Article updated on August 23, 2024 at 10:48 AM PDT
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David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, mobile accessories, Apple, Sony, Bose, e-readers, Amazon, glasses, ski gear, iPhone cases, gaming accessories, sports tech, portable audio, interviews, audiophile gear, PC speakers Credentials
- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
Slightly upgraded Bose noise-canceling headphones
Bose QuietComfort Headphones
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Best new open earbuds with an innovative clip-on design
Bose Ultra Open Earbuds
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What are the best Bose headphones?
Bose headphones and earbuds are known for their comfort, sound quality and excellent noise canceling, which is arguably the best out there, though Sony has been a close competitor in recent years as both companies vie to become the noise-canceling king. Among the best wireless headphones and best wireless earbuds on the market, Bose models tend to be fairly pricey but regularly go on sale.
As for which is the best Bose model, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are clearly Bose's top headphones. However, if you want something smaller, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the ones to get and feature the best-canceling on the market for earbuds. That said, you can't plug them into an inflight entertainment system on a plane because they strictly wireless while the Ultra Open Headphones have a corded option.
I've tested all the Bose models on this list and I'll update it with new Bose headphones and earbuds as they hit the market. Bose's newest headphone product is its Ultra Open Earbuds, the only model on this list that doesn't have noise canceling. They feature an innovative clip-on design (it was a big improvement over the design of cheaper clip-on earbuds that were previously on the market) and best-in-class sound for open earbuds.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds for 2024
Best Bose headphones are earbuds of 2024
While Bose's new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones may not be a huge upgrade over the company's Noise Cancelling 700 headphones, they feature a more premium design along with Bose's new Immersive Audio feature, which delivers some sound-quality enhancements. Along with excellent sound and great noise canceling, the QC Ultra Headphones are also superb for making calls, with top-notch background noise reduction. A worthy adversary to Sony's highly rated WH-1000XM5 and Apple's AirPods Max, we called them the best new noise-canceling headphones of 2023, and they remain a top noise-canceling headphones pick in 2024.
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While the QC Ultra Earbuds aren't a major upgrade over Bose's excellent QC Earbuds 2 that were released in 2022, they're definitely a little better. They should fit most ears very well, and they feature superb noise canceling, arguably the best out there. And a natural-sounding transparency mode with a new ActiveSense feature kicks in some ANC should the sound get too loud around you (it's sort of similar to the AirPods Pro's Adaptive Audio feature). They also sound slightly better overall, with a touch more clarity, and their new Immersive Audio feature opens up the sound a bit.
When Bose released its new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, it also replaced the QuietComfort 45s with a new, slightly updated model simply called the QuietComfort Headphones. Like the QC 45s, this model carries on the very comfortable tried-and-true legacy QuietComfort design that's been around for a few generations that a lot of people continue to love. The QC Ultra Headphones add Bose's new Immersive Audio feature and have a more refined design with some metal parts (they also have Bluetooth 5.3 instead of Bluetooth 5.1). But the QuietComfort Headphones still feature very good sound (the Ultras offer a small step up in sound quality), excellent noise canceling and strong voice-calling performance.
As for differences between these and the QC45s, Bose says it adjusted some of the electronics to improve battery life (now 24 hours vs. 22 hours) and adjusted the logos to make the products "visually distinguishable and more in line with its latest design language." It also added an inline microphone to the auxiliary cable to "help with some users who may prefer a plug-and-play solution rather than Bluetooth pairing." There's also a Wind Block feature and some additional small performance improvements due to software upgrades. Finally, the headphones come in new color options, including green and a light blue version that's only available at bose.com.
While the QuietComfort Headphones carry a $350 list price that's $50 higher than that of the QC 45s, we expect them to be regularly discounted to $250 and possibly less than that in 2024 -- so look to buy them when they're on sale. You can read our review of the QuietComfort 45 to get a good take on the QuietComfort Headphones.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds have one of the most unusual designs of any earbuds I've tested over the last several years. They literally clip onto the side of your ears, kind of like earrings, and their open design has micro speakers that fire sound into your ears while still being able to hear what's happening around you. At $299, they're somewhat overpriced, but otherwise there's a lot to like about them, including a surprisingly comfortable, secure fit and very good sound quality for open buds.
We test wireless earbuds and headphones based on five key criteria, comparing similarly styled and priced models. These criteria are design, sound quality, features, voice-calling performance and value.
- Design: We assess not only how comfortable the earbuds or headphones fit (ergonomics) but their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. For earbuds, we also look at water- and dust-resistance ratings.
- Sound quality: We evaluate sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks and comparing models to top competing products in their price range. Sonic traits such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are key factors in our assessment.
- Features: Some great-sounding headphones and earbuds aren't loaded with features, but we do take into account what extra features are on board. These include everything from noise-canceling and transparency modes (ambient sound mode) to special sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears.
- Voice-calling performance: When we test voice-calling performance, we make calls in the noisy streets of New York and evaluate how well earbuds and headphones reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear your voice.
- Value: We determine value after evaluating the strength of the headphones and earbuds against all these criteria and what they're are able to deliver compared to other models in their price class.
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