AUDIO
Just like car makers, earbud and headphone manufacturers feel compelled to upgrade their perfectly good models every year. In my Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II review just over a year ago (see issue 104), I gushed how they won my heart with bliss-inducing audio performances and world-quieting active noise cancellation. Yet, Bose went back to the drawing board for a refresh, producing the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds reviewed here.
Ironically, I also said of the earlier model that they were so full of innovation that those buds deserved a new name. And I guess ‘Ultra’ is an improvement over Roman numerals.
In any event, you'll need more than a casual glance to separate these newbies from last-year's model. There's just a touch of cosmetic enhancement – contrasting metal on the name plate/ touchpad – and a tighter locking notch for the ear-hook stabilizers.
Bose's engineers have been a lot busier under the hood. The microphone system on the Ultra has been reworked to better filter out
