On the same day that Apple announced the second-generation AirPods Pro, Bose announced the QuietComfort Earbuds II, wireless earbuds that offer “the world’s best noise cancellation” for $299.99, according to a press release from Bose. The black version is currently available for pre-order today (the white version will be available for pre-order the first week of October) and will be available for purchase on September 15.
At Bose’s launch event, foreign tech media The Verge wore the earbuds for about 10 minutes, during which Bose demonstrated them with the noisy sounds of everyday life (trains, planes, cars).
Bose showed off 2 new features: CustomTune Sound Calibration and ActiveSense perception mode. ANC always makes a big difference, but this leap sounded especially big. With “Quiet” mode activated, The Verge editors had to work hard to hear the sound in the background.
The CustomTune process recalibrates each earbud locally each time you remove the headset from its protective case. It plays a quick start ringtone, then calculates how your ear canal distorts the sound and adjusts accordingly. Instead of relying on cookie-cutter ANC filters to provide noise reduction for each individual ear, this approach relies on algorithms to do so. We’ve all heard countless companies say they’ll adjust the sound to your ear anatomy, but this is pretty convincing.
Another new feature, ActiveSense, is in the perception mode “Aware Mode,” named for Bose’s pass-through mode, which allows external sound to enter and adjusts ANC sensitivity in real-time based on the noise occurring around it.
Each earbud has four microphones: one on the inside and three on the outside. Bose says the microphone array “senses, measures and sends unwanted noise to a proprietary electronic chip” to eliminate it in “less than a fraction of a millisecond. I’m impressed here, too. The ambient sound is much more realistic than I’m used to, with much less noise and distortion. We’ll have to wait and see if the seemingly solid microphone quality translates into good-sounding voice calls.
The QuietComfort Earbuds II use Bluetooth 5.3, though they lack multipoint pairing, which is an odd omission at this price. Bose claims they can last up to six hours with ANC on, and the USB-C charging case (without wireless charging) supports an additional 18 hours of battery life. A 20-minute charge in the charging case provides up to two hours of playback. They are IPX4 waterproof for sweat and light rain, but will not withstand heavy rain. The headphones come with three earbuds and three stabilizer bands.
