Just as holiday travel season approaches, Bose's flagship QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have dropped to their lowest price ever at $249, down from $299. The timing couldn't be better for travelers seeking premium noise cancellation, with the second-generation earbuds now available at this reduced price across major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.
Bose has quietly become the go-to choice for serious travelers, and this latest price drop on their QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds shows why timing matters in consumer tech. The $50 discount brings these premium earbuds to $249, their lowest price since launching earlier this year. Major retailers Amazon, Best Buy, and Target are all matching this price point, suggesting coordinated Black Friday positioning rather than random discounting. The second-generation QuietComfort Ultra earbuds represent Bose's latest attempt to maintain their noise cancellation dominance against increasingly aggressive competition from Apple and Sony. According to The Verge's recent testing, these earbuds excel particularly at eliminating low-frequency noise - the kind of airplane engine drone that makes long flights unbearable. But they also handle mid-range sounds like conversation, though they don't completely block human voices. This selective filtering approach reflects Bose's philosophy that total isolation isn't always desirable. Users can adjust noise cancellation intensity or switch to transparency modes when they need environmental awareness. The company has built this flexibility into their app ecosystem, allowing real-time adjustments without removing the earbuds. Audio quality comes with trade-offs that reveal Bose's target market. Out of the box, these earbuds lean bass-heavy with accentuated highs that can become fatiguing at high volumes. However, the three-band EQ gives users control over their sound profile, and the Immersive Audio feature adds spatial processing with head tracking - essentially creating a virtual speaker setup. These features position the earbuds against Apple's AirPods Pro, which offer similar spatial audio capabilities but with different tuning philosophies. The competitive landscape shows in the physical design choices. Bose's earbuds are notably bulkier than offerings from and , reflecting the company's focus on noise cancellation hardware over minimalist aesthetics. Battery life sits at six hours per charge with ANC active, plus quick charging that delivers two hours of playback from a 20-minute charge. For frequent travelers, this represents a practical balance between performance and convenience. The $249 price point puts these earbuds directly against 's AirPods Pro 2 and 's WF-1000XM4, creating an interesting three-way battle for premium buyers. is betting that superior noise cancellation will trump the ecosystem advantages that offers or the longer battery life that provides. This Black Friday pricing strategy suggests is aggressively defending market share ahead of what's expected to be a competitive holiday shopping season. With travel returning to pre-pandemic levels, premium earbuds have become essential accessories rather than luxury items - making price positioning crucial for market capture.
