Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds
MSRP $299.00
“in case you’re eager to attempt spatial audio, the QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds are an amazing companion.”
Professionals
- Very snug
- Wonderful sound high quality
- Prime-notch noise canceling
- Hello-res and lossless audio
- Wonderful spatial audio
Cons
- No wi-fi charging
- Outside name high quality may very well be higher
Once in a while, we take a break from our ongoing protection of recent merchandise to take a second have a look at a beforehand reviewed product — just like the Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds.
I initially printed this evaluate in March 2023. Since then, two issues have modified. First, I’ve been doing a good quantity of air journey. Getting on a airplane is the right alternative to check lively noise cancellation (ANC), so I alway convey the earbuds or headphones that I’m at the moment testing. Whenever you check, you want a degree of comparability, so the QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds have been coming alongside for the journey. That’s given me extra time with these buds than I had earlier than I wrote the primary model of this evaluate.
Second, Bose launched a firmware replace that gave the QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds Bluetooth multipoint, a function that was lacking when the buds launched. I firmly consider that multipoint is must-have. I don’t know anybody who solely makes use of their earbuds with simply their telephone and by no means with a laptop computer or pill.
What follows is kind of what I initially stated in 2023 — the QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds are nonetheless among the best wireless earbuds you should buy — however with a yr’s price of recent views.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: design
The Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds and their predecessors, the QuietComfort Earbuds II (QCE II), are nearly similar from a design standpoint. That’s an excellent factor. Although not fairly as small and glossy because the Apple AirPods Pro 2, the Extremely look nice, whether or not in black (seen right here) or in white. Bose has given the Extremely a contemporary coat of paint — actually — a brand new metallic layer adorns the primary contact management floor, giving the buds a decidedly upscale look.
Bose has made a tiny change to the steadiness bands — the silicone loops that wrap across the physique of the earbud to assist them keep anchored in your ear. They now have a tab-and-notch design that ensures they sit appropriately on the earbud while you swap them for a unique dimension. You continue to get three sizes of bands (and three sizes of oval eartips) to work with.
The charging case is also unchanged, save for a extra distinguished Bose emblem. That’s not such a very good factor. Total, it’s nonetheless a very good design and far more pocketable than the monster field that housed the unique QuietComfort Earbuds. However the case lid doesn’t snap closed with the form of authority you’d count on from a top-tier product. The magnets aren’t fairly as sturdy as I’d like. When the lid is closed, it has a stunning quantity of flex on the hinge, giving it a little bit of a low-quality really feel.
However the largest disappointment is the continued lack of wi-fi charging, one thing that was conspicuously absent from the QCE II and that I’d hoped Bose would deal with on the Extremely.
It’s not you could’t use the Extremely with a Qi-compatible charger; it’s that to take action, you’ll want to purchase the $49 Bose Wireless Charging Case Cover. The duvet works, however it provides a good bit of bulk to the earbuds. Plus you’re now at $348 simply to have a function that’s almost ubiquitous on earbuds that cost less than $100.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: consolation and controls
I discover the QC Extremely Earbuds, like their predecessors, very snug to put on even for lengthy durations. The portion that sits in your concha is comparatively small, and the mixture of the graceful, rounded surfaces and the silicone eartips and stability bands make for a really ergonomic form.
Not like the AirPods Professional, which I discover generally tend to work themselves unfastened over time, I hardly felt the necessity to regulate the QC Ultras. For me, they had been greater than steady sufficient for my gymnasium routine, however I don’t do a ton of high-impact workout routines. Excessive-mileage runners and CrossFit fanatics should want an earhook-based design.
I nonetheless want bodily buttons to the touch controls. However as contact controls go, the QC Extremely are superb. Faucets and swipes had been nearly at all times registered, and I’m a giant fan of the swiping gesture used to manage quantity. To me, it’s probably the most handy and correct solution to do quantity modifications on a set of earbuds.
Bose doesn’t allow you to customise the primary gestures for playback, name administration, or quantity, however you do get a selection over how the long-press works on every earbud. By default, it’s set to ANC management, however it’s also possible to choose spatial audio management and voice assistant management. Since I hardly use my telephone’s voice assistant, I selected ANC and spatial audio and it labored rather well.
I discussed the addition of Bluetooth multipoint within the intro, and I couldn’t be happier with the replace. Now you can preserve the QC Ultra connected to two devices simultaneously. Higher but, the app presents very good management over which two gadgets are in play, plus a useful button that pushes the buds again into pairing mode so that you could add one other gadget to the record.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: sound high quality and spatial audio
I’ve at all times loved the way in which Bose merchandise sound. They’ve what I can solely describe as an brisk sound signature, which tends to place just a little additional sparkle on the upper-mids and highs. There’s no actual distinction between the QCE II and QC Extremely on this entrance — they each use Bose’s CustomTune know-how to regulate themselves to your ears and so they’re each a pleasure to make use of with an enormous number of genres. Sound high quality has at all times been a Bose power and the Extremely Earbuds sound nice.
What has modified is the QC Extremely’s assist for extra audio codecs. There are two large additions to QC Extremely: They now assist Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform — an overarching set of applied sciences that features the aptX household of hi-res Bluetooth codecs, plus some improved Bluetooth bandwidth for voice functions — plus they incorporate Bose’s new Immersive Audio tech, which might be considered similar to Apple and Jabra’s spatial audio modes on the AirPods household and the Elite 8 Active and Elite 10 wireless earbuds.
First, let’s focus on these Snapdragon Sound aptX codecs. The QCE II had been restricted to SBC and AAC codecs, that are lossy and thus simply fantastic for listening to Spotify, however not an amazing selection when attempting to listen to the additional element in a CD high quality or hi-res lossless audio observe from Apple Music or Amazon Music.
With aptX Adaptive (and a dependable Bluetooth connection) you may get far higher constancy. It’s not theoretical. When listening to the QC Extremely on a Xiaomi 12 Professional and a Motorola ThinkPhone, the soundstage took on noticeably higher precision, depth, and element versus listening on an iPhone 14 (AAC solely). It’s the identical bump in high quality that I’ve heard when utilizing different equally succesful wi-fi earbuds or headphones.
However with the QC Extremely, that bump got here with a little bit of a shock. Usually, on the iPhone, when listening to bass-heavy tracks, like Hans Zimmer’s Warming Up My Devices or Bob Dylan’s Man within the Lengthy Black Coat, the QC Extremely (and the QCE II) reply by delivering extremely deep, nearly sub-bass tones. In case you’re a bass-head, it’s form of superior, however it’s not a really balanced strategy. Swap over to aptX Adaptive and it’s nearly as if the earbuds change to a unique EQ setting. The bass turns into tempered; it’s extra musical and fewer boomy.
I’d like to let you know that aptX Lossless, which is just accessible when you will have a appropriate Snapdragon (i.e. Android) telephone, is even higher, however I’ve struggled to determine the difference between aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless up to now, and it was equally arduous with QC Extremely. Nonetheless, maybe these with much more finely tuned ears will have the ability to admire it.
As delighted as I’m that the QC Extremely now assist hi-res audio by way of Bluetooth, I used to be way more struck by Bose’s efforts in spatial audio.
From a conceptual perspective, Bose isn’t doing something new right here. Identical to Jabra’s Elite 10, Apple’s AirPods Pro, and the LG Tone Free T90Q (to choose a number of current examples), Bose makes use of software program to simulate what it sounds prefer to take heed to your music as if it had been coming from giant audio system in your room (versus tiny audio system wedged in your ears). It then makes use of gyroscope sensors to give you an added degree of realism by fixing these audio system in area relative to your head place. Turning your head by hook or by crook sounds such as you’re turning away from the supply of the sound.
The official time period for that is “spatialized stereo,” (with or with out head monitoring) and Apple presents it on the AirPods Professional, Max, and AirPods 4.
The distinction is that Bose’s model of spatialized stereo sounds higher to me. I like the way in which it creates a digital set of level sources that look like in entrance and barely above the place I’m sitting. It manages to do that with out the corresponding lack of element that typically accompanies Dolby Atmos Music tracks while you hear them by way of headphones. And while you have interaction the pinnacle monitoring mode, it’s impressively clean.
For some time, I used to be doubtful as as to if folks would genuinely want spatial audio to traditional stereo. After having hung out with the QC Extremely, I’m nearer than ever to believing a day could come once we look again at stereo the way in which we used to look again at AM radio.
Bose has additionally began to comply with Apple’s lead on spatial integration with different gadgets. Its lately launched Bose Smart Soundbar can ship encompass sound channel data to a set of Bose Open Ultra Earbuds. That’s not fairly the identical factor as Apple’s Apple TV 4K integration — while you join considered one of Apple’s head tracking-capable headphones to its streaming gadget, they do a tremendous job of simulating a 5.1-channel home theater system — however it’s directionally comparable.
For now, the QC Extremely aren’t included within the soundbar encompass function (which Bose calls Private Encompass Sound), however that will but change.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: ANC and transparency
The QC Extremely, relating to lively noise canceling (ANC), are nearly the most effective you may get. Whereas it’s true that each Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 and Sony’s WF-1000XM5 are additionally very good on this regard, we’re speaking about fractional variations. I wouldn’t decide one as clearly higher than the opposite two.
The identical isn’t fairly as true for transparency mode. Pretty much as good because the QC Extremely are (and they’re superb), the AirPods Professional are nonetheless the reference, with the uncanny capacity to only disappear while you have interaction transparency mode.
Nonetheless, Apple is proving that it is aware of how you can tweak the magic of ANC and transparency in new and helpful methods. The conversational consciousness and adaptive noise management modes introduced to the AirPods Pro with iOS 17 are proof that noise cancellation can change into a extremely dynamic and responsive function when a set of earbuds can monitor issues like your voice or the skin world.
With the discharge of iOS 18, the AirPods Professional will take issues even additional with hearing aid functionality. This places Bose in catch-up mode as soon as once more.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: name high quality
Bose says it has improved name high quality on the QC Extremely by making extra clever use of the microphones, particularly in windy situations.
I’m unsure I used to be in a position to detect a lot of a distinction. However in equity, I had solely mildly breezy situations whereas I used to be testing them.
Total, the QC Extremely are good for calls — your callers may have no drawback understanding you — however Bose’s environmental noise cancellation nonetheless wants work. Loud sounds nonetheless make their manner by means of and as that occurs, your voice turns into echo-y and distant, making it sound such as you’re talking from throughout the room. Indoors, issues are much better, however that’s normally true of wi-fi earbuds.
Bose QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds: battery life
Bose has by no means wowed us with its battery life, and also you received’t discover a lot in the way in which of massive numbers on the QC Extremely. They’re the identical because the QCE II for single-charge play time (about six hours at 50% quantity), and complete time (24 hours while you embody the case). Nonetheless, this drops significantly when utilizing immersive audio: right down to 4 hours per cost or 16 hours complete. That’s a giant hit to battery life. The AirPods Professional additionally pay a worth for spatial audio, however it’s a small one by comparability — only a 30-minute drop in stamina.
Now that the QC Extremely are Bose’s flagship noise-canceling earbuds, the QCE II might be discovered with some very engaging reductions. If hi-res audio, spatial sound, and Bluetooth multipoint aren’t priorities, I say seize ’em — they sound nice and nonetheless have very good ANC.
That stated, the QC Extremely provide some very good upgrades by way of audio capabilities (and comfort due to multipoint). Ought to they embody wi-fi charging at this worth? Completely. However aside from that one lacking function, they’re among the finest wi-fi earbuds you should buy.
