Bose QuietComfort Earbuds: Two-minute review
Bose clearly likes the name 'QuietComfort Earbuds', because this is the third pair of earbuds to which the brand assigned the name – and that's not even counting suffixes! To clear up confusion, we've slapped the '2024' on the end up in the headline and our section headers. Got it? Good.
Following on from 2020's Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, 2022's Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 and 2023's Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, these could be called 'Gen 3' or simply '3', but Bose has decided to simplify things but dropping the descriptor entirely. For all intents and purposes, then, these are the new QCE (until newer ones come out).
It's no wonder that audio powerhouse Bose loves this name, though, because it's a very literal description of the two principal selling points of its earbuds. When you wear them, things are quiet (because of the Active Noise Cancellation) and comfortable (because of the design).
First up, the ANC: Bose's earbuds have noise cancellation that beats out anything else I've tried at this price – and many earbuds that cost much more. It completely eradicates all but the most incessant and loud background noises, and its Aware mode is fantastically smart in isolating and amplifying voices while hiding other sounds.
I was surprised by just how dramatic the two modes were. On a stormy day, on Aware mode, I could hear someone talking to me perfectly but didn't hear a peep from the trees which were almost blown at a 90-degree angle. Turn on full Quiet mode and I couldn't even tell if someone was talking to me.
Onto 'comfort', then. Again the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds knock it out of the park, with a snug and sturdy fit. Bose has brought back its stability bands from previous models, but has redesigned them to look slightly less like velociraptor talons – these ridges ensure the buds stick firmly in your ear. During testing, I was constantly surprised by just how secure the earbuds felt; in fact near the end I did an 8km run and never did the earbuds come close to falling out.
But the name isn't all, and the Bose have a few other tricks up their sleeve: they sound great, the battery life is surprisingly good, the app has plenty of features and the price is pretty low all things considered.
A few minor annoyances detract from the experience of using the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, but not by much. I found the case a little too big, and it really bulged out of my pocket. Plus, the buds support the SBC and AAC codecs for music streaming, but audiophiles will miss the likes of aptX, FLAC and WMA.
My personal biggest gripe, though, was that the earbuds' voice controls were far too sensitive, to the point that other people nearby me would accidentally control my earbuds when saying words similar to the voice commands. This was easily remedied by me turning the feature off, but it's a shame for there to be a feature that I can't use.
These issues aside, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are some of the best mid-range buds you can buy for the price, and might even sway you into spending your hard-earned cash here, instead of on something plenty more expensive but not that much better.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Price and release date
- Unveiled in October 2024
- Sells for $179 / £179 (roughly AU$270)
Bose announced the QuietComfort Earbuds in October 2024, following the biannual release schedule of the other two earbuds of the same name.
You can buy the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds for $179 / £179 (roughly AU$270, though I couldn’t find them on sale in Australia). This price puts them as more affordable alternatives to the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, which sell for $299 / £299 / AU$449.
Ignoring the premium alternatives, the ‘standard’ QuietComforts’ price places them in the mid-range earbuds sector – you can’t call them 'cheap' but they’re certainly not expensive either, bringing some top-end features to a lower price point. Importantly, they're about $/£100 cheaper than their two namesakes.
It’s a surprisingly scarce market segment compared with other gadget types' mid-ranges but the JBL Live Beam 3, Creative Aurvana Ace 2 and Sony LinkBuds Fit are some of the few options at that same rough price area.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Specs
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Features
- Fantastic ANC
- 5-band equalizer with presets
- Overexcitable voice controls
To make the most of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, you need to use the bespoke Bose QCE headphones app – not any of the other Bose apps on your chosen app repository – and I’d strongly recommend you download it because it’s your ticket to most of the headphones’ features.
Let's deal with the first half of the QuietComfort name. Bose knocks the 'quiet' bit out of the park – it’s almost like the company names its products based on its fantastic noise cancellation. The QCE use a similar Active Noise Cancellation tech to Bose’s other products, many of which we rate as the best ANC earbuds. In fact, the company’s website implies, but doesn’t go so far as to explicitly say, that it’s exactly the same tech.
Either way the ANC is fantastic, drowning out sounds which I thought would be impervious to the best ANC-ing; no more chatty office spaces, rattling of train carriage or roar of wind in trees. I also found the earbuds’ Aware mode more accurate than many companies’ equivalents – this cancels most background noises but isolates and amplifies certain noises like oncoming traffic or people talking nearby.
The app also has an equalizer – it mostly offers you presets but there’s a custom mode that lets you adjust low, low-mid, mid, high-mid and high sounds to your taste. It’s not quite as in-depth as many earbud EQs but I’d say it’s the most complex you can make an EQ like this while making it usable by non-audiophiles.
Other features enabled by the app include multi-point pairing, the ability to change the touch control functions, a way to set up the earbuds to be remote camera triggers for your phone, a low-latency gaming mode, a battery prediction feature – which was really useful, so much so, I wish there were a way to find it that wasn’t buried in menus! – and voice control.
If you’ve read the introduction, you’ll know that I had an issue with this latter feature. It’s intended to let you use voice commands to control the buds hands-free (rejecting or accepting calls, playing or pausing music, skipping tracks, changing the volume, adjusting the ANC and so on) but it was far, far too sensitive. When I tested the buds in my office or in public, people around me would (accidentally, I presume) trigger these voice functions, and I kept finding my music stopping, or getting louder. It's really annoying. The only way to stop this happening, I found, was to turn off voice commands.
At some point, the QCE are getting a feature from their Ultra sibling: Bose Immersive Audio is on its way, though it wasn’t on the buds as of this review. This feature is basically Bose’s own version of Spatial Audio, so movies, games and sometimes music sound like they're coming from all around you. However the buds miss another feature of the Ultra, CustomTune technology which scans your ears to deliver sound mixed for you, a sign of the lower price.
Bose predicts the battery life of the buds to be 8.5 hours with the case getting you an extra 31.5 hours (or 2.5 charges). In my testing, the buds actually hit nine hours with ANC on, so presumably they'd last even longer with it turned off. I presumed 8.5 hours would be ANC off, with an ANC on figure of around six hours, and was very pleasantly surprised.
- Features score: 4.5/5
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Design
- Comfortable and secure fit in-ear
- IPX4 rated against sweat and showers
- Chunky case
Given this section is about design, it's time to deal withe the second half of the QuietComfort name.
Each bud weighs 8.5g, and they’re bigger than some other earbuds I’ve used but the center of mass is towards the ears so they don’t wobble when you’re walking. They felt secure and comfortable to wear, even for long period of time, and I never felt any worry about them falling out.
Helping the security of fit is the fact that each earbud has a ‘stability band’, a protruding rubber ridge which helps ensure that the bud is wedged into your ear. There are multiple sizes of this in the case, as well as different ear tip options, and I imagine most people would be able to use these to find a fit as stable as mine.
Further helping the 'comfort' descriptor are the buds' incredibly easy-to-use buttons, which you can activate with just a tap of the flat part of the body.
Unlike many other earbuds, you don’t need to push the buds so far into your ear that they hit skull, nor do they require a finger manoeuvre so complex that you need to be double jointed. However, the sensitive button did pick up accidental touches quite a bit, especially when I was was putting the buds in my ear.
The buds are IPX4 resistant, which Bose says they repel sweat and ‘water’, albeit the latter is more likely to be splashes instead of immersion.
A small gripe I have with the new QuietComfort Earbuds is that the case is a fair bit bigger than most other true wireless cases I’ve tested. It’s not exactly football-sized but its 3.2 x 8.9 cm x 5.1 cm body made it feel like a rock in my pocket.
The case also feels like a questionable element as the buds audibly rattle around in it. I don’t think they could ever sustain damage from this wiggle room but it makes you question whether or not there’s a lot of empty space there…
- Design score: 3.5/5
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Sound quality
- Warm and energetic audio
- Wide sound stage
- Not all codecs supported
Though Bose hasn’t added a word into its earbuds’ name for sound quality, prospective buyers will be happy to know the QuietComfort Earbuds don’t cost you a premium price.
The QCE have a crackling warm tone, with rich and meaty bass, though not to the extent that these will only cater to bass-heads. I’ve used earbuds that turn the bass up to 11 to the detriment of everything else, but these buds are more nuanced. Mid tones remain energetic and excitable and for the most part, treble did too, although in certain songs I did find the vocals missed some sparkle that other earbuds could provide.
The QuietComforts go nice and loud too – not ear-blisteringly loud when you crank it to the max, but I never found myself going near to the max volume in everyday use.
My favorite aspect of the buds’ audio, though, was a much more dramatic sound stage than many other buds I’ve tested. You can hear the different instruments spread around you like dishes at a tapas restaurant, and if you close your eyes you feel like you could point to where each one is. In fact, I’d say these Bose provide perhaps the best sound stage of any earbuds that don’t support top-end audio codecs.
Oh yeah, about that – support for some fancier codecs and features are missing, which ensures the Bose Earbuds Ultra still maintain some relevance, but if you listen to your music on Spotify you might not even mind.
- Sound quality: 4/5
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Value
- Rare earbuds that justify the price
- Bose's best value-for-money proposition
I previously referred to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds as some of the best non-premium in-ears. Though this is true, in that they’re definitely cheaper than the top-end buds you can find on the market, they’re still pricier than loads of other options out there.
If you want to save money, you can find earbuds with pretty good fit or ANC or sound quality for about half the price of the QCE. They won’t do the job quite as well as these buds, but they’ll save you money.
But if you want features as advanced as the QuietComfort offer, you’d be hard-pressed to find a rival as capable on all fronts and costs any less.
I'd add that, being cheaper than previous QCEs and the Ultras, these are arguably the best-value earbuds Bose has put out recently.
- Value: 4/5
Should I buy the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024?
Buy them if…
Don’t buy them if…
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 review: Also consider
How I tested the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024
- Tested for two weeks
- Tested at home, in the office and on trips
The testing period for this Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review lasted two weeks, not counting time spent reviewing. I used them alongside my Android smartphone with many different music and video streaming apps, and also games.
The Bose got to enjoy a few different environments over those two weeks including my home, my office, various trips to the local neighborhood and gym, bus and train trips and even a run at one point.
I've been testing gadgets for TechRadar for nearly six years now, including audio products for much of that time, and that includes some of the earbuds I compared the Bose to earlier.
- First reviewed in November 2024
