QuietComfort Earbuds II (2020)

For my gym needs for many years I've been using Bose Quietcomfort earbuds - first the original Quietcomforts with the StayHear earbud tips back in 2020, then I upgraded to the newer designed Bose Quietcomfort2, now I rock the Bose Quietcomfort Ultra earbuds (the first gen, the new second gen was released this year). You can likely find the Bose quietcomfort Ultra earbuds new-old-stock in your budget (just double-check the return policy as there are lots of knockoffs floating around, the only way to confirm yours are legit is to check if they connect to the Bose smartphone app, knockoffs won't). I like them because they have the extra wingtips that lock into your ears (takes a week or two to find the right pairing of inner eartips to outer wingtips), but the outer wingtips really help seal off the ear from external noise which really helps the sound quality (and noise cancelling capabilities). Only two complaints about the Bose QC Ultra earbuds - call quality is lackluster (functional, but not top tier for the MSRP price in my opinion), and some people complain about connectivity. The antenna seems a bit weaker than other brands - so if you're in a downtown area with lots of bluetooth signals, you may find the earbuds hopping signals often. I'm nowhere near a big city so that's not an issue for me - and I really only notice it 'hopping' to another frequency a few times when traveling through a busy airport, so it's not a big issue for me.

Bose is the original inventors of noise cancelling earbuds back in the 80's (different technology back then, it was not the same ANC we know today - instead it produced a pink noise that helped disrupt the sound of motors/engines). Bose makes headsets for pilots so they have been working on this commercially for years. The Bose Quietcomfort earbuds have two levels of noise cancelling - passive and active. First they use wingtips to block out the exterior sound entering the ear (note, it takes several weeks fiddling with the different wingtips to find the proper fit for your ear shape), then it has active noise cancelling to cancel out the noise. It's this two part system that makes them more effective than many other earbuds on the market. It also makes them more comfortable once you find the proper fit since they kinda 'lock' into your ears. The problem is you often read lots of negative reviews from people who had a bad experience - this is often due to people saving money buying the earbuds at discount from unauthorized retailers. There are a LOT of knockoffs on the market that look identical (same earbud, same packaging), but they're an inferior product. The only way to ensure they are authentic is to run the official Bose app and confirm the earbuds appear in the software (knockoffs act as standard bluetooth earbuds and do not show up in the list on the Bose app)

As mentioned, I have had three different pairs over the past six years. I personally have never experienced that issue. But it is true I have heard others mention issues with the microphone and the ANC system. Sucks you've had problems. I have not

>I only tried Bose and ANC is truly great BUT there's buzzing in the left earbud which is clearly audible in more or less quiet environments. That sounds like a defective microphone used for noise cancelling, because I've had three different Bose Quietcomfort earbuds and all of them were silent. Question - where did you buy your bose earbuds? Did you try connecting them to the Bose app on your phone to verify they were authentic? I ask because there are LOTS of clones of bose earbuds on the market that look 100% legit (aside from performance). The only way to tell if they're legit is to confirm they show up when running the Bose app on your phone

I only carry one set with me most of the time. But when flying, two to three pairs - an open ear (or two) for the airport, and my bose noise cancelling for the flight itself to block out ALL noise.