The second-generation Bose Ultra Earbuds have top-notch Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but their design is chunky and unimpressive.
Bose has a long history of delivering exceptional noise-canceling performance, dating back to the launch of the QuietComfort headphones in 2000. However, in 2023, Sony and Apple caught up, and the competition has been intense ever since.
The $299 Bose QuietComfort Ultra second-gen earbuds aim to surpass the competition with improvements to sound and call quality, which were previously issues with the QC earbuds.
The noise-canceling improvements are great, but there’s not much to set them apart from the first gen.
Author's summary: Bose Ultra Earbuds have great ANC but lack design improvements.