Bose QuietComfort Earbuds Review

 Since the inception of the QuietComfort brand, Bose has been the leader in noise-cancelling headphones and earphones. But the QuietComfort Earbuds are in uncharted territory for QC products, as they enter a category that already has an established leader—the $249 Apple AirPods Pro—a role Bose has typically played in the past. And at $279.95, the QuietComfort Earbuds must not only sound 

fantastic in order to compete with the AirPods Pro, they need to offer noise cancellation that's just as good or slightly better in order to justify the $30 premium. From an audio standpoint, both pairs offer solid sound quality with rich bass and sculpted highs. As for ANC (active noise cancellation), the 

QuietComfort Earbuds offer the best we’ve heard in this category to date, edging out the AirPods Pro to earn our Editors' Choice for noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds.Available in beige or black designs, the QuietComfort Earbuds feature bulky, but lightweight, earpieces. The fit is super secure and 

comfortable, though the earpieces take up a lot of ear real estate in a way the AirPods Pro don’t. This is all in the name of a secure, strong in-canal seal, however, which is the secret trick of quality in-ear ANC: A good seal takes care of much of the surrounding ambient noise passively before the circuitry even needs to be employed. To that end, the QC Earbuds ship with three pairs of combination, all-in-

one silicone eartips and earfins in small, medium, and large sizes, so you can find the best fit and seal for your ear.

Like the AirPods Pro, the QuietComfort Earbuds have an IPX4 rating for water resistance. This means the earbuds are essentially protected against light rain and splashes, but can't be submerged or exposed to faucet-strength water pressure. There are plenty of fully waterproof, IPX7 true wireless models on

 the market if that’s a priority—we’re fans of the $170 JBL True Wireless Flash X and the $180 Jaybird Vista. But there are fewer quality ANC options, so we’ll take any level of water resistance as a plus in this regard. The QuietComfort Earbuds should be fine for sweaty workouts, light rain, and being wiped down with a damp cloth. The water-resistance rating doesn’t apply to the charging case, however, so don’t get it wet or put wet earbuds inside it.

Each earpiece features a touch-sensitive control panel. A double tap on the left earpiece cycles between saved ANC preset modes. A double tap on the right ear plays or pauses audio. Pressing and holding the left ear’s surface defaults to a battery life readout, which you can switch to skip forward a track in the 

app (and which would've been the more obvious default setting). Pressing and holding the right ear summons your device's voice assistant. Double taps answer or end calls. What’s missing? Volume controls and a track back option. It feels a little like Bose tried to reinvent the wheel with these controls when a simple, straightforward solution would’ve been more effective.

The included charging case works with wireless Qi charging pads, or with the included USB-C charging cable. Unlike the AirPods Pro case, the QuietComfort Earbuds case is quite large. The bulkiness is necessary because the earpieces are big, but it’s a bit of a bummer that the large frame doesn’t result in more battery life stored within the case, which holds 12 extra hours of charge.

The Bose Music App for Android and iOS walks you through the pairing process—even if you try to pair manually on your device's Bluetooth menu, you’ll be prompted to download the app, which will complete the pairing/activation process. After a connection is established, the app walks you through an in-ear fit test, which is really just a quick how-to for anyone not used to wearing eartips.