Tired of listening to crying babies and engines whirring on your flights? Our favorite pair of wireless headphones for traveling are currently marked down by $50. You can pick up the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 from Amazon for just $399 in both Black and Driftwood Sand, with the other colors remaining at their full price.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Bose
QuietComfort Ultra 2
Bose is known for incredible active noise canceling, and the latest generation of QuietComfort over-ear headphones is no different. Our reviewer Ryan Waniata was extremely impressed with the Bose, despite only minor upgrades, and considers them among the top three headsets when it comes to ANC, rivaled only by Sony's WH-1000XM6 and Bose’s first-generation QuietComfort Ultra. The transparency mode is truly excellent as well, for when you need to keep an ear on your surroundings or even have a chat with someone without turning down the Steely Dan.
Speaking of, these are still a great pair of headphones for listening to music, even if you don't need the noise-canceling. They have a sharp level of detail and crisp texture, although they benefited from a little softening in the EQ to help cut some of that extra punchiness. Of course, most headsets sound better with some silence in the background, but these won't disappoint, particularly if you like bigger, more vibrant sound.
While some of the QuietComfort's features haven’t changed, Bose has made a variety of convenience updates to make these more usable when you aren't settled into your window seat. They now feature an automatic idle mode, so you can just put them down flat on any surface to disconnect and move to low power mode, with the headset automatically reconnecting when you put them on. They have slightly better battery life than the previous generation, around 30 hours with ANC on, and you can keep listening while they charge if they do run low on juice. You can even listen to lossless audio over USB-C, a unique feature to this headset in the category.
The $399 price tag for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 might sound high, but they're among our favorite wireless headsets, and the cost is just $20 higher than the all-time low, making them a great upgrade choice, even for first-generation owners.
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