Description
The QuietComfort Earbuds II is Bose’s 2022 flagship in-ear, and its listing is unusually specific in some places and silent in others. It publishes its battery split honestly, publishes its water rating correctly, and never once names a codec. It also carries a customer rating that sits below the marketing copy, which is worth reading before anything else. Everything here comes from the published listing. We do not wear or measure the products covered on this site.
Who this suits
This is a sealed in-ear bud with active noise cancellation, supplied in Soapstone with a charging case, a USB cable, three pairs of ear tips and three pairs of stability bands. Bose records the intended use as music, the recommended use as calling, and the age range as adult. Compatible devices are listed simply as cellphones.
The Fit Kit is the specification that most distinguishes this from its competition. Three tip sizes is the usual count, but three separate stability bands that mix and match with any tip size gives nine combinations rather than three. On a sealed bud that matters more than most headline features, because a bud that does not seal loses its bass and most of its cancellation simultaneously. Bose builds a calibration step on top of that, called CustomTune, which the listing says “intelligently personalize the noise cancellation and sound performance to fit your ears.” What it does not publish is what the calibration measures or how much difference it makes.
One useful and under-advertised feature: either bud works alone. The listing says “take out the left or right earbud and the other will keep on playing.” That is worth knowing for anyone who wants one ear free at a desk. Bear in mind that single ear listening changes your sense of where sound is coming from, so it is not a substitute for genuine situational awareness outdoors.
Connection: Bluetooth 5.3, seven remembered devices, no codec
Bose states Bluetooth 5.3 in both the description and the specification table, and describes a “strong, continuous connection as long as you’re within 30 feet of the paired device,” which lines up with the 10 meter range in the specification table. As always, the version number describes connection housekeeping and power behavior. It is not a sound quality figure.
The listing also says the earbuds “keep track of the last seven paired devices to easily swap between them without reconnecting.” Read that carefully, because it is device memory and not multipoint. Multipoint means two devices connected simultaneously, with audio following whichever one plays. Remembering seven devices means you still have to switch between them. Multipoint is not claimed anywhere on this listing, and where a feature is not published we do not assume it exists.
No codec is named. There is no mention of SBC, AAC, aptX or LDAC in the title, the description, the bullets or the specification table. There is consequently no basis on this page for any high resolution or lossless claim, and to Bose’s credit the listing does not attempt one. If you need a particular codec for a particular phone, ask Bose directly.
What the cancellation actually does
Bose calls this “proprietary active noise cancelling technology” and gives no decibel figure, which is the honest outcome, since a decibel figure with no named test standard is not comparable between brands. What cancellation of this class does well is constant low frequency noise: aircraft cabin drone, train rumble, air conditioning. What it does poorly is speech. It will not make an open plan office quiet, and no listing in this catalog should say otherwise. The cancellation level is adjustable from the touch surface and from the Bose app.
Battery: six hours in the ear, twenty four in total
The description states it cleanly: “Listen for up to 6 hours on a single charge. The charging case holds 3 additional 6-hour charges for a total of up to 24 hours of listening time.” That is the right way to publish a battery figure, and it means bud runtime is six hours and the twenty four hour number includes the case. Quick charging is quoted at up to 2 hours of playback from a 20 minute charge, and the full charge time is given as one hour.
Six hours is a modest figure and it is the cost of running this much cancellation processing in a small shell. It is also a best case number, quoted at moderate volume, and it will fall as the cells age. One specification field contradicts the description and should be ignored: “Carrying Case Battery Average Life: 6 Hours.” The description says the case holds three additional six hour charges, which is eighteen hours of reserve, not six. The six in that field is the bud figure copied into the wrong row.
Fit, controls and the water rating
The description states an “IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance.” IPX4 is splash and sweat protection from any direction. It is not an immersion rating, it is not a shower rating, and the X in the first position means no dust rating has been assigned. The separate specification field reads only “Water Resistant” with no code, which is a word rather than a rating. No IP code covers seawater or pressurized water, and the seals that earn any rating degrade with age. Anyone who wants genuine immersion protection needs a listing that publishes IPX7 or better.
Controls are touch, with swipes and taps handling playback, volume and cancellation level, and Bose notes voice prompts for low battery. No wear detection is mentioned. The earpiece shape is recorded as a rounded tip, and no driver size and no impedance figure are published anywhere.
The weight fields on this listing are broken and should be ignored. One reads “Item Weight: 192 Grams” and another “6.8 ounces,” which are the same quantity and describe the retail package rather than a pair of earbuds. The 2.34 by 1.05 by 2.61 inch dimensions are the case or the box. No bud weight is published. One feature bullet also ends mid sentence with the fragment “W x 0.88,” which is a truncated dimension line that carries no usable information.
The rating, and the alternatives
Customer feedback is the number that most deserves attention here: 3.9 out of 5 from 14,814 ratings. That is a very large sample and a below average score for a flagship product, and it should be weighed against the marketing language on the page. The sales rank is given as 14,926th in Electronics and 1,313th in the earbud and in-ear headphone group, with a date first available of September 2022.
Bose’s newer in-ear is covered in our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review, and an earlier model in our Bose 888507-0100 review. The nearest rival that does name a codec is covered in our Sony WF-1000XM5 review. If six hours in the ear is too short, an over-ear design solves the battery problem outright, and our Bose QuietComfort Headphones review covers that trade, with more options across the wireless headphone listings and the true wireless earbud listings.
Who should buy it and who should not
Buy it if fit has defeated you on other sealed buds, because the nine tip and band combinations are the strongest thing on this page, and if six hours per charge covers your longest sitting. Do not buy it if you need two devices connected at once, because multipoint is not claimed. Do not buy it for a high resolution claim, because no codec is published. Do not read IPX4 as shower proof. And read the 3.9 star average from nearly fifteen thousand ratings as part of the specification, not as noise.
