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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-18 · 6 min read · Independent comparison
• Audeze Maxwell — biggest strength: Planar magnetic drivers covering a 10Hz–50kHz range, which is a genuinely wide canvas for games, music and movies. Biggest trade-off: At 490 g it's a heavy headset, and its noise control is passive only.
• Bose QuietComfort — biggest strength: Active Noise Cancellation with Quiet and Aware modes, in a body that weighs just 238 g. Biggest trade-off: A 20Hz–20kHz dynamic driver range and 24-hour battery that can't match Maxwell's endurance.
• Maxwell is for you if you play on PlayStation, Mac, PC or Switch and want one headset that doubles as a serious music-listening tool.
• Bose QuietComfort is for you if you fly, commute or work in noisy rooms and want to disappear into your own bubble.
The Maxwell is built around a 90 mm planar magnetic driver, and that single design choice explains almost everything about it. Planar drivers are the kind of thing headphone enthusiasts chase because they tend to render detail and layering cleanly, and Audeze pairs it here with a frequency range of 10Hz to 50kHz — well beyond what human hearing tops out at, but a sign of how much headroom the driver is given. For gaming, that translates to footsteps, ambience and directional cues you can pick apart instead of a muddy wall of sound. For music, it's simply a different class of transducer than the dynamic drivers found in most mainstream headphones.
Connectivity is where Maxwell earns its "gaming headset" label. You get Bluetooth 5.1 with a 10-metre range, USB-C, and a 3.5 mm jack, so it works wirelessly with a console or laptop and wired with a controller or amp when latency matters. The built-in cable in the box reinforces that this is a headset designed to sit at a desk or a couch, not just in a pocket. Controls are simple push buttons for volume — no touch surfaces to fight with mid-match — and the 80-hour average battery life with a 2.5-hour charge time means you can genuinely forget about charging for days.
The trade-offs are real and worth naming. At 490 g it's roughly double the weight of the Bose, which is the price you pay for magnets and metal in the driver, and long sessions will make that felt. Noise control is passive only, so it isolates by clamping and sealing rather than by electronics — fine in a quiet room, less fine on a plane. And the dark gray plastic enclosure is functional rather than luxurious. Skip it if you want the lightest possible travel companion or true noise cancelling; buy it if sound quality and battery endurance are your priorities.
Bose built this headphone around the thing the company is known for: active noise cancellation. Rather than relying on the seal of the earcups alone, it uses electronics to cancel outside noise, and it gives you two modes to steer it — Quiet for full cancellation and Aware when you want to hear announcements, traffic or a colleague at your desk. That toggle is the single most useful feature on the headphone, because it means you're not choosing between "blocked out" and "headphones off."
Everything else is tuned for long, comfortable wear. The plush earcup cushions and padded band are designed for extended listening, and at 238 g the headphone is light enough that you notice the difference the moment you switch from something heavier. Bluetooth 5.2 with multipoint lets you stay connected to two devices at once and hop between them without a re-pairing ritual — a phone call on your laptop while your phone stays linked, for instance. The 3.5 mm jack is there for wired listening when you want it, and the hard leather carrying case plus the included cable make this a genuinely portable package.
Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours, and a 15-minute top-up gives you roughly 2.5 hours of extra playtime — a quick-charge behaviour that suits the way travellers actually use headphones. The adjustable EQ in the Bose app lets you shape bass, mid-range and treble, and the app is also how you install firmware updates. The audio side is a 20 ohm dynamic driver with a 20Hz–20kHz frequency range, which is the standard full-range spec: perfectly capable, but not the exotic driver design of the Maxwell. Skip this one if you want the widest possible frequency extension or marathon battery life; buy it if quiet, comfort and convenience matter more than driver architecture.
• Best for noise cancelling → Bose QuietComfort. Active Noise Cancellation with Quiet and Aware modes versus Maxwell's passive-only isolation.
• Best for sound quality and driver design → Audeze Maxwell. Planar magnetic drivers and a 10Hz–50kHz range beat a conventional 20Hz–20kHz dynamic driver on paper.
• Best for battery life → Audeze Maxwell. 80 hours versus 24 hours is not a close contest.
• Best for comfort and portability → Bose QuietComfort. 238 g against 490 g, plus a hard leather case and a 30-foot Bluetooth range.
• Best for gaming on console and PC → Audeze Maxwell. USB-C, 3.5 mm and low-latency wireless make it the better fit for PlayStation, Mac, PC and Switch.
• Best for travel and commuting → Bose QuietComfort. Multipoint Bluetooth, quick charging and Aware mode are built for airports and open offices.
• Best for switching between phone and laptop → Bose QuietComfort. Multipoint is the feature Maxwell doesn't offer.
• Best for a desk-bound listener who wants one headset to do everything → Audeze Maxwell. Wired and wireless in the same package, with buttons instead of touch controls.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the Bose QuietComfort. In my opinion, it wins on the two things most people actually feel every day: weight on your head and silence around you. The 238 g build and real active noise cancelling make it the headphone I'd reach for on a plane, in an office or on a train, and multipoint Bluetooth plus quick charging fit how modern devices are used.
That said, the Audeze Maxwell is the more interesting product, and if your listening happens at a desk — gaming on PlayStation or PC, watching films, digging into music — its planar magnetic drivers and 80-hour battery are a stronger foundation. The honest split is: Maxwell for sound and stamina, Bose for quiet and comfort.
On the specs, yes — a planar magnetic driver with a 10Hz–50kHz range is a more ambitious design than a 20Hz–20kHz dynamic driver. But "better" depends on whether you're listening at a desk or on the move.
Yes. Bose uses Active Noise Cancellation with Quiet and Aware modes, while the Maxwell relies on passive isolation from its earcups only. For flights and noisy commutes, that's a meaningful gap.
The Audeze Maxwell, by a wide margin — 80 hours versus up to 24 hours on the Bose. Bose counters with a 15-minute quick charge that adds about 2.5 hours of playtime.
The Bose QuietComfort is much lighter at 238 g compared with the Maxwell's 490 g, and its plush cushions are designed for extended wear. The Maxwell's weight is the trade-off for its larger driver.
Prices move around, so it's worth checking the current price on Amazon for each before deciding — this page has a button for exactly that.
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