Eleksis Marketing Corporation, the official distributor of Bose products in the Philippines, recently launched in the country the brand’s latest products, and one of them is the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, featuring an all-new premium design and Bose Immersive Audio. Read our thoughts below.
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are available in Black and White Smoke colors. What we have here, obviously, is the latter. It’s more like a grayish-white color with a matte finish. There’s Moonstone Blue as well, but Eleksis didn’t bring it here. It still looks and feels great and is a great option for those who want something different from the usual black.
The design is very similar to the QuietComfort Earbuds II. We have the LED indicator on the front, a pairing button at the back, and a USB-C port for charging at the bottom. The earbuds also look familiar but now have a two-tone design to make them stand out more. The earbuds are a bit chunky but fit well in the ears as long as you’re using the right size of ear tips and stability bands. Good thing Bose provides 3 pairs for each size. It also has an IPX4 rating, so you can take it to the gym.
Pairing the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds to your smartphone is easy. Open the case and press and hold the button at the back of the case for a few seconds until the LED indicator inside blinks blue. You can go ahead and pair it from your device’s Bluetooth settings, or you can download the Bose Music app, which we recommend as it gives you access to more features such as firmware updates, in-app EQ, touch controls, and Immersive Audio mode.
It’s worth noting that the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds feature the Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite, which supports the latest Qualcomm aptX Adaptive codec for audio streaming — including lossless and low latency capabilities. This will benefit users with premium Android devices. It also supports Google Fast Pair and features Bluetooth 5.3. The range is impressive and very stable, as our music didn’t deteriorate or skip even when we were rooms away from the source.
Noise cancellation is very effective. When you’re not playing, ambient noise is immediately muffled. We can no longer hear the steady hum of our air conditioning unit or the fan that’s just right beside us. I also have a TV playing a movie just nearby, and I can barely hear it. Once you play your music, you won’t be able to notice anything, even when someone is trying to talk to you. This is great when you’re on a flight, commute, or just want to focus on the silence. If you need to take a call, it also has a built-in microphone with sufficient quality for phone calls.
The audio quality, as expected, is excellent, especially if you like bass. Low bass is very strong, which is great for bassy tracks as you can feel the rumbling. The mid and high bass feels more natural. The mids could use a bit of a boost, while the highs could be toned down as we find it too aggressive, especially when playing rock music. This can be easily remedied using the equalizer in the Bose Music app. In my case, I just boost the mids and lower the treble a bit, and then we activate Immersive Audio mode (a spatial audio kind of effect), but that’s just my preference.
Battery life is up to 6 hours on a single charge with Bose Immersive Audio is off and up to 4 hours when on, which is good enough for long commutes back and forth. Charging the case and the earbuds will take about 2 hours.
If you already own the QuietComfort Earbuds II that was announced last year, I don’t think there’s a need to upgrade yet. But if you’re looking for the latest and best earbuds from Bose’s current lineup, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds is the one to get. It offers good noise cancellation, great sound quality with immersive audio mode, solid battery life, and a premium design. It’s priced at PHP 19,500 and available at Bose concept stores in the Metro.
