Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) Review: Lossless USB-C and Cinema Mode, With No Numbers Attached

What the second generation actually adds

Bose's own list of deltas is concrete. Its UK product page credits this generation with improved noise cancellation, a next-generation ActiveSense that smooths spikes in noise, spatialised audio for both music and films, an all-new Cinema Mode, polished metal, better head detection, quicker startup and power-saving features. The printed guide fills in the modes behind those words: Quiet for full cancellation, Aware for full transparency, Immersion for full cancellation plus Immersive Audio in Motion, and Cinema for full cancellation plus Immersive Audio in Still, alongside up to seven custom modes.

The wired side is where the generation is least ambiguous. The headphones take lossless audio over USB-C at 16-bit, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz from a compatible source, keep playing while they charge over the same cable, and the guide notes Immersive Audio is set to Off during phone calls and restored afterwards. At power-on a tone plays on your head to calibrate the sound to your ears, and up to ten favourite modes can cycle from the multi-function button.

What Bose does not put a number on is the part the marketing leads with. No page quantifies the cancellation improvement over the first generation, prints a decibel figure, or names the driver size; the word for all of it is 'better'. The additions a buyer can verify on paper are the wired lossless input, the video mode and the power-saving behaviour. The rest is a claim with no baseline printed beside it.

Ten microphones, four for calls, and no published number

The cancelling hardware that Bose does document is a microphone layout: its UK variant data lists one microphone inside and four outside each earcup, five per side, ten in total. Four of those, two on the front of each earcup, are the call microphones, with the multi-function button controlling the call itself. The specification block lists the noise control type as adjustable noise cancelling, active noise cancelling and echo reduction, and CustomTune calibrates the sound to the shape of your ears each time you put them on.

The claims sit above that hardware without a measurement under them. Quiet Mode is described as Bose's best around-ear cancelling, ActiveSense keeps Aware Mode's surrounding noise constant when a coffee grinder or a blender interrupts, and none of Bose's three documents (the storefront, the variant data, the printed guide) attaches a decibel figure, a percentage or a test method to any of it. The buyer is asked to trust a feature list and a superlative.

30, 23, and 45 hours, and a codec list that stops at aptX

Bose's guide prints three battery numbers: up to 30 hours with cancelling on and Immersive Audio off, 23 hours with both on, and 45 hours with both off. The conditions are printed too: Bose's April 2025 test, 75 dBSPL playback loudness, the three-band EQ at zero, Quiet Mode. The product page's headline rounds the same cell to 30 hours, or 23 with Immersive Audio. One oddity follows the page around: its two footnotes still print 24 and 18 hours from tests described without the 2nd Gen name, which the guide's 30 and 23 contradict.

Charging is specified tightly. A charge from empty takes up to 3 hours, slower if you keep listening; the 15-minute top-up is rated for up to 3 hours with cancelling on and Immersive Audio off, and the guide's own footnote test measured up to 2.5 hours. The page states plainly that a power adaptor is not included, so the charger already in your drawer belongs in the price maths.

The wireless spec is Bluetooth 5.4 with a 9 m range and the A2DP, HFP, AVRCP and Low Energy profiles, with Snapdragon Sound listed among them. On a Snapdragon Sound-certified device the guide says the headphones stream with the aptX Adaptive codec automatically, and Bose's FAQ adds a gaming mode that lowers latency on those sources. Multipoint keeps up to six devices in the list, two actively connected, one audio source at a time. What the documents never say matters as much: no SBC, AAC or LDAC entry appears anywhere, so a buyer on an iPhone or a non-Snapdragon Android is choosing a flagship whose published codec story ends at aptX Adaptive and the Bluetooth profiles.

264 grams, removable cushions, and no water rating

Bose's variant data lists the headphones at 1.772 by 6.299 by 8.071 inches and 0.583 lb, which is about 264 g at 453.59 g to the pound and roughly ten grams over the WH-1000XM6's published 254 g. The whole system in its case is 1.061 lb. The materials are plastic, aluminium and protein leather on removable cushions, in an around-ear, adjustable-band fit.

Care is the part most likely to bite. The FAQ's answer to the water question is a bare no: no IP rating, and avoid situations where they may get wet. The UK warranty never names liquids, but it excludes improper use or maintenance, normal wear, accident and external causes. Cleaning runs to a cloth that is dry or water-dampened, with no cleaning products.

The power behaviour is documented down to the timers. Off your head, the headphones disconnect after 10 minutes in any orientation but flat; laid flat or stored in the case, they disconnect after 3 seconds. They sleep to save battery once disconnected for 10 minutes, or 20 laid flat, and wake when you put them back on.

Two near-identical prices, a two-year warranty, and a 30-day return window

The Black Bose lists at £349.95 on bose.co.uk, with no strike-through price, discount line or end date; White, Desert Gold, Midnight Violet and Driftwood Sand carry the same price, while Cherry Chocolate and Olive Green list at £399.95. Sony lists the WH-1000XM6 at £349.00 on sony.co.uk, so the two flagships sit 95 pence apart. John Lewis also sells the Black at £349.95, with a two-year guarantee included and free returns.

Direct purchase adds a 30-day return window in which Bose covers return delivery, as long as the headphones come back in original, undamaged condition with every accessory. Refunds to a card or PayPal typically take 3 to 5 business days. Delivery is free on in-stock orders of £39 or more, and £3.95 below that.

The warranty is where the two diverge on paper: Bose covers the headphones for 2 years from retail purchase against defects in materials and workmanship, with proof of purchase possibly required, while Sony's UK warranty article gives most products a standard one year. With 95 pence between them, the money buys the documented feature delta and the longer warranty: Bose's lossless USB-C input, Cinema and Immersion modes, and aptX Adaptive on Snapdragon Sound phones, against Sony's SBC, AAC, LDAC and LC3 list.

Where the second generation loses its argument

Skip them for anything wet. No IP rating, an explicit warning against situations where they may get wet, and a warranty that excludes accident and external causes add up to a headphone for desks, cabins and trains, not for gyms or rain. The £89.99 soundcore Space One rates 40 hours with cancelling on and 55 with it off, carries an 18-month headphone warranty, and costs about a quarter of the Bose price; a listener whose main requirement is quiet on a commute is not the buyer Bose needs at £349.95.

Skip them as well when codec paperwork matters. An iPhone or a non-Snapdragon Android gets no published hi-res codec here, where Sony's specification page names LDAC. An owner of a first-generation pair should weigh how little of the new is quantified: the documented additions are a video mode, a lossless wired input, smoother Aware handling and polished metal, while the cancelling improvement and the 24-to-30-hour battery story rest on pages that do not fully agree with each other. Anyone outside those groups who carries a Snapdragon Sound phone and wants the video and wired modes gets the whole of this headphone's pitch.