Bose just dropped the QuietComfort Ultra 2, and it's basically the audio equivalent of an iPhone 'S' upgrade. The company's taking their noise-canceling crown jewels and adding USB-C lossless audio, sleep mode, and app tweaks for a $20 bump. Question is: are these incremental improvements worth ditching your current cans for?
The headphone wars just got another player, though calling it 'new' might be generous. Bose today unveiled the QuietComfort Ultra 2, and if you're expecting a revolution, you might want to temper expectations. This is more evolution than revolution - think iPhone 14 to iPhone 15 rather than flip phone to smartphone.
The original QuietComfort Ultra headphones earned their stripes by delivering what Bose does best: industry-leading noise cancellation wrapped in premium comfort. They held the crown until Sony's WH-1000XM6 showed up with faster processing power, creating the first real challenge to Bose's dominance in years.
Now Bose is fighting back, but with incremental improvements rather than game-changing innovation. The Ultra 2 adds USB-C lossless audio support, addressing one of the biggest complaints about wireless headphone audio quality. There's also a clever sleep mode that kicks in when you lay the headphones flat - a simple touch that shows someone at Bose actually uses these things daily.
The app gets some love too, with new controls that Ryan Waniata from Wired calls "slick new touches", though he stops short of calling them revolutionary. The core experience remains identical - same plush protein leather, same minimalist design language, same comfort that made the originals so appealing.
Pricing tells an interesting story about market positioning. Bose originally launched these at $430, bumped them to $450 post-launch (classic supply-and-demand pricing), then brought them back to $430 as the Ultra 2 arrived. It's the kind of pricing dance that suggests even Bose knows this isn't a must-have upgrade for existing users.
The competitive landscape complicates things further. Sony isn't standing still - their WH-1000XM6 brings computational audio processing that can actually outperform Bose in certain scenarios. Apple continues pushing AirPods Max, while Sennheiser and others nibble at the premium market edges.
