Review: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Bose claims that this performance is due to its custom tuning technology. A brief tone burst can be heard when the earbuds are placed in the ear. To complement the wearer's specific characteristics, the QCE II set themselves up for both audio and ANC in under half a second. If you are in "awareness" mode, CUSTOM TIRE will kick in the noise canceling if there is a loud noise coming from somewhere.

Despite the lack of headline codec compatibility, the QCE II are a unified, detailed, and spacious listen, and musical in a way that should be a given. During our testing, the Bose played everything from Warren Zevon's Gorilla, You're a Desperado to... and the World Laughs with You by Flying Lotus.

Bose headphones usually have generous low frequencies, but here they have proper attack-and-decay control to go with their heavy weight. This level of authority makes for good rhythmic expression and recordings have a good sense of momentum. There is punch and finesse in the detail levels of texture.

The treble sounds are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Bose made a small mistake on the side of caution. There is enough bite and shine to the top end and no suggestion of hardness. Some people may want a little more aggression, but not all of them.

Bose does good work with all levels of singers. There is no detail of technique or timbre that is too small or fleeting to be noticed by the QCE II. Singers are described with their character intact.

A smooth journey from top to bottom is possible with the Bose. On the warm side of neutral, the overall tone is pretty much the same as it is on the warm side of neutral. It is possible to change the presentation to fit your tastes within the app. The best you can hope for is different.

When Bose was tuning the QCE II, good taste was high on the sonic wish list. The dynamic response to big Orff-style shifts in volume and intensity could be explained by that. There is a distance between quiet and loud here, but it is not as marked as it is through other similar alternatives. The Bose are very sure of the low level dynamic variations in instruments.

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are similar in size and weight to their competitors. If not class-leading, they are competitive because of sound quality, battery life, and user interface concerns. It looks like only Apple's next- generation AirPods Pros have a chance at canceling noise. We will be updating the best of list immediately.