Speaking of battery, there’s a slight boost from the original’s 24 hours to 30 hours of playback with noise canceling (24 with Immersive Audio). You can now listen while they charge and access lossless audio tracks over USB-C from supported sources, something neither the original Ultra nor Sony’s XM6 offer.
Bose has also made it easier to control noise canceling and transparency modes, letting you switch off ambient audio completely in the app or customize how much sound is blocked or piped in from the microphones under Noise Control. Previously, this required creating a Custom sound mode.
Otherwise, you’re getting the same solid feature set, with options like multipoint audio connection (still for just two devices), adaptive sound that tailors performance to your ears, and settings like the ability to adjust your own voice for calls. Onboard controls include power and multi-function keys, and a touch sensor volume slider, which is still a bit less responsive than I’d like.
There are a few outstanding features still on my wish list, like a multi-band EQ rather than the more basic three-band setup, which makes tailoring the booming default bass more hatchet than scalpel. Auracast audio sharing would have been nice, even if it is more future-looking.
Crowd Control
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Testing the latest Ultra against the Gen 1 and Sony XM6 over several days mostly just reminded me how incredible all of them are at suppressing sound. All three pairs sit at the top of the market, besting anything else we’ve tested, and most people are unlikely to notice any major differences in performance in most situations.
