Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless vs Apple AirPods Max Side-by-Side Headphones Comparison

Tested using Methodology v1.8

Updated Feb 10, 2025 03:32 PM

See Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless Review

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless Picture

TypeOver-ear

Noise CancellingYes

EnclosureClosed-Back

WirelessYes

TransducerDynamic

MicYes

TypeOver-ear

Noise CancellingYes

EnclosureClosed-Back

WirelessYes

TransducerDynamic

MicYes

Recommended in 1 article:
Apple

Variants

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Black)
QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Deep Plum)
QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Diamond 60th Edition)
QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Lunar Blue)
QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Sandstone)
QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (White Smoke)

AirPods Max (USB-C) (Blue)
AirPods Max (Lightning) (Green)
AirPods Max (USB-C) (Midnight)
AirPods Max (USB-C) (Orange)
AirPods Max (Lightning) (Pink)
AirPods Max (USB-C) (Purple)
AirPods Max (Lightning) (Silver)
AirPods Max (Lightning) (Sky Blue)
AirPods Max (Lightning) (Space Gray)
AirPods Max (USB-C) (Starlight)

Review

See Apple AirPods Max Review

Our Verdict

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless

Apple AirPods Max

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless have the edge over the Apple AirPods Max if you own an Android device, and it's a bit closer when it comes to Apple devices. While both headphones have a premium feel, the Bose are significantly more comfortable, and their ANC can block out more background noise. Their battery life is a bit longer, and they support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected to two devices at a time. Their companion app offers sound customization features to help you tweak their sound. They even support aptX Adaptive, a codec that dynamically adapts to your content, giving you better sound quality or lower latency. The Bose and Apple both have spatial audio features to help your audio sound more immersive, and only the Apple headphones have an H1 chip for seamless pairing with iOS devices.

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Black

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Blue

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Deep Plum

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Green

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Diamond 60th Edition

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Midnight

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Lunar Blue

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Orange

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Sandstone

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Pink

AirPods Max (Lightning)

White Smoke

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Purple

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Silver

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Sky Blue

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Space Gray

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Starlight

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Main Differences for
Neutral Sound

Threshold

0.10

Neutral Sound

8.1

7.5

Treble Profile: Target Compliance

9.7

4.9

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

8.9

9.6

Full Comparison

Neutral Sound

8.1

7.5

Commute/Travel

8.3

7.8

Sports/Fitness

7.5

7.0

Office

8.2

7.2

Wireless Gaming

6.3

5.5

Wired Gaming

7.3

7.0

Phone Calls

7.7

6.4

Design

Style

Design Picture 2

Type

Over-ear

Enclosure

Closed-Back

Wireless

Yes

Transducer

Dynamic

Show Text

Comfort

8.5

7.0

Comfort Picture

Weight

0.56 lbs

0.85 lbs

Clamping Force

0.8 lbs

1.2 lbs

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Controls

7.6

7.9

Controls Picture

OS Compatibility

Not OS specific

iOS

Ease Of Use

Decent

Great

Feedback

Good

Call/Music Control

Yes

Volume Control

Yes

Microphone Control

Channel Mixing

Noise Cancelling Control

On/Off

Talk-Through

On/Off

Additional Controls

Voice Assistant

Show Text

Breathability

6.1

Breathability After Picture

Avg.Temp.Difference

6.7 °C

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Portability

6.4

6.0

Portability Picture

L

7.5" (19.0 cm)

7.8" (19.8 cm)

W

5.9" (14.9 cm)

7.5" (19.1 cm)

H

1.5" (3.8 cm)

1.7" (4.3 cm)

Volume

65.65 in³ (1,075.78 cm³)

99.00 in³ (1,622.31 cm³)

Transmitter Required

Show Text

Case

8.0

6.0

Case Picture

Type

Hard case

Soft case

L

8.3" (21.1 cm)

7.9" (20.1 cm)

W

6.1" (15.4 cm)

8.5" (21.6 cm)

H

2.1" (5.4 cm)

1.7" (4.3 cm)

Volume

107.08 in³ (1,754.68 cm³)

114.00 in³ (1,868.12 cm³)

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Build Quality

8.0

Build Quality Picture

Show Text

Stability

7.0

6.5

Stability Picture

Show Text

Headshots 1

Angled Picture

Side Picture

Headshots 2

Front Picture

Rear Picture

Top

Top Picture

In The Box

In The Box Picture

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Sound

Sound Profile

Normalization Frequency

950 Hz

400 Hz

Bass Amount

2.5 dB

1.5 dB

Treble Amount

-0.9 dB

-4.4 dB

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Frequency Response Consistency

7.1

Consistency L

Consistency R

Avg. Std. Deviation

0.59 dB

0.6 dB

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Raw Frequency Response

Raw FR L

Raw FR R

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

8.9

9.6

Bass Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

3.1 dB

1.5 dB

Low-Frequency Extension

20 Hz

Low Bass

3.49 dB

1.72 dB

Mid Bass

3.7 dB

1.15 dB

High Bass

-0.13 dB

1.49 dB

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Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

9.1

8.7

Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

1.03 dB

1.3 dB

Low Mid

0.45 dB

0.49 dB

Mid-Mid

0.66 dB

0.2 dB

High Mid

-1.05 dB

-1.34 dB

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Treble Profile: Target Compliance

9.7

4.9

Treble Profile: Target Compliance

RMS Deviation From Target

1.59 dB

5.14 dB

Low Treble

-0.52 dB

-4.28 dB

Mid Treble

-1.4 dB

-4.58 dB

High Treble

-6 dB

-3.65 dB

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Peaks/Dips

8.1

7.9

Peaks/Dips Graph

Peaks

1.13 dB

1.01 dB

Dips

1.29 dB

2.31 dB

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Imaging

7.9

7.7

Group Delay

Phase Response Mismatch

Weighted Group Delay

1.39

0.12

Weighted Phase Mismatch

3.5

2.91

Weighted Amplitude Mismatch

0.18

2.33

Weighted Frequency Mismatch

1.37

2.86

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Passive Soundstage

4.1

PRTF

PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)

6.19 dB

4.28 dB

PRTF Size (Avg.)

6.67 dB

6.81 dB

PRTF Distance

9.17 dB

5.22 dB

Openness

1.0

1.7

Acoustic Space Excitation

3.1

3.3

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Virtual Soundstage

3.3

2.9

Virtual Soundstage

Head Modeling

Speaker Modeling

On/Off

Room Ambience

Head Tracking

Adjustable

On/Off

Virtual Surround

Spatial Audio

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Weighted Harmonic Distortion

7.4

7.7

Weighted Harmonic Distortion

WHD @ 90

0.243

0.337

WHD @ 100

0.289

0.125

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Test Settings

Firmware

1.6.7+g6ebabd2

3B71

Power

Connection

Bluetooth 5.2

Bluetooth 5.0

Codec

SBC, 16-bit, 44.1kHz

SBC, 16-bit, 48kHz

Test Instrument

Audio Precision APx517B

TP-Link BE9300 BT 5.4

EQ

No EQ

Adaptive EQ

ANC

Quiet

Tip/Pad

Default

Microphone

Integrated

Show Text

Isolation

Noise Isolation - Full Range

9.5

9.4

Noise Isolation - Full Range Graph

Noise Cancelling

Yes

Overall Attenuation

-27.00 dB

-26.06 dB

Bass

-20.79 dB

-19.54 dB

Mid

-29.81 dB

-30.62 dB

Treble

-31.42 dB

-28.95 dB

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Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios

9.5

9.0

Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios Graph

Airplane Noise Attenuation

-22.12 dB

-21.85 dB

Airplane Noise Isolation Audio

Office Noise Attenuation

-21.71 dB

-19.98 dB

Office Noise Isolation Audio

Street Noise Attenuation

-24.15 dB

-21.92 dB

Street Noise Isolation Audio

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Noise Isolation - Voice Handling

Female Voice 1

Male Voice 1

Female Voice 2

Male Voice 2

ANC Wind Handling

ANC Wind Handling Graph

ANC Wind Noise

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Leakage

7.3

7.1

Leakage

Leakage Audio

Overall Leakage @ 1ft

37.83 dB

38.88 dB

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Microphone

Microphone Style

Integrated

Yes

In-Line

Boom

Detachable Boom

Mic

Yes

Recording Quality

7.8

6.6

Microphone Frequency Response

Recorded Speech

LFE

281 Hz

273 Hz

FR Std. Dev.

2.3 dB

2.77 dB

HFE

6,088.74 Hz

3,466.89 Hz

Weighted THD

0.055

3.025

Gain

33.39 dB

15.85 dB

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Noise Handling

6.5

5.0

SpNR

SpNR

22.71 dB

9.61 dB

Noise Gate

Speech + Pink Noise Handling

6.5

5.0

Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample

Speech + Subway Noise Handling

6.5

5.0

Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample

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Active Features

Battery

8.2

8.3

Battery Type

Rechargable

Continuous Battery Life

29 hrs

21.6 hrs

Additional Charges

0.0

Total Battery Life

29 hrs

21.6 hrs

Charge Time

2.3 hrs

1.5 hrs

Power-Saving Feature

Auto-Off Timer and Standby Mode

Standby mode

Audio While Charging

Yes

Passive Playback

Charging Port

USB-C

Lightning

Show Text

App Support

8.0

6.0

App Picture

App Name

Bose Music

iOS Interface

iOS

Yes

Android

Yes

macOS

Yes

Windows

Equalizer

Graphic + Presets

ANC Control

Presets

On/Off

Mic Control

Room Effects

Yes

Playback Control

Yes

Button Mapping

Yes

Surround Support

Yes

Show Text

Connectivity

Wired Connection

6.6

9.3

Cable Picture

Analog Audio

Yes

USB Audio

Detachable

Yes

Length

3.28 ft (1.00 m)

N/A

Connector

1/16" TRS

Lightning

Latency - Analog

35.0 ms

1.7 ms

Latency - USB

N/A

Recorded Latency

Recorded Latency Connection

Analog

Show Text

Bluetooth Connection

7.5

7.9

Bluetooth Version

5.3

5.0+H1 chip

Multi-Device Pairing

2 Devices

Quick Pair (Android)

Quick Pair (iOS)

Yes

Line Of Sight Range

334.65 ft (102.00 m)

328.00 ft (99.97 m)

Latency - SBC

292 ms

185 ms

Latency - aptX

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (High Quality)

372 ms

N/A

Latency - aptX Adaptive (Low Latency)

85 ms

N/A

Latency - LDAC

N/A

Recorded Latency

Recorded Latency Codec

aptX Adaptive (Low Latency)

SBC

AAC Support

Yes

Show Text

Wireless Connection (Dongle)

0.0

Line Of Sight Range

N/A

Latency - Dongle

N/A

Recorded Latency

N/A

PC Compatibility

Analog

Audio Only

Wired USB

Non-BT Wireless

Show Text

PlayStation Compatibility

PS4 Analog

Audio Only

PS4 Wired USB

PS4 Non-BT Wireless

PS5 Analog

Audio Only

PS5 Wired USB

PS5 Non-BT Wireless

Show Text

Xbox Compatibility

Xbox One Analog

Audio Only

Xbox One Wired USB

Xbox One Non-BT Wireless

Xbox Series X|S Analog

Audio Only

Xbox Series X|S Wired USB

Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless

Show Text

Base/Dock

0.0

Type

No Base/Dock

USB Input

Line In

Line Out

Optical Input

RCA Input

Dock Charging

Power Supply

No Base/Dock

Check Price

Black

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Blue

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Deep Plum

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Green

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Diamond 60th Edition

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Midnight

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Lunar Blue

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Orange

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Sandstone

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Pink

AirPods Max (Lightning)

White Smoke

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones

Purple

AirPods Max (USB-C)

Silver

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Sky Blue

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Space Gray

AirPods Max (Lightning)

Starlight

AirPods Max (USB-C)