Mark Ellis’s review of the Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds is dated this week in the search index, October 13. $99. USB-C only, because the plug has to power active noise cancelling. 24-bit/48kHz lossless. Four mics, two per ear. Three modes: on, off, Aware. IPX4. 1.3-meter cable. Inline remote with real buttons. No battery. No pairing. He tested them for a couple of weeks and sounded slightly annoyed that they worked.
SoundGuys’ 2026 ANC earbud ranking, dated October 9, still parks the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) at $299. Best for Android in their list. In their testing, those buds cut perceived loudness of outside noise by an average of 85%. CustomTune. Stability bands. Oval tips. Good on flights. Bulky. Not a world-beating feature list. Same sticker as last time. They call it a boring update.
We already ran Ultra Earbuds against Sony WF-1000XM6 and AirPods Pro 3 against the same Sonys. Nothing Headphone (1) versus QC Ultra 2 is over-ears. This week is Bose versus Bose, cable versus case.
$99 is the ANC you cannot forget to charge
Ellis’s spec sheet is short on purpose. USB-C or nothing. If your phone still has a port, they start when you plug in. iPhone, Android, laptop, tablet. That list is the product. Wireless buds are a Bluetooth stack, a case, a firmware app, and a night on the charger. These are a cable with mics.
24-bit/48kHz lossless is the number Bose wants next to USB-C. It only matters if the source is sending lossless and you can hear the difference on a bus. Treat it as “not a 16-bit dongle,” not as a studio monitor. Peak volume, Ellis says, could be higher. If you live in a metal-tube commute, test that before you throw out the Ultras.
Four-mic ANC with on / off / Aware is the surprise he leads with. Wired ANC used to mean a brick on the cord. Here the power comes from the port. Unplug, and you have also unplugged the cancelling. That is a feature on a plane that still offers USB-C, and a problem on a treadmill with no port.
IPX4 is sweat and splashes, not a shower. Stability wings and extra tips are in the box because in-ears without a case still fall out. The 1.3-meter cable will catch on a backpack buckle. Ellis lists the cable as a con for people who hate cables. Agreed. It is also why the battery percentage is always 100.
No Spatial Audio, no heart-rate sensor, no app garden. He files those under cons. For a $99 commute tool they are also how the price exists. If you need head-tracking movie audio, you are in the $299 row.
Build: solid buds, cable that can take folding, inline remote with two volume buttons and one for playback and ANC. Physical buttons. You can find them in a pocket without looking at a stem.
$299 is 85% quieter and still a case
SoundGuys measured the Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) at an 85% cut in perceived outside loudness. That is the number that matters if your job is a flight or an open office. CustomTune adjusts ANC to the ear. Oval tips and stability bands are how they get a seal. The same review says the design is bulky and may not fit smaller ears. Comfort is not a press photo.
MSRP $299, same as the last sticker, minor upgrades. SoundGuys’ “boring update” line is the honest one. You are paying for a wireless ANC stack Bose already knows how to ship, not for a new category. Amazon price in their module is $299. Street prices move. The ranking did not suddenly make them $99.
They pick these as the Android ANC choice in that roundup. Samsung users get pointed at Galaxy Buds4 Pro at $249.99 instead: head gestures, improved ANC, 6 hours per charge in the SoundGuys snippet, ANC score 8.4/10. If you are in Samsung’s tray, this Bose-versus-Bose piece is not your fork. If you are in iOS or mixed USB-C laptops, stay here.
RTINGS published a best-noise-cancelling-earbuds hub this week as a live index, not a new Ultra lab sheet in the extract. Do not invent RTINGS scores we did not get. Use SoundGuys’ 85% and Ellis’s wired notes as the two dated measurements.
Wireless means a case in a bag, a charge overnight, and a left bud that dies first. It also means you can stand up from a laptop without taking your ears with you. The wired pair will yank. If you pace on calls, that yank is the review.
Same brand, two jobs
Bose will sell you cancelling at both prices. The jobs split cleanly.
Desk and editing: wired. USB-C into the laptop, lossless if you care, ANC on when the open office gets loud, off when a coworker speaks. No Bluetooth handshake with the docking station. No “which device am I on.” The remote’s ANC button is the privacy toggle.
Gym: neither is perfect. IPX4 on the wired set is a maybe. The cable hits plates. Ultras are wireless and bulky. If the gym is the main use, look at the sport SKUs we are not comparing today.
Flights: Ultras, if the seat USB-C is dead or occupied by a phone charger. Wired ANC that needs the port loses to a case that lasted the layover. If the seat still has USB-C and you already carry a book, $99 is a lot of quiet.
Walking commute: Ultras, because of the cable-on-backpack problem. Aware mode exists on the wired set, but you still have a cord to a phone that might be in a coat.
Calls: Ellis does not print a lab mic score in the extract we have. Four mics are there for ANC first. Do not assume uplink quality. The Ultras have a whole wireless call stack Bose has been iterating. If work is Zoom eight hours, borrow both before you retire the $299 pair.
What the listings will not say
USB-C wired ANC is a bet that ports survive. Apple can still ship phones that want a dongle. Ellis says they work in an iPhone. That is today’s iPhone. If your next handset loses the port, the $99 buds become airplane-seat accessories. The Ultras do not care.
The wired set cannot take a call from a watch. They cannot swap to a tablet across the room. They cannot get a firmware fix that improves ANC in 2027. They also cannot brick themselves with a firmware fix. Pick your failure mode.
Battery anxiety is not a personality. It is a case you forgot on the kitchen counter. The wired pair removes that class of morning. It adds the class where the laptop USB-C is the only remaining port and it is running a drive. Carry a cheap unpowered splitter if you live that life, or admit you needed wireless.
Ellis’s “peak volume could be higher” is the one to test in the actual noisy place, not in a quiet kitchen. ANC that works at moderate volume is still a win. ANC that forces you to crank a weak driver is fatigue.
SoundGuys’ 85% is an average of perceived loudness reduction, not a promise that a baby in row 12 disappears. It is why the Ultras stay in the ranking at $299. If you already own them and they seal, do not “upgrade” to a cable for the novelty. If you do not own them and you sit at a USB-C desk, try the $99 pair first.
How to test both in an hour, not a lifestyle
You do not need Ellis’s two weeks. You need three rooms.
Quiet kitchen: plug in the wired pair, play a track you know, toggle ANC with the inline button. You are checking that the button is findable and that Aware does not sound like a tin can. Then pair the Ultras and do the same with whatever Bose app CustomTune wants. If CustomTune fails to run, that is data. Wired does not have a ritual.
Bathroom fan or range hood: this is the cheap ANC test. Wired at $99 should make the fan recede. If you still have to crank volume, Ellis’s peak-volume complaint is your complaint. Ultras should win here on SoundGuys’ 85% if the seal is good. If the Ultra tips hurt at ten minutes, bulky is not a reviewer’s quirk. It is your ear.
Laptop desk with a USB-C dock: this is where wireless often wins socially and wired wins technically. Plug the $99 pair into the dock, not into the phone. If the dock’s USB-C is pass-through junk and ANC never spins up, the product needs the host port Ellis used. Try the laptop body. Then take a walk to the printer with the Ultras and notice you did not drag a computer off the desk. That yank is the remaining argument for $299.
Do not test at a gym on day one. IPX4 is a rating, not a permission slip to drip sweat into a USB-C phone. Do not test on a motorcycle. Do not test as your only hearing protection on a job site.
If you already own XM6 earbuds, this Bose-versus-Bose piece is not an excuse to triple your in-ear drawer. It is a $99 maybe for the desk. Keep the Sonys for the airport unless the seal failed.
SoundGuys also floated Galaxy Buds4 Pro at $249.99 for Samsung people. That fork is real. If your phone is a Samsung and you wanted wireless anyway, stop reading a wired Bose review. You are not the customer Ellis was writing for.
Winner
Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds.
Not because they beat 85% reduction. They probably do not. Because the product that showed up this week is a $99 way to get Bose ANC onto a port you already have, with no case to lose and no battery to lie about. That is the increment. The Ultra Earbuds remain the wireless ANC Bose you buy for a plane and an Android ranking. They are also three times the money and a charge cycle.
If your week is a laptop and a commute with a cable you can stand, take the wired pair. If your week is security lines and a phone in a zippered pocket, keep the Ultras. Same logo. Different object. The remote with three buttons is the tell: this is 2014 hardware with 2026 mics, and for $99 that is the point.