1 year later, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2 still have one annoying issue

It’s been a year since Bose announced the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), and in most respects, they’ve held up as some of the best noise canceling earbuds you can buy. In our testing, they reduced the loudness of external noise by an average of 85%, which is among the best results we’ve measured for any wireless earbuds. The fit is comfortable and stable, so they’ve been one of my go-to picks for the gym or outdoor activities. But after nearly a year of daily use, one problem still hasn’t gone away, and it’s become a constant frustration: wind noise.

The issue occurs whenever I have ANC on, and there’s a breeze. Walking across a bridge over the water or biking through the city, the microphones pick up the wind hitting the earbuds and turn it into a loud, distracting, muffled rumble that cuts right over whatever I’m listening to. I’ve caught myself developing workarounds just to live with it — tilting my head slightly to keep the wind from hitting the buds directly, or giving up and switching ANC off entirely. Neither is an ideal solution. Turning off noise cancelation on a $300 pair of earbuds whose main selling point is noise cancelation defeats the purpose, and craning your neck against the wind on a bike is as silly and dangerous as it sounds.

What makes this so frustrating is that it effectively rules the earbuds out for the exact situations where I would want to use them. A daily commute is the textbook use case for noise canceling, but if that commute involves any time outdoors on a windy day — and in a coastal city, most days qualify — the QC Ultra Earbuds 2 become a struggle to use. The noise cancelation that handles bus engines and chatter so well is unfortunately no match for a strong gust.

To be fair, wind noise is a challenge that many wireless ANC earbuds struggle with. Exterior microphones and rapidly moving air just don’t get along. That’s exactly why I’ve been so impressed with how well the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro handle it. They don’t suffer from this at all in my experience, thanks to their redesigned vents that do a much better job of keeping wind from reaching the microphones in the first place. Because of that, I find myself reaching for them more often instead and leaving my Bose earbuds on the table when I’m heading out the door. None of the firmware updates have helped circumvent the issue, and I’m not sure how much they can really get around the hardware design.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) microphone demo (Windy conditions):

You can hear what the microphones are up against in the sample above. That recording demonstrates voice capture rather than ANC, but it gives you a sense of how much wind these mics contend with, and it’s those same exterior microphones that feed the noise canceling system.

None of this changes what the QC Ultra Earbuds 2 get right, and if your listening happens mostly indoors or inside a bus or subway car, you may never notice the problem. But if your routine involves walking, running, or cycling outside, it’s a flaw you’ll run into constantly. A year later, it’s the reason my Bose earbuds keep getting left at home,  and the one thing I’m hoping they fix with the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (3rd Gen). Maybe the third time will be the charm.