Sales on flagship-level wireless earbuds from elite audio purveyors like Bose are few and far between. So this $50-off Amazon deal on the 2nd-gen QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, which are among the very best noise-canceling buds on the market, is a bigger deal than the discount might suggest at first glance.
What sets the QuietComfort Ultra bud apart is Bose’s proprietary ActiveSense technology, the noise cancellation engine that distinguishes the Ultra Earbuds from cheaper alternatives. Where conventional ANC applies a fixed cancellation profile, ActiveSense continuously monitors the ambient environment and smooths sudden spikes in sound like a slamming door or a passing truck rather than letting them punch through. CustomTune layers on top of that: The QC Ultra buds analyze the acoustic shape of your specific ear canals on every listen and calibrate noise cancellation and EQ response accordingly, which is why the subjective experience of wearing these tends to vary from person to person.
Worth the Burn
Immersive Audio is Bose’s spatial audio implementation, moving the soundstage outside your head and placing instruments and vocals into a broader field. It works better than most earbud spatial audio, but it comes with a caveat: Enabling it drops battery life from 6 hours to 4. The case, however, holds three full charges, giving 24 hours of total runtime in standard mode or 16 with Immersive Audio on. Buyers who plan to use spatial audio consistently should be aware of the 4-hour earbud runtime, but also know that the sound quality makes the battery burn worth it.
The QC Ultra’s call quality ranks right up there with the noise canceling. SpeechClarity uses a noise-rejecting microphone array to isolate your voice from background noise and wind. This puts actual distance between these and earbuds that technically support calls but struggle in anything louder than a quiet room. Bluetooth multipoint connects to two devices simultaneously, so switching from a laptop to a phone mid-conversation does not require manually breaking and reestablishing the connection. IPX4 water resistance covers sweat and rain splashes, adequate for most use cases outside of swimming.
One Bud Fits All
Fit is handled by nine combinations of eartip sizes and stability band shapes, which covers a wider range of ear geometry than the three-size tip set most earbuds ship with. The stability bands hook into the concha of the ear and keep the earbuds seated during physical activity. The case now charges wirelessly as well as via USB-C, which removes the dedicated charging cable from the daily carry requirement.
There’s stiff competition in this category. The Sony WF-1000XM5 frequently drops to the $200 range, and the Apple AirPods Pro 2 sits around $189 with H2-chip ANC that competes directly. But Bose’s noise cancellation and call quality justify the premium for buyers willing to go an extra few bucks for true world-class quality. During this Amazon deal, they’re going $50 fewer extra bucks and scoring the QuietComfort Ultra buds for just $249.