Bose QuietComfort Headphones 2nd-gen reviewed: still solid

A new take on a classic, the Bose QuietComfort Headphones take the comfort you’ve known for years and tweaks the tech. If not for the price, they’d be brilliant.

The first day I started reviewing the second generation QuietComfort headphones, I took a seat next to a man wearing a previous generation of the same range. It wasn’t intentional, and thanks to a 20 year history of reviewing the world’s best headphones, I am cursed with being able to remember them all.

Here we were, sitting on a surprisingly crowded Thursday morning train to the city, he in his black QuietComfort 45 headphones and me in my black QuietComfort 2nd-gen.

I thought to myself “I used to have a pair just like those.”

And yet here I was reviewing a pair similar to those still, because this is a range that has practically been legendary for Bose.

It may well have been the company that invented how noise cancelling works, but the QuietComfort has long been the benchmark for brands to beat. It’s what Sony and Beats and Apple are competing with, and to an extent, it’s why Bose needs to split the range.

You see Bose has a flagship model in the QuietComfort Ultra, one of this reviewer’s favourite pairs of cans. And yet with a price over the $600 mark, not everyone wants to spend the price to get those headphones. That’s completely understandable.

So for those people, Bose also has a model of standard QuietComfort which essentially tapers back the tech for people who still want quiet and comfort, but maybe also want to keep some more of their money. It’s been around since the first generation of QuietComfort Ultra popped up, but it missed the update when the second-gen Ultras arrived last year.

This year, however, it’s getting a bit of a glow-up, as Bose tweaks a few things and offers up classic noise cancellation for slightly less. Are the Bose QuietComfort 2nd-gen headphones worth the price, or can you do better?

Design and features

When the first pair of new QuietComfort models arrived alongside the first-gen Ultra, the immediate thought was “well now, this is familiar”.

It’s because they were. After a relatively ho-hum response from the Bose 700 headphones, the company went back to what worked in the QuietComfort range, reviving a model that seemed to be universally admired. At least on this planet, anyway.

The QuietComfort Ultra improved upon that, while the QuietComfort standard kept things similar. The point was clear: Bose still made a classic pair of cans, but a newer and better generation was also available.

That “classic” pair was what the QuietComfort sans-Ultra had become, and they looked the part. These were basically the QuietComfort models everyone knew, they just didn’t include the numbers denoting generation.

This year, the change is an update to a second generation, as well as slightly different design. You can see it in the shape, which is less like an oval and more like a softened rectangle.

Underneath is a combination of driver and processors, the former of which Bose hasn’t declared, but based on the size, our guess is a 40mm driver working with tweaked and changed sound processing tech, not to mention three microphones per ear, making it six in total.

There’s support for Bluetooth 5.4 in the headphones as well as Bluetooth LE, and you can use USB-C for audio, too, giving you both a wireless and wired pair of headphones.

In-use

Despite the tweaks to the design and tech, there are definite similarities in the QuietComfort Headphones 2nd-gen, and things you’ll recall if you’ve ever seen the Bose QC models previously.

The cups haven’t quite changed: they’re still more sizeable than others pairs of headphones, encasing your ears in among the comfiest leatherette and foam. You won’t feel snug in the slightest, and the pads sit nicely around your ears.

That’s about par for the course for the Quiet Comfort headphones, so Bose clearly hasn’t messed with the formula that made the headphones so good.

It’s the same for the controls, which is possibly less good. You’ll be left with physical controls on both sides, the right including a sequence of buttons for volume and playback, while the left side includes a noise cancellation mode button and power switch when doubles as a Bluetooth setup trigger.

All of this means the Bose QuietComfort 2nd-gen is largely the same. The most obvious change is the outside casing, which looks a little different, and the fact that the headphone jack has now disappeared.

In its place is a USB-C to 3.5mm cable, included in the case, though you can also use a USB-C to USB-C cable to your device, because wired listening works two ways here.

Performance

You essentially have two ways to listen — wired or wireless — but however you choose, that performance is the most important part. As usual, we’re testing with Pickr’s Sound Test, a set of tracks you can use to test your own headphones across the world’s most popular streaming services.

That kicks off with a somewhat balanced sound across electronic, as Tycho and Daft Punk start our list. The sound definitely isn’t bright, offering a surprisingly fun punch of bass and a more significant than expected low-end drop. You surely wouldn’t complain about the sound here.

Bose headphones are definitely known for their balance, achieving detail across the spectrums, and these are no different, complete with an impact across highs, mids, and lows. It’s not earthy and warm, but it’s strong across them all.

In rock, there’s a wide sound stage, while jazz and classical offer a surprisingly meaty sound, as well. The likes of The Who and The Beatles (independent, not together) offer a wide soundstage, as does a live performance of Ray Brown which really comes alive inside these cans.

It’s a good, solid sound, and it’s one that is entirely familiar. This balanced sense of self is one synonymous with the QuietComfort. This is more of that same, but in the best way possible. No arguments here.

Noise cancellation

Key to the changes is a tweak to the noise cancellation, offering a good six microphones all up compared with the 10 in its big brother, the QuietComfort Ultra. The result is a pair that has no problem blocking out the world, but can still let traces through, thanks to three on each side compared to the five in its more expensive sibling.

Tested on trains amidst the hum of transport and walking through town with the sound of the human pedestrian choir, we found some background sound would make its way in, but the bubble of isolation was still present.

They’re clearly not as good as the Ultra headphones, but given the difference in models, we’re not really surprised.

For a model just below the high-end, the cancellation is admirable.

Spatial audio

One of the big changes in the second-gen is support for the spatial audio approach Bose has been throwing into its headphones for a few years now, a feature that doesn’t need the Dolby Atmos of an iPhone and Apple Music, and can actually work with Spotify on iPhone and Android, or YouTube Music on either platform, or really anything. It’s an immersive audio take that aims to work with everything.

It’s not technically Dolby Atmos, but it’s near enough for jazz, and a lot of other types of music, too.

Just like the Ultra models across Bose’s earbuds and headphones, the QC 2nd-gen can let you simulate spatial audio by moving your head, providing two options: still and motion. One stays a little fixed as you move, while the other feels more dynamic and moves with you. Both, however, animate the sound in a way where it sounds a little more interactive, even if it’s not spatial in the sense that Apple’s AirPods Max 2 provide.

While you won’t get a real Atmos track to play back through these headphones (we tried), the result is one of the better emulations of the effect, and fun to listen to. It’s a feature Bose has been doing well before a bunch of companies, except to maybe Apple which showed this on its AirPods models first.

Battery

The battery is about the same, however, offering a maximum of 24 hours which has largely become the standard level of battery for noise cancelling headphones today.

It is sadly not as good as what Sennheiser can achieve from its equivalent, or even what the less expensive offering from Soundcore can deliver, both of which is typically a minimum of double that of Bose’s efforts.

It does feel as though you’re getting the battery from a few years ago in the headphones of today. This isn’t a dire problem, and you’re probably going to be near a USB-C charger before the headphones run out, but you can find a lot better simply by looking around.

Value

The price is where we are we raise a bit of an actual red flag. Not necessarily because the headphones aren’t worth the price Bose is pitching, but because the street pricing of their more impressive big brother can end up being about the same price as this pair.

Australians will find the Bose QuietComfort 2nd-gen for $549.95, or you can simply round it down to $549 which is what most retailers will likely do. By comparison, the QC Ultra 2nd-gen is set to a recommended retail price of $699 which is more expensive… until you find the street price of that same model.

A quick glance on search will find the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2 at $579, just thirty dollars more.

In that fight, the Ultra wins every time. It is better in just about every way, and isn’t really a fair fight.

And that’s the biggest problem of the Bose QC 2nd-gen headphones: the price is too high given the price cuts of its sibling, which have been in the market for a good year at this point.

What needs work?

So the price clearly needs work, but what else? The good news is the answer isn’t much.

The cancellation isn’t quite as solid as its Ultra sibling, but is better than a lot of other brands, and is totally fine for most people keen to save money.

No, the price is the only obvious red flag. It just doesn’t make sense, and should be about a good fifty bucks lower. It’s one thing to charge for an upsell, but it’s another when the upsell’s street price is so close, it makes you wonder whether the lower priced model is even worth considering.

At $549 it wouldn’t be, but at $499, Bose would have great value.

What we love

The price may give us pause, but just about every other aspect is a winning feature, as Bose continues what worked in the QuietComfort range by tweaking the tech and leaving the comfort.

It’s literally there in the name: Quiet Comfort. These headphones have to be both, and that is no easy feat. The “quiet” part is more of a technical achievement, using the processors and microphones to cancel out the world, while the “comfort” is an area not every company nails. Bose did it years ago, and has largely kept things consistent in this range, so this is more a tweak on the design and the tech underpinning the first part of the name.

The result is a new generation that inherits much of what makes Bose’s other headphones great, without going the full hog.

Bose QuietComfort vs the competition

That price gives us pause, however, and largely because Bose has other pairs of headphones that are regularly on sale, are better, and not far from where the QuietComfort 2nd-gen play.

The problem is that as good as these are, the Ultra model is definitely better, and you don’t need to do too much looking around to find those headphones at a better price than the QuietComfort 2nd-gen.

Take the Ultra Gen 2, easily one of the best pairs you can find from any brand right now. They’re normally $699, but even as the QC sans-Ultra Gen 2 arrived (the pair this review is focused on), they had dropped to $579 from the proper places. And sure, you might argue price fluctuations are normal — and you’d be right — but a simple glance will also find you the Ultra models at better prices beyond even the official price.

While Bose will likely shift its headphones back to being closer to $700, street pricing of the Ultra models — both first and second gen — does appear to be better than the QuietComfort 2nd-gen, making this one just that much more difficult to swallow.

If the QC Gen 2 were say a hundred bucks less at $449, everything about them would make more sense. If they were even lower, these headphones would literally be a bargain.

But in an era where everything seems like it costs more simply because it can (and we can’t blame headphone price rises on AI like you can computers and phones), seeing a slightly updated recycled pair for this price just feels confusing.

There are even more options in the world of noise cancelling headphones, and most of them make a little more sense financially than this pair.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

The good news is that this quibble is about the only thing we can actually genuinely complain about. The price doesn’t make a heap of sense, but the headphones are excellent in just about every other way.

The QuietComfort has largely always been solid. These are still solid. They are everything you might need or want in a pair of comfy noise cancelling headphones just made a little bit better.

Could the price be better? Sure, but in a few months is probably will be. If you can spare the cash on the Ultra, we would. But if you’re after a pair that still delivers, the QuietComfort 2nd-gen make a lot of sense. Recommended.