The king of noise-cancelling earbuds is back: Meet Bose's all-new AirPods 4 rivals with an 8.5-hour runtime

Bose roars back

News By Jacob Krol published 18 September 2024

Just ahead of Apple’s AirPods 4 hitting 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 the QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra or an update on our 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, if Bose’s mid-range QuietComfort Earbuds have 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 with Apple’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 to Apple’s Transparency mode on AirPods.

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