The Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Headphones II update great headphones with 2015 hardware

When Bose released the Soundlink On-Ear headphones last year, they received acclaim as some of the best wireless headphones to date. Bose carries that notion even further with the newly-announced Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Headphones II. The name may be a bit of a mouthful, and you’re going to abbreviate them as simply the Bose Soundlink Headphones II or something of the sort, but Bose has updated great headphones with 2015 hardware to bring us the Bose Soundlink Around-Ear Headphones II.

Other than the lack of the azure highlights, these headphones from look nearly identical to their predecessors. Other than the difference between the On-Ear and Around-Ear form factor, the specifications remain largely the same. Sure, specs don’t account for everything, but both contain the same amount of connectivity and this time around Bose is really trying to push users to use Bluetooth.

If you look under the contents, Bose labels the audio cable as a “Backup Audio Cable”, in contrast to last year’s audio cable simply labeled as “Audio Cable”. It would seem that Bose is trying to get more users on board to use Bluetooth, seeing that the “Audio Cable” has the extra “Backup” tagline attached to it.

It seems like at the core, these headphones are virtually identical, other than the slightly larger cups to accommodate around-ear listening, and that’s probably exactly what Bose is going for here. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Bose is replicating the same awesome wheel while making it appeal to people who want an around-ear experience.

Maybe that wasn’t such a great analogy seeing as people aren’t just hanging wheels from their ears, but with the same great multipoint technology integration that allows two devices to be connected at once with 15 hour playback time, it seems like the same wheel is waiting to wow us again at nearly the same price point at $279.99 on Bose’s website.

The Bose SoundLink Around-Ear Headphones II are ready to be pre-ordered right now and will start shipping tomorrow, September 10. Also, if you’re interested in the original Soundlink On-Ear Headphones, they’re available right now for $249.99 also on Bose’s website.