The sound quality is electrifying, and the noise cancellation swallows you into a black hole of silence.
It’s just a shame about the sub-par battery life.
See, maybe I didn’t even need two minutes to help you make your decision about them.
But that doesn’t matter.
But if you want the ultimate balance of sound quality and noise cancellation, pay for these.
You may have to turn this on in the Bose Music app, in the Source screen.
Spatial audio is handled by Bose’s own special sauce, and is called Immersive Audio.
I hope Bose will add more options in the future, but these are a good start.
But if you’ve got the right kind of phone, at least it’s there for you.
Everyone else will have to hope for higher-quality streaming from LE Audio in the future.
A shame, considering the price of these headphones, but not a dealbreaker.
Using them, you sound generally clear if a tad quiet, and occasionally a little digitally enhanced.
It was good enough, but a real mic close to the mouth is still way, way better.
you’re free to turn this off if you prefer.
You get a middle-of-the-road 30 hours from theSony WH-1000XM5and an excellent 60 hours from the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless.
There a few things to mitigate this, though.
They also charge quickly, including a 15-minute juice-up for two hours of use.
One side of the driver is closer, which means its sound reaches you marginally faster.
I mention all this for some context, because these things absolutely freaking rule.
You will probably notice the bass first.
It’s helped by just how rich and layered the mids are.
And the treble is shimmering and lofty without ever getting harsh or detached.
The dynamism within the Ultra Headphones' range is just astounding.
They can go from nothing to rocketing through sounds like a firework that’s just sparked up.
And they sound like this with active noise cancellation on, over AAC on Bluetooth!
Like the sound, the active noise cancellation is mind blowing.
It’s absolutely best in class, there’s no question.
It was brief, so I don’t find it to be a dealbreaker, but the fact remains.
Bose may be able to fix this with an update, who knows.
The head tracking works very well, and never felt lagged or detached from my head movements, either.
But it also adds some effects, including a sense of reverb for some upper-mid or treble sounds.
It makes the sound feel less sweet, so for music I never got on with it.
I’ll still use it for watching movies on flights, however.
These all work well.
On the left earcup is the USB-C port and the 2.5mm jack, plus a charging light.
I prefer the other way around.
Hardly a major issue.
They’re not alittlebetter than the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM5; they’re clearly and obviously better.
They’re slightly better than the AirPods Max, and those are much more expensive than the Bose.
Other premium options have this, it should really be here but not everyone will mind.
I don’t, really.
But I’m living with that.
It’s a small frustration, it’s not a dealbreaker.
I still think they’re well worth the price tag.
Should I buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones?
It’s Snapdragon Sound or 3.5mm cable only.
But it comes with caveats, and I think Apple does it better.
But the Sennheisers are much cheaper.
Here’s our fullSennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless review.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8Go even more premium with these phenomenal-sounding and beautifully designed headphones.
The battery life is longer, though…
Here’s our fullBowers & Wilkins Px8 review.
They’ve been my primary over-ear headphones during that time.
I’ve also used them with audio from various other sources, including Spotify, podcasts andYouTube.
For wired use, I connected them to my MacBook Air.
Read more about how we test
