It typically takes over $500 to get flagship features from premium noise-canceling headphones and Apple’s AirPods Max sit at $549 with no discounts in sight. For way less money, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra headphones deliver comparable spatial audio, adaptive noise cancellation, and 24-hour battery life. The good news is that they just dropped to $298 on Amazon right now, down from the usual $429. That’s a new all-time low and nearly half the price of AirPods Max which make these the obvious choice if you want premium features without the Apple tax.
Spatial Audio That Works
The QuietComfort Ultra uses Bose’s Immersive Audio technology to create spatial sound that feels like it’s coming from around you instead of directly into your ears. That works across any audio source, from streaming music to podcasts to movies, and doesn’t require special encoding like some competing spatial audio systems. CustomTune technology analyzes your ear shape and automatically adjusts the sound profile, so you get audio tuned specifically to how your ears receive sound.
Three listening modes let you determine exactly how much of the outside world you want to hear. Quiet Mode gives you full active noise cancellation, shutting out ambient sound almost entirely for your next flight or a moment of focus in a noisy space. Aware Mode pipes in the outside audio so that you can hear flight announcements or converse with people without removing the headphones. Immersion Mode blends noise cancellation with spatial audio for the most immersive way of listening-although it eats more battery than the other modes do.
The microphone system focuses on your voice while filtering background noise and creates phone calls clearer than ever on any Bose headphones. Multiple mics work in concert to isolate your voice from wind, traffic, or crowded spaces, and people on the other end hear you without the competing noise drowning you out. It matters far more than it sounds like it would, since most pairs of headphones focus on music playback and treat call quality as an afterthought.
Comfort design employs soft ear cushions that seal around your ears without creating pressure points, and weight distribution on the headband falls evenly across the top of your head. You can wear these for hours without that hot, squeezed feeling some over-ear headphones create. Materials feel premium but not fragile, with metal reinforcements in stress points and cushions that keep their shape over time.
The battery life reaches 24 hours with standard listening or 18 hours with Immersive Audio mode active. That is good for several days of commuting or a number of long flights before you need to recharge. A 15-minute quick charge adds 2.5 hours of listening time, meaning even if you forget to charge them overnight, a quick top-up while you’re getting ready in the morning should give you enough juice for the day. The USB-C charging port uses the same cable that most modern devices use, so you won’t need any Bose-specific chargers when traveling.
Bluetooth 5.3 provides stable connections up to 30 feet from your device with lower latency than older Bluetooth versions. You can walk around your house or office without your phone in your pocket, and the connection stays solid without dropouts or stuttering. SimpleSync lets you pair these headphones with Bose smart soundbars to watch TV at your own volume, not blasting sound through speakers and annoying roommates or family.
The foldable design collapses into a travel case that’s included in the box, and protects the headphones during transport without adding too much bulk to your bag. It holds the headphones securely in, with a pocket for the charging cable to keep everything organized rather than loose cables tangling with other gear. The hinges feel solid, not wobbly or creaky, which is important since these are the parts most likely to break on foldable headphones.
For $298, you’re getting flagship-level noise cancellation, spatial audio, premium build quality, and 24-hour battery life for roughly half of what Apple asks for similar features.
