Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, Wireless, Bluetooth, World’s Best Noise Cancelling In-Ear Headphones with Personalized Noise
$249.00
- INTRODUCING QUIETCOMFORT EARBUDS II: These new wireless, bluetooth, noise cancelling earbuds from Bose weren’t designed with a one-size-fits-all approach. These next-generation wireless earbuds are engineered to fit you. They intelligently personalize the noise cancellation and sound performance to uninterrupted, immersive listening wherever you are. To ensure all-day comfort and a secure fit, they come with three pairs of ear tips and three pairs of custom stability bands, so you can find the best fit for your ears. Own your uniqueness with sound and fit shaped to you.
- BOSE World’s Best NOISE CANCELLING EARBUDS: QuietComfort Earbuds II intelligently personalize the noise cancellation and sound performance to your ears, so you can enjoy deep, immersive sound and the world’s best noise cancellation. August 2022. Conclusions derived by Bose Corp., based on ANC measurements made by Michael & Assoc., Inc. per ANSI/ASA S12.42-2010
- BOSE COMFORTABILITY: To ensure your wireless earbuds feel comfortable and stay put no matter what you’re doing, QC Earbuds II come with a Bose Fit Kit. The convenient Fit Kit includes three pairs of ear tips and three pairs of stability bands are made from soft silicone for all-day comfort and a secure fit.
- KEEP LISTENING: With just one bud. Want to listen to your music or take a phone call with just one earbud? With the single earbud listening feature, take out the left or right earbud and the other will keep on playing.
- WIRELESS & EASY TO USE: Use the simple touch interface on the wireless earbuds to control everything. This convenient interface frees your hands so you can stay focused on whatever you’re doing. With simple swipes and taps, play or pause music, the noise cancellation level, all without ever touching your phone.
- LONG LASTING BATTERY: Stay absorbed in the music you love for up to 6 hours. When not in use, store your Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II in the portable charging case — it’s small enough to fit in your pocket. If the battery gets low, voice prompts let you know. Out of power and don’t have enough time to fully charge? The quick-charge option provides up to 2 hours of battery life from a 20-minute charge.
- ADVANCED BLUETOOTH TECHNOLOGY: To ensure your earbuds stay connected to your device, Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II offer advanced Bluetooth 5.3 capability. This newest generation of Bluetooth technology offers a strong, continuous connection as long as you’re within 30 feet of the paired device. The earbuds keep track of the last seven paired devices to easily swap between them without reconnecting.
- BOSE MUSIC APP: The Bose Music app guides you through setup. Use the app to access your preferences, including noise cancellation levels, Bluetooth connections, shortcuts and more. Earbuds:1.2″ H x 0.68″ W x 0.88″ D (0.22 oz each)
Chris –
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.
Wes –
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.
Amazon Customer –
Deciding between Apple and Bose….
I’ve been a long time Bose fan but when it came to upgrading my earbuds from wired bluetooth to true wireless with noise cancellation I struggled to choose between the Apple Airpods Pro and the Bose Quiet Comfort (QC) II so I ordered both to give them a try. Hopefully this summary of my experience will help guide you if you have a similar choice to make.Fit:I’ve always struggled to get previous versions of Apple Airpods to stay in my ear and not continuously fall out. With the shape of the Airpods Pro I managed to find a reasonable fit which would stay in my ears. From previous my experience of Bose earbuds I’ve always managed to find a really secure fit and the QC II’s were no exception. You choose the size of tip for your ear and also a fin size which holds the QC II’s in place in the external part of the ear. Both the Airpods Pro and QC II’s have a test function within the app to check for a good fit and seal. Overall I found the QC II’s to be a better fit for my ears but this is likely to come down to the individual’s ear size/shape.Comfort:My previous versions of Bose earbuds have been very comfortable and I could wear them for long periods without any discomfort. Unfortunately the QC II’s were not as comfortable and I got to the point where I was relieved to remove them after 1-2 hours of use. On the other hand I can wear the Airpods Pro for 4+ hours without any discomfort and almost without feeling there is anything in my ears. Overall I preferred the Airpods Pro in terms of comfort.Sound:Hands down the QC II’s produce a much better quality of sound in terms of clarity and bass and treble. The Bose app also has an equaliser to tweak the sound of the QC II’s to how you like it. The sound from the Airpods Pro is definitely acceptable though and you probably wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with it unless you listened to them side by side with the QC II’s.Noise Cancellation:I was very impressed with the noise cancellation of both the Airpods Pro and the QC II’s. They could both block out the majority of noise levels that I encountered however the noise cancellation of the QC II’s was probably slightly better. I also found the QC II’s gave me less (although it was still there) of a pressure feeling in my ears when the noise cancellation was active. However, when in transparency mode (which allows you to still hear what’s going on in the outside world whilst listening to music/podcasts, etc.), the QC II’s produced a constant background hiss which eventually began to hurt my ears and in turn contributed to the comfort level described above. The hiss was very apparent on podcasts/spoken word where there is no background sound or music. Since I listen to a lot of podcasts I really struggled to like the QC II’s and much preferred the Airpods Pro. This was my biggest factor in choosing which earbuds to keep.Charging/Storage Case:To be honest the case wasn’t a big factor in my decision of which earbuds to keep. The QC II’s case is slightly larger than the Airpods Pro case and I think doesn’t hold quite as much power to recharge the earbuds. The QC II’s case is only compatible with USB C cables however the Airpods Pro case is compatible with Apple’s Lightning Cable, standard wireless chargers and also Apple’s watch chargers.Overall:I decided to go for the Airpods Pro despite being a longtime Bose fan, mainly due to the comfort factor and the main mode that I use being the transparency mode. I just couldn’t live with the hiss from the QC II’s in transparency mode!
Ricardo –
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II – Das Ohrkonzert, das sogar die Vögel zum Applaudieren bringt!
Meine lieben audiophilen Freunde, haltet eure Ohren fest, denn ich habe das ultimative Hörerlebnis für euch – die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II! Diese kleinen Wunderwerke bringen den Konzertsaal direkt in eure Gehörgänge und lassen euch die Musik in einer völlig neuen Dimension erleben.Stellt euch vor: Ihr setzt diese Earbuds auf und plötzlich befindet ihr euch mitten in einem Konzertsaal. Die Klänge sind so klar und präzise, dass ihr das Gefühl habt, die Musik live zu erleben. Jeder einzelne Ton wird mit solcher Klarheit wiedergegeben, dass selbst die Vögel draußen vor eurem Fenster anfangen, im Takt mitzuswingen!Die Basswiedergabe dieser Earbuds ist einfach beeindruckend. Sie ist so kraftvoll, dass ihr das Gefühl habt, eine Bassgitarre direkt neben eurem Ohr zu haben. Euer Kopf beginnt sich im Rhythmus zu bewegen und ihr werdet Teil der Musik, als wärt ihr der nächste Rockstar auf der Bühne.Aber das ist noch nicht alles, meine Freunde. Die Geräuschunterdrückung dieser Earbuds ist wie eine magische Macht, die euch in eine andere Welt transportiert. Egal, ob ihr in der U-Bahn sitzt, im Büro arbeitet oder im Flugzeug reist, mit den Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II könnt ihr euch von der Außenwelt abschotten und euch voll und ganz auf die Musik konzentrieren. Es ist, als ob ihr euren eigenen kleinen Konzertsaal überallhin mitnehmen könntet.Die Passform dieser Earbuds ist ebenfalls bemerkenswert. Sie sitzen fest und bequem in euren Ohren, ohne dass ihr Angst haben müsst, dass sie herausfallen und euer Hörerlebnis beeinträchtigen. Ihr könnt euch frei bewegen, tanzen oder einfach nur im Takt mitwippen, ohne dass die Earbuds ihren Platz verlieren.Und das Beste kommt noch: Die Akkulaufzeit dieser Earbuds ist wirklich beeindruckend. Ihr könnt stundenlang in eure eigene musikalische Welt eintauchen, ohne dass euch der Saft ausgeht. Und wenn ihr dann doch einmal aufladen müsst, könnt ihr das praktische Ladeetui verwenden, das die Earbuds schnell wieder einsatzbereit macht.Ich muss zugeben, dass die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II meine Erwartungen übertroffen haben. Sie bieten ein Hörerlebnis, das mit einem echten Konzertsaal konkurrieren kann. Die Klarheit, der Bass und die Geräuschunterdrückung sind einfach fantastisch. Egal, ob ihr ein Musikliebhaber seid oder einfach nur den bestmöglichen Klang genießen möchtet, diese Earbuds werden euch nicht enttäuschen.Also schnappt euch die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, setzt sie auf und lasst euch von einem Konzertsaal der Extraklasse verzaubern. Und wer weiß, vielleicht werden die Vögel von deinem musikalischen Genuss so inspiriert sein, dass sie anfangen, eigene Konzerte zu geben. Aber Achtung, es könnte sein, dass eure Nachbarn an eurer Tür klopfen und um Zugang zu eurem persönlichen Ohrkonzert bitten!Ich kann mit Sicherheit sagen, dass die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II ein echtes Meisterwerk sind. Sie bieten ein Hörerlebnis, das so beeindruckend ist, dass ihr euch fragen werdet, wie ihr jemals ohne sie ausgekommen seid. Egal, ob ihr eure Lieblingsband hört, euch von klassischer Musik verzaubern lasst oder einfach nur die Songs eurer Jugend wiederentdeckt – mit diesen Earbuds werdet ihr jedes Detail, jede Nuance und jede Emotion der Musik intensiv erleben.Und lasst mich euch etwas verraten: Diese Earbuds sind nicht nur für Musikliebhaber gedacht. Sie eignen sich auch hervorragend für Podcasts, Hörbücher und sogar Telefonanrufe. Mit der erstklassigen Mikrofonqualität könnt ihr eure Stimme klar und deutlich übertragen und müsst euch keine Sorgen machen, dass eure Hörer das Gespräch verpassen.Abschließend möchte ich sagen: Die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II sind wie ein musikalisches Feuerwerk für eure Ohren. Sie bieten eine Klangqualität, die euch sprachlos machen wird, und eine Geräuschunterdrückung, die euch in eure eigene Welt eintauchen lässt. Egal, ob ihr ein audiophiler Enthusiast oder einfach nur ein Musikliebhaber seid, diese Earbuds werden euch mit ihrem kraftvollen Sound und ihrer beeindruckenden Technologie begeistern.Also legt eure Lieblingssongs auf, setzt die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II auf und lasst euch von einem Hörerlebnis der Extraklasse verzaubern. Aber Vorsicht, ihr werdet vielleicht so sehr in eure Musik vertieft sein, dass ihr die Welt um euch herum vergesst. Vergesst also nicht, zwischendurch mal eine Pause einzulegen und die echten Klänge des Lebens zu genießen!Hinweis: Die Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II können süchtig machen und euer Verlangen nach großartigem Klang steigern. Ihr könnt euch plötzlich in Situationen wiederfinden, in denen ihr nur noch eure Musik hören wollt und alles andere vergesst. Bitte verwendet die Earbuds verantwortungsbewusst und denkt daran, auch mal eine Pause einzulegen, um die Gesellschaft eurer Mitmenschen und die Geräusche der Welt um euch herum zu genießen. Musik ist großartig, aber das echte Leben hat auch einiges zu bieten!
Pitoufle –
Très bons écouteurs avec quelques améliorations possibles
Alors j’ai presque tout essayé de ce qui se faisait de récent en terme d’écouteurs sans fil… Ces Bose sont à mon sens un très bon choix, avec toutefois quelques défauts qui pourraient être facilement gommés.D’abord les quelques atouts indéniables :- la réduction de bruit est impressionnanteVraiment efficace, grosso modo du même niveau que les Apple Airpods Pro … Loin devant les autres que j’ai pu essayer (Sehnheiser Momentum 3, Jabra Elite 7 pro …)Le mode transparent est pas mal du tout aussi, malgré un léger bruit de fond. Mais c’est tout à fait utilisable et on peut du coup garder les écouteurs à peu près tout le temps en changeant de mode- le confortC’est assez personnel bien sûr, mais je n’aime pas du tout la sensation des intra qui vous rentrent profondément dans le canal de l’oreille. Je trouve la sensation désagréable, et elle produit en plus des résonances dans la boîte crânienne quand on court ou quand on mastique etc. Ces écouteurs ont un double système de tenue qui les rend extrêmement agréables et légers à porter. C’est comme des écouteurs semi ouverts, mais qui isolement quand même de manière étanche. Pour moi c’est parfait, et je n’ai jamais trouvé quoi que ce soit de plus confortable. C’est aussi suffisamment sécure pour courir ou faire du sport.Le sonJe ne suis pas audiophile mais il m’a semblé que tout était plutôt bien restitué. J’écoute un peu de tout, les basses sont bien, les voix sont claires … Il y a un petit équalizer minimaliste. Pour moi tout à fait satisfaisant. La bonne tenue des écouteurs participe à un rendu profond et immersif. En ce qui concerne les appels téléphoniques, c’est pas ouf mais ça fait le job, même dans des situations plus difficiles comme un environnement bruyant ou en courant… Je n’ai jamais eu de véritable problème, sauf à vélo ou il y a trop de vent.Ce qui est à revoir :- l’appli est un peu capricieuse (ça s’est finalement réglé avec une MàJ) mais surtout elle pourrait proposer davantage de réglages. D’une manière générale Bose se charge de tout doser, notamment avec le mode Active sens qui laisse passer un peu, mais gomme les trop grosses perturbations. C’est pas trop mal j’avoue, mais je préférerais avoir la main sur tous les aspects de la réduction de bruit, comme par exemple une gestion manuelle de la réduction de vent. En l’état c’est pas trop mal quand on marche ou quand on court, mais à vélo ou par grand vent c’est nettement moins bien.- un signal sonore pour confirmer les commandes serait vraiment le bienvenu. Il y a ça sur les Sennheiser par exemple et ça change tout : le tactile n’est plus jamais un problème car on sait si la commande a été enregistrée ou non. Ici en l’état c’est pas trop mal mais sans confirmation sonore il y a quand même quelques ratés. Pas dur à faire … Je l’ai signalé à Bose.- Le boîtier de rechargeIl est nettement trop gros, un peu cheap, et les écouteurs ne sont pas évidents à sortir. Ils feraient bien de s’inspirer d’Apple sur ce coup. Pas de recharge sans fil non plus alors qu’elle était proposée sur le modèle précédent.- Pas de connexion multipoint. Ca peut se régler via une MàJ sans doute … C’est tout de même pratique.
Alexander Brown –
Not great…
I bought these in a Prime day sale for £200, marked down from £280, and I’ve lived with them for about a fortnight now. The idea was for them to be a replacement for my Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones, which, while fantastic headphones, have a few flaws of their own (specifically they’re not sweat / rain resistant, which means they’re not ideal for the gym, and they’re to bulky to pull a hood over if you’re caught in a downpour), and due to recent changes in rules around taking bags in to stadiums and arenas, you’ll have to wear them round your neck the whole time, which can be a real pain. The Bose QCII earbuds, with their tiny charging case and high level of waterproof’ing were supposed to solve this, and they do… to an extent, but they have other issues all of their own.Fit – The QCII’s come with an array of changeable rubber “eartips” and “stability bands”, so you can mix and match until you find the perfect combination for your lugholes. A great idea in theory, and it worked great for my right ear but my left seems to be halfway between sizes, meaning I’m left either in mild discomfort from wearing a tip too big, limiting how long I can stand to wear them; or I’m constantly resetting the position of a tip that’s too small (which causes another problem I’ll come on to), and fell out several times while on the treadmill, making it a no-go for gym wearing. I totally acknowledge the issue is that I have a slightly odd sized ear, but given I can’t get a refund for (totally understandable) hygiene reasons, I’d strongly recommend finding someone who’s got a pair and will let you try them before splashing out.I have previously owned a pair of Bose QC Acoustic earphones, with earpices contoured to fit around the shape of the ear. They were significantly better than what’s on offer hereControls – As noted above, I’ve found these earbuds need almost constant repositioning. The issue with this is that the outside surface has a touch-sensitive play/pause button. I found almost every time I reset the bud in my left ear, I paused and had to restart whatever I was listening to. I’ve done quite a bit of research and there appears to be no way to disable this function. You can use the Bose app to disable the “shortcuts”, which mostly seem to relate to digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc), but disabling the “breath within a metre of it and it pauses” function seems impossible. There are a lot of Reddit threads and YouTube videos complaining about this. To me, it’s such a design flaw that it alone warrants losing a star for being so poorly thought through.Sound / Volume – Compared to my WH1000XM4’s, the QCII’s power output is a bit weedy. Even with ANC on full, I found I had to have the volume on almost full blast to hear clearly over the engine of a bus I was on at the time. Earbuds are never going to be as powerful as over-ear headphones – it’s the trade-off for the convenience of their small size – but I really have found myself a bit disappointed with the QCII’s. As for the sound quality… it’s okay, but for the price and the name on them I’d have expected significantly better. I’m normally the first person to roll their eyes when a car goes by and all you head is a deafening, repetitive bass thump, but even I found myself having to turn the bass up in the Bose Music app to make pretty much anything on Spotify high-quality listenable.Range – Distance from whatever device they’re paired with seems limited to about 10 metres, which isn’t great. My WH1000XM4’s can easily go from the front room to the bottom of the back garden, which is 2 or 3 times the distance. The QCII’s also take a more faffing about to re-connect to an output device than anything else I’ve ever experienced.All in all, not great. I’d have expected far better for the name and definitely for the price. You can probably get something far better, or at least as good for £100 – £150.
martin taylor –
An Improvement on the Bose QC 1’s
I’ve had Bose’s version 1 QC Earbuds for c3 years or so and finally took the plunge and bought these this past Black Friday. I was put off before then by the Reviews I’ve read citing connection issues. I’ve got a iPhone 11 Pro and can say it’s definitely a thing I’ve found. So far I’ve found they work fine most of the time but you can’t rely on them connecting every time. I had this with the QC 1 Earbuds very occasionally but with these it’s 2 or 3 time a week -so these are definitely worse on that score.The good news is that everything else is better -once you get your Ear Tips and Stabilisation Bands correctly fitted. In my case the Default Medium Tips were fine but I had to order the size 0 Bands as an extra from Bose. The Noise Cancelling on the Quiet setting is generally better but weirdly certain sounds still come through . There’s no doubt that the Awareness Mode is way better than with the QC 1s. When Commuting to the Train Station I have the Buds in with this Mode on as you can definitely hear the Traffic etc -whereas I left putting my QC 1s in until I was on the Platform. For me Bose have always been superior as far as Music goes and these take it up a notch from the QC 1’s. A problem I had every now and then with the QC 1’s was I would take them out of the case to find the Buds for some reason hadn’t charged -I’ve never had that happen with the new ones. When you put each Bud in the Charging Case you can see an Amber Charging Light -so you can tell they’ve connected properly.Overall a definite improvement on the QC 1’s and if you like the Bose Sound you’ll like these.