The king of noise cancelling is back: Meet Bose’s all-new AirPods 4 rivals with an 8.5-hour runtime
Bose roars back
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Just ahead ofApple’s AirPods 4hitting shelves on Friday, September 20, 2024, Bose is unveiling a new pair of earbuds priced identically at $179 / £ 179 and AU$10 cheaper in Australia at AU$289.95. Unlike AirPods 4 with noise cancelling, the new Bose QuietComfort Earbuds have ear-tips that seal off your ears and pair that feature with a promised long runtime and strong active noise cancellation.
First, a quick history lesson, though. While these do have the name Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, they are not a new generation of theQuietComfort Earbuds Ultraor an update onour pick for Best ANC, the QCE2,which is sadly no longer officially sold by the brand. These new QuietComfort Earbuds have a more mid-range price and are likely the spiritual successor to the Sport Earbuds from years past.
Furthermore, these are the entry points to the Bose earbud lineup under the $299 / AU$449.95 Ultra Open Earbuds or $299 / AU$449.95 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. These will be most similar to the latter with a slightly oversized look and a design that incorporates ear-tips. Now, ifBose’s mid-range QuietComfort Earbudshave already sold you, they are up for order now, but ahead, we’re breaking down what is new.
While the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are priced in line withApple’s AirPods 4, these earbuds take a different approach entirely. Starting with the design, Bose sticks with a slightly oversized look that will protrude from the ear and let you proudly display your color choice. You can pick between Black, White Smoke, or Chilled Lilac. With silicone ear-tips and a stability band, the QuietComfort Earbuds are decidedly not open-ear and aim for a full seal with your ear canal.
This should aid in active noise cancellation, reducing environmental sounds to a silence, and avoiding audio leakage. You’ll be able to pick from a few sizes of both tips and bands in the box. If you enjoy listening to music while working out or walking in the rain, you know that these do meet the IPX4 water and sweat resistance rating.
Powering the audio experience is a custom setup from Bose and it’s described as delivering a high-quality experience that can be customized within the companion Bose QC Earbuds app for Android and iOS. There you can choose between 5 EQ presets or create your own.
Each earbud features three microphones for voice pickup and active noise cancellation. With the latter, the onboard processor and a Bose algorithm cancel out the noise around you and leave you silent. We have high hopes for how well this will perform, especially given how previous Bose earbuds have been tested. You can also make some environmental sounds in “Aware” mode, similar toApple’s Transparency mode on AirPods.
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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds support multipoint pairing out of the box, which the QuietComfort Ultra still lacks. These boast Bluetooth 5.3, which should ensure strong connectivity. There is also a new feature that will let the earbuds act as a remote shutter for taking selfies, and Bose has its own voice assistant that can be accessed by saying, “Hey headphones.”
Battery life is looking pretty sharp. Bose promises 8.5 hours of playback on a full charge, and the case provides 2.5 full recharges for 29.75 hours of total listening. That’s close to theApple AirPods 4, which claim a 30-hour total playtime, but you only get five hours from Apple’s earbuds before they’ll need charging (which, let’s face it, isn’t that long in today’s money). Bose’s carrying case can be recharged via USB-C or a wireless charging mat.
Overall, the features stack up on paper to what could be an excellent pair of earbuds at a great price. It’s also clear that while Bose offers an open-ear pair of earbuds, the brand is returning to basics with a more affordable pair of earbuds designed to deliver strong noise cancellation in a design with proper ear tips.
Bose is already taking orders for thenew QuietComfort Earbuds, and according to the company’s online store, they should be delivered in all three colors as soon as September 23 (September 29 in Australia). So, if you’re sold, you can lock in an order now, and we’ll be back with our thoughts as soon as we can go hands-on.
That’s not all that Bose had to unveil, though. Alongside the QuietComfort Earbuds, Bose unveiled thenew Smart Soundbarwhich keeps the look and feature-set of the Smart Soundbar 600, but tosses in an A.I. Dialogue Mode to adjust tone and EQ in real-time. It’s up for order now at $499.99 (Australian availability is to be confirmed).
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Jacob Krol is the US Managing Editor, News for TechRadar. He’s been writing about technology since he was 14 when he started his own tech blog. Since then Jacob has worked for a plethora of publications including CNN Underscored, TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal, Mashable, CNET, and CNBC among others.
He specializes in covering companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google and going hands-on with mobile devices, smart home gadgets, TVs, and wearables. In his spare time, you can find Jacob listening to Bruce Springsteen, building a Lego set, or binge-watching the latest from Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars.
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