Buy Here:
Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2: https://geni.us/GC-BoseQCUltra2HP
Sennheiser Momentum 4: https://geni.us/GC-SennMomentum4HP
So right now, Bose is kind of in a low where they aren’t innovating too much, but some of their products are still really good like lets say their mid sized smart sound bar… but their speakers are very underwhelming when compared to the rest of the competition like the Bose Soundlink Max or the Flex 2 or the Micro 2. But still, Bose’s headphones are perhaps some of the best headphones to travel with cause they’re super comfortable. And now we have the Bose QC ultra Headphones 2, and today we’re going to compare them to the sennheiser Momentum 4 which are actually a pair of headphones that give you a very big bang for your buck, but there are some compromises that you have to make here.
Regarding pricing, the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2 have a retail price of $450, which is a lot, but they are already going on sale. And then there are the Sennheiser momentum 4’s which also have a retail price of $450… but these are always priced at a big discount now, giving you a huge bang for your buck. So if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always watch some of the related videos in the description down below.
So first there’s the case, and this is one of the first major compromises that you have to make with the Sennheiser momentum 4’s, this case is just huge cause the momentum 4’s aren’t fully collapsible like the Bose QC ultra 2, so this case has both a huge foot print and its pretty thick as well. So I wouldn’t recommend flying or traveling with the momentum 4’s cause their case is going to take up a lot of room in your bag. Where as Bose’s cases is just overall smaller. So if you plan on traveling a lot with your headphones, id just go with the Bose.
But with the case out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Build quality and design wise, I feel the Bose are much better than the Momentum 4’s. For starters, the momentum 4’s have a mostly plastic body, even their headband arms are plastic. Where Bose’s headband arms, they’re polished metal, which not only looks more premium, they’re more durable as well. The bose also have softer padding underneath their headband, and their headband has leatherette on the bottom, just helping the bose feel more plush. Where as with the Momentum 4, these have padded silicon underneath their headband, which just isn’t as soft, and since it is silicon, it can pull on your hair, which is annoying. And the leatherette on these headphones is very different as well, the leatherette on the Momentum 4’s feels synthetic and a little plastic where as the leathetter on the Bose has a nicer grain to it.
But then there’s their fit, and the Bose are much more comfortable for multiple reasons, for starters when it comes to clamping force, both of these headphones have a neutral amount of clamping force and they are both big head approved, but the Bose are a little looser. Also like I mentioned earlier, since the headband on the Bose has softer padding, hot spots are never an issue with these headphones, where as with the Momentum 4’s, since this silicon padding is stiffer, hot spots can easily develop after an hour of use. And when it comes to the eapads on these headphones, both of these earpads are very spacious and they are both going to be able to accommodate people with larger ears or ears that stick out a lot. However the earpads on the Bose QC Ultra 2 are more spacious… but more importantly, the earpads on the Bose stay cooler for longer cause they have less surface area coming in contact with your skin, where as with the Momentum 4’s, these earpads collect heat much faster.
And then there’s the weight, now the Bose QC Ultra 2 have gained 10 grams from their predecessors… but still these headphones are fairly light weight for a pair of premium ANC headphones weighing in at 262 grams. Where as with the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s, these weigh in at 295 grams, which still isn’t bad… but with the Bose QC Ultra 2’s, these headphones are just less noticeable on your head when you’re walking around with them on cause you don’t feel them shifting around as much and they’re easier to forget that you’re wearing them when you’re sitting at your desk, in bed or if you flying with these headphones. So simply put, with the Bose QC Ultra 2, you’re going to get better build quality cause these headphones do feel studier than the Momentum 4’s especially cause of the metal headband… and I think their leatherette feels better as well, but more importantly the Bose are more comfortable than the Momentum 4’s cause they are noticeably lighter, they have a slightly loser fit, their headband has more padding, the ear pads are more spacious and their earpads stay cooler for longer. And thanks to their fully collapsable design, the Bose has a smaller case which is better for traveling. So like I’ve said multiple times already, the Bose QC Ultra 2 headphones might not have the best tech specs, but these headphones are super comfortable, and no matter how amazing your headphones are, if they don’t fit well, you’re not going to want to use them.
Now when it comes to tech specs, the Momentum 4’s do out perform the Bose here. When it comes to battery life, the Bose QC Ultra 2 have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their Active Noise cancellation turned on, which is good and this is an upgrade… but the momentum 4’s have an advertised battery life of 60 hours with their Active noise cancellation turned on, which is super impressive.
Now both of these headphones charge via USB C port as they should, and you can also use both of these USB C ports as a wired connection… and again, this is an upgrade for the Bose QC Ultra 2. But both of these headphones still have an audio jack and they both come included with an audio cable, so you can use them with a wired connection that way. However with the Bose, even if you want to use them with an audio jack connection, they have to be powered on, which I do feel is a let down.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, both of these headphones can be connected to any two bluetooth devices at the same, making them a great option for any power user out there that likes to hot swap between lets say your PC and iPhone… and latency is not an issue for any of these headphones so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, all of these headphones have support for SBC and AAC, but the bose also has support for snap dragon sound where as the momentum 4’s have support for APTX and APTX Adaptive. However in order to use these higher quality audio codecs, you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC.
Now when it comes to actually listening to music with these headphones, the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s easily sound much better than the Bose QC Ultra 2. The Bose QC Ultra 2 are going to be better suited for someone that like a more neutral sound signature or a more vocals focused sound signature cause these headphones just don't have a lot of kick in their bass. You can hear the bass, but you can’t feel the bass. And even if you were to go into their EQ and raise their bass all the way up, you’ll be able to hear it, but you’re not going to get too much of a resonance or kick from your bass. So they might not be as fun.
However, the Bose QC Ultra 2’s do sound very different with their ANC turned off. I feel that the Bose QC Ultra 2’s sound better with their ANC turned off , cause with their ANC turned off they sound a lot more open, the bass is a little more present and the mids and vocals aren’t over emphasized. And this is a big deal, cause ANC changing the sound of your music, that’s something that happens on older headphones, cause with newer headphones, their sound doesn’t change all that much whether their ANC is on or off. So with the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2, for the best sound quality, you do want to use them with their ANC turned off… but still these are going to be better suited for someone that likes a more neutral sound signature.
And then there’s the immersive audio on these headphones… and this is a feature that I never use for two reasons. For starters, immersive audio is going to take a toll on you battery life cause the Bose QC Ultra 2’s will go from 30 hours to 23 hours… but more importantly, I dont like immersive audio cause it adds a lot of reverb to your music, making it sound very unnatural. And with cinema mode, which is an all new feature for the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2… its another version of immersive mode which adds a lot of reverb to your audio, but it also amplifies the vocals.
So overall, i do not touch immersive mode or cinema mode cause it makes your audio sound very unnatural cause of all of the added reverb and it also takes an additional toll on the battery life. Also keep in mind, the Bose QC Ultra 2’s sound very different with their ANC turned on or off… I feel that for the best sound you want to use them with their ANC turned off cause your music is going to sound more open. The Bose QC Ultra 2’s sound good enough to get the job done, but these are still better suited for someone that like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ cause you’re not going to get a lot of kick out of their bass.
But then theres the Sennheiser momentum 4’s… now I still feel that the Momentum 3’s sound better than the 4’s… but the Momentum 4’s still sound great. And more importantly… the Momentum 4’s have very impressive instrument separation and detail… all on their own. They dont require any special software or tricky to sound as good as they do like with the Bose QC Ultra 2 and their immersive audio and the AirPods Max and their Spatial Audio. But another thing about the Sennheiser is that they also have a decent amount of physicality in their bass… so if you want to feel your bass, the Momentum 4’s can do that and their bass also has a decent amount of resonance as well. So overall the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s easily sound better than the Bose QC ultra 2… cause these are able to always sound great… and they also have some kick in their bass. Where as with the Bose QC Ultra 2… yes they sound good enough to get the job done, but they dont have any kick in their bass, and if you want them to sound as good as possible, you are going to have to use them with their ANC turned off.
But then there are the media controls on these headphones… and personally im not the biggest fan of either of these two. With the Momentum 4’s theres a touchpad, and this touchpad works well, but it is a little overly sensitive. And with the Bose QC Ultra 2, they have a hybrid system, they have a physical button so you can play and pause your music and you can double tap to skip through your music, but to adjust your volume they have a touch pad that you swip up or down on. But honestly, I dont like this touch pad cause it very hard to get the volume that you actually want. I just really wish they had a physical volume rocker like on the Bose QC headphones, so anytime that I need to adjust my volume on these headphones, I usually just use my phone cause I dont want to deal with their weird touch pad.
But also, both of these headphones have wear sensors, so whenever you take these headphones off they’ll automatically pause your music, and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again. And for the most part both of these wear sensors work well… but personally I don really care for wear sensors on my headphones so I just turn them off, but they’re there if you want them.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Just as you’d expect, both of these headphones block out an impressive amount of noise, but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, the Bose QC Ultra 2’s block out a little more noise than the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s. But hoenslty, the difference between these two headphones is very small. I don’t think it would be a deciding factor. And actually, the Oringal Bose QC Ultra block out a little more noise than the Ultra 2’s. Nonetheless both of these headphones block out an impressive amount of noise for a pair of premium ANC headphones… however if active noise cancelation is very important to you, then you do want to look at either the Sony 1000XM6’s or the Sony 1000XM5’s.
But when it comes to the ambient mode on these headphones, the ambient mode on the Bose does sound better than the ambient mode found on the Momentum 4’s cause it sounds more natural. With the Momentum 4’s it can be a little harder to understand people and for some reason it prioritizes noise pollution over people’s voices, and also the microphone array on the Momentum 4’s collects more wind noise when walking out doors than the bose.
But something that I do like about the Momentum 4’s is that if you have them set to pause your music when you turn on their ambient mode… then youll have a conversation mode where your headphones will lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove the headphones…
And when you double tap on the touch pad, they go back to normal again. And this type of feature is super useful for when you’re traveling with your headphones. And sadly the Bose QC ultra 2’s don’t have this feature, and its very sad that the Bose QC Ultra 2’s don’t have this feature cause the Bose NC 700’s do and Bose can easily add this feature by making it a short cut on the Bose QC Ultra 2 through a firmware update. Lets just see if they listen.
Mic Senn Quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, now the mic on the Sennhesier Momentum 4’s sounds good enough to take phone calls with while in a quiet room, however this mic does sound rather robotic.
Mic Bose Quiet
Whereas with the Bose QC ultra 2, this microphone does sound better and it does a better job of focusing on your voice while in a quiet room.
Mic Bose Road noise
But what really makes the Mic On the Bose QC Ultra 2 stand out from the mic on the Momentum 4 is that it does a better job of dealing with noise pollution. Now its not the best out there, but these are doing an okay job of reducing all of this road noise. Cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clealery hear all of this road noise, but if we were to swtich back over to the Bose QC Ultra 2, it is reduced.
Mic Moemtum 4 road noise
Where as with the momoeutm 4’s, these are just letting in a lot more road noise and its harder to understand me.
Mic Moemtum 4 chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are just letting in a lot of noise pollution and its hard to understand me.
Mic Bose Chatter
Where as with the Bose QC Ultra 2’s these are doing a much better job of reducing this noise pollution, however my voice might not be as front and center. But regardless this mic is doing a better job of dealing with noise pollution, cause again for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the Bose QC Ultra 2’s it is reduced. So overall, the Microphone on the Bose QC Ultra 2’s is better and its doing a better job of dealing with noise pollution… but there are still plenty of other earbuds and headphones out there that have better sounding microphones on them like for example the AirPods 4’s or AirPods Max or even the Sony WH-1000XM5’s.
But with all of that being said, the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2 might not have the best tech specs, but where these headphones really excel is when it comes to comfort, and these headphones are a lot more comfortable than the Sennheiser Momentum 4 cause they are lighter, their headband has better padding, their ear cups are a little more spacious, and their ear pads stay cooler for longer. Plus the Bose QC Ultra 2’s do have better build quality and they’re a little more durable and premium feeling. Bose’s headphones excel when it comes to comfort, and no matter how amazing your tech specs are, if your headphones don’t fit well, you’re not going to want to use them. Plus the Bose also have a significantly smaller case which I feel is super important for traveling. However with the Sennheiser Moeomtum 4’s, these headphones give you a very big bang for your buck. They also sound much better than the Bose as well cause they sound a lot more open plus they have a lot more kick in their bass, so these are going to be able to please most people. They also have a super long battery life. But peronsally, I would never travel with these headphones cause their case is just way to big and they aren’t as comfortable as id want them to be.