Those lucky enough to already own Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 will be in for a New Year's treat thanks to a firmware upgrade that allows for higher quality audio transfer when streaming from compatible playback devices.

The free over-the-air update was announced by Bose as part of its partnership with Qualcomm at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2022, and the update will be automatically delivered to QC Earbuds 2 owners in early 2023. The update will bring aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless support to Bose's flagship earbuds, increasing compatibility with the high-performance audio codecs that are becoming supported on the best Android phones.

As the top-ranked model in our best noise-canceling earphones buying guide, it may be hard to see how Bose can improve on its next-generation ANC earphones. Our reviewer's choice for Editor's Choice said the next-generation model is an amazing follow-up that delivers better sound than the original, great call quality, and unrivaled ANC. But there is always room for improvement. [Audio codec support is the only area where the flagship earbuds lag behind Samsung's Galaxy Earbuds 2 Pro (24-bit sound) and Sony's WF-1000XM4 (LDAC high-quality wireless audio).

For high-quality audiophiles, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this update is the support for aptX Lossless. The latest codec, aptX Lossless, is part of Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound and allows 16-bit/44.1 kHz, CD-quality audio at data rates of up to 1,200 kbps (or, as the marketing blurb says, "over 1 Mbps (open in new tab) (open in new tab)) at data rates of up to 1,200 kbps (or "in excess of 1 Mbps (open in new tab)") streaming "bit by bit" via Bluetooth, as promised.

In terms of how important this is, aptX Adaptive uses a dynamically adjusted bit rate between 279 kbps and 420 kbps, while Sony's LDAC offers a maximum streaming bit rate of 990 kbps. In other words, the further improvement in sound quality over Bluetooth can only be a good thing, in my opinion.

While aptX Lossless can achieve much better data rates, it is not completely lossless; to compress CD-quality audio data at 1,411 kbps to the maximum bit rate of 1,200 kbps that aptX Lossless can handle still requires some compression. However, that is considerably less than other codecs and is said to have no impact on the transfer of audio data.

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II were released in September 2022 with no mention of aptX codec support, but the company has since announced that the earbuds are powered by Qualcomm's S5 sound platform, which includes aptX Adaptive and laid the groundwork for an upcoming update to aptX Lossless support, the company said. Bose also stated that the S5 Sound Platform will be included in future Bose products.

The Qualcomm S5 Sound Platform offers ultra-low power performance with twice the processing power of its predecessors. This audio capability must be connected to a device with Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound technology, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23, It not only uses power more efficiently to extend battery life, but also reduces latency for games and video audio, and improves playback and voice call quality.

The exact date when the update will be applied to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II has not yet been confirmed, but the update is expected to be applied in early 2023.

It is not known how the update will affect performance. However, we expect it to bring a more powerful level of audio performance, longer battery life, and possibly multipoint connectivity.