Mirror, mirror on the wall, who helps make the fairest noise-cancelling earbuds of all? Is it Apple, with its scorching-providing $249 AirPods Professional (2nd technology), or Bose with its $279 QuietComfort Earbuds II?
Following crafting in-depth testimonials of every single major-shelf products, and then residing with them for quite a few additional months, my brief answer is you can’t go wrong with possibly. Above time, however, I’ve arrive to respect significant identity distinctions and use-situation eventualities exactly where a single performs better than the other. I hope my observations enable you make your mind up which buds are for you.
Very best for sound reduction: Bose (generally)
Magnets hold the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II in their charging case.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
If you are a repeated flyer, bus rider, or train hauler, you’ll want to tote the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II. The maker states these are finest sounds-eradicating telephones it has at any time manufactured, which include its more than-ear products. Through a current cross-state air adventure, I identified them to be just as handy at sound blocking and entertaining as Bose’s latest, biggest QuietComfort 45 about-ear headphones. A lot more to the level, the QC Earbuds II are notably remarkable to the Apple AirPod Pros (2nd generation) when it comes to blocking out the noisy distractions of the world.
Both equally sets of buds removed the bulk of loud jet motor rumbling on my flights, but only the new Bose proved capable of also irradicating a persistent, very low-frequency hull rumbling that resonated like a ghost in the equipment though Apple’s buds were being in my ears. The only way I could mask that sounds with Apple’s buds was to crank up the tunes, but that shouldn’t be important with sound cancelling. You really should be ready to pay attention at reduced quantity to stop ear fatigue and potentially stay away from hearing hurt. And when you’re utilizing sounds-cancelling earbuds sans tunes to catch some Z’s, you shouldn’t find you changing one aural distraction with an additional.
The Bose QC Earbuds II also proved capable of concurrently masking distinctive noises in the course of a pay a visit to to a crowded Starbucks, chopping again on the space chatter as properly as dish clatter. And back again home, in my bed room and home workplace, only the Bose solution completely removed the whirring admirer noise from my air purifiers.
Bose requires advantage of the chunkier style and design of its Peaceful Convenience Earbuds II (suitable) to location touch controls on the outer floor of the buds’ shells.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
I at last found the QC Earbuds II’s Achilles’ heel whilst seated on the lessen deck of a Megabus touring the New Jersey Turnpike: Bose’s ANC algorithm shown a awful routine of amplifying the metallic shaking and sputtering seems of the bus’s loose suspension procedure every time its tires strike a pothole or an enlargement strip.
The sound produced me consider there were loose screws rattling around in the buds, in my skull, or both equally. I recurring the state of affairs with a second set of the Bose just to be sure I wasn’t screening a faulty pair, but I got the pretty similar end result. The Apple AirPods Execs dealt better with these poor vibrations, lessening the sound of the rattling by at the very least 50 %.
Finest audio overall performance: Bose for bass-a-holics, Apple for spatial audio
As I have by now explained, both sets of earbuds are superior-doing headphones for new music-listening periods. Deciding upon which is most effective for you depends on how you plan to use them.
8 moments out of 10, the Bose QC Earbuds II offered additional satisfaction from deep dives into a wide variety of audio, providing a lot more forward, in-your-facial area sound. They dig deeper into bass frequencies however control to sound a lot more nuanced at the same time. On my jet-plane encounter with Tom Petty & The Hearbreakers’s recently launched, 33-observe, covers-major Dwell at the Fillmore, 1997, tunes like Lucille, Louie Louie, and Phone Me the Breeze, Bose’s earbuds shipped way extra bounce to the rockin’ ounce.
Apple’s charging case delivers extra battery life for its AirPods Pro (appropriate) than Bose’s scenario does for its QuietComfort Earbuds II.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
But it is not just all about that bass. In the quiet of my bed room, the QC Earbuds II squeezed out more mid-array nuance in the achy breaky vocals of Luciano Souza on the Brazilian artist’s tribute album The Guide of Chet also did greater by Taylor Goldsmith’s bemused, bothered, and bewildered observations on the most up-to-date Dawes’ album Misadventures of Doomscroller. When that wry observer muses “There’s a Joke in There Somewhere,” the QC Earbuds II are much better at emotionally digging it out.
Even a cursory glance at the way these things are intended is revealing. The QC Earbuds II are far more eccentrically shaped to things and seal superior in the ear canal. And their automated equalization, dependent on a series of test tones that evaluate the user’s ears, seems much more complex than Apple’s automobile-EQ, which is dependent on an evaluation of photographs of the listener’s ears and facial framework following they’ve snapped photographs with their iPhones.
But that’s not the full tale, possibly. With considerably less bass receiving in the way, the AirPods Professional supply a brighter consider on trebly oriented new music (imagine tremulous acoustic guitar plunks, splashy cymbal-driving drummers, and scorching violin soloists.) And the tables unquestionably turned in the AirPods’ favor with substance from the Apple Audio streaming support blended and served in Dolby Atmos. When the AirPods Professional see an Atmos flag in the details stream, they activate Spatial Audio mode, which folds in some intriguing section-shifting and timing results to set a sharper edge on and additional air about voices and instruments.
The second-technology Apple AirPods Pro didn’t remain in the author’s ears as tightly as the Bose Silent Convenience Earbuds II.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
I also suspect that activating Spatial Audio mode cranks up the AirPods Pro’s volume, relative to the other content material I’ve fed them from a wide range of sources. Listening to Harry Connick Jr.’s holiday break album Make it Merry, the Christmas tunes didn’t appear to be rather as playful or twinkle-star magical when listened to in simple previous stereo by way of the Bose buds. If you’re an Iphone or iPad person as perfectly as an Apple Music subscriber, you are going to acquire some aural pros by marrying your supply material with the AirPods Pro.
In common, I’d argue that the additional intense, in-your-experience mother nature of the Bose buds make them better companions for both of those on-the-go use (mainly because of their top-quality sounds cancellation) and for severe, sit-down-and-hear classes. I have no grievances about the musicality of the more laidback, lighter-toned AirPods Professional, and listening to Dolby Atmos tracks is very satisfying.
Very best for producing and using cellular phone phone calls: Tie
When it comes to building and getting arms-totally free phone calls, both sets of earbuds are fantastic. They produce good seem at both of those finishes of the contact, whether you are outdoor or in a silent zone. This one’s a draw.
Best for comfort and ease: Apple’s are lighter, the Bose cling in tighter
This one’s a toughie, ripe for a Biblical Solomon (or Choose Judy) to adjudicate. Most improved-ergonomics honors go to Bose, as the radically redesigned, scaled-down, and lighter Tranquil Ease and comfort Earbuds II do a significantly improved occupation of residing up to their identify than the 1st-generation item, which start hurting my ears after two hrs of use.
Weighing just .2 ounces each—compared to .3 ounces for the primary QC Earbuds and .15 ounces for the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro—I can don Bose’s most current buds comfortably for a complete 4 hrs. The engineers at Bose changed the very first-generation’s outsized wing stabilizers with little rubbery hinges that easily lock into the rims of your ears for a very secure match. In reality, they place up a bit of struggle when you pull them out—and that’s a excellent matter.
The greater measurement of the Bose QuietComfort II intended they have been marginally significantly less comfortable to don for prolonged listening classes.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
The AirPods Professional appear to depend additional on gravity and the stickiness of their silicone ear strategies to hold them in location. This hasn’t worked for me for the duration of significant sweat-creating exercise sessions, or even when I was just pulling a sweater in excess of my head. On the optimistic side, the lighter pounds and semi-bulbous system form of Apple’s buds make them even a lot more comfy in my ears—I can hear for up to six hours—which just so takes place to be the most runtime of the AirPods Pro’s battery. Bose presents the similar selection of several hours, but you can recharge the QC Earbuds II only three instances with the backup battery in its scenario, wherever you will get 4 fees out of Apple’s circumstance.
If you buy the next-gen AirPods Pro and develop into dissatisfied with the in good shape, you are going to discover a sizable cottage market of aftermarket memory-foam ear tips and insert-on ear-wings that assure the two improved clinging and bass reaction than the manufacturing unit-provided suggestions supply. I purchased a established of Lanwow tips on a friend’s suggestion, but have so significantly resisted the urge to throw my knowledge with them into this presently challenging shoot-out.
Greatest for customization: AirPods Pro for solutions, QC Earbuds II for simplicity
Apple’s AirPods Pro provide a lot a lot more customizable equalization profiles than the Bose earbuds, particularly if you will be utilizing the AirPods Pro with an Iphone, iPad, or iMac. You’ll locate a pair dozen EQ configurations you can personalize according to the design and style of tunes you are listening to, ranging from electronica and hip hop to jazz and classical.
Apple’s app features much more insights and EQ customizations than what Bose offers.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
The AirPods Professional also give applications to assist preserve and sustain your listening to. You can keep an eye on the decibel output level, url to your linked iPhone’s microphone and repurpose the buds as hearing aids, or set them into a volume-reduction mode to use them higher-tech ear plugs. You can wirelessly recharge the buds and their carrying case employing a Qi charger, an Apple Watch’s Magnetic Quickly Charger, or with a USB-to-Lightning cable. If the AirPods Pro or their situation go lacking, you can use your Apple’s Discover My purpose to support locate them.
If simplicity of procedure is far more your thing, go for the Bose buds. The a few-way (bass, midrange, and treble), person-customizable EQ settings in the Bose Tunes Application are as uncomplicated to use as they are enjoyable. I also like how you can allow for some ambient sounds in for situational awareness with out entirely defeating energetic sounds cancellation. When you locate the proper blend, you can retail outlet this benefit as a preset—one for four—that can be recalled from within Bose’s application or with a tap on one particular of the thermal manage panels on every single bud.
All those exact same pads can also be employed to modify the quantity, engage in/pause the current track, skip up or down your playlist, and handle phone calls. They’re much simpler to accessibility and manipulate whilst on the transfer than the controls found on the AirPods Pro’s tiny stems.
It’s far more difficult to extract the smaller sized AirPods Professional from their charging circumstance.
Jonathan Takiff/Foundry
Most effective ANC earbuds in general: It is Bose by a nose
We really don’t hedge our bets at TechHive, so we’re naming the Bose Silent Comfort Earbuds II as the winner of this competition by advantage of their outstanding active noise cancellation and bolder audio. That reported, no one ought to purchase a product or service based mostly on a single criterion, and Apple’s AirPods Professional produce a pretty refined listening working experience as properly.
The authentic base line below is that you can’t go incorrect with possibly preference, but repeated vacationers and long-length runners might like the QC Earbuds II, although marathon listeners and multi-taskers might be happier with the 2nd-gen AirPods Professional.
For those who nonetheless just can’t make your mind up, we’ve boiled down each and every product’s pluses and minus right here:
Most effective capabilities of the Bose Silent Convenience Earbuds II
- Top-quality sounds cancellation
- Fuller bass, warmer all round existence
- Cling additional securely in your ears
- Much easier bodily controls
Drawbacks of the Bose Tranquil Comfort and ease Earbuds II
- Somewhat bulkier and heavier
- They wear out their in-ear welcome quicker
- ANC freaks out with loose bus suspension clattering
Ideal attributes of the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd era)
- Really cozy in good shape
- Clear, specific seem
- Longer collective battery life
- Decodes Dolby Atmos
Downsides of the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
- Not as adaptable at cancelling a number of noises simultaneously
- Bass response isn’t as full bodied
- Not as great at keeping in the ears throughout strong exercises
- Actual physical controls are more difficult to identify and use
