So the Bose QC Ultra block out a ton of noise, they’re very comfortable and they have a decently small case for traveling. Now they have their issues, but they are still a decent pair of headphones. But today we’re going to compare the Bose QC Ultra to both the AirPods Max and Beats Studio Pro’s… two headphones that I feel are over hyped but they’re still super popular.
Regarding pricing, the AirPods Max are the most expensive headphones here retailing for $550… and these are just status symbols for people that just dont know better. The bose QC Ultra have a retail price of $430… I feel that these are a little over priced so I would recommend that you wait to get them when therye on sale… and finally there are the Beats Studio Pro which have a retail price of $350… and I would only maybe consider getting these if they’re on sale for $200 or less. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about the included carrying cases cause this is very important if you plan on traveling with your headphones. Now the Bose QC Ultra come included with a decently small hard shell case thats going to keep your headphones protected even if you cram them into a cramped back pack. And this is what we expect to see to come included with our premium ANC Headphones. Where as the Beats Studio Pro… these come with a soft-shell case… so you run the risk of crushing these headphones. And then there are the AirPods Max who’s case doesn’t even fully protect the headphones. So personally I feel that the cases the come with Apple’s headphones are just unacceptable… where as Bose just managed to get this very simple thing right.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Regarding fit, the Bose QC Ultra are hands down a lot more comfortable than both of Apples headphones for multiple reasons. Now first off, both the AirPods Max and Beats Studio Pro’s have a tighter fit to them. The Beats Studio Pro’s are tighter than the AirPods Max, so personally I feel that the Beats aren’t big head approved. Where as with the Bose QC Ultra, these have a more neutral fit, as in they aren’t too tight and they aren’t too lose, but more importantly, they are big head approved. But also there are the headbands on these headphones. Now the headbands on both the AirPods Max and QC Ultra are well padded and they dont cause any hot spots, and honestly, this net on the AirPods Max is one of the coolest things ever. But the headband on the Beats Studio Pro has very little padding on it, so it does cause a hot spot on the top of your head after like 30 or 40 minutes. But then, theres also the ear cups on these headphones. Now the ear cups on both the AirPods Max and Bose QC Ultra have a lot of range of motion to them, which is great, where as the ear cups on the beats studio pro, not so much. So what happens with the beats studio pro is that their earcups will apply a little more pressure on the anterior portion of your ears making them feel a little unnatural. But then there are the ear cups on these headphones. The ear cups on the beats studio pro are very shallow, so they will press down on your ear cartilage, which does get uncomfortable after like 40 minutes as well. Now the earpads on the AirPods Max are more spacious, but their fabric earpads can get a little itchy at times. But finally there are the Bose QC Ultra who’s earpads are a lot more spacious than these other two earpads, and their leatherette doesn’t get itchy like the fabric earpads on the AirPods Max. And finally theres the weight of these headphones. The Bose QC Ultra are the lightest headphones here weighing in at 255 grams, where as the Beats Studio pro weigh in at 260 grams, but then there are the AirPods Max which weigh in at a hefty 384 grams… so these headphones are very noticeable then they’re on your head. Now the reason why the AirPods Max weigh so much is because they are using much more premium materials, but these premium materials shouldn’t be to the detriment of comfort. Where as with the Bose QC Ultra are a lot easier to forget that you’re wearing when you’re sitting still and you notice them shifting around a lot less when you’re walking around with them on. So overall, the Bose QC Ultra are a lot more comfortable than both of Apple’s headphones for multiple reasons. They have less clamping force, their headband doesn’t create a hot spot on the top of your head, they sit more naturally on your head cause their ear cups have good range of motion, their ear cups are a lot more spacious, their ear cups dont get itchy and they’re very light weight. Plainly said, if you’re headphones dont fit well, you’re not going to want to wear them.
But with fit out of the way, lets talk about tech specs. Regarding battery life, the Bose QC Ultra have an advertised battery life of 24 hours… which is okay, but if you were to use them with their immersive audio turned on they’re only going to be good for up to 18 hours. And unforutnalty, you cant use these headphones with their ANC turned off, so you can extend their battery life that way.
Where as with the AirPods Max, these have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on… which is below average… where as with the Beats Studio pro, they have an advertised battery life of 24 hours. And with both of these headphones you can use them with their ANC turned off and the Beats Studio Pro can go for as long as 40 hours.
Now when it comes to charging these headphones, both the Bose and Beats charge via a USB C port as they should. Where as the AirPods Max charge via a lighting port which is nice if you have an iPhone 14 or older. And when it comes to fast charging, with the AirPods Max a 5 minute charge is going to get you one and a half hours of playback time, a 10 minute charge on the beats studio pro is going to get you 4 hours of playback time, and on the bose, a 15 minute charge is going to get you 3 hours of playback time. But overall, I do feel that the battery life on the AirPods Max needs a lot of improvement.
Now when it comes to connectivity, the AirPods Max are a great option for an apple power user cause you can very easily hot swap between all of your apples devices associated to your iCloud account thanks to the H1 chip. Where as the Beats Studio Pro dont have the H1 chip, so hot swapping between devices isn’t as seamless.
But then there are the Bose which can be connected to any two bluetooth devices so you can easily hot swap from one device to another, regardless of eco system. Making them the better option here if you’re a power user with devices from different ecosystems. Cause you can hot swap from your iPhone to your PC without any problems.
And when it comes to overall connectivity, all of these headphones 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, all of these headphones have support for SBC and AAC, which is perfectly fine.
But if you want to, you can always use a wired connection with any of these headphones… but the wired connections here are different. With the Beats Studio Pro, you can use their USB C port as a wired connection, and thats something that you can’t do with the USB C port found on the bose. But the Beats also have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack, where as the Bose has a 2.5 millimeter audio jack. But personally im just glad than both the Beats and Bose come included with audio cables so that you can use them with a wired connection.
where as with the AirPods Max, these dont come included with an audio cable, and they dont have an audio jack. But you can always use these headphones with a wired connection if you get apple’s audio jack to lightning cable which is sold separately. And personally I dont think that this is okay cause if you want to use the AirPods Max with a wired connection, maybe you want to monitor your audio or you want to plug your headphones into an airplane’s entertainment system, you’re going to have to pay extra…
But the main thing that you need to keep in mind here is, with all of these headphones, if you want to use them with a wired connection, they have to be powered on, you cant use any of these headphones passively.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Now first the Bose QC Ultra are a pair of neutral sounding headphones, as in these are going to be better suited for someone that likes a more neutral or vocals focused EQ. Now these headphones have bass, but the bass is mostly on the audible side, as in you can hear their bass, but you cant feel their bass. Now you can always go in and adjust the EQ on these headphones to your liking, but even if you were to crank the bass all the way up on these headphones, they aren’t going to physically rattle your head. So for this reason, some people will say that these headphones sound flat, but they dont sound flat they’re just different.
But then theres the immersive audio on the Bose QC Ultra, with immersive audio turned on, they are going to bring the vocals forward and they are going to push the instrumentals back and open them up a lot, so the instrument separation is going to sound a lot better. Now immersive audio does the whole head tracking thing but I feel that that just a gimmick to I set the immersive audio on these headphones to motion.
Overall, the bose QC ultra sound very impressive with their immersive audio turned on, but with their immersive audio turned on, they are going to go from a battery life of 24 hours to 18 hours.
But then there are the Beats Studio Pro and AirPods Max… now even though I do criticize these headphones a lot… I will admit that they sound very good. Now first off you cant directly adjust the EQ to you liking with these headphones like you can with the Bose. But with the Beats, if you use them with a wired connection through their USB C port, you can choose from a few pre made EQ’s… its strange. But with the Beats these have a bass heavy EQ, and the bass on these headphones resonates a good amount and there s a good amount of kick to it. But the vocals and instrumentals on these headphones also have a good amount of detail to them. But then there are the AirPods Max and I cant help but feel that these sound noticeably better than the Beats. For starters the AirPods Max just sound more open than the beats and they have better instrument separation. And this is with both of these headphones having their spatial audio turned on and set to fixed. But also the bass on the AirPods Max just resonates a little more than the bass on the Beats. And also, there’s a little more of an emphasis on the highs on the AirPods max than on the Beats. So overall, yes I would say that the AirPods Max sound noticeably better than the Beats Studio Pro… but I feel that most people will be happy with the beats studio pro.
And if we were to compare the AirPods Max to the Bose QC Ultra, I am going to have to say that the AirPods Max are a lot more fun to listen to than the Bose QC Ultra… cause just like the Bose QC Ultra… the AirPods Max have great instrument separation and they have great detail in the vocals… but they also have they physicality in their bass… making them more fun to listen to.
And when it comes to the media controls on these headphones, the beats are using physical buttons but I hate the placement and layout of these buttons… but they get the job done. Where as with the AirPods Max, they have their crown which is a lot sleeker than the button on the beats and I prefer this crown over the hybrid set up that we have with the Bose QC Ultra. With the QC ultra, they have a physical button to skip through your music, but yo adjust your volume, they have this touch pad. And adjusting the volume on these headphones is a hassle cause either the steps are too big or they’re too small, or there are just a lot of missed inputs.
But also, both the AirPods Max and Bose QC Ultra have wear sensors, so they will automatically pause your music when you take them off and they’ll start playing your music again when you put them back on. Now personally I dont really care for wear sensors on my headphones so I just turn them off, but they are there if you want them.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones… now plainly said, the active noise cancelation on the Beats Studio pro is not impressive what so ever for a pair of premium ANC headphones. The ANC On the Beats Studio Pro performs more like a pair of mid tier or entry level ANC headphones. But then theres the ANC on both the Bose QC Ultra and AirPods Max, and both of these block out a lot of noise, but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC Test.
ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, both the Bose QC Ultra and AirPods Max block out significantly more noise than the beats studio pro. But when it comes to comparing the Bose QC Ultra and the AirPods Max, the AirPods Max do a better job of blocking out constant lower frequency sounds like road noise, where as the Bose QC Ultra do a better job of blocking out higher frequency sounds like chatter. But overall I do feel that the Bose QC Ultra has the better active noise cancellation here cause they have less cabin pressure than the AirPods Max… thus making the Bose QC Ultra more comfortable to wear than the AirPods Max… however, with the Bose QC Ultra if you are sensitive to cabin pressure like I am… you’re still going to feel a little something something if theres a lot of noise pollution to block out. Personally, I feel that if you’re sensitive to cabin pressure, but you still want to block out a lot noise… then you’ll might want to go with the Sony 1000XM5’s… even though I do have my critiques about them as well.
But also, all of these headphones have an ambient mode, and the ambient mode on all of these headphones is decent. However, the ambient mode on the AirPods Max is the most realistic sounding ambient mode out there, it sounds like you’re not even wearing headphones. But with the Bose QC Ultra, thanks to a recent upgrade, you can somewhat adjust how much noise these headphones let in, where as with the these other two you cant. But also, with the Bose, these have active sense, so they will protect your hearing from loud sounds like this, just a headphone warning here on out.
Demo
So like you may have just seen, when the Ultra’s detected that loud sound, they turned their ambient mode off and when its stopped they turned their ambient mode back on. Where as with the AirPods Max, they try to protect your hearing… but they dont get it right. Like this.
Demo
So like you saw, with the AirPods Max, it took them awhile to detect that siren… but then they started to lower their volume… but gradually they just let that siren back in… So the active ambient mode on the AirPods Max needs a lot of work… and with the Beats, they just let in everything. Now even though its great and all that the Bose have active sense, I dont like to use active sense on the Bose QC Ultra cause their active sense is slow to react and its also overly sensitive. Like you saw in the demo, it took them awhile to detect that siren… but also the active sense on these headphones is overly sensitive cause they’ll block out sounds like road noise when a car is driving by or if theres a lot of chatter while you’re at the mall, and these are the exact sounds that im trying to listen for when im using my ambient mode. So active sense is better than what the AirPods Max has, but it still needs work.
Mic Bose Quite
But finally heres the microphone test now I feel that all of these headphones have decent sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with.
Beats Quite
However, I do feel that both of Apple’s headphones have better sounding and better preforming microphones on them.
AirPods Quite
Both of apple’s headphones do a better job of picking up your voice while in a quite room.
AirPods Road Noise
But I also feel that they do a better job of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now the AirPods Max are doing a really good job of reducing all of this road noise, cause for comparison sake, 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 Max, it is severely reduced.
Beats Road Noise
And the beats studio pro also do a really good job of reducing all of this road noise.
Bose Road Noise
Now the Bose QC Ultra also do a decent job of reducing all of this road noise, but I feel that apple’s headphones are doing a better job.
Bose Chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking chatter, the bose are doing a good job of reducing this chatter.
Beats Chatter
But I feel Apple’s headphones are doing a better job of blocking out chatter.
AirPods Chatter
Because again for comparison sake if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the AirPods Max, it is severely reduced. So overall, all of these headphones have decent sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with, but apple’s headphones do a better job of dealing with noise pollution.
But with all of that being said, personally I prefer how both the Beats Studio Pro and AirPods Max sound over the Bose QC Ultra cause of their more dynamic sound signatures and physicality in their bass, and both of apple’s headphones have a better performing microphone on them to take phone calls with. But I do feel that it is hard to just getting either the AirPods Max or Beats Studio Pro over the Bose QC Ultra cause they are both very uncomfortable to wear for different reasons, they also dont come included with a proper case for traveling, the battery life on the AirPods Max is very low, and the ANC On the Beats Studio Pro is not in line with what you’d expect for a pair of premium ANC Headphones. Even though I do have my critiques about the Bose QC Ultra, as a complete package, these are a better investment over both of Apple’s headphones.