The best ANC headphones I’ve ever heard are £50 off for Black Friday – quick!

Bose headphones on TechRadar's gray Black Friday poster with 'DEALS' written in pink

(Image credit: Bose)

If you're just joining TechRadar's Black Friday deals coverage (there's plenty to get stuck into, friend), I've got an absolute corker of a Bose ANC headphones deal for you.

Bose's formidable lineup of audio equipment rarely sees a decent discount – and its newest noise-cancelling over ears surely wouldn't be getting slashed in price for the first time ever, right? Wrong, because Black Friday isn't like any regular sale…

Today's best Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) Black Friday deal

Providing yet more proof (as if any were needed) that Bose is the king of ANC, this new and improved set of QC Ultra headphones ticks virtually every box imaginable. Impressive noise-nixing capabilities, hi-res audio support over USB, solid battery life and an energetic and engaging sound. Our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Gen 2) review – which is not yet one month old by the way – is the place to go for the full scoop, but know this: they've never been discounted like this until now. They're the newest noise cancelling cans from Bose, and they're the best. Run!

I cannot emphasise enough how rare it is to see a new, five-star, class-leading product in a significant Black Friday discount. And these really are that product.

As we said in the mini verdict of our glowing review, which was only published on October 22nd (that's how new these headphones are): "The King of Active Noise-Cancellation is back with a product that’s just a mild improvement on the model it replaces – which is, frankly, all it really needed to be. Want the best premium noise-nixing cans on the market? Here you go."

The design here feels premium too; Bose products deliver a significant serving of pride in ownership. You get a combination of physical and touch controls on the right ear cup here: a physical button taking care of power on/off and Bluetooth pairing, plus a second slightly larger button that can deal with play/pause, track skips and cycling through your ANC profiles. The ‘touch’ part includes a slider that controls volume, while a ‘touch and hold’ gesture can act as a shortcut to vocal info on the battery level, cycling through ‘Immersive’ audio options, summoning a virtual assistant or waking Spotify. You can choose and select which of these shortcuts you’d like, in the control app.

And the ANC? I'll take from our review again here. The QCU Headphones (2nd Gen) are "fitted with the best active noise-cancellation you can buy at anything like this kind of money. In fact, they have better ANC than plenty of wireless over-ear headphones costing two or three times this amount. Somehow, Bose has worked out how to banish external sounds almost entirely from the experience, without altering the sonic character of the headphones in the slightest, and without introducing any sensation of noise-floor disruption or that weird ear-sucky-vacuum thing that less accomplished companies deal in. It’s remarkable, really."

Still not sure whether they're for you? I'll do a mini roundup of the best of the rest, below, but you could also check out my roundup of Sennheiser headphones deals, my more general Black Friday headphones and earbuds deals recommendations or our dedicated Black Friday headphones deals live blog. Happy shopping – and stay safe out there!

More Black Friday noise-cancelling headphones deals

If it doesn't have to be the newest of the new, the older-gen. Ultra over-ears are also on sale in this excellent £150 Black Friday discount. This is a return to their lowest price – they've hit this price before, but never lower. The deal is live on the black and white smoke finishes only though; other hues are available but they'll set you back nearer £420 even now. For this price, these are excellent value headphones – their noise cancellation still hasn't been comfortably beaten (except by Bose itself) and at this level they're a stone cold steal. Again, if it doesn't have to be the newest cans on the market, these October 2023-issue headphones will save you £100 over the 2nd Gen set above…

How about Bose's legendary ANC, but in 'buds? Again, not the newest set of QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds – this is the October 2023-issue set (they were recently superseded). But as a glance at my glowing 4.5-star Bose QCU Earbuds review shows, a software update has fixed the only real gripe I had with these so that you now get multipoint connectivity to two devices. Said update also added Bose's excellent immersive audio profiles and I'm sure I don't need to wax lyrical on how good the noise cancellation is – this is Bose; this is why you came here. The deal is £10 shy of the cheapest they've ever been, but still a great saving and it's available on my favourite 'Lunar Blue' colourway too.

OK so this isn't a 2025 product (or even a 2024, 2023, 2022 or 2021 product) – but these cans have more than stood the test of time. I've listed their most recent price as a marker, although these excellent noise-cancelling over-ears actually launched at £349, so if we're taking that price, your saving is far more impressive… anyway, they're a stone cold hit, and again, this is over £19 cheaper than we've ever seen them sell for (and TechRadar monitors these things closely). Because of their release date, I didn't author our Sony WH-1000XM4 review, but I've tested them extensively all year as reference headphones and I still thoroughly back your purchase now. The deal's available on all colourways (Black, Blue or Silver) and it's live now. If you've been considering a pair, why wait?

Shop more of today's best Black Friday sales

Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
Dell: laptops from £279
Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

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