Bose brings Ultra-tier immersive audio to the second-generation QuietComfort

Bose has announced a second generation of the QuietComfort wireless headphone, the model sitting below the QuietComfort Ultra in its range. The headline change is that immersive audio (Bose's head-tracked spatialisation, previously reserved for the Ultra) now appears on the cheaper model, alongside a refined industrial design. Three limited-edition colours launch with it.

When the feature that justified the Ultra's premium appears a tier down, the gap between the two narrows to fit, materials and the finer points of the cancellation implementation, differences much harder to read off a product page than a feature list is. Cancellation depth and the tonal cost of the immersive mode are both measurable, and neither is knowable from an announcement.