[Azzurro]

Would you say, overall, you recommend them?

I currently have Sony XM3's (since 2018) and I love them still. Best ANC Wireless headphones I've owned. But I do want to upgrade and the QCU are top of my list. However, I have seen mixed reviews, which, given the price of them, is a tad concerning.

Not sure whether to just bite the bullet and go for them or wait until next year for the XM6's...

 

[angelom]

Would you say, overall, you recommend them?

I currently have Sony XM3's (since 2018) and I love them still. Best ANC Wireless headphones I've owned. But I do want to upgrade and the QCU are top of my list. However, I have seen mixed reviews, which, given the price of them, is a tad concerning.

Not sure whether to just bite the bullet and go for them or wait until next year for the XM6's...

If the XM3 is working well for you, I think probably you don't need changing for the QCU.

For me, personally, the XM3's really very big problem is that my ears getting hot and starting sweating VERY quickly. This is terrible for me. I only use this headphone in the past for hoovering, and even in those times I needing stopping, taking off, waiting one or 2 minutes and continuing. The AirPods Pro 2 (APP2) in the last year are perfect for this activity and having excellent ANC. The Bose is very good too but I prefer still the convenience of the APP2.

One nice thing about the XM3, XM4 and XM5, if you don't like the factory sound (like I don't) is that you can using the EQ and altering the sound and making this more correct for my ears. The EQ is offering more possibilities than the Bose, but I think the QCU's factory sound is better, and the simple, but effective, EQ is working very well.

BUT, the QCU maybe giving you a good surprise, like me, with the "immersive" audio (spatial audio) and this maybe becoming important for you. But maybe for you, personally, this isn't sufficient for changing headphones. Here only trying the QCU will giving you the best answer.

I prefer A LOT the volume changes in the XM3 very more than in the QCU because in the Bose this changes can be sometimes more big than I want and the Sonys offering very more volume steps, so With the Sonys this is never a problem. Volume changes for me is s avery important thing because I'm changing volume ALL the time.

You having, too, optional (on or off) wind blocking option with ANC, that apparently is very effective (I don't testing yet but others people reporting is very good), in the QCU. This is very important for some people (not for me).

The design, construction quality and travel case are very more nice in the Bose.

 

[itchyears]

Not sure whether to just bite the bullet and go for them or wait until next year for the XM6's...

Bose sometimes have an 90 day risk free trial or at least in the UK, maybe you have your end.

There is always something around the corner, headphones have not only recently moved to bluetooth 5.3 standard.... we now have intel shipping 5.4 bluetooth and wifi 7 cards for computers for example.

And to make things more interesting, snapdragons S7 platform which uses Wifi and BT technology, which means much in theory better sound quality, latency and more and that technologys apparently due summer 2024.

Bose have also mentioned they are partners with Qualcomm's and hinted they will incorporate Snapdragons S7 platform in future products.

 

[MikeGut]

First time poster here. I got the QC ultra headphones and earbuds more out of curiosity than necessity. I have the Sony Xperia I V which has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with Aptx Lossless. The new Bose QC ultra headphones and buds supports Aptx lossless (called "Snapdragon Sound"). The setup works fairly well with bluetooth, and I think I'll keep it. Though, the best bluetooth headphones for me is still the Focal Bathys. These also have a built it DAC so that I can connect them to my phone with a good USB cable and the sound is superb. Mike Gutierrez, North Hollywood, California

 

[itchyears]

First time poster here. I got the QC ultra headphones and earbuds more out of curiosity than necessity. I have the Sony Xperia I V which has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with Aptx Lossless. The new Bose QC ultra headphones and buds supports Aptx lossless (called "Snapdragon Sound"). The setup works fairly well with bluetooth, and I think I'll keep it. Though, the best bluetooth headphones for me is still the Focal Bathys. These also have a built it DAC so that I can connect them to my phone with a good USB cable and the sound is superb. Mike Gutierrez, North Hollywood, California

thanks for the review, would you feel the Bathys are much more detailed and better sound quality over the QC ultras?

I know its tricky to put a number or percentage on the exact difference, but maybe QC ultras score 6/10 and Bathys score 8/10 for example.

The PX8s and Focal Bathys have always been popular for sound quality around here but sure they come with that unforgiving price tag to match them.

 

[MikeGut]

I had the Px8 (until they were stolen). I think the Focal Bathys is better: 9/10 vs 7/10. Plus, you get the internal DAC in the Bathys which is a big plus for me. You can find a pair of the Bathys for a good price from Headphones.com for an open box. I bought 2 open box headphones from them, and they were fine.

 

[Stoykata]

First time poster here. Had for many years QC35 and been very happy with it. Tried both QC35II and 45, found no reason to buy them vs 35. Now took the QCU for a serious try and via Bluetooth it is quite impressive.

My challenge - wired playback is truly unusable, sound is extremely low. And my usage has been 20% wired on QC35 (with power on so the DSP can work)

Has anyone tried the wired playback so far with any impressions? Maybe it’s just my pair that is faulty?
(bear in mind it only works in powered mode, QC35 could do with both power on and off).

 

[Maukey]

First time poster here. Had for many years QC35 and been very happy with it. Tried both QC35II and 45, found no reason to buy them vs 35. Now took the QCU for a serious try and via Bluetooth it is quite impressive.

My challenge - wired playback is truly unusable, sound is extremely low. And my usage has been 20% wired on QC35 (with power on so the DSP can work)

Has anyone tried the wired playback so far with any impressions? Maybe it’s just my pair that is faulty?
(bear in mind it only works in powered mode, QC35 could do with both power on and off).

Did you make sure the volume was up on the Headphones itself? For some reason, and Bose isn't the only manufacturer to do this, the volume on the headphone defaults to a very low level when you insert the cable into the headphones. You have to swipe up on the volume slider until you hear the beep to let you know the headphones are at max volume. I've learned this lesson with headphones like the Focal Bathys, NAD Viso HP70, and Momentum 3.

 

[Stoykata]

Did you make sure the volume was up on the Headphones itself? For some reason, and Bose isn't the only manufacturer to do this, the volume on the headphone defaults to a very low level when you insert the cable into the headphones. You have to swipe up on the volume slider until you hear the beep to let you know the headphones are at max volume. I've learned this lesson with headphones like the Focal Bathys, NAD Viso HP70, and Momentum 3.

To my big surprise you were absolutely right, so thanks a lot for the tip! I have never thought of that simply because on QC35 the volume is immediately disabled (hence maxed out) once the cable is plugged. Which kind of always made sense, since it becomes a “passive” one to be driven from the dac/source. Obviously there can be many reasons why they do it like that now (including like the “liquid is hot” on coffee cups to prevent someone claiming damage). Anyhow now I’ll know and use it like that. Thanks again!

 

[MisterEwing]

I've spent a few hours with the QuietComfort Ultra and here are my initial thoughts:

Comfort is fantastic. The single biggest problem I have with other ANC headphones in my collection, namely Apple APM and Focal Bathys is long term comfort. Having logged thousands of travel hours with the QC line (2/15/25/35/35ii) I was really disappointed that the NC700 fit me so poorly. About the best alternative I had found was the Sony XM3/4 but, neither fit me as perfectly as the Bose QC line. My wife had the heater cranked last night and even after two+ hours there were zero hot spots and no excessive heat around my ears.

ANC is great but also too early to tell as I have yet to fly with them. In the standard tests, dehumidifier, bathroom exhaust fans, and background television noise the QCU performed perfectly. There was no audible hiss, nor any odd pressure sensation either.

Transparency mode is the closest I've experienced to the Apple APM, which is to say extremely good. I didn't detect any type of audible noise floor and both voices and other ambient sounds came through without any obvious processing.

The microphone(s) seemed work just fine, granted I only tested them in a relatively quiet environment. Seeing as these will primarily be used for air travel the microphone is not really a hue buying point for me, however know it works well is definitely a plus.

The controls are serviceable but not my favorite. Specifically I dislike the 'touch slider' used for volume and activating the 'shortcut'. I'll probably get used to this, but I see no real tangible benefit over physical buttons.

As for included accessories, the case is compact, and holds the included cables which... are not great but also will probably rarely see the light of day. No complaints here.

I like the app a lot. Everything is straight forward and easy to setup. Would have preferred a more advanced equalizer? Maybe, but in all honesty I doubt I would invest a ton of time in it as these are not really critical listening cans.

The sound... is fine. I agree with @angelom, out of the box there is too much bass for my tastes which I have eq'd down -3 (db?). Otherwise I have no real complaints about how these sound. Are they PX8 or Bathys level? No, but they are also far cheaper and I don't really see the Bose target audience as being the audiophile community. I actually enjoyed using the Immersive Audio mode far more than I thought I would. Having used Spatial Audio on the APM I sort of knew what to expect but, for some reason I assumed the experience would be far worse on the Bose; it was not. For live/classical recordings I think it does what it sets out to do. Will I used it all the time? Probably not, but I can see using it for certain types of music and movies.

While it's probably too early to draw any conclusions so far I'm very happy with this set of headphones. They aren't as luxurious as the PX8, don't sound as amazing as the Bathys, don't have as comprehensive of an app as the XM4, and aren't as integrated into the Apple eco system as the APM. Having said that, for my use case, I think these will be the best option for long haul flights as they are compact, extremely comfortable, dead simple to use and sound good.

 

[angelom]

I've spent a few hours with the QuietComfort Ultra and here are my initial thoughts:

Comfort is fantastic. The single biggest problem I have with other ANC headphones in my collection, namely Apple APM and Focal Bathys is long term comfort. Having logged thousands of travel hours with the QC line (2/15/25/35/35ii) I was really disappointed that the NC700 fit me so poorly. About the best alternative I had found was the Sony XM3/4 but, neither fit me as perfectly as the Bose QC line. My wife had the heater cranked last night and even after two+ hours there were zero hot spots and no excessive heat around my ears.

ANC is great but also too early to tell as I have yet to fly with them. In the standard tests, dehumidifier, bathroom exhaust fans, and background television noise the QCU performed perfectly. There was no audible hiss, nor any odd pressure sensation either.

Transparency mode is the closest I've experienced to the Apple APM, which is to say extremely good. I didn't detect any type of audible noise floor and both voices and other ambient sounds came through without any obvious processing.

The microphone(s) seemed work just fine, granted I only tested them in a relatively quiet environment. Seeing as these will primarily be used for air travel the microphone is not really a hue buying point for me, however know it works well is definitely a plus.

The controls are serviceable but not my favorite. Specifically I dislike the 'touch slider' used for volume and activating the 'shortcut'. I'll probably get used to this, but I see no real tangible benefit over physical buttons.

As for included accessories, the case is compact, and holds the included cables which... are not great but also will probably rarely see the light of day. No complaints here.

I like the app a lot. Everything is straight forward and easy to setup. Would have preferred a more advanced equalizer? Maybe, but in all honesty I doubt I would invest a ton of time in it as these are not really critical listening cans.

The sound... is fine. I agree with @angelom, out of the box there is too much bass for my tastes which I have eq'd down -3 (db?). Otherwise I have no real complaints about how these sound. Are they PX8 or Bathys level? No, but they are also far cheaper and I don't really see the Bose target audience as being the audiophile community. I actually enjoyed using the Immersive Audio mode far more than I thought I would. Having used Spatial Audio on the APM I sort of knew what to expect but, for some reason I assumed the experience would be far worse on the Bose; it was not. For live/classical recordings I think it does what it sets out to do. Will I used it all the time? Probably not, but I can see using it for certain types of music and movies.

While it's probably too early to draw any conclusions so far I'm very happy with this set of headphones. They aren't as luxurious as the PX8, don't sound as amazing as the Bathys, don't have as comprehensive of an app as the XM4, and aren't as integrated into the Apple eco system as the APM. Having said that, for my use case, I think these will be the best option for long haul flights as they are compact, extremely comfortable, dead simple to use and sound good.

Very nice and, in my opinion, sufficiently objective impressions with no hype.

Sadly, simply because this is a Bose product, isn't receiving the attention is deserving.

Oh, and I'm agree with you, I much preferring the old physical buttons for volume that allowing for very better volume control than the new volume slider. Is interesting, too, that I too have comfort problems with the Bose NC700 when I owning several years ago, but never with the QC35/QC35 II.

 

[MisterEwing]

Very nice and, in my opinion, sufficiently objective impressions with no hype.

Sadly, simply because this is a Bose product, isn't receiving the attention is deserving.

Oh, and I'm agree with you, I much preferring the old physical buttons for volume that allowing for very better volume control than the new volume slider. Is interesting, too, that I too have comfort problems with the Bose NC700 when I owning several years ago, but never with the QC35/QC35 II.

I think a lot of the community's disinterest comes from Bose prioritizing other aspects of the product over sound quality. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was flying to Asia taking only a pair of ER4s because I'd become convinced "brain touching" IEMs were, as an audiophile, the only way to travel. I think I made it about an hour before decided I'd rather fly with my bare ear pressed against the cabin wall than use the Etymotics any longer. My point being, in some scenarios, with some use cases, sound quality isn't always the absolute measure of effectiveness: a concept some in the audiophile world are not super keen on.

Thankfully, at least in my casual/occasional browsing of these boards Bose seems a whole lot more accepted than they used to be. Not coincidently I believe this corresponds to Bose actually investing more in the tuning of their headphones while not sacrificing the other aspects that are most appealing to their core audience.

 

[MisterEwing]

thanks for the review, would you feel the Bathys are much more detailed and better sound quality over the QC ultras?

I know its tricky to put a number or percentage on the exact difference, but maybe QC ultras score 6/10 and Bathys score 8/10 for example.

The PX8s and Focal Bathys have always been popular for sound quality around here but sure they come with that unforgiving price tag to match them.

In the echelon of over-ear wireless active noise canceling headphones, of those I've owned, I would rank their sound (EQ'd using their respective apps to my preference) out of 10 points as follows:

Bathys 9/10
PX8 8/10
Apple APM 8/10
QC Ultra 7/10 (need more time with them as I haven't actually used them on a flight yet)
Sony XM4 7/10 (5 without EQ)
Bose QC35ii 6/10
Sony XM3 6/10 (probably 4 without EQ)

Note: These rankings are based upon my use in what I'll call real world scenarios ie flights/office.

Also, as I reference above for my use case there are more important aspects than just sound, although obviously that factors in. Once I have more time with the QCU I will post my overall rankings inclusive of noise canceling, comfort etc.

 

[angelom]

I think a lot of the community's disinterest comes from Bose prioritizing other aspects of the product over sound quality.

Yes, this is true. BUT still I think that demonising the sound quality of Bose's prior models in the past is in many instances a big exaggeration.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was flying to Asia taking only a pair of ER4s because I'd become convinced "brain touching" IEMs were, as an audiophile, the only way to travel. I think I made it about an hour before decided I'd rather fly with my bare ear pressed against the cabin wall than use the Etymotics any longer.

I still own the Etymotic ER-4S and I never taking in flights because I know this can be a big mistake. Many years ago I taking the very excellent UERM (custom IEM) for travelling, but I still prefer today using ANC earphones or headphones, specially when now you also have transparency mode and spatial audio for films and podcasts in some models.

My point being, in some scenarios, with some use cases, sound quality isn't always the absolute measure of effectiveness: a concept some in the audiophile world are not super keen on.

Today, and for the last 13 months, I'm using 2 excellent, but very expensive, ANC headphones--with great sound quality--when travelling by plane, the T+A Solitaire T (1300 EUR / $1600 USD) and now the new Dali iO-12 (1000 EUR / $1300 USD). Even the excellent AirPods Pro 2nd Gen is excellent in several aspects, specially ANC and with very good sound quality (I prefer the sound of this than the very more expensive ANC headphone B&W PX8), but this, of course, is for flights that are maximum of 5 hours.

Thankfully, at least in my casual/occasional browsing of these boards Bose seems a whole lot more accepted than they used to be. Not coincidently I believe this corresponds to Bose actually investing more in the tuning of their headphones while not sacrificing the other aspects that are most appealing to their core audience.

I'm not sure about acceptance for Bose products yet here in head-if yet. I starting this thread in 23 October 2023 and only having 24 posts in 71 days, and no posts for one full month until your posts of yesterday. And this is why I saying before that the QCU isn't yet receiving the attention is deserving.

 

[MisterEwing]

Yes, this is true. BUT still I think that demonising the sound quality of Bose's prior models in the past is in many instances a big exaggeration.



I still own the Etymotic ER-4S and I never taking in flights because I know this can be a big mistake. Many years ago I taking the very excellent UERM (custom IEM) for travelling, but I still prefer today using ANC earphones or headphones, specially when now you also have transparency mode and spatial audio for films and podcasts in some models.



Today, and for the last 13 months, I'm using 2 excellent, but very expensive, ANC headphones--with great sound quality--when travelling by plane, the T+A Solitaire T (1300 EUR / $1600 USD) and now the new Dali iO-12 (1000 EUR / $1300 USD). Even the excellent AirPods Pro 2nd Gen is excellent in several aspects, specially ANC and with very good sound quality (I prefer the sound of this than the very more expensive ANC headphone B&W PX8), but this, of course, is for flights that are maximum of 5 hours.



I'm not sure about acceptance for Bose products yet here in head-if yet. I starting this thread in 23 October 2023 and only having 24 posts in 71 days, and no posts for one full month until your posts of yesterday. And this is why I saying before that the QCU isn't yet receiving the attention is deserving.

I tend to agree with everything you said. It's always intrigues me to see post counts regarding certain headphones. The PX8 thread I am following has something like 2.5x more posts than the Focal Bathys thread I'm watching. I spent some more time with the QC Ultra last night and still no change in my opinion. I listened to a couple tracks from the Squid Game soundtrack and while something like the Bathys is noticeably more detailed I still found the listening experience with the QC Ultra enjoyable.