Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones 2nd Gen (Driftwood)

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones 2nd Gen (Driftwood Sandstone)

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) in Driftwood Sandstone take Bose’s flagship noise-cancelling platform and refine the parts that matter on long days: stronger battery life, smoother adaptive cancellation, spatial audio for video as well as music, and lossless listening over USB-C. The Driftwood Sandstone finish pairs a warm sandy tone with polished metal yokes, softening the technical look of the black version. Underneath, the brief is unchanged — the quietest, most comfortable over-ear headphone Bose knows how to make.

Key features

• Adjustable active noise cancellation with Quiet, Aware and Immersion modes
• Bose Immersive Audio with a dedicated Cinema Mode for video
• Up to 30 hours of battery life, or 23 hours with Immersive Audio on
• Lossless wired audio over USB-C at 16-bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz
• Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint connection and aptX Adaptive support
• CustomTune calibration that adapts sound and cancellation to your ears

Noise cancellation and modes

Quiet Mode applies the full force of Bose’s noise cancelling for aircraft cabins, trains and open-plan offices. Aware Mode passes the world back in so you can hear announcements and traffic, and the updated ActiveSense system now reacts more smoothly when a sudden noise — a door slam, a passing siren — breaks through, raising cancellation briefly instead of letting the spike hit your ears. Cancellation level can also be adjusted in the Bose app, or switched off entirely. Immersion Mode combines full cancellation with Immersive Audio for listening that shuts the world out completely.

Immersive Audio and Cinema Mode

Bose Immersive Audio spatialises stereo content so it sounds as if it is playing in front of you rather than inside your head, with Still and Motion settings depending on whether you are seated or moving. New on this generation, Cinema Mode retunes that processing for screens: dialogue stays anchored and clear in the centre while effects and ambience spread wider around it. It works on ordinary stereo video from a phone, tablet or laptop, so films, series and sport all gain a larger, more deliberate soundstage without any special content format.

Battery and wired listening

Battery life rises to 30 hours in Quiet or Aware Mode, with 23 hours available when Immersive Audio is running, and a full charge takes about three hours over USB-C. The headphones can also be used while they charge. For wired listening, USB-C now carries lossless digital audio at 16-bit resolution and 44.1kHz or 48kHz from compatible sources, bypassing Bluetooth compression entirely, and the included 3.5mm to 2.5mm cable covers analogue sources such as in-flight entertainment systems.

Comfort, calls and controls

CustomTune runs each time you put the headphones on, playing a tone that measures your ear shape and calibrating both sound and noise cancellation to it. The protein-leather cushions are removable, the headband spreads pressure evenly, and at 264g the headphones stay wearable across a full working day or a long-haul flight. Controls sit on the right earcup, with a touch strip for volume, and on-head detection pauses and resumes as you take them off and put them back on.

In Driftwood Sandstone, the second-generation QuietComfort Ultra is the travel and work headphone for listeners who put silence, comfort and battery life first — and now want spatial audio and lossless wired playback in the same package.