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 AirPods Max which I feel are over hyped, but I will admit that these headphones sound great.
Regarding pricing, the AirPods Max have a retail price of $550 which is a lot, and even though I like how these headphones sound, I think these are just status symbols for people that don’t know any better. And then there are the Bose QC ultra 2 which have a retail price of $450, which is still a lot, but these are already going on sale. 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 below.
So first we have to talk about the case, and this is one of my biggest problems with the AirPods Max, these headphones have a very premium price, but they don’t come included with a proper case… which I do feel is unacceptable. Where as with the Bose QC Ultra 2, these come included with a decently small hard shell case which is going to have no problem protecting your headphones even if you cram them into a cramped back pack. So if you plan on traveling a lot with your headphones, then the Bose are the way to go, unless you’re okay with paying extra for a proper case with the AirPods Max, on top of its already premium price.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now the AirPods Max are a pair of super durable headphones that have aluminum ear cups, with chrome arms are slide in and out and therye wrapped in silicon which feels both premium and durable. Where as with the bose, these have plastic ear cups and plastic on the top part of their headband… but their headband arms are exposed polished metal. Overall, the Bose feel durable and premium as well, but their AirPods Max just feel more premium. But the problem with the AirPods Max is its headband net, not this headband is super comfortable, it feels like there’s nothing there, however this is the exact reason why I feel that these headphones need a proper hear shell case cause this net can easily break I feel. Where as with the Bose, these have a proper padded headband. It still feels good, but its not as comfortable as the AirPods Max headband.
But when it comes to overall comfort, the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2 are more comfortable for multiple reasons. For staters the Bose QC Headphones 2 do have less clamping force than the AirPods Max, so if you have a larger head or if you want something looser, then you do want to go with the AirPods Max, now the AirPods Max are still big head approved, but they have a little more clamping force. But more importantly, there are the earpads on these headphones. For starters, I feel that the earpads on the AirPods max are a little too cramped especially just given how large their ear cups are. Where as Bose’s ear cups are going to do a better jog of accommodating larger ears or ears that stick out a lot. But also there’s the material, the AirPods Max have fabric ear pads, which are super breathable and they don’t collect all that much heat… but they can get itchy very quickly. Where as with the Bose, these have leatherette earpads, which feel very premium cause it has a slight grain to it… but more importantly they don’t get itchy, and since they have so little surface area coming in contact with your skin, they do a good job of stay cooler for longer.
But one of my biggest issue with the AirPods Max is their weight, now these headphones are using super premium materials and they’re very durable… but these headphones weigh in at 387 grams, which is a lot cause on average premium ANC headphones weigh in between 280 to 300 grams, and then there are the Bose QC Ultra 2’s which weigh in at 262 grams… so with the bose, these headphones are a lot less noticeable when you’re walking around with them on and they are also easier to forget that you’re wearing them while you’re sitting at your desk, or in bed or if you’re flying with these headphones.
So no, the Bose QC Ultra 2’s might not feel as durable or as premium as the AirPods Max… but they are still fairly durable and premium… but more importantly, they are a lot more comfortable to wear cause they’re much lighter, they have less clamping force, their ear pads are more spacious and their leatherette doesn’t get itchy. And like I have said multiple times already, no matter how amazing your headphone tech specs are, if they don’t fit well you’re not going to want to use them, an well, the Bose QC Ultra 2 fit much better than the AirPods Max.
Now when it comes to tech specs, the AirPods Max have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on, where as the Bose have an advertised battery life of 30 horus with their ANC turned on, and with both of these headphones, you can use them with their ANC turned off, so you can extend their battery life that way, and in general, the battery on the AirPods Max is just below average.
Inperson 9
And to charge these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port as they should, and you can also use these USB C port as a wired connection, which is good if you plan on gaming with these headphones. However if you want to use an audio jack connection with your headphones, which I feel is important if you plan on flying with your headphones, then you do want to go with the Bose cause they come included with an audio cable, where as with the AirPods Max, that’s sold separately which I feel is not okay given that these headphones already don’t come included with a proper case.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connecvity, these headphones are a little different. Now the AirPods Max are meant for people that are already super invested in the apple eco system. So if you have an iPhone, and a MacBook, iMac and or iPad, then you’ll be able to easily hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to your iCloud account. Which is super easy.
Where as with the Bose, these can be connected to any two bluetooth devices, regardless of eco system or iCloud account, so these will be better for a power user that might like to switch between an iPhone and PC on a regular basis, or maybe you have multiple iCloud accounts. But when it comes to watching videos, latency is not an issue for either of these two headphones, so that not going to be an issue, and when it comes to audio codecs both of these headphones have support for SBC and AAC but the Bose also has support for Snapdragon sound, but in order to use Snapdragon sound you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC.
Now when it comes to actually listening to music with these headphones, the AirPods Max 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 there are the AirPods Max, and I actually really like how these headphones sound. Now for staters you do want to keep spatial audio turned on all of the time and set it to fixed, there’s no need for the head tracking stuff. But overall, AirPods Max give you very good instrument separation, so you have a very open sound stage and each element has room to breath, and most importantly, the AirPods Max has a good amount of physicality in its bass, so you can actually feel your music. And even though they have a lot of bass, the bass doesn’t muddy they rest your music. Overall the AirPods Max sound great and they offer you a very dynamic listening experience, you get both strong vocals and strong bass.
And when it comes to your media controls, the AirPods Max has its crown, so from this dial you can easily raise or lower the volume or you can skip through your music, its very easy to use. Where as with the Bose 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 AirPods Max block out a little more noise than the Bose QC Ultra 2s. But hoenslty, the difference between these two headphones is very small. However I do prefer the ANC on the Bose QC Ultra 2 over the ANC found on the AirPods Max cuase they have less cabin pressure. Cause with the AirPod Max, when they’re blocking out a lot of noise, they feel like therye pushing down on your ear drums, or you feel like you’re in an airplane. So comfort wise, I would go with the Bose… but in general, if active noise cancelation is very important to you then you do want to go with either the Sony 1000XM6 or Sony 1000XM5 cause both of these headphones will block out more noise with less cabin pressure and they will also outperform both of these headphones at cursing altitude thanks to their atmospheric pressure sensors.
But then there’s the ambient mode on these headphones, now with the Bose QC Ultra 2, you can adjust how much noise these headphones let in, which is nice, and the ambient mode on the Bose QC Ultra 2 sound good… but the ambient mode on the AirPods Max is perhaps the best one out there cause it geniually sounds like you’re not even wearing headphones, its crazy. But nonetheless both of these ambient modes sound good and they both do a good job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors.
The only annoying thing is, neither of these two headphones have a conversation mode, which is something the Bose NC 700’s did have where at the press of a button you 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 you’re headphones. And I feel that this feature is super usful especially if your flying with your headphones, and this is a super common feature on premium ANC headphones… but neither the Bose QC Ultra 2 or the AirPods Max have this feature. And bose can very easily add it to the Ultra 2’s by making it a short cut on the touch pad.
Mic AirPods Quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, and I feel that both the AirPods Max and Bose QC Ultra 2 are in the same league.
Mixc Bose Quiet
Now thankfully the mic on the Bose QC Ultra 2 has been improved from the originals, which is good and while in a quiet room, both of these mics do a good job of focusing on your voice.
Mix Bose Road Noise
Ands when it comes to noise pollution, I feel that the Bose are doing a slightly better job of dealing with this road noise, cause it is reduced. 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 switch back over to the Bose QC ultra 2 it is reduced.
Mix AirPods Road Noise
Where as with the AirPods Max, these are also doing an okay job of dealing with this noise pollution, but you can hear some more road noise in the back ground.
Mic Sony XM5 Road Noise
But for comparison sake, here are the Sony 1000XM5’s and these are doing a much better job of dealing with this road noise.
Mic Sony XM5 chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are doing a good job of dealing with this noise pollution without interfering with my voice .
AirPods Chatter
Where as with the AirPods Max, these are struggling a lot more when it comes to blocking out this chatter cuase there’s both a notable amount of noise pollution and interference with my voice.
Bose Chatter
Where as with the Bose QC Ultra 2’s these are doing a 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 the Sony WH-1000XM5’s.
But with all of that being said, I think the AirPods Max sound much better than the Bose QC ultra 2 cause they have a much more dynamic sound signature with strong vocals and strong bass, and they sound more open as well. But for me it is hard to justify getting the AirPods Max cause of their super premium price, itchy and cramped earpads, super heavy weight, lack luster battery life and lack of a proper carrying case. Where as with the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2, no these headphones might not have the best tech specs out there and they don’t sound as good as the AirPods Max, but they are a lot more comfortable, and they block out basically the same amount of noise with less cabin pressure, again making them more comfortable than the AirPods Max.