Bose has added a new set of noise-canceling wireless earbuds to its lineup, and they’re surprisingly affordable at $179. Simply known as the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, the company says they’re for folks who want everyday earbuds with great sound and noise cancellation. The new model comes in three colors (black, white, and lilac) and can be ordered starting September 18 at bose.com.
Bose’s QuietComfort lineup of noise-canceling wireless earbuds have traditionally been pretty expensive, with prices that exceed what Apple, Sony, and Sennheiser charge for similar features. This makes the QuietComfort Earbuds something of a radical departure for the company and a welcome change for Bose fans.
Despite their lower price, Bose says the new buds possess the “best-in-class noise cancellation” the brand is known for, along with a “high-quality listening experience,” 8.5 hours of playtime on a single charge (about 30 hours in total), and wireless charging. That last feature shouldn’t be noteworthy — it’s practically ubiquitous these days — except for the fact that Bose’s flagship $299 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds don’t have it.
The earbuds share a similar design in terms of fit to Ultras — you get three sizes of silicone eartips and stability bands — though the QuietComfort Earbuds aren’t as sleek.
Bose has also given the QuietComfort Earbuds a feature it calls VoiceID: hands-free voice control similar to the AirPods’ Hey Siri feature. It’s not quite as capable as Siri, which can execute a wide variety of commands on the iPhone, but for simple tasks like playback and volume control, you can say, “hey, headphones” and follow that with a command. There’s also a new “remote selfie” feature that lets you trigger your phone’s camera (once the camera app is open) with either a tap gesture or the voice command, “hey headphones, take photo.”
Wear sensors will let you auto-pause your music when you remove an earbud, and with Bluetooth 5.3 they’ll support Bluetooth multipoint, a feature that was only recently added to the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Codec-wise, you’ll get support for SBC and AAC, however despite the inclusion of the new LC3 codec, Bose says it doesn’t have any plans to supprort Bluetooth LE Audio or Auracast. At launch, there’s no support for Bose’s version of spatial audio — which it calls Immersive Audio — but the company says it’s coming with a future firmware update.
The QuietComfort Earbuds don’t use the same Bose Music app as the rest of the QuietComfort lineup. Instead, Bose says users will have to download a new Bose QC Earbuds app, which offers EQ and touch control customization.
The new buds are rated IPX4, which means they should be water and sweat resistant — just don’t shower with them or immerse them in water.
