Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying out the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II. Being a massive fan of my music and a general all round audio nerd, I was super excited to try them out. But did they live up to expectations? Let’s just say I was pretty impressed…

So, here’s an honest look at the earbuds – from unboxing and my first thoughts to general day-to-day listening.

Unboxing

As soon as you get your hands on them, you can tell these earbuds are on the premium side of things. Everything is packaged in a smart black box.

It might look small too, but everything you need is inside:

What’s in the box?

• Quick start guide

• Safety booklet

• Charging cable

• Charging case

• 3 sets of earbud tips (small, medium, large)

• 3 sets of stability wings

• Bose QuietComfort II Wireless Bluetooth Noise-Cancelling Earbuds

Set up

When you take the lid off, you’ll see a QR code with the words ‘start here’ staring you right in the face. And that makes a whole lot of sense when you see just how thin the quick start guide is. Scanning this QR code takes you straight to your app store to download the Bose Music app. And it’s in the app where you’ll find all the instructions you need to get started.

Personally, I’m a big fan of this. Lots more companies are thinking about their footprint now. And anything where brands are cutting down on the paper and card in their packaging is a good move in my book. Plus, if we’re honest, how often do you really read a big old instructional booklet?

The app

Just like most bits of tech nowadays, you’ll be asked to make an account first. Annoyingly, you can’t get started without one. Once that’s out of the way, the app runs you step by step through the setup process. And this is super clear and easy to follow.

Connecting the buds to your phone is a breeze. Switch on your Bluetooth and make sure they’re in the charging case. Then just hold the Bluetooth button on the case, find the earbuds under your device and hit connect. And Bob’s your uncle. Now, whenever you put the buds in, they’ll automatically turn on and pair with your phone.

You’ll be asked to name your earbuds next. You can pick from a list of snappy names like ‘Bass Bumpers’, ‘Ground Control’ and ‘Earphoria’. But I thought I could do a bit better. Instead, I chose the custom option and went with ‘Best Buds’. Witty, huh?

All of this is really quick – I was done in a couple of minutes.

The Fit Kit

This is just Bose’s clever way of describing the parts that help the buds sit comfortably in your ears. And by parts, I mean the different sets of earbud tips and stability wings (no, they’ve got nothing to do with planes) that are in the box.

When you get your hands on the buds, they’ll be fitted with medium size earbud tips. The buds kept falling out of my ears at first though. So, I took the medium set off and replaced them with the small ones. This made the fit so much better than before, but this will all be down to personal preference and the shape of your ear. It’s also worth saying that I didn’t have to change the stability wings at all.

Changing up these earbud tips is fairly easy to do too. You just pop them off and click in the new pair. At first, getting them off was a little bit tricky – I thought I was going to tear them – but once you get the technique down it’s pretty straightforward.

Comfort

I’m not usually a fan of in-ear headphones. I find that after wearing them for a while, they become pretty uncomfortable. With these, I was pleasantly surprised. I know it might sound like a cliché, but after a bit, you kind of forget you’re wearing them. I wore them for a few hours at a time and I never felt like I needed to take them out. The fact that they’re smaller than the previous model and more lightweight helps a lot with this.

Once you put them in - and give them a little twist - they sit snugly in your ear. And once they’re there, they tend to stay there. Especially when you’re just walking about or chilling out at home. If they do happen to fall out though, whatever you’re listening to stops straight away. So, you won’t miss any part of your pod or that guitar solo on your favourite track.

To go the extra mile (pun intended), I even went for a run. And I’m definitely not a runner either. But in the name of thorough testing, I went for it. While I performed as expected – let’s just say I won’t be running marathons any time soon – the earbuds stayed put for most of the run. It’s worth saying that they’re not designed or marketed as workout headphones though. So, if you’re anything more than a casual runner, you might want to go for a more specialised set.

Bose Music App

On the music side of things, the main benefit of the app is its built-in equaliser. You can use this to boost or cut certain frequencies of your tunes. And you don’t need to be a music producer to do it. Just click and drag on the circles (check out the image below) to pump up the low end or get rid of it entirely.

Because I listen to a lot of hip-hop and funk, it was great being able to add more bass. It helped to really bring out the thump of the bassline and kick drum. After all, those are the driving force of any good funk or hip-hop track. And I’ll always say yes to more of it.

If you aren’t happy with your changes on the equaliser, it’s easy to undo them. With one button press you can reset them all. It’s very simple stuff.

Noise-cancelling

When you fire up the Bose Music App for the first time, this claim pops up:

That last bit in particular definitely caught my eye. And being the sceptical person I am, I wanted to see for myself just how world-class the noise cancellation was.

And I’ll be honest. It’s incredibly good. You just need to make sure you get the right fit so that it can really shine.

The buds have two unique noise cancelling modes straight out of the box – ‘Aware’ and ‘Quiet’. Both do exactly what they say on the tin. ‘Aware’ is there to stop you from getting run over while you cross the road. Or lets you have a quick chat with a colleague without having to take out your buds. While ‘Quiet’ mutes the world around you. And when I say mute, I really mean it. You won’t hear much at all apart from your music. Because of that, you can really appreciate every detail of a track.

It's great for getting your head down while you’re working. You won’t hear the background noise of the office. And if you’re on the train, you can easily hear your podcast without having to constantly change the volume. It’s genuinely a game changer.

You can even customise your level of noise cancellation if you want to. On the app, you can create your own mode for a specific situation. Don’t want to be interrupted during your workout? Make a gym mode and set the noise cancellation nice and high. Still want to hear what’s going on at work? Set it low enough so that you don’t miss anything important.

Touch controls

The buds have a few different touch controls. Letting you do everything from answering a call, to skipping that song you don’t like.

Here’s what you can do:

• Swipe up - turn up the volume

• Swipe down - turn down the volume

• Tap once - Play track, pause track

• Tap twice - Skip forward a track

• Tap three times - Skip to the previous track

• Hold down - Change noise-cancelling mode / activate voice assistant

• Tap once - Answer an incoming call

• Tap twice - Decline an incoming call

Most of these controls work really well. And it means you don’t have to take your phone out of your pocket either. The only one that was a little bit iffy was swiping up or down to change the volume. I didn’t feel like it was that accurate. It definitely took a few swipes to find the volume I wanted. In the end, I just did this from my phone.

You can assign certain controls to each bud through the app too. I decided to put my voice assistant on my left and the noise cancelling modes on my right. Just remember which side is which because I definitely activated Siri a few times by accident…

Sound quality

It’s a no-brainer, but this is the main thing that’ll make or break a pair of headphones for me. Bose say that their CustomTune tech “optimises the sound frequency profile to match the unique properties of every kind of ear”. And that because of that, music “reaches the eardrum just as the artist intended”. But was that true, or just classic marketing speak?

Music

Sound is pumped out from two 9.3mm full-range dynamic drivers. And that sound is absolutely class. Everything is incredibly well balanced. Bass tones sound suitably punchy – without getting muddy. While the high end is bright and clear, without coming across too brash.

And this goes for every genre I listened to. I went from jazz to hip-hop, punk to funk, and everything was detailed and crisp. You’ll hear every line of the vocal. Drums boom and crack. While strings cut nicely through the mix. Nothing blurs together here, and you can easily pick out every single element of the track you’re listening to.

Podcasts

Every pod I put on was nice and clear. And when combined with the noise cancelling, I didn’t miss a word of the conversation. Even when I was walking through busy stations and packed high streets, voices stayed front and centre the whole time. Any sound design elements in your podcast will sound top notch too.

Calls

The best part of taking a call with these buds is that you don’t have to get your phone out. You just tap once to answer (or twice if you want to decline it). And that works really well. The call sound quality definitely isn’t the best though.

It’s not the clearest and is slightly muffled. And that goes for your voice and whoever you’re speaking to. It’s like how a call sounds when you go hands-free through the phone speaker. So, if you want that extra clarity, you’ll probably just want to answer your phone like normal.

Battery life and case

Bose say the earbuds last up to six hours on a single charge. This seems to be about right. I used them for a few hours each day and ran them right down to 0%. And you’ll know when they’re about to conk out, as the buds speak in your ear to let you know. One of the buds lost power slightly before the other one, but that’s not a problem. You can still listen on the one with some juice left.

With a fully charged case you get three extra charges too. So, if you’re out and about, you shouldn’t be left without any power. Just make sure you charge the case itself first (which in my experience took about three hours to do).

Chucking the buds in the case for a quick top up is impressive too. Just one 15-minute charge can give you another two hours of listening. Nobody wants to be stuck on a long journey without any tunes, and you definitely won’t be here.

The only downside I really noticed was how you charge the case itself. The USB-C cable you get in the box is really short. So, unless you’ve got a plug near the floor – or a table right next to one – you’re going to want to get yourself a longer cable. And unlike other cases from Bose’s competitors, there’s no wireless charging here either.

Other features

In their product spec, Bose mention that these buds are water resistant. So, I thought I’d put that to the test. And here in the UK, we’re not exactly blessed with great weather – so I didn’t have to wait long for a spring downpour to hit. In the name of great testing, I chucked on my jacket, popped in the buds, and went and stood in the rain on my balcony. The things we do for a good review, eh?

As expected, I got soaked. But the buds took the elements head-on. I thought that maybe a bit of water on them would play havoc with the touch controls. But I didn’t run into any problems with random track skips or changes in volume.

I even went a step further. I took the buds out and left them in the rain while I went back inside. After about five minutes, I came back to try them out. They were still working perfectly – and I haven’t had any issues with them since. Chalk one up for the Bose water resistance.

Final verdict

The QuietComfort Earbuds II are an excellent addition to Bose’s headphone line-up.

They’re a seriously good alternative to Apple’s AirPods Pro 2nd Gen. And they’re even a little bit cheaper too. Then there’s the high-quality audio, some of the best noise cancelling I’ve experienced on a pair of buds, and a level of comfort that lets you listen for hours. All in all, this is one brilliant earbud package. If you’re serious about your sound, this is the perfect place to start.

Cant pick a pair of buds? Check out our guide to find out which are the best wireless earbuds for you. Or for even more advice, head over to ShopLive. Our in-store experts are there to answer all your burning questions.