When Bose enters the market with one of its products, the rest of the competition watches carefully. And so do the customers. We did the same thing when the American company presented its new active noise reduction earphones (technology also known as ANC, Active Noise Reduction): i Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (€ 279.95). The reasons for the interest are many but essentially they are summarized in the role of absolute leader that Bose has had in the field of ANC devices, a role now undermined by many competitors among which Apple also stands out.
How does Bose manage to respond to the challenge with its new full wireless earphones? Repeat in a much more competitive and technologically advanced context the success it had with the QuietConfort 20, still in production today and that Cyberlayman defined as the best anti-noise earphones 7 years ago? Specifically how do the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds compare to the AirPods Pro ? This last question is crucial for a site like ours that focuses on Apple products, but which would also be so for others less interested in the Cupertino company, given that Apple's white earphones are the best-selling in the world. 
Bose QuietConfort Earbuds, how they are made
To answer, let's start from the beginning: shape and size. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are 3.9cm long, 2.7cm thick and 2.6cm wide; each weighs 8.9g. If you are thinking that we are talking about earphones with important dimensions , you are not mistaken. But in reality they are not much larger and weigh as much as the Sony WF-1000XM3s. The truth is that producing full wireless earphones with a good driver and an efficient noise reduction system requires some compromise. If anything, it is the AirPods that are unusually small (3.9cm x 2.4cm x 2.18mm and 5.4 grams) but the comparison with the AirPods in this respect may not be entirely correct as will be understood later.
The carrying and recharging case also has quite significant dimensions ; it is a sort of “pillolone” (black in our case, but it is also available in white to match the earphones) of 8.9cm x 5.1cm x 3.2cm for 75 grams. Even if there are smaller cases we are not faced with anything unacceptable, the case of the PowerBeats Pro for example is much larger. After all, putting the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds case in your pocket is no big deal. Rather, it seemed a little inconvenient to press the button very hard to open the lid.
Case size and buttons aside from the Bose earphones are well built , use top quality plastics and also have an IPX7 water resistance certificate. It means they are able to withstand sweat, light rain and splashes of water. The case has a connector for charging via USB-C but it is also possible to restore the battery wirelessly using a QI platform. The energy level is indicated by five LEDs which give an accurate idea of the remaining charge of the case itself.
The packaging 
the Bose Quietcmnfort Earbuds are also certified by Apple 
The charging box 
Inside we find the earphones
Ergonomics
As mentioned the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are not small and because like many other models they protrude from the ears, they are very visible. At first glance it would seem that we are dealing with earphones from a few years ago. Even the fit is not intuitive ; you have to insert the protruding part into the earphone cable and rotate the earphone so that the stabilization fin (Bose calls this the StayHear Max) fits inside the ear itself.
When they are in position they do not give the impression of being particularly heavy or that they can fall even when making sudden movements . However, you must carefully choose the most suitable earplug. There are three in the package; for us, who certainly don't have tiny ears, the medium one was already too big and the small one just adequate.
In the end, however, both for the shape, for the dimensions, for the particularity of the rubber that enters the earphone cable, and for the very tight seal determined by the oval shape, you have to get used to it before forgetting, as it happens with AirPods Pro, wearing the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.
The three boxes compared: Powerabeats Pro; Bose Quietconfort Earbuds and AirPods Pro 
The Powerbeats are much larger than the Bose Quietconfort Earbuds 
But the AirPods Pro are much smaller 
The ovoid grommet 
This is how they are facts behind the Bose Quietconfort Earbuds
How they work
We are talking about Bluetooth 5.0 earphones. The connection system is typical of this class of products with a pairing using a button located inside the case, but in the case of the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds the whole process also goes through an application (Bose Music).
The Bose Music app
Once you have registered a Bose account (you can also use Sign In In with Apple) you are taken to a configuration panel that allows you to connect the earphones to Bluetooth devices that are found nearby. The operation is also possible by simply pressing the button located in the case, but with the app you can configure different functions more precisely as a level of noise suppression (ten to arrangement), volume level and see the volume level of the individual earphones.
The application is also essential if you want to manage, as we explain below, the volume control through the touch panel. In fact, only by downloading the application it is possible to enable this functionality in addition to managing a series of other functions. For example, it is from here that the “shortcut” function is activated, a kind of shortcut that allows you to use the left earphone to listen to the battery level or jump forward in the songs. But the app manages a whole host of functions such as in-ear detection, automatic transparency (the anti-noise system turns off if there is only one earphone), automatic answer and so on.
The app is very well done and offers a level of control similar if not superior to what iPhone offers with AirPods.
The controls
Note that the Bluetooth headsets do not reconnect transparently, as the Airpods do, switching between one connected device and another. This only happens if they have first been disconnected from the one they are currently paired with. In any case, the earphones remember up to seven different connections. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are activated when you put them on and turn off when you remove them from your ear; when wearing only one earphone, the noise canceling function is automatically deactivated. 
The controls that occur on two touch panels on each earphone are essential; we would say skinny. The right with a double tap allows you to start and mute a track or answer a call. The same panel held down calls Siri (or your phone's virtual assistant, whatever it is). The left earphone allows you to rotate between three levels of noise suppression (default are: maximum, medium and off). The same earphone on the left with a long press allows you to access the battery level or optionally to go to the next song. There is no way to go back one song.
Initially the earphones had no other control functions on the touch panels. The volume control was also missing, which is one of the major limitations of the AirPods Pro. Fortunately, Bose fixed this shortcoming just after the earphones were launched. Just download the aforementioned Bose Music application, enter settings and activate the volume control in settings. Then just swipe your finger down on the right earbud to decrease the volume and swipe it up to increase it. An important limit is thus deleted and an equally important element of superiority is added with the AirPods Pro that continue to have no volume control and force you to remove the phone from your pocket to adjust it or to use the embarrassing (in public) command to Siri .
The touch panel of the Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds
How they sound
Bose has its own particular philosophy when it comes to sound imprint: it tends to create a configuration capable of enhancing any type of music and usually succeeds very well in this undertaking. The same is true for the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds whose rendition is excellent for a wide range of rhythms and song types.
The bass is warm, well perceptible and deep but not overwhelming or excessively accentuated; the same must be said of the highs, while the mids and human voice are very natural. It is possible to perceive, thanks to the high-level definition and the suppression of ambient noise, all the stratifications and the texture that the musicians place in their works. With the Bose Quietconfort Earbuds it is never necessary to turn up the volume because the ANC allows you to hear even the most subtle and hidden notes, but even at the highest volume there is no distortion and all notes come clearly to the ear.
From this point of view the Bose earphones do not have much to envy to some of the headphones that are on the market offered at the same cost . The stage effect is also excellent with the separation of the channels, almost perfect. Ultimately the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds are capable of offering significant engagement. In comparison, the AirPods are just as airy and capable of giving the sensation that the music is played not inside our ears but in an open space, at the same time, however, the sound of the Apple earphones is more neutral, almost aseptic.
Like all Bluetooth headsets we are not faced with an audiophile product, but it will be difficult for anyone to think they have invested their money badly when it comes to the musical quality of the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds. The only limitation is the lack of an equalizer in the Bose Music app . In practice, those who do not like the interpretation that Bose gives to the music will not be able to modify it.
The Bose Quietconfort Earbuds have significant dimensions 
AirPods Pro are smaller
Noise suppression
When you hear the name “Bose” your thoughts immediately turn to the functions of noise suppression . After all, it was Bose that made ANC technology popular in all senses and even if some important brands (Sennheiser, Sony and Apple just to name a few) were subsequently placed on its tracks, the American brand still remains today the benchmark. Before moving on to a reasoned analysis, let's immediately say that from this point of view the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are exceptional , superior in several respects to both the previous QC20s (which although aged represent a difficult opponent since we speak of wired headphones without the complications that derive from Full Wireless earphones) that also to the very recent AirPods Pro.
Once worn, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds almost completely eliminate the ambient sound . Only the most acute and variable frequency tones can somehow pass the earphone block, but even these are radically reduced in their intensity both by the circuits and by the very tight mechanical seal placed on the ear canal. We have not had the opportunity, as evident and understandable given the period we are living, to test the Bose earphones on a plane or train, the perfect environment for a test of noise-canceling earphones, but we helped ourselves with the soundbar of the Nost TV and some YouTube videos that reproduce the continuous sound of a Boeing 777, the rattle of a train and a very noisy environment. 
We then also tried to turn on our scooter, take a ride in the car and finally turn on the air conditioner and a heater electric with fan. In all these contexts the sounds at worst come very muffled; in others silence reigns supreme. Even when some noise, such as that of the keys we're tapping on this review, passes through the barrier of the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds, the sound is largely attenuated.
In addition it must also be said the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds have a function that the AirPods do not have: the ability to precisely adjust the noise attenuation on a scale from zero to 10 (therefore 11 levels ). The AirPods only have the option to turn the feature on or off with the transparency mode being something of a middle ground.
Ultimately, even if the AirPods Pro in terms of noise suppression they defend themselves very well, they lose the comparison with the Bose product. Canceling the lower, less variable frequencies is as effective as that of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds; for example in the noise reduction of a jet or the air conditioner we did not perceive great differences, but when it comes to adapting to a changing sound, for example in a noisy environment with many voices, or that is produced on different frequencies, AirPods Pro are less dynamic and flexible . This is also probably the case for a closure system of the ear cable that is not as tight as that of Bose.
If there is a limit to the power and accuracy of the noise canceling system it is in the fact that the Bose earphones do not have a ventilation system like the AirPods Pro. Since the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are also very “tight” and the Noise reduction provides a certain sense of pressure on the eardrum, there is a certain occlusion effect that you have to get used to. We specify that we are certainly not at the level of the first ANC headphones that after a few tens of minutes could become unbearable, but in any case the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds may be less comfortable than the AirPods Pro.
Call quality
The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are good but also not perfect as earphones for phone calls . Our voice and that of the interlocutor are clear, the ambient noise suppression system (not to be confused with the ANC) does a discreet job in canceling the sounds around us such as the chatter of a group of people or the sound traffic. The problem is that there are better earphones from this point of view and that when we stop talking the background sound re-emerges. From this point of view, Bose could therefore have done something more; the comparison with the AirPods Pro and also with the PowerBeats Pro ends in favor of Apple products. Fortunately this could be a solvable problem, such as volume control, with a software update.
The charging case with the five LEDs that indicate the battery level
Autonomy
The Bose QuietConfort Earbuds have an official autonomy of 6 hours . In our tests with maximum noise suppression and about twenty minutes of telephone call, we arrived at around five and a half hours, a more than satisfactory figure . Too bad that the case allows you to recharge the earphones only twice more . Here, too, there would not be too much to complain about, were it not for the fact that there are competitors whose cases are able to greatly exceed the fifteen hours of battery life of the Bose earphones. The AirPods Pro, for example, allow you to get 24 hours or 18 hours of phone call. As mentioned, on the other hand, both wireless charging and charging via the now ubiquitous USB-C port are available.
Conclusions
The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are a product of excellence that sets a new benchmark in the field of full wireless earphones with noise suppression system. As for in particular, the ANC we are facing the best pair of earphones we have ever tried ; maybe we are not at the level of a pair of headphones like the Bose Noise Canceling 700 but we are certainly not very far from them.
The quality of the music reproduction is also excellent; definition, tone balance, bass quality, dynamism are among the best possible for full wireless earphones . Too bad that the imprint developed by Bose and for us very pleasant but certainly personal therefore more subjective than the neutral one of the AirPods Pro, cannot be changed since an equalizer function is missing. 
Good autonomy, average call quality . The form factor could be the subject of a debate ; we are talking about earphones with important dimensions which, although well designed and very stable in the ears, are also consequently heavy and may not be easy to put on all day unlike the AirPods. At the same time we are convinced that it is very complicated to make good earphones capable of giving excellent musical performance and a noise reduction that represents the state of the art without accepting any compromise on size.
The AirPods Pro themselves represent the parameter of this compromise: small and light but inferior in ANC and music quality to Bose QuietComfort Earbuds . In short, if you want something iconic, on average good in many things but extraordinary only in integration with the Apple ecosystem and in size, buy the AirPods Pro. But if you are looking for excellence in terms of noise suppression and give a fundamental weight to the music, charge a few more grams and buy the Bose QuietConfort Earbuds
Pro
Versus
Price and where to buy
The Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds cost € 279.99 and are on sale on the Bose website (delivery in two or three weeks) or at authorized stores. Among them there is also Amazon which at the time of writing offers them at a slightly discounted price.
