After two years, BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II launched in September 2022. The new appearance scheme makes it smaller and lighter. The new Fit Kit eartip set provides all-day comfort and secure fit. In terms of functions, Bluetooth 5.3 is upgraded, noise cancellation is more accurate, and the transparent mode is more natural. The new CustomTune intelligent in-ear sound field adjustment technology, combined with three-frequency dynamic sound quality equalization, ensures a consistent experience under different volume levels. The battery life has also been improved, but the wireless charging function has been canceled.
Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II have previously made detailed teardown reports. This time, according to the teardown report, I will share with you the difference between the two in appearance design and internal structure.
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II Teardown, BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds Teardown
01/ Earbuds
Master Chip
The main control chip of BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds uses Qualcomm QCC5127 bluetooth audio SoC. Qualcomm QCC5100 series chips integrate digital ANC technology, quad-core processor architecture, and built-in dual-core DSP audio subsystem. Support the latest TWS+ technology, that is, dual-channel synchronous transmission technology, with lower wireless latency. In terms of voice calls and music transmission, it can reduce power consumption by 65% compared with before.
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II upgrades Qualcomm QCC5171 bluetooth audio SoC, which is a member of Qualcomm’s latest S5 (QCC517x) audio platform. Qualcomm S5 audio platform is optimized for AI, while providing ultra-low power consumption performance, the computing power has doubled compared to the previous generation. The Qualcomm S5 Audio Platform is built on top of a Bluetooth 5.3 dual-mode radio, enabling a range of new LE audio experiences. Qualcomm S5 audio platform also supports Snapdragon Sound and the newly added 16-bit 44.1kHz CD-level lossless bluetooth sound quality.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound supports 24bit/96KHz high-resolution audio, Qualcomm aptX audio encoding, including aptX™ Adaptive technology. Support aptX™ Voice optimized call voice and 8th generation Qualcomm cVc echo cancellation and noise suppression technology. Integrated Qualcomm Adaptive ANC, including feed-forward, feed-back, hybrid and adaptive, supports third-party innovations through Qualcomm extensions.
Noise Cancellation IC
Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and QuietComfort Earbuds II have a noise cancellation IC with silk screen printing 71215 BCBZ inside, which comes from ADI and is customized by Bose.
MCU
Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II are equipped with ST STM32L4A6VG ultra-low power 80 Mhz Arm Cortex-M4 MCU with FPU inside. Features 1 MB Flash memory, USB OTG, LCD, AES-256 and DFSDM for sound tuning and optimization functions.
Both products have adopted Cypress PSoC 4000S series MCU. It integrates programmable and reconfigurable analog and digital modules, and can flexibly and automatically route resources, with a capacitive touch sensing (CapSense) system with first-class performance, providing support for the touch control function of earbuds.
In-Ear Detection Sensor
Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and QuietComfort Earbuds II support the in-ear detection function, which can automatically pause music when you take off the earbuds, and automatically resume music playback when you wear the earbuds. Both are equipped with infrared distance sensors to provide support. The difference is that the former is equipped with two sensors, which are located on the shell and inside the sound outlet. The latter is achieved by a sensor on the housing.
Touch Detection Sensor
In terms of interaction, both products use touch control solutions. Supports rich operation methods such as single tap, double tap, triple tap, long press and slide, and can realize various function control. Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II use capacitive sensors for touch control. The former has a built-in touch-sensitive FPC, and the latter prints touch detection electrodes on the inside of the headset stem cover.
Microphone
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds is equipped with 3 microphone units, including one in-ear microphone and two out-of-ear microphones. It is used for active noise cancellation, transparent mode, call noise cancellation and dynamic sound equalization function to pick up sound. BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II has been upgraded to a single earbud with 4 microphone units. ANC picks up noise more accurately, and voice calls are clearer and more natural.
Speaker
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds is equipped with a 9mm dynamic driver inside, and the internal dynamic driver of BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II is 8mm in size, both of which are covered with a fiber diaphragm to improve acoustic performance.
Battery
Both BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II use steel shell button batteries inside. The former battery model: CP1654 A3, rated voltage: 3.7V, rated capacity: 0.4Wh, supplied by VARTA. The latter uses a MIC-POWER high-voltage battery, model: M1454S2, rated voltage: 3.85V, capacity: 0.404Wh.
02/ Charging Case
Battery
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds charging case built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, model: 762936HV-1, rated voltage: 3.8V, charging limit voltage: 4.35V, rated capacity: 850mAh/3.23Wh, manufacturer: Zhuhai COSMX.
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II charging case uses a cylindrical lithium-ion battery, model: NTA3663, nominal voltage: 3.8V, charging limit voltage: 4.3V, rated capacity: 1100mAh/4.18Wh, from Shenzhen GoldPeak.
Power Management Chip
The charging IC of BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds charging case failed to get detailed information. BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II is equipped with TI BQ25618 charging IC, which integrates switch charging, synchronous boost converter and voltage protection functions. It supports 22V withstand voltage, and the battery leakage can be reduced to 6uA in transport mode, which is used to charge the built-in lithium battery and earbuds.
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds also supports wireless charging. It is equipped with RENASAS IDT P9225R 5W wireless charging receiving IC, which is a high-efficiency wireless power receiver (Rx). The AC power signal is converted from the resonator to a regulated DC output voltage of 4.5V to 5.5V using magnetic induction charging technology. An integrated low RDSON synchronous rectifier and ultra-low dropout linear (LDO) regulator provide high efficiency, making the product ideal for battery-powered applications. The P9225R conforms to the WPC-1.2.4 protocol and is compatible with PMA SR1.
MCU
The BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds uses the NXP QN9080 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 bluetooth low energy microcontroller inside. The QN908x is a high-performance bluetooth low energy SoC single-chip platform with 10mW peak power, suitable for bluetooth smart applications.
NXP QN9080 integrates a bluetooth low energy (v5.0) compliant radio, link controller, Host protocol stack and multiple GATT profiles, thus providing a single-chip solution for bluetooth smart applications. An integrated 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F MCU with on-chip flash memory and a variety of analog and digital peripherals provides a more efficient data fusion engine. QN908x also integrates DC-DC converter, LDO, low-power sleep timer, battery monitor, high-resolution ADC and GPIO, etc.
BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II is equipped with ST STM32L452RE microcontroller. The STM32L452xx is an ultra-low-power microcontroller based on the high-performance Arm Cortex-M4 32-bit RISC core, operating at frequencies up to 80MHz. The Cortex-M4 core has a floating point unit (FPU) single precision and supports all Arm single precision data processing instructions and data types. It also implements a full set of DSP instructions and a Memory Protection Unit (MPU) for enhanced application security.
03/ Conclusion
As two products spanning two years, BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds and BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II are very different in appearance design and functional configuration. In terms of appearance, although the former is equipped with an advanced version of shark fin eartips, due to the overall larger size, the aesthetics and stability of wearing are not enough. The newly designed Fit Kit eartips set used by the latter solves the problems of the previous generation products well, and can provide different users with a better personalized wearing experience.
A number of upgrades have been made to the internal configuration. The main control chip of BOSE QuietComfort Earbuds II is upgraded from Qualcomm QCC5127 to QCC5171 bluetooth audio SoC. The bluetooth version has been upgraded to V5.3, which has better audio processing performance, lower system power consumption and more stable wireless connection. The number of built-in microphones has been increased to 8 to achieve more accurate sound pickup. The battery capacity of the charging case and earbuds has also been increased, adding 6 hours of comprehensive battery life.
Source: 52audio
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Check Bose QuietComfort Earbuds price:
- Check price on Amazon US
- Check latest price on Amazon UK
- Check price on Amazon Germany
- Check price on other Amazon countries