Right off the bat, I can tell you that these earbuds fit and feel fantastic. I am a bit of a tough customer when it comes to earbuds since I have small ears, and I typically prefer over-ear headphones or earbuds without a silicone tip. The new QuietComfort earbuds, however, have a design that feels far lighter and more comfortable than they look.
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The buds appear somewhat chunky, but when they’re in-ear, they feel incredibly light and minimal. The angled, oval-shaped ear tips differentiate themselves from the wide, completely round tips that a lot of other earbuds have, resulting in a secure but comfortable fit.
That being said, there seems to be one single way that these earbuds go into the ear: there’s a single optimal angle where they “click” into place, and if you don’t get it right, they don’t feel secure. I took the QuietComfort buds to the gym with me for a week, and a rushed placement one day resulted in not one, but both earbuds falling out of my ears onto the floor.
Needless to say, I now make sure to take the time to put them in correctly before hitting the floor.
The touch controls on the buds are very sensitive, recognizing even the lightest taps, and allow for a high degree of customization with one-, two-, and three-tap controls or a tap-and-hold associated with any action you can think of. These, I found to be reliable and straightforward for the most part, although if you’re in motion (running, for example), you might need to be extra deliberate about how you tap.
By comparison, I found the voice controls to require some getting used to. You need to say the “Hey headphones” command clearly and loudly, then wait for the chime to give the command. Additionally, it only recognizes its list of pre-determined commands. For example, you have to say “Hey headphones,” and then “Pause”. You can’t say “Stop.”
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Swapping between the different noise control settings is best done with voice commands, but these also need to be spoken correctly. You have to say “Aware on” to turn on the pass-through aware mode if you want to hear your surroundings, and “Quiet on” to turn on the ANC. The app has a list of acceptable commands you can use, so I recommend reading through that list and just memorizing those commands before trying to use the voice control features.
Unfortunately, the voice command capability has a tendency to disable itself for some reason, requiring you to restart the app to enable it again. Hopefully, this is something that will be addressed with further software updates.
The bold, expansive level of sound these earbuds provide is matched by how good the ANC is, making them shine in urban environments. The voice commands can be finicky, but once you get the feel for them, become second nature. Additionally, if you like a high degree of customization with touch controls, these are about as granular as you can get.
This article was originally published on September 23, 2024, and was updated on November 16, 2024.