According to Bose, this bravura performance is thanks to its CustomTune technology. When the headphones are taken out of the charging case and placed in the user’s ear, a short tune evaluates the specific characteristics of the ear canal. In less than half a second, the QCE II takes information and sets itself up, for both audio and ANC, to best complement the wearer’s specific characteristics. And then, by encoding, CustomTune stays alert if you’re in “aware” mode and will immediately perform noise cancellation if a sudden loud noise enters.
Despite the lack of header codec compatibility, the QCE II is a unified, detailed, and spacious listening, and musical in a way it should be but often isn’t. Through our testing, Bose played everything from Warren Zevon Gorilla, you are Desperado arrive … And the whole world laughs with you by Flying Lotus over the fury of the Cleveland Orchestra via Orff’s O Fortuna—And they sound like nothing less than interactive and entertaining.
As usual with Bose headphones, the low frequencies are spacious, but here they have the right decay and attack control to go with their great expandability and considerable weight. This level of authority produces good rhythmic rendition and recordings with an appropriate sense of momentum and solid grounding. The level of detail related to the texture is high, and there is a level of disruption and finesse to the same degree.
At the opposite end of the frequency range, the treble strikes politely. Bose was wrong on the cautious side here, but only slightly. There’s enough bite and shine at the top end, just approx, and there’s certainly no hint of stiffness even at mass. Some listeners may be more uncomfortable after a little more advanced aggression, but then some listeners have never heard tinnitus.
In between, Bose does a good job uncomplicated with singers of all genres and levels of ability. The level of depth available through the midrange means that no tonal or technical detail is too small or fleeting to escape the QCE II’s attention. And as a result, the singers are depicted with all their personalities and attitudes intact.
Bose reinforces the entire frequency range firmly, with a smooth, collision-free journey from top to bottom. The overall tone is probably only a fraction of the warm side of the neutral when the EQ setting is left alone. Of course, it’s possible to skew the presentation to your liking within the app, although honestly, it’s going to be hard for you to make a real improvement. Being different is about the best you can hope for.
It’s easy to imagine “good taste” being on the audio wish list when Bose tweaked the QCE II. That might explain the slightly inhibited dynamic response to large Orff-style changes in volume and magnitude. Of course, there’s a gap between quiet and loud here, but it’s not quite as obvious as through some of the other similarly priced alternatives. However, as far as low-level dynamic variations in instruments or voices are concerned, Bose has a much more solid foundation.
The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are smaller and lighter than the model they replace, which puts them on par with their obvious rivals. They are completely competitive, if not top-notch in terms of sound quality, battery life, and user interface. And when it comes to truly canceling noise, it seems that only Apple’s next-generation AirPods Pro will be able to get rid of them. Which means we will update that the best instant list.
