Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones vs Apple AirPods Max

Editor’s note: this article was published on November 28, 2023, and is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

Bose isn’t trotting out some radically divergent design with the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Rather, it has mostly upgraded the previous QuietComfort 45 (and the currently confusingly labeled QuietComfort Headphones) with thicker padding and slightly refined housing. There’s no metal found on these slight 253g headphones, which prioritize lightweight for greater comfort. You won’t find them particularly breathable, but they feel good for most folks.

With the headphones, you get a carry case, a charging cable, and a cable with a headphone jack. Adding to the notion that you might want the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones on a flight, they have folding hinges and articulating ear cups to stow away compactly.

In 2020, when Apple released the Apple AirPods Max, it sort of reinvented the wheel in almost the same way that Apple AirPods altered what we thought earbuds ought to look like. Tipping the scales at a heavier 385g, the AirPods Max are made of quite a lot of metal. The mesh crown does a decent job of distributing the weight, while the breathable mesh ear cups manage to both isolate noise and get air flow to your ears. You’ll want to watch out because the mesh along the crown can stretch out.

The AirPods Max slip into an included Smart Case, which doesn’t fully cover, let alone protect, your investment. For most people who take their headphones on the go, you’ll want a better case. The ear cups can articulate flat, but the arms do not have hinges to fold down. While connecting is easy with the AirPods Max to an iPhone, you can’t force things like updates, and you’ll only want to use the AirPods Max with Apple products to get the most out of them.

Bose implements mainly buttons for controlling the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, except for a capacitive volume strip. All buttons are found along the button side of the ear cups. You can customize it to some extent in the Bose Music app, but most of the functions are baked in as below.

Similarly, the AirPods Max has a dedicated Digital Crown which can rotate or actuate and a noise control button. These are located at the top of the ear cups, rather than along the bottom.

The Bose Music app for the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones works for iOS and Android. With it, you have access to firmware updates, and Bose tends to roll out significant updates. You will trade your personal data for these features. There’s a somewhat rudimentary EQ at your disposal, some control remapping, and access to immersive audio, which is the Bose version of surround sound. Overall, the Bose Music app works fine.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad you already have the app for the AirPods Max. Like virtually all Apple branded headphones and earbuds, the app is reserved for Apple devices. You’ll find it in Settings. Don’t buy the AirPods Max if you have an Android phone, as you’ll miss out on some features, including updates. The AirPods Max have spatial audio, Find My AirPods, and listening modes, alongside automatic updates.

For starters, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones use Bluetooth 5.3 and connect over standard AAC and SBC codecs, in addition to a 2.5mm to 3.5mm TRS cable for headphone jacks. Notably, however, Bose packs the headphones with Snapdragon Sound and can use Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless codec for allegedly CD-quality audio. However, that feature comes with some caveats; you’ll need an Android device with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or later. The headphones do not have USB-C listening.

Apple AirPods Max utilize the H1 chip and Bluetooth 5.0 to pair with your device. Bluetooth codecs on deck are the basic AAC and SBC, which makes sense because AAC is Apple’s preferred codec. This is one of the reasons AirPods Max don’t make much sense to buy if you have an Android device, because that’s a lot of cash to lay down and not get a higher quality codec like aptX. There’s no cable included for wired listening, but you can buy a separate Lightning to 3.5mm cable. You might have noticed that Apple has begun phasing out Lightning ports for USB-C ports, so while Lightning works fine, it’s less ubiquitous, and typically the cables are costlier to replace than USB-C cables.

Annoyingly, you can’t just power off the AirPods Max; they will stay in a low power mode for hours when not in use before automatically powering off. The fact users can’t simply turn off the AirPods Max is frankly an absurd waste of battery life — batteries that you can’t really replace. Sure, you could argue that the battery is scarcely impacted by remaining in low power mode, but it’s a needless waste. Bose, like most other headphones manufacturers, lets you just press a button to turn off the Ultra.

One of Bose’s strengths is the lineage of noise canceling headphones, and the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones continue that. The ANC onboard the Ultra Headphones attenuates an impressive 30dB of very low frequency noises where most headphones taper off the ANC. In addition, there are almost no significant gaps where the noise canceling would be ineffective. The isolation performance reaches up to 50dB of stopping power of the highest-pitched noise.

It’s a tight race as the AirPods Max have had class redefining noise canceling since 2020 when they were released, and today, the ANC is still no slouch. The isolation also reaches 50dB of attenuation in the highest highs, like the Bose. The ANC works pretty consistently to reduce how much low-pitched noise will reach your ears, and works better than the Bose on noises higher pitched than 150Hz.

By default, both the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and AirPods Max sound good to most listeners. They score pretty high compared to our headphone preference curve. The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones exaggerate bass frequencies (although not overwhelmingly so), scoop mids ever so slightly, and under-emphasize treble except between 7500Hz and 9500Hz. Overall, this leads to a somewhat bass-forward sound.

Comparatively, the AirPods Max frequency response matches our preference between from the bass up through 1kHz. Between 1kHz and roughly 6kHz the volume is about 5dB too quiet. Above 6kHz the tuning stays about 3 to 6dB too loud, but follows our curve well. Overall it should be relatively easy to equalize the AirPods Max.

As headphones without boom microphones go, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones perform well for calls. When compared with the Apple AirPods Max, they both capture your voice well. In ideal conditions, your speech sounds pretty close to accurate with either set. While both reject noise relatively well, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones arguably do a better job without losing portions of speech. The office samples below demonstrate this, as do the wind samples.

Tell us what you think.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

At $429 the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are premium priced. You can find them on sale at the usual suspects, particularly around holidays. In typical Apple fashion, the AirPods Max retail for even more money, $549. They’re pretty widely available, and occasionally you’ll find a sale, but they still tend to cost more than the Bose.

Unless you snag a killer deal, you should wait for an Apple AirPods Max sequel if you can, rather than consider the original AirPods Max. A new AirPods Max version will likely drop the AirPods Max price, making it far more accessible. Rather than speculate too much on that, let’s consider the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones which do a lot of the same things as the AirPods Max, for less money. You still get spatial audio with head tracking, a better battery life, some futureproofing over connectivity, and excellent noise canceling.

You’ll gain some of the niceties of Apple products with the AirPods Max, like device switching (with the same iCloud account) and full integration with iOS. Besides the ANC performing a little bit better than the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, there’s not enough to justify the $120 upcharge for the Apple headphones for most folks. Plus, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones will work regardless of which phone you own and do not require additional accessory costs. Honestly, they’re both good headphones, so you’re sure to enjoy either set.