Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 Review: Major Fun

Speaking of battery, there’s a slight increase from the unique’s 24 hours to 30 hours of playback with noise canceling (24 with Immersive Audio). You can now pay attention whereas they cost and entry lossless audio tracks over USB-C from supported sources, one thing neither the unique Ultra nor Sony’s XM6 supply.

Bose has additionally made it simpler to manage noise canceling and transparency modes, letting you turn off ambient audio utterly within the app or customise how a lot sound is blocked or piped in from the microphones beneath Noise Control. Previously, this required making a Custom sound mode.

Otherwise, you’re getting the identical strong characteristic set, with choices like multipoint audio connection (nonetheless for simply two units), adaptive sound that tailors efficiency to your ears, and settings like the power to regulate your individual voice for calls. Onboard controls embody energy and multi-function keys, and a contact sensor quantity slider, which continues to be a bit much less responsive than I’d like.

There are a couple of excellent options nonetheless on my want checklist, like a multi-band EQ relatively than the extra fundamental three-band setup, which makes tailoring the booming default bass extra hatchet than scalpel. Auracast audio sharing would have been good, even whether it is extra future-looking.

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Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Testing the newest Ultra in opposition to the Gen 1 and Sony XM6 over a number of days largely simply jogged my memory how unimaginable all of them are at suppressing sound. All three pairs sit on the prime of the market, besting the rest we’ve examined, and most of the people are unlikely to note any main variations in efficiency in most conditions.