Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) VS Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3

From a design standpoint, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are strikingly similar on paper. Both adopt a closed-back, over-ear fit, fold flat for portability, and ship with a detachable, tangle-free cable. Neither offers any water resistance, which is worth noting for buyers hoping to use these outdoors in unpredictable weather. For the vast majority of design criteria, these two headphones are functionally identical.

The one meaningful differentiator here is weight: the Bose tips the scale at 265 g, while the B&W comes in at 300 g — a difference of 35 grams, or roughly 13% heavier. That gap may sound modest on a spec sheet, but over extended listening sessions of two or more hours, the cumulative pressure on the head and ears is perceptibly greater with the heavier headphone. For commuters, desk workers, or anyone prone to listening fatigue, the lighter Bose chassis translates to a more comfortable long-wear experience.

Edge: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). With every other design attribute being equal, the weight advantage is the decisive factor in this category. The Bose is meaningfully lighter, giving it a real-world comfort edge for extended use, while the Px7 S3 offers nothing in the design specs to compensate for that additional 35 g.

When it comes to the sound quality specs provided, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are in complete lockstep. Both deploy a 40 mm driver unit, both feature active noise cancellation (ANC), and both benefit from passive noise reduction courtesy of their closed-back, over-ear construction. There is no single data point in this group that separates them.

The shared 40 mm driver size is a well-established sweet spot for premium over-ear headphones — large enough to move meaningful air for full-bodied bass reproduction, yet controlled enough to maintain coherent midrange and treble detail. Meanwhile, the combination of ANC and passive noise reduction means both headphones attack ambient noise on two fronts: the passive seal physically blocks higher-frequency sounds, while the electronic ANC layer targets lower-frequency rumble like engine noise or air conditioning hum that foam padding alone cannot suppress.

Verdict: Tied. Every sound quality specification provided is identical across both products. The raw specs give buyers no technical basis to favor one over the other in this category, and any real-world distinction in tuning, ANC effectiveness, or audio character falls outside the scope of the data provided here.

Power is another category where these two headphones offer no grounds for differentiation. Both the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 deliver a rated 30 hours of battery life, charge via USB-C, and include a battery level indicator — a practical feature that prevents unexpected shutdowns during long listening sessions. Neither supports wireless charging, and neither has a removable battery.

A 30-hour battery rating is genuinely strong for premium ANC headphones, comfortably covering multi-day commutes or long-haul flights without needing to hunt for a power outlet. USB-C charging is the current universal standard, meaning most users can top up with a cable they already carry. The absence of wireless charging is a minor convenience trade-off, but given the long rated battery life, the need to charge frequently is already minimized.

Verdict: Tied. Every power-related specification is a mirror image across both products. Buyers weighing one against the other will find zero separation here — the decision will need to rest on other specification groups entirely.

Connectivity is where these two headphones finally diverge in a meaningful way. Both support wireless and wired use, share an identical 10 m Bluetooth range, and neither offers NFC pairing — so far, so equal. The real story is in codec support. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) ships with aptX Adaptive as its sole high-quality wireless codec, while the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 supports aptX Adaptive, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Lossless, and LDAC — a dramatically broader suite.

That codec breadth matters in practice. LDAC, developed by Sony, is widely supported on Android devices and capable of streaming at up to 990 kbps, making it a go-to for high-res audio listeners. aptX HD and aptX Lossless extend compatibility further across a range of source devices. The Px7 S3's wider codec roster means it can negotiate a higher-quality connection with more source devices out of the box, without falling back to compressed SBC. The Bose, by contrast, is fully dependent on the source device also supporting aptX Adaptive — a newer standard that, while excellent when available, is not yet as universally implemented.

On the Bluetooth version, the Bose carries a slight edge with Bluetooth 5.4 versus the Px7 S3's 5.3, but the practical difference between these two sequential versions is negligible for most users. Edge: Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. Its significantly richer codec support gives it far greater compatibility with high-resolution audio sources, making it the stronger choice for listeners who prioritize wireless audio quality across a variety of devices.

Most of the feature set here is shared territory. Both headphones include a noise-canceling microphone, an ambient sound mode, on-device controls, and headset functionality — a solid and expected toolkit for premium wireless headphones in this class. Neither provides a hardware mute button or an in-line control panel, so call management relies entirely on the controls built into the earcups.

The sole differentiator in this group is in/on-ear detection, which the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) supports and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 does not. This sensor-driven feature automatically pauses playback when the headphones are removed from the ears and resumes when they are put back on — a small but genuinely useful quality-of-life convenience that reduces the need to manually interact with the device every time attention is pulled away. For users who frequently take their headphones on and off throughout the day, its absence on the Px7 S3 is a noticeable omission.

Edge: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). With every other feature being identical, in/on-ear detection is the deciding factor. It is a meaningful everyday convenience that the Px7 S3 simply does not offer.