Bose is well known for its noise-canceling headphones and earbuds, and the high-end QuietComfort Ultra (9/10, WIRED Recommends) are currently marked down to just $329 on Amazon, with the same discount at Best Buy. You’ll have to move fast, though, as both sites feature countdown timers with less than 24 hours remaining as I write this.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
The QuietComfort Ultra sit right near the top of our list of the best noise-canceling headphones, and for good reason. They sound great, with top-tier clarity and detail, and our reviewer Ryan Waniata was particularly impressed by the “fabulous instrumental separation” and the “wide and spacious soundstage.” The bass is a little boomy out of the box, but a quick tweak of the EQ can smooth that right out, and even if you prefer the big bass, it’s still clear and punchy. They sound just as good during phone calls, in case you really need to focus in while working or chatting.
The noise-canceling is the star here, and there are really only two companies that compete for the crown, Bose and Sony. Each company has flagship headsets that do a stellar job of keeping out plane engine noises, crying babies, and your chatty seat neighbor, with performance so close we have a dedicated guide comparing the two. There’s also a great transparency mode for when you need to stay a little more alert, but want to keep the music going.
There are some other features that we’re less enthusiastic about, like a spatial audio mode that tries to “spatialize” existing stereo tracks, which is a neat trick for some songs, but less so for more produced music or watching videos. There’s optional head-tracking as well that tries to keep sound coming from the same places as you turn around. They’re both a little gimmicky and don’t help with the QuietComfort Ultra’s already-middling 24 hours of battery life.
Even though Bose recently updated these extremely popular headphones, the newer version isn’t massively different from these. That means these are still a great deal, and one of our favorite noise-canceling headsets, despite being on the market for a few years. Its price compared to some of its biggest competitors was a downside, so the $100 discount makes a big difference if that was a deciding factor.
