Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) Review

Announced in early September 2025 and on shelves from the start of October, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are the company's top over-ear model and sit above the standard QuietComfort line. They are sold in the US through Bose directly and the usual retailers, in five finishes: Black, White Smoke, Midnight Violet, Driftwood Sand and Desert Gold. This is flagship-money territory, directly against the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. The target buyer has not changed since the first Ultra: people who fly a lot, work in noise, and rank silence above every other attribute a headphone can have.

What the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) actually give you:

• Bluetooth with SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive, plus Bluetooth Multipoint for two devices
• Stated 30 hours with noise cancelling on, 45 hours with it off, and 23 hours when Immersive Audio is running
• USB-C port that now handles wired listening as well as charging, carrying CD-quality lossless audio
• A separate 2.5mm analog input on the left earcup
• Quiet, Aware and Immersion listening modes, plus adjustable custom modes in the Bose app
• New Cinema mode that pairs the Still spatial setting with maximum cancellation for TV and film
• Improved ActiveSense response that softens sudden noise spikes in Aware mode
• 250g, folding earcups, hard-shell carry case, capacitive touch strip for volume and shortcuts
• Five finishes, with polished mirror-finish metal yokes replacing the first model's matte ones

The list is short and pointed. Wired USB-C listening is the big one: on the original Ultra the USB-C port only charged, which meant carrying a second cable and giving up any hope of lossless playback. Battery life moves from a stated 24 hours to 30 with cancelling engaged. Cinema mode is new, bundling the Still spatial setting and the most aggressive cancellation into a single preset aimed at films and TV rather than music. ActiveSense has been retuned so Aware mode reacts more smoothly when a train passes or a machine starts up. Design-wise, almost nothing moved beyond the yokes and two new colors, which is a defensible choice given how well the shape already worked.

Outright noise blocking remains the reason to buy. Across published reviews, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are still credited with the most intense cancellation in the category — Sony has closed most of the gap, but Bose holds a narrow lead in its most aggressive setting, flattening engine rumble and mid-band chatter until only the sharpest high frequencies get through. Comfort is the other standout: 250g, pleather cushioning on both the pads and the headband, and a grip judged well enough to survive a head shake without clamping. Cinema mode is the first Bose spatial feature that reviewers describe as clearly worth using, pulling dialogue forward inside a wider field.

Sound quality is the weak link, and not because it is bad. The 2nd Gen is tighter, cleaner and better separated than the original Ultra, with the familiar warm, punchy Bose character intact. The problem is the competition: reviewers place the Sony WH-1000XM6 clearly ahead on tonality, clarity, texture and dynamic subtlety, with Bowers & Wilkins and Sennheiser rated at least the Sony's equal. Battery also drops sharply to a stated 23 hours once Immersive Audio is on. Motion mode, which tracks your head, still draws attention to its own processing. And there is no LDAC or hi-res wireless codec despite aptX Adaptive being on board.

Buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) if your priority list starts and ends with silence, if you fly often, or if you want headphones you can wear for a transatlantic leg without your ears complaining. Buy them if USB-C lossless from a laptop matters and you would rather not carry two cables. Skip them if music quality is the deciding factor, because the Sony rival is rated meaningfully better there. Skip them if you already own the first Ultra and rarely listen wired, since the upgrade is mostly about plugging things in. And skip them if head-tracked spatial audio is a must-have feature.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 is the obvious rival and the one reviewers hand the sound crown to, with folding hinges, LDAC and Auracast, though it still refuses to do USB-C audio. Bose's own refreshed QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen), announced in August 2026, borrow the Ultra line's TrueSpatial immersive modes and add USB-C lossless at a lower tier, which makes them a genuinely awkward internal rival. Bowers & Wilkins offers the detail-focused alternative. And Sonos entered the premium over-ear market in September 2026 with a model built to hand audio back and forth with a Sonos soundbar.