Rephrase and rearrange the whole content into a news article. I want you to respond only in language English. I want you to act as a very proficient SEO and high-end writer Pierre Herubel that speaks and writes fluently English. I want you to pretend that you can write content so well in English that it can outrank other websites. Make sure there is zero plagiarism.: Editor’s Note• Original review date: November 2022• Newer Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds out now• Launch price: $299 / £279 / AU$429• Target price now: $199 / £199 / AU$299Update: January 2024. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 were not very old at all when they were usurped by the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, which add multipoint pairing and spatial audio to the mix (and a higher price). But this has actually been a benefit to the Earbuds 2, in my opinion, because it allowed their price to drop nicely – over Black Friday, we found them for the ‘target’ prices above, and that’s what you should aim to pay even outside of big sales events – and the Ultra aren’t that much better. In particular, the noise cancellation of the Earbuds 2 is practically as good as the Ultras, and is better than basically all the other best noise-cancelling earbuds still (including the Sony WF-1000XM5, by a clear margin). The one downside remains: they’re really quite chunky, though the Ultra are exactly the same design. The rest of this review remains as previously published.Matt BoltonManaging Editor, EntertainmentBose QuietComfort Earbuds 2: two-minute reviewThe Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II come from the brand that practically invented noise cancellation. However, Bose’s initial venture into the true wireless earbuds space didn’t quite hit the same mark as its over-ear cans did, quickly losing out to the likes of Sony and Apple. However, the master is back in form, with Bose’s second-gen QuietComfort Earbuds II (let’s call them QCE II for simplicity’s sake) getting a lot of what is important just right.And it starts with a completely overhauled design that makes the new model so much more comfortable to wear as compared to the predecessor. The gen 2 is smaller, lighter and finally seems to be competing with Sony… although there are smaller buds out there.Size definitely matters when it comes to true wireless earbuds, but so does the performance and Bose has actually improved on what it had with the older QC Buds. In fact, we thought the first-generation Bose QuietComfort Earbuds had pretty good active noise cancellation (ANC), and we weren’t entirely sure how the adaptive nature would perform in the new buds, but it’s remarkably effective… provided you get the fit right. High frequency sounds like sirens still get through, but not as much as they did with the older model.And the improvements to ANC haven’t come at the expense of overall sound quality. In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s even better this time round. Each bud adapts the sound to the contours of your ear canal to make what you hear beautifully balanced with very clear details and textures. Like the ANC performance, this is, again, dependent on how well the buds fit your ear.While there’s a lot to commend Bose on, there’s not been a huge improvement on battery life – with the case only getting a bit more juice than before – and call quality is also nothing to phone home about.The big improvements, however, come with a higher price tag than the first-gen’s launch price. And although it matches the launch price of the Sony WF-1000XM4, the rivals can now be had for a lot less in several markets.(Image credit: TechRadar)Update (February 2023): On February 17, 2023, Bose began rolling out a new firmware update that adds a feature the company is calling Independent Single-Bud Use. This allows you to use the buds independently of each other, meaning you’ll be able to continue listening to your tunes when you take one of them off (which would initially pause the playback) or switch them if one runs out of juice.We’ve tested this update and added it to the Features section below. Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 review: priceAnnounced September 2022Launch price: $299 / £279 / AU$429Costs more than Apple and Sony rivalsIt might have gone unnoticed, but the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II were announced on the same day as Apple debuted the iPhone 14 range and the AirPods Pro 2 – September 8, 2022 to be precise. Still, it got some fanfare at the New York Fashion Week where the launch event was held.At the time of writing, only a single color option is available – Triple Black – with the Soapstone edition to arrive at a later undisclosed date. At launch, the QCE II will set you back $299 / £279 / AU$429, which is a lot more than the current, now-reduced price of the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the launch price of the AirPods Pro 2, both of which can compete with the Bose. While it’s easy to justify the premium price tag in relation to the QCE II’s upgrades over its predecessor, we could also take into account inflation rates around the world. That said, it’s still pretty steeply priced but, that said, it didn’t take long for the Bose QC Buds to get discounted during big sale events, and we’re expecting the same to happen with the second-gen model as well. So if you’re not in a rush, you could wait for sales like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday to pick up for less. It’s always worth seeing what Bose promo codes are currently available too.(Image credit: TechRadar)Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 review: FeaturesCustomTune audioExcellent ANC prowessBluetooth 5.3Bose has figured out a way to customize both the audio response and noise cancellation of the QCE II to the individual user’s ear canal. The company calls this proprietary tech CustomTune and it uses an audio signal – which is picked up by a mic inside each bud – to automatically calibrate ANC and sound frequency that best suits your ear. Bose doesn’t specify the details of the frequency response, but after having used the QCE II for a while now, we’re estimating they go from ‘extremely deep’ to ‘very high indeed’.The sound itself is delivered via a couple of 9.3mm full-range dynamic drivers – one per bud, obviously – and the buds use Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity. The only codecs supported are SBC and AAC, which is a little surprising as we were expecting Snapdragon Sound compatibility because of Bose’s involvement with Qualcomm (the QCE II use the Qualcomm S5 Audio chipset). Perhaps that might change in the future via over-air firmware updates.Key SpecsColors: Triple Black; Soapstone yet to arriveConnectivity: Bluetooth 5.3; 9.1m rangeCodec support: SBC, AACANC: Yes; adaptiveWater resistance: IPX4 Battery life: 6 hours (buds); 3 extra (charging case)Weight: 6.2g (per bud); 59.8g (charging case)The first major firmware update we did get was the rollout of a feature called Independent Single-Bud Use. This allows you to use a single bud to listen to music or take calls instead of pausing playback as it did before. This also allows for playback to continue if the Bluetooth connection between each bud drops. And, finally, if you find one bud has run out of juice before the other, you can swap to carry on listening. You can even change ANC modes when using a single bud, although since you can hear your surrounds anyway, the ability to do so is moot.Another missing feature we were hoping would have made its way to the QCE II is multipoint connectivity which allows you to pair with two Bluetooth devices at the same time. To be fair, though, this is more common in wireless over-ear headphones and hasn’t quite made its way to the true wireless models, but it would be nice to have.As would wireless charging. This also is a bit of a surprise considering rivals have cases that now support wireless charging and the Bose is a pretty premium set of buds to forgo this feature.According to Bose, the QCE II offers up to six hours per charge on the buds alone, with an additional three top-ups in the case. That’s not really a huge improvement over the previous generation, which also gave you up to six hours on the buds, but just two additional top-ups in the case. We didn’t quite get to wear the Buds for…
