Quiet and Comfy: Bose QuietComfort Review

Bose’s QuietComfort line of wireless noise canceling headphones is the gift that keeps on giving. Seriously, it’s been around since the year 2000, and it’s been refreshed seven times since, with the QuietComfort Ultra coming in 2023. There’s a lot to like with the current Bose QuietComfort, like formidable noise canceling, myriad color options and a back-to-basics app to control it all. On top of all that, you can snag a pair for $200 — $150 off sticker — making them ideal for mid-range shoppers seeking a deal.

The 2023 model of the Bose QuietComfort succeeds the Bose QuietComfort 45, released in 2021. Compared to its predecessor, the new QuietComfort brings very little — 2 additional hours of battery life, some new colors and a new audio cable with an inline microphone. Though that isn't much to write home about, the QC45 was already a standout performer.

The Bose QuietComfort comes in eight colors: gray (“moonlight grey”), white (“white smoke”), dark green (“cypress green”), deep blue (“twilight blue”), light blue (“ice blue”), beige (“sandstone”), pink (“petal pink”) and black (which they just call “black”). I really like the twilight blue color, though I own the sandstone color because it was on sale. I’ve had my pair for about two weeks, and I think it stacks up well for the $200 sale price.

In the box, you’ll find a carrying case containing the headphones, a 1-foot USB-A to USB-C charging cable, an audio cable and a safety sheet. The QuietComfort features a “Quiet Mode” with class-leading active noise cancelation and an “Aware Mode” to hear your surroundings, but no option to disable both modes. The fact that you cannot listen purely with passive noise isolation is a real complaint for many users, who have experienced a persistent static or hissing sound while wearing the QuietComfort. In Quiet Mode, I have not experienced this noise, but in Aware Mode, I can hear a faint static sound. If you have sensitive hearing, it might bother you.

On the left earcup, you’ll find a large physical button called the action button. By default, a short press switches between listening modes, while pressing and holding prompts an AI voice to announce the headphones’ battery life. The only option in the Bose app is to change the press and hold function to resume whatever you have playing on Spotify — for some reason, it will only resume, not pause. The action button is convenient for switching between modes, but its functionality is very limited. On the right earcup, you’ll find a volume rocker. Between the up and down buttons, there is another button that toggles play/pause. The slider to turn the headphones on and off is on the side of this earcup.

The headphones are extremely comfortable — and pretty lightweight, too. They fit tightly but do not put too much pressure on your head. You can pull down on either earcup to adjust the band, and the headphones fold down nicely to fit into their case. The earcups are plush and feel durable, and they do a good job of blocking out noise even when the headphones are off. In my experience, it’s also pretty comfortable to wear the QuietComfort with glasses.

Unlike its bigger sibling, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2nd Gen, the standard QuietComfort lacks any IP water or dust resistance rating. Still, I have worn it to the gym several times without any trouble. Bose claims 24 hours of battery life with ANC on, which I haven’t tested. The last-generation Sony XM5, which is now priced similarly to the QuietComfort, claims 30 hours with ANC on — most competitors outlast the Bose in battery life. Bose claims that 15 minutes of charging delivers two and a half hours of listening time, which falls behind competition like the Sennheiser Momentum 4. The QuietComfort lacks features like immersive spatial audio, on-head detection, adaptive ANC that adjusts based on your surroundings or Bose CustomTune, which analyzes the shape of your ears and adjusts frequencies accordingly. These are all features that the QuietComfort Ultra 2nd Gen does have, but those headphones are currently $400. To many, like me, these features are merely unnecessary frills.

You can, however, connect to multiple devices at the same time. With two devices connected to the QuietComfort, the headphones will play sound from whichever device is currently playing audio. If both devices are playing audio, the headphones will play the audio from the device that started playing audio first, until you pause that audio, at which point it will switch to the other device. If you adjust the volume on either device, the headphones will play the sound from that device. If you like to multitask on a phone and laptop at the same time, this is a neat feature.

In the Bose app, available for iOS and Android, you can switch between modes and manage device connections. You can also create and name custom modes where you can adjust the exact level of noise cancelation you want, and whether you want to block wind in noisy situations. You can also use the app to adjust EQ settings. You can drag sliders up and down for bass, mids and treble. Although Bose doesn’t allow you to adjust sliders for specific frequency ranges, this is still decent customization. Finally, you can use the app to make the aforementioned limited changes to the action button. Overall, the app is clean, simple and easy to use, but I get the sense that it was made for Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra headphones, as functionality on the regular QC is relatively limited.

Of course, no headphone review would be complete without an in-depth discussion of how they sound. With EQ settings left to default, the headphones sound warm, with ample bass, without sounding boomy. I really like the stock sound profile, which is pretty balanced but definitely highlights the bass.

My only point of comparison is the previous-gen Anker Soundcore Life Q20, which sells for a measly $45. In comparison to the QuietComfort, the Q20 sounds less full and less vibrant overall. To my ear, the Q20 emphasizes the bass but sacrifices the mids and low-mids. For a quarter of the price, though, the Q20 puts up a strong fight, with decent ANC and better battery life than the QuietComfort. The QuietComfort’s top-of-class ANC is its killer feature, as it definitely doesn’t sound four times better than the Q20. If you’re on a tight budget, check out the newer Anker Q30 for $70.

Based on my EQ experimentation in the Bose app, I wouldn’t reduce the bass, though I wouldn’t increase it much either. Definitely don’t touch the treble settings — any increase sounds sharp and screechy, and any decrease sounds hollow (decreasing the treble too much is the worst mistake you could make, in my opinion). The only EQ adjustment that improved over the stock settings was boosting the mids slightly, but even that made little difference. I think Bose found a nice sweet spot with the default sound settings.

Sound quality is very clear, and it remains pretty much the same with the cable plugged in and the headphones powered on. It’s also possible to listen to these headphones plugged in but with the headphones powered off, which turns off ANC and tuning. Even though nobody in their right minds would do this, I tried it anyway, and it sounds terrible. Do yourself a favor and listen to these powered on, if they have any amount of charge at all.

ANC performance on the Bose QuietComfort is the best I’ve ever tried. I haven’t been able to test it in intense wind, but it blocks out most noise in loud environments. Aware Mode, Bose’s nomenclature for transparency mode, also works well, except for that faint static hissing sound when sound is not playing. The standout feature of the QuietComfort really is its noise canceling performance. For that reason, I concur with reviewers who proclaim the QuietComfort as some of the best headphones for travel.

Microphone quality on the QuietComfort is one of its weak points. Even without background noise, microphone clarity is not great. The microphone audio is also noticeably quiet by default. Add background noise into the equation and the situation becomes much worse. In my test, sound quality wasn’t completely tanked, but in a noisier environment, your voice might get drowned out. If you need standout microphone quality for calls or meetings, the QuietComfort is not for you.

I can definitely recommend the 2023 refresh of the Bose QuietComfort headphones. To recap the pluses, they’re remarkably comfortable, the Bose app is easy to use, they’re a good value at the $200 sale price and the ANC is probably the best you can get at that price. The negatives include class-trailing battery life, a lack of water resistance, disappointing microphone quality and a lack of premium features.

The Bose QuietComfort is a great choice if you don’t need fancy features like spatial audio — it’s a fundamentally simple and no-frills option. You should look elsewhere if microphone quality is important to you, or if you want class-leading battery life. I wouldn’t even consider the standard QuietComfort at its $350 MSRP, since it doesn’t really ever sell for that much. It’s been on sale for a while, and at $200, it outshines the competition in ANC, making it a killer pair of headphones to travel with.

Given Bose’s release cycle with the second-generation QuietComfort Ultra, I expect a new generation of the standard QuietComfort to come out within the next year. Then again, those will likely stay at MSRP for months after release, making these a good option for a little while longer.