Quick answer:No, despite Bose charging over $400 for the QuietComfort Ultra, the USB-C port is only for charging, so you’ll need to use the included 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable in order to listen to music without a Bluetooth connection.
While wireless has become the norm forexcellent over-ear headphonesover the last several years, there are times when wired listening is preferable — or downright necessary. Even with 24 hours of battery life, it can still run out if you forget to charge it — like I do about once a week — and leave you in need of some old-fashioned wired listening while they recharge. USB-C playback has proven to be a godsend when you need to keep the tunes flowing while recharging your headphones, but it’s far from standard on wireless headphones.
At $430, theBose QuietComfort Ultra headphonesare jam-packed with bells and whistles, from multipoint audio to some best-in-class noise-canceling to its automatic power and playback controls. But no product can be perfect — otherwise, you wouldn’t need our advice before buying them — but would Bose really keep such a modern feature from its best headphones ever?
Do the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones support USB-C playback?
No, the QC Ultra’s USB-C port does not support USB-C audio-in, only power. While the Type-C connector is capable of both high-speed charging and high-speed data transfer, not allheadphones charged by USB-Chave the extra components needed for analog or digital audio input. USB-C audio is ideally geared towards digital audio playback, as it can support larger data streams and, thus, higher fidelity music. But digital playback requires an important component to go into the headphones, rather than into your phone, laptop or other source device.
Speakers and headphones need an analog signal in order to produce listenable sound. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) is the critical component that does this translation, and before USB-C headphones arrived, you had to rely on the DAC built into your phone/computer/gaming console, no matter how cheap it might be. For years and years, it didn’t matter how lossless your music files or how fancy your headphones were when you were listening to them on your phone, as the mediocre (or downright weak) DAC in the phone was the bottleneck that lowered the quality of the analog signal sent to your headphones. Having a high-quality DAC was a selling point for certain Android phones, especially towards the end of LG’s run.
With USB-C audio, the DAC lives in the playback device — your headphones — rather than in your $300 phone/laptop. This allows headphones and speakers to take back control of audio quality by putting in a high-quality DAC that they know will produce the best analog sound the device is capable of. Whether you’re listening to a $200 phone or a $2000 desktop, USB-C digital audio listening means your $400 headphones will have the same great sound — or it would if Bose had included it!
Why does USB-C playback matter?
If a pair of headphones has to have an Achilles heel, not supporting USB-C playback is a relatively reasonable one — most wireless headphones users wouldn’t think about USB-C playback when there’s an analog jack — but it can understandably be a deal-breaker for some. Not only do you not have USB-C playback, but the Ultra instead uses a 2.5mm audio combo jack rather than the normal 3.5mm, meaning that you need a special aux cable for it rather than the half-dozen 3.5mm to 3.5mm cables you have floating around your cable drawer.
One of these cables comes in the box, and it’s perfectly fine to listen to the phone in your pocket, but when you’re listening to a computer or plugging into a docking station, the cable can come up short. And if you need to buy a longer cable — as I’ve done for my own QuietComfort Ultra — there’s much less selection for cable lengths and configurations. Your odds of finding one last-minute at your local Best Buy store or airport electronics store kiosk are also slim.
Oh, and remember my example of listening to the QuietComfort Ultra via cable when the headphones are dead? You actuallydoneed a charge even to listen to wired music sources, so you have to plug the QC Ultra into a USB-C charger or portable battery, then plug your aux cable into your source device. If you think this is a very silly thing for $400 headphones to require, you are absolutely not alone.
So, if you forget to charge your devices a lot or tend to do a lot of wired listening to devices that aren’t on your physical person, you might need to forego the Bose QuietComfort Ultra for a different set ofwonderful wireless headphones, such as the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e or the Beats Studio Pro.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
While they may not support USB-C playback, these are some of the best Bluetooth headphones you can buy today. With near-magical automatic controls, a less intrusive version of spatial audio, and excellent multipoint audio, the QuietComfort Ultra are headphones you’ll never want to put down once they’re on.
Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2
I love the feel and design of these Px7 S2 — especially the Ocean Blue — and unlike the Bose QC Ultra, these cans support USB-C playback from both analog (USB-C to 3.5mm) and digital (USB-C to USB-C) sources. Its ANC might not quite be on Bose’s level — and the more squared shape of the earcups can prevent sealing on some smaller heads — but the sound is easily and excellently tuned.
