spatial audio codecs as an alternative of Dolby Atmos, audio replica sounds synthetic and shrill. However Bose has performed an excellent job with its Immersive Audio mode. You may select between Nonetheless mode, with head monitoring disabled, and Movement mode, with head monitoring enabled. I selected the latter for essentially the most half and liked it.
Additionally: Bose simply did what Apple could not with the QuietComfort Extremely headphones – and I am offered
They’re one of many uncommon earbuds that sound pure whereas making the music extra full of life in spatial audio, on par with AirPods Professional 3. However I may put on the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 for longer durations than Apple’s earbuds. As ZDNET’s audio editor, Jada Jones says, these earbuds sound “simply heat sufficient to make long-term put on and listening simple on the ears.” The low- to mid-frequency vary struggles a bit, however the total expertise is sensible. If you wish to expertise immersive audio, these are the earbuds to go for.
How’s the efficiency generally?
If the AirPods Professional 3 are the brand new ANC champion of earbuds, the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 aren’t far behind. Due to eight microphones and new algorithms, they will lower almost all bothersome frequencies, from ambient public chatter in cafes to the rumble of airplane engines.
Actually, Bose’s AI-powered lively noise cancellation, ActiveSense, is among the greatest makes use of of AI on a shopper product. It employs noise cancellation when your surroundings turns into too loud, which is good for if you’re in public, the place noise ranges are ever-changing. ActiveSense adapts to those adjustments within the background swiftly and easily.
Additionally: I attempted Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds’ AI noise cancelling, and may’t return to common ANC
Bose’s transparency mode, dubbed Conscious mode, is equally good and my default noise setting. Human voices sound pure, and you’ll alter them to match the noise degree in your surroundings. It adjusts robotically with no lag after I’m speaking to somebody, and the exterior noise naturally fades to the background after I’m performed. Bose’s characteristic performs extra naturally and easily than Apple’s Dialog Consciousness or Sony’s Converse-to-Chat characteristic.
The Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are rated to last as long as six hours with ANC on and 4 hours in Immersive mode. The case can present a further 24 hours of playback time. Though their battery life is not the shortest, it is also not the longest, which might be a problem on long-haul flights.
Lastly, the Bose app is straightforward to make use of. The Settings menu presents intuitive controls for adjusting the EQ, Modes, Supply, and extra. You can even create your individual noise cancellation mode, which could be a bit tedious and end in a lack of ActiveSense. Nonetheless, it’s price making an attempt for those who’re not happy with the default ANC modes. The Earbud Seal Take a look at and Match Take a look at are extra options for fine-tuning your expertise for those who’re not happy with the match.
Be careful for these caveats
I would prefer to level out two points that occurred randomly all through my utilization, they usually relate to connectivity and firmware points.
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First, when multipoint is enabled and you’ve got related the earbuds to 2 units as soon as, they proceed to seek for the second machine after being faraway from the case. I related the earbuds to my iPhone 17 Professional Max and Vivo X100 Professional. Now, I do not carry my Vivo on commutes.
So, after I take the earbuds out of the case, they connect with my iPhone however maintain the pairing tone going, in search of a second machine. Consequently, you may’t simply join and play your music. The pairing tone interrupts your music for just a few seconds. I had the same situation with the Bose QuietComfort Extremely headphones, however it was resolved later.
Second, the earbuds typically join individually or do not join in any respect to my iPhone. I’ve to place them again within the case and take them out once more to reconnect. Furthermore, putting in an replace was a irritating expertise. I needed to reset the machine and reinstall all the things simply to get the replace to switch to the earbuds.
Additionally: It’s best to most likely clear your earbuds proper now (or else this occurs)
The QC Extremely Earbuds 2 debuted with SpeechClarity, a characteristic that makes use of Bose’s patented know-how to detect speech and course of it for enhanced readability. This characteristic is barely accessible by means of an replace; it wasn’t put in within the earbuds out of the field. Sadly, I could not get this replace to put in on my unit, however ZDNET’s Jada Jones stories, “With this characteristic enabled, I did not obtain any complaints about warbled or muffled speech when calling family and friends. Even in windy or noise environments like a busy grocery retailer, the earbuds’ microphones held up effectively.”
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds (2nd Gen) retain their giant kind issue however enhance on varied features. If Bose can squash the aforementioned bugs, these could be my go-to suggestion for the immersive audio expertise. At $299, these could also be costly, however they’re definitely worth the price ticket. They’re corresponding to the brand new AirPods Professional 3 when it comes to noise cancellation, however present a extra comfy and safe match.
For those who’re in search of a pair of earbuds that match effectively, sound nice, supply wonderful ANC efficiency, and full the characteristic set with an distinctive spatial audio expertise, the Bose QC Extremely Earbuds 2 are a simple suggestion.
We awarded Bose’s newest flagship earbuds an Editors’ Alternative award for his or her unequalled consolation, steady match, distinctive noise cancellation, and nice sound. Moreover, Bose makes nice use of its AI-powered noise processing algorithms to boost noise cancellation and voice enhancement. All of those components mix to create a pair of earbuds which can be well-suited for lengthy hours of touring and dealing.
Like their over-ear counterpart, the QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds (2nd Gen) present essentially the most helpful options to all customers, no matter their machine or software program ecosystem.
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