So the Bose QC Earbuds 2 have some very much needed improvements on them from the originals. Namely, they have a much smaller case, their earbuds are much smaller as well, they have improved battery life, and they even have very impressive active noise cancelation. However, Bose is still struggling with their earbuds, and there are still some glaring short comings on the Bose QC Earbuds 2 when compared to other earbuds.
Regarding pricing, the Bose QC Earbuds 2 have a retail price of $300. Pretty steep if you ask me, and these don’t feel like a pair of $300 earbuds. But for comparison sake, the WF-1000XM4’s retail for $280, both the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s and AirPods Pro 2 retail for $250, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro retail for $230, and the Pixel Buds Pro retail for $200. What I’m trying to say here is, the competition for ANC earbuds is very steep, and Bose still hasn’t gotten their act together when it comes to their earbuds. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below. Or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about this carrying case. Now thankfully the Bose QC Earbuds 2 now have a much more manageable case this time around. Cause the case that came included with the original Bose QC Earbuds was huge. Personally I felt that this case was unacceptable, and that is why is refused to talk about the QC Earbuds. But now, this case is better… and personally, I am very happy that bose got rid of the spring loaded lid that was found on their previous case. Personally, I hate these spring loaded lids on my earbuds. Now even though this case is much more manageable, it still pretty big for everyday carry earbuds. Cause when compared to all of these other earbuds, like lets say the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s, Sony WF-1000XM4’s, Pixel Buds, Galaxy Buds, Jabra’s earbuds, and especially AirPods…Bose’s case is still on the larger side, and it is going to be very noticeable when its in your pocket due to its larger surface area. But at least its not super thick like its predecessor.
Now when it comes to charging this case… there has been a downgrade here. Now this case charges via a USB C port, as it should. However, this case doesn’t have wireless charging, and this is a shame cause the older case does have wireless charging… And wireless charging is becoming more and more common. Now peronsally, I don’t mind the lack of wireless charging here… but this is still a draw back cause you would expect wireless charging at this price point, and plus you would expect it just given the size of this case.
Now when it comes to battery life, battery life on these earbuds is good, but I do wish that it was a little better due to the size of their case. Now the QC Earbuds 2 have an advertised combine battery life of 24 hours… the earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours with their ANC turned on, and the case can supply 3 additional charges. And this is an improvement from the originals.
Cause with the Original Bose QC Earbuds, these things had an advertised combined battery life of 18 hours… the earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours… just like the QC 2’s… but their case can only supply 2 additional charges. And battery life on the original QC Earbuds was very disappointing. It was disappointing cause it was below average and it was disappointing cause of its huge case.
Now the battery life on the QC Earbuds 2 is better… but premium ANC earbuds are now aiming for a combined battery life of 30 hours of more… and they are doing this while having a smaller case than the Bose QC Earbuds 2, and with wireless charging. So I can’t help but feel that bose is still struggling here. And also, you can’t turn off the ANC on these earbuds like you can with other earbuds… so you can’t extend their battery life by using them with their ANC turned off.
But now lets talk about fit, these earbuds have a fairly unique fit to them. Now these are in ear earbuds, but they aren’t your standard fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the Galaxy Buds 2, Linkbuds S, Momentum 3’s or Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s. They also aren’t shallowing fitting in ear earbuds like the AirPods Pro 2, Jabra Elite 85T’s or Pixel Buds Pro. They kind of fit like the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, except they open up your ear canal a lot more. Overall, I really like these earbuds fit. They don’t feel as intrusive as a standard pair of in ear earbuds… and they are much less likely to wiggle out than a pair of shallowing in ear earbuds. But the really unique thing about these earbuds is that they have these stability bands that press against the bowl of your ears. And personally, I found that these stability bands offer as much lock down as the ear fins on the previous QC earbuds… but they are less noticeable. And also, with these new earbuds, you can mix and match ear tips with stability bands, unlike with the previous earbuds where the ear tips and ear fins were on peice. Overall, the Bose QC earbuds 2 fit great and these are actually great for either casual use, or working out cause the stability bands help keep these earbuds in place.
However, when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, this is perhaps the biggest let down about these earbuds, especially in late 2022. The Bose QC earbuds 2 are still using a hero and side kick set up, meaning that one earbud, in this case the right earbud, actually establishes a connection with your phone, and then relays that connection to the left earbud. So if you just want to use one earbud at time, you have to use the correct earbud, in this case the right earbud.
Now there’s nothing wrong with a hero and side kick set up… But hero and side kick setups are mostly used by older or cheaper earbuds. And right now, the majority of earbuds now each establish a connection with your phone, so if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one, it doesn’t matter. So this is another area where Bose’s earbuds are just falling behind when compared to other earbuds.
But when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device. And when it comes to audio codecs, these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC, which is perfectly fine whether you're an iPhone or an android user. And even though these earbuds can only be connected to one device at a time, they are very quick to jump from one device to another if you try to manually connect to them from a different device.
But now lets talk about sound. Now the QC Earbuds 2 sound decent… but these earbuds do lean towards a brighter sound signature… even though their bass does resonate a good amount. With the QC Earbuds 2, I can’t help but feel that the mids and treble are a little too over emphasized. Now this brighter EQ helps the vocals really come out on these earbuds… but at times the vocals can start to sound a little nasally and hollow. And even though these earbuds have an impressive amount of bass to them… their bass mostly only resonates… their bass doesn’t kick like the bass that you’ll find on the AirPods Pro 2 or Sennheiser Momentum 3’s. Now thankfully, these earbuds have a customizable EQ, something that the Original QC earbuds don’t have. And personally, I like to use these earbuds with their bass raised 4 clicks, cause that way you’ll get some kick, I like to lower the mids by two clicks and I like to lower the treble by 4 clicks. With this EQ setting, I feel the these earbuds sound more balanced and more importantly the vocals don’t get all up in your face. But even with this more balanced sound signature… the instrumentals on these earbuds aren’t as defined as with the instrumentals that you would hear with either the AirPods Pro 2, Sennheiser Momentum 3’s or Sennheiser CX Plus. So overall, the Bose QC Earbuds 2 sound decent, but these earbuds are better suited for someone who likes a brighter sound signature or if you want more of an emphasis on the vocals. And I feel that instrument separation and sound stage still has a lot of room for improvement on these earbuds.
But now lets talk about the media control on these earbuds. Now the QC Earbuds 2 have touch pads, just like their predecessors. You can tap to skip through your music, you can press and hold to cycle between your ANC settings and you can swipe to adjust the volume directly from the earbuds themselves. And overall, these touchpads are fairly accurate and they’re easy enough to use. The only thing to look out for is that you can’t deactivate this these touchpads like you can with some other earbuds. And this could be a big deal if you like to wear hoodies while you workout like I do… cause when your hoodie gets sweaty you can get false inputs.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds, Now the ANC On the QC earbuds 2 is very impressive, and its the main reason why I would recommend that you pick these earbuds up… the ANC on these earbuds blocks out as much noise as a pair of mid tier ANC headphones… but they aren’t blocking out as much noise as premium ANC headphones like either the Sony 1000XM5’s, Bose QC45, Sennehsier momentum 4’s or AirPods Max.
And when it comes to overall ranking, for me the AirPods Pro 2 are number one, closely followed by the Bose QC Earbuds 2, below them are Sennheiser momentum 3’s, below them are the Sony WF-1000XM4’s and their itchy foam ear tips, below them are the linkbuds S, below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, below them are the original QC earbuds, below them are the Galaxy buds 2 Pro and below them are the Pixel Buds Pro.
Now overall, the Bose QC Earbuds 2 are number two on this list when it comes to amount of noise blocked out, cause I can’t help but feel that the AirPods Pro 2 block out a little more noise than the bose. However, with the AirPods Pro 2’s they go about blocking out noise with brute force. Now the AirPods don’t have a whole lot of cabin pressure like the AirPods max do… but I have noticed that with the ANC on the AirPods Pro 2’s, sometimes I feel a little naussuasse, and sometimes I even lose my balance a little bit.
Where as with the QC earbuds, I don’t feel any cabin pressure and I don’t feel any nausua. So even though I do feel that the ANC On the AirPods Pro 2 blocks out a little more noise than the Bose… I prefer the ANC on the Bose cause I don’t feel any nausua and I don’t feel off balance.
And then there’s the ambient mode on these earbuds. Now the ambient mode on these earbuds is okay… but it doesn’t sound as natural as the ambient mode on the AirPods Pro 2. The ambient mode on these earbuds sounds a little bright and there’s a slight hissing in the background which is noticeable if you’re in a quiet room.
However, the microphone array on these earbuds does a decent job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors… But also, these earbuds have an active ambient mode… meaning that they will actively turn off their ambient mode if there’s a sudden loud sound, preventing your ears from getting blasted.
And this is a pretty big deal cause an active ambient mode is still fairly rare on earbuds and headphones… and this is actually a feature that apple really bragged about on the AirPods Pro 2 when they first announced them… but the QC earbuds 2 also have this feature. Now this isn’t a feature that you’ll use all of the time… but if you commute in the city you’ll really appreciate it cause your ears won’t get blasted if a siren rolls by or if a dog starts barking.
But finally here’s the microphone test… now Bose’s earbuds never had the best sounding microphones on them… and shockingly, the Bose QC earbuds 2 have a worse sounding microphone than the originals.
Cause with the original Bose QC Earbuds… I feel that these sound more natural while in a quite room.
But nonetheless, the microphone on Bose’s earbuds don’t compare to the microphone found on the AirPods Pro 2 which do a much better job of focusing on my voice.
But also, the microphone on the AirPods Pro 2 does a much better job of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now these earbuds are doing a good job of blocking out this road noise, while keeping my voice front and center. Cause for comparison if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the AirPods Pro 2… it is reduced.
Where as with both the Bose QC earbuds 2 and the original Bose QC earbuds, they let in a lot of road noise
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, both the Bose QC earbuds 2 and original Bose QC Earbuds let in a lot of chatter, but also they really like to push down your voice.
Where as with the AirPods Pro 2 these do a much better job of reducing this chatter, all while keeping your voice front and center. So overall, the microphone on the Bose QC earbuds 2 does leave a lot to be desired.
So with all of that being said, there are some legtiment things to really like about the Bose QC Earbuds 2. These earbuds block out a ton of noise, now I feel the AirPods Pro 2 block out a little more noise than the QC earbuds 2… but I prefer the ANC on these earbuds cause it doesn’t make me feel naususe or lose my balance like the ANC On the AirPods Pro 2 do. The Ambient mode on these earbuds is also decent enough… and I really like that they have an active ambient mode. I also really like how they fit. They have the comfort of shallow fitting in ear earbuds… but they have much better lock down thanks to their stability bands. But everything else about these earbuds is a little sloppy especially given their price point. Sound quality wise, they sound decent, but they do lean towards a brighter sound signature. Now you can always fix that bright sound signature, but they still won’t sound as open as some other earbuds out there. The microphone on these earbuds also isn’t the greatest… and finally there’s their case. This case is much better than the original… but it still a little larger than your staples, and there’s no wireless charging. Something that you would expect at this price point. But nonetheless, if active noise cancelation is your main priority, then you’ll might want to go with these.