Get Them Here:
Sony ULT Wear: https://amzn.to/3XIzZtL
Bose QC Ultra: https://amzn.to/3VUYmTr
Bose QC: https://amzn.to/3VVzCdK
So these are the Sony ULT Wear and these are Sony’s new Mid tier ANC Headphones for mid 2024. Now over all, these are a solid pair of mid teir ANC headphones and you really cant go wrong with them. But today we’re going to compare the Sony ULT wear to Bose’s Mid teir ANC headphones, the Bose QC headphones and we’re also going to be throwing in the Bose QC Ultra for good measure. So if you’re trying to choose between the Sony ULT wear and either of Bose’s QC headphones, lets see which ones are right for you.
Regarding pricing the ULT Wear have a retail price of $200 but they like to go on sale for $180. Not bad if you ask me. Where as the Bose QC headphones have a retail price of $350 and the Bose QC Ultra have a retail price of $430… so with Bose’s headphones there is a noticeable premium. 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.
So first theres the case, all of these headphones come included with a decently sized hardshell carrying case. So all of these cases are going to do a good job of protecting your headphones even if you cram them into a cramped back pack and they are all relatively small and thin cause all of these headphones have a fully collapsable design to them. So traveling or flying with any of these headphones shouldn’t be a problem. Overall, all of these headphones have great cases, zero issues here.
But with case out of the way lets talk about the headphones themselves. Regarding build quality and durability, all of these headphones are great, however the ULT wear are using recycled plastic where as Bose’s headphones are using new plastic. So Bose’s headphones just feel more durable and premium than the ULT Wear cause the plastic on the ULT wear doesn’t feel as dense for some reason. But regardless, I have had zero durability issues with any of Sony’s headphones that are using recycled plastics. But the Bose QC Ultra do feel the most premium here cause they have the best feeling leatherette here plus they also have their exposed metal headband.
But more importantly, the fit of these headphones are very different. First off, all of these headphones are big head approved, and even if you have a big head and you like to wear hats, all of these headphones will have you covered. However when it comes to clamping force the ULT wear technically have the firmest fit here. Where as the Bose QC Ultra have a loser fit and the Bose QC’s have the losest fit here. But regardless, none of these headphones feel like they are squeezing your head. But then theres the padding on these headphones. All of these headphones have very spacious ear pads, I actually think that these are the most spacious ear pads sony has ever had on their headphones. So with all of these ear pads they will have no problem fitting average sized ears and even if you have very large ears or ears that stick out a lot, they should all have you covered. And all of these earpads have very minimal surface ear coming in contact with your skin, so they all do a good job of staying cooler for longer. The real main fit difference between these headphones is going to come down to their weight. The Sony ULT wear weigh in at 255 grams which is below average for a pair or premium ANC headphones. Then there are the Bose QC Ultra which weigh in at 254 grams… but then there are the Bose QC’s which weigh in at 235 grams, and this 19 gram difference is a huge deal when its on your head. Cause with the Bose QC’s these headphones are a lot easier to forget that you have on when you’re wearing them at your desk or while in bed, and you notice these shifting around a lot less when you’re walking around with them. So overall all of these headphones are comfortable to wear and they should fit everyone just fine, even if you have a big head or even if you have large ears… but I do think the Bose QC’s are the most comfortable headphones here cause they have the loosest fit here and they’re also the lightest.
But now lets talk about tech specs, regarding battery life, this is an area where Bose is lagging in general. Both the Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on. And a battery life of 24 hours is decent, however you cant use these headphones with their ANC turned off so you can’t extend their battery life that way. And also, if you were to use the immersive audio feature on the Bose QC Ultra their battery life is going to drop to 18 hours.
Where as with the ULT wear, these have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their ANC turned on and with their ANC turned off they can go for as long as 50 hours. And also, the ULT wear has much better fast charging numbers than both of Bose’s headphones cause if you charge these headphones up for 10 minutes from a dead battery, they are going to get you 5 hours of playback time.
But I think the most crucial thing to keep in mind about these headphones is, yes you can use all of them with a wired connection cause they all have an audio jack and they all come with an audio cable… however, with the Bose QC Ultra even if you want to use these headphones with a wired connection they have to be powered on. Which I feel is a big deal cause with these other two headphones you can use them passively.
But when it comes to charging these headphones, they all charge via a USB C port as they should. However these USB C ports on all of these headphones are strictly used for charging, unfortunately you cant use any of these USB C ports as a wired connection like you can with some other headphones out there.
But when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, all of these headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time regardless of eco system. Which is good if you’re a power user with an iPhone and a windows pc cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another.
But when it comes to overall performance, all of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching a video or movie on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or android device, but when it comes to audio codecs, the Bose QC only have support for SBC and AAC which is fine, where as the Bose QC Ultra have support for SBC AAC and APTX Adaptive and then there are the ULT wear which have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of APTX or LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC and if you do decide to use LDAC on the ULT wear then these headphones can only be connected to one device at a time and LDAC does take an additional toll on the battery life.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Now first off, with all of these headphones you can always customize their EQ and make them sound however you want. However these headphones sound and preform very differently from one another. Now the Bose QC are the simplest headphones here. These have good instrument separation, but the bass on these headphones is mostly on the audible side, as in you can hear the bass, but you cant feel it as much. So for that reason some people will complain that these sound flat, but they’re not flat. But then there are the Bose QC Ultra and these sound very similar to the Bose QC. They also have good instrument separation and their bass is mostly on the audible side. But whats really different here is the immersive audio. Bassicly what this does is that its going to make these headphones sound more open and they are going to push the vocals up by a lot. And also you can use the immersive audio with the head tracking feature so it can sound like you’re in the middle of the music. But personally, I hate the whole tracking thing on headphones so I turn the head tracking off. and also, even though I like the openness of these headphones with their immersive audio turned on… after a few months of living with these headhones, I have found that I never use the immersive audio on the Bose QC ultra cause I feel that the bass sounds too artificial. Ive found that immersive audio just adds a whole lot of reverb to your bass and as a result theres a lot of roll off and it just muddies the rest of your music. So initially I though the immersive audio on the Bose QC Ultra was cool, but in reality, I use these headphones with their immersive audio turned off… plus immersive audio does take its toll on the battery life as well which isn’t great for constant flyers.
But then theres the Sony ULT wear. Now with Sony’s ULT lineup of products in general Sony has been focused on improving the instrument separation, clarity and detail on all of their products. And the Sony ULT wear has instrument separation as good as either of Bose’s headphones. But then key thing about the ULT wear is their ULT button and their clear bass slider. Now the ULT wear have 2 ULT settings. ULT 1 is going to give you a more bass heavy EQ and ULT 2 is going to give you more sound pressure so everything is just going to sound mode intense. But then theres the bass on these headphones, the bass on the ULT wear is mostly on the audible side, again you can hear it but you’re not going to get as much of a kick in your bass like you did with the uLT wear’s predecessors. But the important thing here is, even though the bass on the ULT wear is mostly on the audible side, bass roll off isn’t a problem for these headphones like with Bose’s headphones. So even if you crank the bass all the way up on the ULT wear, they aren’t going to muddy the rest of your music. But also, if you have the clear bass set to ten and your using ULT2 then you’re still going to get a decent amount of kick in your bass. Overall I think the Sony ULT wear are the best sounding and most fun headphones here to listen to music with.
But then there are the media controls on these headphones, now the Bose QC’s have physical buttons that are very easy to tell apart and they have good tactile feed back. these are the easiest headphones here to use and these are the headphones that I always recommend to older and less tech savvy people. The Bose QC ultra have a hybrid system where you have a physical button to skip through your music and you have a touch surface to adjust your volume. Personally I dont like this system too much. And finally there are the ULT wear which have a full touch pad. And this touch pad is easy to use and its very accurate. However sometimes there can be accidental inputs, but you can always deceive this touch pad.
But also, both the ULT wear and Bose QC Ultra have wear sensors, so they will both automatically pause your music when you take them off and they’ll both start playing your music again when you put them back on. Where as the Bose QC’s dont have wear sensors, Now personally I don't 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 cancelation on these headphones. Now even though the Sony ULT wear are a lot more affordable than both the Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra cause cause of the Bose tax… the Sony ULT wear actually do a very impressive job of keeping up with both of Bose’s headphones. But so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into the ANC test.
ANC TEst
So like you may have just seen, the Sony ULT wear do a really good job of keeping up with both the Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra. Now yes, both of Bose’s headphones block out more noise and than the ULT wear and the Bose QC Ultra does a much better job of blocking out chatter… but given the ULT Wear’s price, these do a great job of keeping up. However, just keep in mind that none of these headphones have atmospheric pressure sensors in them, so their ANC is going to be a little less effective while at cursing altitude. So I feel if you plan on flying a lot with your headphones, then you’ll might want to look at either the Sony 1000XM5 or even the Sony 1000XM4’s. But plainly said, both the Bose QC Ultra and Bose QC block out a little more noise than the Sony ULT wear, but the Sony ULT wear do a very impressive job of keeping up.
But then theres the ambient mode on these headphones. Now all of these headphones have an ambient mode and you can adjust the ambient mode to your liking. However, I think the Bose QC’s have the least impressive ambient mode here cause their microphone array likes to pick up wind noise when walking out doors very quickly, where as wind noise isn’t an issue for these other headphones. But also the ambient mode on the Bose QC just lets in every thing. Where as these other two headphones have an active ambient mode where they will automatically turn off their ambient mode if theres a sudden loud sound like a dog barking or if a siren rolls by. But so that you can see what im talking about, let me just show you. Major headphone warning.
ULT wear active ambient mode
So like you may have just seen, when the ULT wear detected that loud sound they turned their ambient mode off and when that loud sound stopped they turned their ambient mode back on. And the ULT wear have the better active ambient mode here cause its much faster to react. Cause with the Bose QC Ultra, these are slower to react, like this.
Bose QC Ultra active ambient mode
So like you may have just seen, the QC ultra’s are just slower to react… but I have also noticed that their Active sense, this is what Bose calls it… its overly sensitive as well because they will block out sounds like people talking or road noise… and these are the exact sounds that I need to be aware of. So personally I also dont even use the active sense on the Bose QC ultra.
But something thats just missing on both of Bose’s headphones, and this was something that was found on the Bose NC 700’s a conversation mode. Where as the ULT wear have their own version of this called quick attention where if you fully cover their touch pad they’ll automatically lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can talk to someone without having to take your headphones.
And when you let go the headphones will go back to normal again. Now I love when headphones have this type of feature cause it great if you’re traveling or flying with your headphones. However, I would like for sony to change it so that when you have the touch pad covered for over 5 seconds, the headphones will lock themselves into quick attention mode cause having the touch pad covered the whole time does get awkward and uncomfortable after awhile. But none the less, even though I think quick attention can be improved on on these headphones, I still really like this feature and its a feature that I wish Boses newer headphones had cause it very useful especially when you’re flying with these headphones.
Mic test ULT Wear Quiet Room
But finally heres the microphone test. Now I feel the microphone on the ULT wear does a good job of focusing on my voice while in a quiet room.
Mic Bose QC GREEN Quiet Room
Where as the microphone on the Bose QC sound a little far away when compared to the Sony ULT wear
Mic Bose QC Ultra Quite
But then there are the Bose QC Ultra and these do a much better job of picking up my voice.
Mic Bose QC ULtra road
And when it comes to dealing with noise pollution, these do a better job of dealing with this road noise. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we switch back over to the Bose QC Ultra, it is slightly reduced.
Mic Bose QC Road Noise
Where as with the Bose QC’s these are letting in more road noise but you can still understand me…
Mic Sony Road Noise
Where as with the ULT wear these are trying to block out this road noise but there is a considerable amount of interference.
Mic ULT Wear Chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter. These are trying to block out this chatter, but there is a lot of interference.
Mic Bose QC Chatter
Where as with the Bose QC theres a lot of chatter in the back, but at least you can understand me a little better.
Mic Bose QC Ultra
Where as with the Bose QC Ultra these are doing a better job of blocking out this chatter, cause 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 switch back over to the Bose QC Ultra, it is reduced. So overall, the Sony ULT wear have a decent sounding microphone to take phone calls with while in a quiet room… but if you plan on taking lots of phone call with your headphones, then you’ll might want to go with the Bose QC ultra.
But with all of that being said, the Sony ULT wear are Sony’s mid tier ANC headphones but they do a very impressive job of keeping up with the more premeumly priced Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra. Yes, both of Bose’s headphones block out more noise than the Sony ULT wear… but not by much. However, both the Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra feel more durable and more premium than the Sony ULT wear. But besides that, the Sony ULT wear gives both of these headphones a real run for their money. The ULT wear are just as comfortable to wear as the Bose QC Ultra, they have a longer lasting battery life than both of Bose’s headphones and you can use the ULT wear passively. The ULT wear also have the better performing ambient mode, plus they also have quick attention. And finally theres their sound, the ULT wear have great instrument separation like with both of Bose’s headphones, but they also have a lot more bass, so I feel that these are more fun to listen to. Overall, both the Bose QC’s and Bose QC ultra have been my daily drivers for the last few months especially since I have been traveling lately… but the Sony ULT wear really give both of Bose’s headphones a real run for their money.